cryptwalk

Hey dudes, I have been looking at these RX7's in an import mag and you can pic up a nice twin turbo'd monster for about 11k.
I also watched a video of A R34 GTR, R33 GTR, NSX Type S 0, Type S NSX, Evo5 GSR, Evo5RS and this RX7 Type RS. All were driven by track drivers in japan in a 5 lap race. (on track)
The RX7 woopped the lot of them.

I know it's hard to find a specialist for one of these things and I believe the have to be rebuilt after 60k??

Dragon motorsport have an awsome looking purple one.

Anyone know anything about them? Intresting car.

STi 7

it is an interesting car indeed!

very fast, and can and will outdo most performance cars!

just like the Pulsar GTi-R its the dark horse

Crypt

Hmmmmm

Crypt

How a Rotary Combustion Engine (RCE) works

Getting more specific, there are two types of rotary engines: The DKM and the KKM. Both of those three-letter acrnoyms contain German words that I don't plan on replicating on this site. With that aside, the DKM was developed first and it is by far the more powerful of the two. To generate power, a rotor moves around a shaft of fixed position while a rotating housing included in the rotor moves with the rotor. The DKM's dillemma is that it is very difficult to maintain, because the engine needs to be taken apart in order to get at that housing. DKM's can deliver smooth power up to the 30,000rpm range, and perhaps beyond.

The KKM was developed because the DKM was so hard to maintain. The basic difference between the two is that spark plugs and compression exist and take place around a stationary, outer housing. The shaft moves slightly as the rotor spins. All current rotary engine designs that I know of use the KKM design, and the latest KKM rotaries can make it to 10,000rpm.

The triangular-shaped rotor spins elliptically around the housing, and compression takes place as gasses are squeezed between the rotor and the housing. Ignition occurs at the point of greatest compression.

Why Rotary is Better

The goal of an engine, in our case, is to spin a shaft. In a standard piston design, the piston reciprocates back and forth while connected to a crankshaft. That crankshaft moves with the piston and it is connected to the drive-shaft. Basically, a piston engine turns lateral force into rotational force. This poses a problem. While the piston is returning to it's high position, the shaft exerts force on the piston. Keep in mind that the goal of an engine to do work (exert force) on the shaft, not the other way around. All of the force generated by the rotor in a roary engine goes toward spinning the shaft. For that reason, a rotary of equal size to a given piston engine can produce much more horsepower. For example, the latest rotary engine (Mazda Renesis) is about 1.3 Liters and it produces a naturally aspirated 280hp (215 hp/L), while the best automobile piston engine on the market today produces 120 hp/L. Racing rotaries are even more powerful.
Rotaries of the past had lots of technical difficulties, but with every new version, those problems are becoming more and more distant. The only real problem with the rotaries is that most mechanics don't have any idea how to fix them, though there are several, highly qualified rotary technicians scattered around the United States and the world. If reliability were that much of an issue, then Mazda would not have so much success in various racing circuits around the world.



Borrowed from a RX7 site.

Crypt

I think these cars are In fact I think this is well in line for my next motor.

Danny Fisher

Crypt, mail me offline. I own one.

Dan

DomHonda

I have been in gary's RX-7 in the pictures and all i can say is. BAD BOY. He was running about 390bhp at the time. easily as quick as my mates 460bhp 2wd cossie. They lack torque but if i remember rightly rev to stupid amounts. Reliability was a nightmare on gary's. remember he had to start in gear all the time otherwise it just flooded. ended up push starting it. Cant argue that they look awesome, especially that rather nice example.

The Crushinator

Please tell me you're not going to be replacing the dandelion!

daz b

Had a bit of a spat with one on my r1 fquick!!!

polarbearit

erm, haven't dragon gone bust?

rich uk300

yeh...read somewhere that dragon had ceased trading

DomHonda

Know some of the guys from Dragon. Heard ages ago they went bust but didnt believe it so went down to see for myself (about2 months ago). Sign on door "sorry closed for good". Then saw a load of ex employees sitting on a wall round the corner, just like a movie. Think it was due to back dated taxes etc. supposed to be re opening under another name but smaller company.

cryptwalk

No, no the EVO stays for now. I like them though and am very intrested on how the perform etc. I could see myself sway towards one in the future.

There was one at TRAX for sale £7800 for an RS model twin turboed plus lots of extras, thats gotta be worth the money. I like the car it's very Q car.

Not like the EVO I can't get away with nothing and it's very expensive.

cryptwalk

Is it ok now? What sort of money would he look for if he were to sell?

madras

Not sure if you've looked, but check out this months japanese perfomance mag, there's a RX7 buying a tuning guide and a few RX7 feature cars.

pete

brickboy

Terrific car, VERY quick but hard on the wallet.

A mate of mine had one of the previous generation turbos (looks like the 944). He bought it from an official Mazda dealer, approved used etc etc. When it needed its third new engine in less than a year, he negotiated a deal with Mazda UK to get his cash back.

Apparently Mazda were trying to blame "poor quality UK fuel" for the failures, which if you remember was what Ford & Vauxhall tried to blame their sticking valve problems on. Sorry chaps, just bad engine design

He was a bit mechanically inept, but even the stupidest lead-footed driver shouldn't need that many replacement motors.

Crypt -- when Felix Wankel saw what NSU had done with the fixed rotor-housing design, he disowned the project, claiming they "had made a carthorse out of his racehorse". Typical engineer, I mean no-one has a problem stripping the entire bloody engine to change the spark plugs

Danny Fisher

Crypt, you will get mail tonight.

Mazda do not re-build the Rotary engines, they sub them out to specalist companies that do it for them.

Once rebuilt, they have a longer lifespan, but before that you are looking at about 60-80,000 before a rebuild. Cost about £1600 upwards.

Another source of information is WWW.MazdaRotaryClub.Com

Dan

TYPE RA

I just sold my rx 7 twin turbo Saturday. They are amazingly quick but also very heavy on fuel, I was getting about 7 to the gallon around town i have just bought a wrx ra and performance cant compare but i enjoy driving the wrx more.

CrisPDuk

Awesomely quick motors. According to EVO's quick reviews, they are one of the best handling cars to come out of Japan, which is probably about right, as they are effectively the MX-5s big bad brother I believe they have a bit of a thirst though. Probably make 'Evo as commuter car' look almost a sensible proposition

Try www.wgtautodevelopments.co.uk They seem to be the acknowledged experts on these wee beasties