How's it goin? I didn't know where to put this and I don't really know you that well to e-mail you but I was wondering, how exactly does the rotary engine work? I've seen your sig pics, that kind of opens things up but I need a technical description. Talk to you later.

 

hey it's cool
a lot of ppl ask me this
I just wish I could get a sticky here on how a rotary works.... and yes I know this is a thirdgen site but man you know how many ask me? just hope one of these days I can get that sticky

https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...threadid=76207

if you have any further questions just post them here (and hope the mods dont lock it up) or talk to me on AIM or the Cascade Crew Regional Board, or just post the question in there

 

I know how it works! ...its all rather simple concept, however designing it must be a b!tch.
Just look at Rx7speed's gif, the rotating triangular thing, is the rotor. Its basicly the crankshaft and the pistons in one! Theres a LOT less moving things. And since in a "normal" engine theres inertia, slowing to stopping to going in reverse direction to slowing... The rotory however continues in one direction. When the intake is open, due to the rotor being in the correct position to allow it, air gets sucked in. It rotates that air, and squeezes it real tight which is compression, the sparkplugs ignite the combustion pushes the rotor even harder, now moving the exhaust gases to the exhaust port. And it never has to stop its direction, like say a V8. The rotors get even wear, due to the fact that each side of the rotor sucks in the air, compresses/combusts the air, and lets out the air.. all sides get equal share of jobs inside this engine.
Its extremely simple, and once you understand it, you'll start to wonder why there are so many parts inside our "normal" engines. Also since the combustion area is wide spread, usually there needs to be two spark plugs and/or a spark that ignites in a couple of places than just one.
I think Rotory engines are great, really cool concept, but I think it will take a bit more years to really master the best way to utilize them.

 

hehe I'm infecting people

good job on the explination chevyluva. though one thing you are wrong on but not enough to really matter is that the e-shaft(crank shaft for you boinger folk) does move the rotor up and down a little bit, but not like a piston motor does and so the rotory doesn't put as much stress on the parts by doing that.


problems with them come due to the fact that they ahve a wide comb chamber so there is a lot of thermal loss. an on hte tips of the rotors you have the apex seal which will ride against the housing there is also whats called a corner seal that goes under the apex seal and will ride up against the side plates
well that corner seal doesn't have the best seal out there so will tend to cause a little compression loss

also these motors are real touchy with how they are tuned (hence why mine blew, I messed up and still drove it without getting everything fixed) b/c the apex seal stock is only a 2mm piece. and so when you get detonation going on there that part might be able to hold it a few times but soon it will crack and hurt things.

on a n/a not very common unless you are on the miles. on a turbo well not to hard to do if you run lean.

the only other real weak spots on the motor is the fact that it need to be taken care of. that means oil changes and flushing the coolant, plugs and all that fun stuff

these cars put a lot of stress on the oil since it is used for about 1/3 of all cooling on the motor (you should see the oil cooler these things have) and also it will be injected into the intake manifold (pumped into the fuel bowl on a carb motor) to help lube the apex and corner seals. problem comes if you start to put dirty gunky oil in there it will cause the apex seals to get stuck. that is not a good thing since they are made to move a little bit. when the seals start to stick you will lose power real quick.
also if you drive the car like a grandma all the time carbon build up can do the same thing so it is good to go out and rev the car sometimes. also if you do not take care of the oil supply by changning it and keeping it clean you will eat away at the oil seals in the rotors.
as I stated oil will help cool the motor and so it is free floatin inside the rotors only thing is there is a seal to help keep the oil in the rotor so it doesn't float around where it doesn't belong, in the combustion chamber.
you eat that seal you are not really going to lose compression but you will start to eat oil and get nice blue smoke out the exhaust, so not really a problem just not really something that is fun.


last weak spot on the motor is the water seals
there are two of them that go around the outside of the side plates (see the wholes around the edge on my sig, the seals are on either side of those holes)if you overheat the mtor then you can cause those seals to stretch or shrink, or in some way move out of where they are to be and let coolant leak out the block or go into the comb chamber. that is a big no no. you will eat coolant as well as have a loss of compression


honest the motors will last a long time if they are taken care of. reason why thee cars get a bad wrap is b/c ppl dont like to change the oil or flush there coolant and so on. these cars are something you need to take care of and if you do so it will last a long time. getting 200k+ miles is not that uncommon on a n/a car.

and as it is if you want to say "sounds like a lot of hassle to me"

what about the piston motors?
throwing rods, cracked ring lands, blown head gaskets, valve float, broken pushrods, and you can go on

each motor has a weak spot and it all comes down to what you like most

if you want a nice low end under 2500rpms then this motor is not for you.

but if you like the feeling of reving you car up to 7000+ rpms and having a nice FLAT torque curve from about 3000 rpms up to 7600(my normal shift point anymore) then this is the motor for you


I should have the rest of the stuff from the other forum put on this post soon though

 

use private messaging guys also , if you want to email him all you have to do is click the "email" icon below his name . dont be shy