Rotary talk with Rob and Niburu

[Niburu]

ok I picked a number, and It seems its not taken (787) if I fill out the form and bring it to the first autox event (stowe) is that ok? or do I have to snail mail it?

are you a big Mazda/rotary fan?

[Elmer Fudd]

kinda, I enjoy all cars, lowriders to drag cars, lambos to toyotas or even kias, and I have volkswagen tattoed down my arm and grew up thinking they were the only thing that matters, time in the drivers seat of other cars changed that, but yes the 787b is my fave race car of all time, and yes I do like the rotary motor, tho not the prices of up keep. I loved my frist gen rx7, and loved the power that little 12a made, but it needed a rebuild, and for the price of the parts I could have swapped in a piston motor and made more hp and tq. I would love to build a N/A 3 rotar some day and put it in my miata.

[Niburu]

the base rebuild kit on a 12A is only $300
http://www.atkinsrotary.com/index.php?pag=5
granted it quickly shoots up to $800 if you need more than a basic overhaul

I've had 2FC's (90 & 91 both non-turbo) and a FD and other than the frequent oil changes and the way they can eat gas I didn't see them being anymore expensive than any other 20 year old sports car.
The first I had FC actually got 25mpg on the highway @ 70mph, the FC was also a VERY easy car to work on.

[Elmer Fudd]

$300 with out apex seals (why you would open one and not replace them is beyond me)the problem with the 12a is there is almost no availability of the major parts, unlike the 13b if you open it up and your rotors are toast, or your chrome is damaged , you are out of luck, till you located good used stuff, or someone with nos they are willing to part with. then there's the fact that I would never open one up if I was-int planing on doing it right the first time, snapringed rotors, street port at least, up grade the apex seals ect. the job gets mighty expensive quick. ls swaps are getting cheeper ever day. I was offered a stock motor with harness and ecu for 1200 last month, makes porting and building a 12a look mighty expensive, just to make 100 hp less. 2X that when you realize that the ls motor is only like 50 pounds more then the 12a ..... so ya I much happier in my miata is slower in a straight line, but handles better, and is much easier to upgrade and find parts for.

[Niburu]

In my experience it's usally the water seals that go on the non-turbo rotaries.

be that as it may

People can do with their cars as they see fit, it's still a relatively free country.
I'm still a rotard at heart and couldn't bring myself to change the character of the car that much.

Wasn't there a ceramic coating you could get done on your rotors? either Racing Beat or Mazdatrix I thought were offering it at one point.

[bcameron]

yes you can get ceramic coating for like $150-200 / rotor.

you can also do thermal coating, but from what I heard, there is no good benefit from this. Probably a better idea to use DLC on your rotory motor.

[Niburu]

Also if you're going to compare things fairly;
How much is rebuilt motor of what you wanna swap in?
If your talking LS1's they start at around $800 for a rebuild kit on Ebay.
Sure you can swap used motors you have laying around but it's not a very fair comparison of costs, ANY new/rebuilt motor is going to cost more.

[6speed]

With a LS1 you can have 400hp that lasts 200k miles and 28mpg.

The conversion is expensive (I've been finding around $5k for everything) but a much more drivable car, and it sounds at least 10 times better. I love the wankel idea, but it's not very practical. I have heard the wankel design is the best for hydrogen engines, but not many people running hydrogen these days. haha

[Niburu]

all 3 RX7's I've had, never had engine problems, the FD I had is now being raced in the SCCA out in Ohio
the 2 FC I had got about 25 mpg on the hwy, granted they were non-turbo and putting out may 175 at the crank
and the FD got around that on the highway but was abismal for mileage around town, I have no idea what power it was putting out but it was enough to put side way in first or second gear if i didn't watch it - it was slightly modded
I prefer the sound of rotaries over V8's anyday

[6speed]

I've only had engine problems once, but it was at ~135k miles, so it's no surprise. I've had tons of turbo problems though. Breaking shafts, going through bearings/seals like crazy, etc.

Now I've finally got a Holset H1E on there, and it's going back together with a new fuel system. Next step is the LS1 or just finding a different car. The FC is great, but it's not perfect. Getting pretty old these days and the plastic parts were horrible in those years. Though I have very little plastic left in the car.