Er....how do you think it became one of the lightest and most well balanced cars around?

The engine is the reason...it's small and can be stuffed low and to the back thus giving yo the balance that you talk about.

If anything...they should've worked on the reliability before they sent it out to the world. I hear the Renesis rotary motor is a lot more reliable than the old rotary.

 

Well the renesis rotary engine is the one the rx8 are coming out with...but keep in mind... 12a and 13b (old shool) are well known all over the world... for its 6-7 second passes on 1/4 mile and over 1100 hp on an engine that hardly weighs 130lbs...i have much proof...jajja...family owns a 7 sec..mazda glc 79-81 hatchback...thats why...my next project in hawaii...bring over a rotary from puerto Rico...lol

 

yes the motor is light weight, but so is a i4, my complaint is that you can't do anything to the internals in order to beef them up for more boost, one of my friends had a 94 rx7 and he blew the motor 3 times before moving on to an s4.

 

you can cryo treat the internals and choose betweeen several types of apex seals depending on your application. Rotary engines run hot, so the cooling system needs upgrading or else the motor will burn up pretty quick.

Its funny to me when people say the rotary is unreliable when typically they are running a catless exhaust, single turbo, extra injectors...etc. Once you have doubled the whp in any car it becomes unreliable.

 

The rotary is unreliable. I don't know of any other engine out there that needs to be babied as much as rx7 rotaries.
As far as doubling whp, of course any motor becomes questionable, but motors like sr20det's, 4g63's have parts available to handle increased hp #'s.
No motor out there self destructs as often as the 13b period.
Of course it is very possible to have many smoothly running, daily driver reliable rotaries, it all depends on the tuner and car setup. But when boosting heavily, its always nice to know that in a "conventional engine" you can replace internal engine components with stronger parts=rods, pistons, crank shaft etc.

 

you guys do know that you CAN get new, aftermartket lightwiegh,reinforced, or otherwise rotors for the RX7s. you can also get high performance seal kits, and everything else (or comperable) to a convetional engine. rotories can be very reliable if you know what you are doing. if you drag hardcore on teh weekends and do it for years, w/out a rebiuld of course its gonna go piff... but so will a boxer, i4,v8 and what not.

also to they guy that siad the mistake was putting the 1.3l in it. sorry to tell you this but if they put in a i4 or i6 they would have really tweaked w/ car balance since those engines weigh more they will offset the weight to the front and just throw crap off. think what would happen to the weight balance in a wrx if they put a inline 4 in it? you want a non rotory rx7? buy a miata.

IMHO in engine superiority it goes Boxers,Rotories,Inlines,Vs.

 

I would take a rotary any time for drag racing over anything...

 

how bout you race a rx7 instead of talking bout it and we will see who is right.

 

I'm going to see one race this weekend at Maui Raceway . I'll let you know the specific's . Later ....

 

Im in the mazda dismantler every day and they sell more rotors & housings than anything else i think... even though the rx7 isnt a very abundant car... one could make some inferences from this information...

 

why is that? I know they make great topend, my dad owns a 6 speed rx-8, but damn... the torque is crap!

 

rx7 and rx8 are 2 totally different beasts. rx7 will smoke a rx8 any day. I have a 93 rx7. they dont have too much torque but once those turbos come online....hold on.