rotary engine

A rotary engine can make huge amounts of horsepower. Rotary engines are generally mazda 12a or 13b engines. Rotary engines in drag racing have been known to make more than 1000 horsepower!! These engines have gigantic modified intake and exhaust ports. Tuned headers and exhaust systems provide huge power gains due to the strong exhaust pulses. Race rotaries also use lightened rotors and upgrade to the wider 3mm apex seal instead of the stock 2mm. The apex seals are widened to increase the sealing area and to help transfer heat away from the rotor.

 

The rotary engine was first developed by a German man named Felix Wankel. The obvious reason reason it is also called a wankel engine. Instead of using a more conventional four stroke design with a valvetrain, rotaries are more like a two stroke that uses ports to let air in and out. That is where the similarities stop though. Instead of using pistons and cylinders to capture the thremal energy and turn it into mechanical energy (movement) Felix wanted to eliminate the wasted energy. A conventional engine’s piston moves in a linear movement in the bore and has to transform the energy into rotational energy by means of a crankshaft. The rotary engine is eliptical and converts the combustion energy directly into rotational energy. A standard rotary engine only has about 13 moving parts in it. The moving part in place of a piston in a rotary is either called a rotor or a triac. Mazda has by far done the most engineering on this engine configuration. You can find their motor in their rx-3, rx-7, rx-8 and even some of their pickup trucks. Many other companies have tried to use this engine with varied results. GM also had prototypes made up at one time with much larger displacements. The engine had been placed in some corvette prototypes. Unfortunately the fuel crisis occured at the same time and fuel consumption per displacement of these engines was not very good. They backed out leaving only mazda and a few racing prototypes to be produced afterward. Luckily you can still see the same 1.3 liter engine today in the rx-8 and it has improved significantly. Due to the new port layout it gets reasonable fuel consumption and makes 250 horsepower. These engines are very smooth running due to a near perfect balance factor. If you’ve ever had a chance to drive a rx-7 or other rotary powered car you will notice how smooth and linear the power comes on in a naturally aspriated car. Rotaries respond very well to turbocharging! The third generation RX-7 cars prove that as they made alot of power very easily. With exhaust systems, increased boost, intercoolers or modified turbos the rotary can make 400+ horsepower.