Now THIS is an engine!!

[Fordum]

I would love to have a larger version of this.
Getting it balanced would be tricky, but it would be a blast to drive.

Keep watching until you see and hear it run. My V8 is not as quiet or smooth running.

[youtube]Y0XbqHUAI-0#t=336[/youtube]

 

[snowdriver]

i remember looking at that and being amazed when i visited the old harrahs museum in the mid 80's,at that time harrahs had a amazing collection of engines that were desighned by engineers that were very complex,and complicated,they didnt really work all that well,one that comes to mind is a sleeve valve engine they had,neat stuff though

 

[Deuling]

That's pretty neat.


My grandpa has some old snowmobiles with some type of rotary engine. Ill have to get some pics one day.

 

[skunked]

very interesting

 

[diesel4me]

Wow..to think someone designed and built that engine over 100 years ago!..and how nice it runs...very cool!..

We had several Wankel powered lawn mowers donated to the vocational school I went too--I guess they didn't pan out so well,the rotor tip seals would wear,they are the equivilant of rings on piston engines,and they would lose compression,use oil and smoke bad,and be hard to start...mostly they just used them to teach us how one works..one was made into a "cutaway" at the machine shop for display purposes..

We got a few of them running,they were very powerful compared to your typical 3.5 HP Briggs and Stratton that was the norm then--our shop teacher decided not to let us fool with them after one kid decided to see how high one would rev...the thing sounded like it had no redline,and the teacher came running over and shut it down,told us the flywheel could possibly disintigrate!..I wanted to sneak one home and put it on my mini-bike!..

The guys who ran Mazda RX7's on the ice races rarely lost a race,those cars screamed,and they ended up putting them in the V8 class instead of the 4 cylinder import class..I rode in one once ,the engine is so smooth its eerie,and seems to have endless rev potential...it felt as powerful as my 350 Chevy going thru the gears too...I would have thought they would have perfected Wankel engines by now,they were supposed to be the biggest innovation as far as automotive engine went back in the 70's..

I am fascinated when I read an Audel's motor manual from 1941 my dad had...they had superchargers,turbos,multiple carbs,and several strange valve configurations in old engines--a "T" head,ones with one valve in the head and one in the block,overhead valves,hemispherical heads,dual camshafts,mulitiple valves per cylinder,some "Minerva" cars even had sleeve type valves that looked like lifters with slots in the sides instead of the typical poppet mushroom shaped valves...seems like there wasn't much then they had not already thought up,and all the stuff we consider "modern",isn't really at all--it was all invented almost 100 years ago,they just keep digging up old technology..

 

[magik235]

Cool

 

[paratrooper307]

The Wankel style rotaries just seem like one of those good ideas that the costs outweigh the benefits. Yes, they are compact, powerful, and smooth-revving. As many a Mazda owner can attest, however, the Apex seals wear, they tend to burn oil, and they deliver V8 fuel economy with 4 cylinder torque. I wouldn't hesitate to use one in a racing application where size and weight are important and long-term durability isn't an issue. They just don't seem ideal for an automotive application, kind of like that Chrysler turbine car.

 

[Big Ray]

Can you imagine flying an early biplane with all that mass spinning up front? Can you say "gyroscopic precession"...

That is a cool ride...

 

[Blue85]

Can you imagine flying an early biplane with all that mass spinning up front? Can you say "gyroscopic precession"...

I suppose you would run two of them spinning in opposite directions, with a gearbox to couple them. Or one on each wing with opposite pitch props - that was pretty common. If you lost one engine it would suck worse than normal, though.

My V8 is not as quiet or smooth running.

Time for a tune-up. Or maybe upgrade to SBC.

On this rotary, I'm confused how you get a seal for intake and exhaust.

 

[snowdriver]

Can you imagine flying an early biplane with all that mass spinning up front? Can you say "gyroscopic precession"...

That is a cool ride...

as far as early bi-planes go that had those big round motors,the engines did not spin,just the prop on the crankshaft,or the crankshaft on a gearbox of somesort,just like todays small planes

 

[Big Ray]

...I beg to differ sir...consider exhibit A...

this is what you're thinking of...the more modern radial engine..

and just for grins...

 

[snowdriver]

i never knew they did that with those ww1 rotarys,i learned something new today,and yes the bottom video is what i was referring to

 

[Big Ray]

I visited an aircraft restorer way back when I was A&P school...I still had trouble grasping the concept even after I saw one up close...

The guy there said the used the ignition to govern speed on the earlist models...a spurt of full power, then off...manually...the whole flight...

those early pilots had balls of unobtainium...

here's a good vid showing the idling and the effect of engine torque...