-
Hi Guest!
If you appreciate British Car Forum and our 25 years of supporting British car enthusiasts with technical and anicdotal information, collected from our thousands of great members, please support us with a low-cost subscription. You can become a supporting member for less than the dues of most car clubs.
There are some perks with a member upgrade!**Upgrade Now**
(PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Hey - did you know if you click on the title of a thread it will take you to the first unread post since you last visited that thread?
but were afraid to ask: 
STOP!! Never post your email address in open forums. Bots can "harvest" your email! If you must share your email use a Private Message or use the 
smilie in place of the real @
Pretty Please - add it to our Events forum(s) and add to the calendar! >> 
Spitfire Ro-spit for sale on GRM
- Thread starter tr8todd
- Start date
Share this page
I wish my Brit cars were as reliable as an rotary. I have a buddy that is into Mazda rotary powered vehicles. He has three RX7s, a RX4, and a Mazda rotary pickup truck. He borrowed my engine hoist a couple of weeks ago and had it back the next evening. He pulled, rebuild, and reinstall a rotary in an early RX7 in two days. Total cost was under $1000. He has 5 cars that are registered and driven often. They require much less maintenance than do my Brit cars.
D
DougF
Guest
Guest
Offline
The newer rotary engines are very reliable...newer meaning RX7 on. The earlier cars had problems with the rotor tips.
My '85 RX7 was a lot of fun to drive. The engine was the smoothest runner I've ever seen. I found myself at red lights looking at the tach making sure the thing was running.
Rotary Spits are screamers at the autocrosses.
My '85 RX7 was a lot of fun to drive. The engine was the smoothest runner I've ever seen. I found myself at red lights looking at the tach making sure the thing was running.
Rotary Spits are screamers at the autocrosses.
UmmYeahOk
Jedi Warrior
Offline
My husband belongs to a rotary support group. Every first saturday of the month the group meets. You can easily tell who owns a 2nd gen RX7... ...they are the ones who show up without a rotary powered vehicle.
You claim theyre more reliable that a brit car? Looks like Im going to hafta sell the GT6. I need something that I can DRIVE to shows, not some trailer queen.
Back when my mustang was a 6 cylinder I usta joke with my husband, and well, the "support group." I would tell them that my car was FASTER than an RX7. This was because mine RAN. Those who claim I was a liar because theirs ran, mine was still faster, for it would make it to the finish line while theirs would not.
Not including RX8s (too new) and possibly FDs (3rd gen RX7s) there is not a running rx7 that Ive seen that is still on its original engine. There may be one 10th anniversary I know, but his is more of a show piece. I doubt its has ever reach 100k yet.
Rotary engines are like communism, they are a perfect wonderful concept, but only in theory. In the real world however, such an idea simply does not work.
You claim theyre more reliable that a brit car? Looks like Im going to hafta sell the GT6. I need something that I can DRIVE to shows, not some trailer queen.
Back when my mustang was a 6 cylinder I usta joke with my husband, and well, the "support group." I would tell them that my car was FASTER than an RX7. This was because mine RAN. Those who claim I was a liar because theirs ran, mine was still faster, for it would make it to the finish line while theirs would not.
Not including RX8s (too new) and possibly FDs (3rd gen RX7s) there is not a running rx7 that Ive seen that is still on its original engine. There may be one 10th anniversary I know, but his is more of a show piece. I doubt its has ever reach 100k yet.
Rotary engines are like communism, they are a perfect wonderful concept, but only in theory. In the real world however, such an idea simply does not work.
HerronScott
Darth Vader
Offline
My experience with the rotary engine was good. My wife and I had 2 RX-7's (1979 and 1980) and we put over 200,000 on each before needing engine work. I think one of the biggest issues with them was people that bought them and didn't realize that they used oil by design so you had to check the oil and keep it topped up between oil changes (oil is pumped into the combustion chamber to keep the seals lubricated since there's no way way for oil to get to those areas unlike the equivalent of piston rings in a piston engine).
Now I've also had good luck with piston engines as the Mazda 626GT turbo that we bought after the RX-7's (needed a 4-seater family car with the arrival of our son) went 350,000 miles on the original engine and was still going when I replaced it. I did have to replace 1 injector at 150,000 and the turbocharger at 250,000 but that was the extent of engine work that I had to do on it.
Scott
Now I've also had good luck with piston engines as the Mazda 626GT turbo that we bought after the RX-7's (needed a 4-seater family car with the arrival of our son) went 350,000 miles on the original engine and was still going when I replaced it. I did have to replace 1 injector at 150,000 and the turbocharger at 250,000 but that was the extent of engine work that I had to do on it.
Scott
UmmYeahOk
Jedi Warrior
Offline
Well I guess the problem with RX7s is that almost all of them have had multiple owners, meaning that those who have them now have 100-200k mile engines from people who didnt know better. People just assume RX7s DRINK oil, but I guess never monitored it and seals start breaking.
As for mazda engines in general, my husband was forced into a mazda pickup which was a total lemon as far as engines go. We at some point pick uped a 1992 mercury capri (ford capri to the rest of the world) despite being competitor to the miata it also had a mazda engine. That was also a POS.
As for mazda engines in general, my husband was forced into a mazda pickup which was a total lemon as far as engines go. We at some point pick uped a 1992 mercury capri (ford capri to the rest of the world) despite being competitor to the miata it also had a mazda engine. That was also a POS.
Well, that may be your experience, but it sure isn't mine. My son has a 2nd gen RX-7 that is the most reliable car in the family. It get run hard on the racetrack many weekends, and has never suffered a failure of any kind. It's also his daily driver. There are lots of Miatas that are tracked regularly with 150,000+ miles on them without any problems. My own Miata has been turboed to push 219 hp at the rear wheels and outruns E46 BMW M3s on the track, but has been flawlessly reliable as a daily driver.
My GT6 on the other hand.... I had problems with every single system in that car, and it had fewer miles on it than the Miata. Don't get me started on my Series 2 XJ12.
My GT6 on the other hand.... I had problems with every single system in that car, and it had fewer miles on it than the Miata. Don't get me started on my Series 2 XJ12.