(engine rumbling)
(engine revving)
(engines revving)
- I love when people say, "Well, back in my day
this thing was better, okay,
then the way that it is now",
because that's always a really good way
to start an argument.
They completely ignore the pains, issues
and ultimately the reality
of whatever it is that they're referencing,
because people only remember the good old days.
But hey, it's still nice to look back
and remember the good times
and never the bad, right?
I mean, it's just how we kind of go about it,
and that's not being mean that's just ignorant bliss.
It's kind of like RuneScape.
I loved it, but if I had to grind anymore
for fletching longbows anymore
I would probably argue that the game
just really isn't that fun.
But I remember making PK music videos
and that was the blast, okay.
I'm Alex, @Alex.fi on Instagram.
And today, second ever episode of What Happened.
It's a new series.
We got a new intro, new energy,
and kinda, sorta, the same mentality
with how we go into talking about the subject,
but with engines.
More specifically, this is what happened to,
why do we love the famous, the iconic,
the definitely known difficult motor
of the rotary engine,
and just why it actually died.
(upbeat music)
Wanna know what hasn't died though?
My commitment to saying wheels, tires, and suspension
being available over at fitmentindustries.com,
because damn it, that's how we keep the lights on
and that's how we keep Trey paid, okay?
And Dakota's Taco Bell satisfaction satisfied.
We all have our own in-house brand, Artisa Artformed wheels
where you can get those things mounted with tires
shipped to your door for free.
And of course, we also put delivery now
on some of our in stock product,
which means you can get it in as little as seven days.
Which is actually pretty fricking neat
when you consider the fact that the world
is actually ending and you can't
even find wheat bread right now.
if anybody knows me,
they know how difficult it is to find wheat bread,
they know how much I love wheat bread,
and it just really upsets me that I can't find wheat bread.
How does that affect the supply chain?
I just don't understand.
The rotary engine is an iconic engine,
and if you don't know what it is, let me help you.
All the way back in the early 1950s
there was a man by the name of Felix Heinrich Wankel.
All right. Now, Wankel was a mechanical engineer
that had been tasked with trying to find a new way
to develop a combustion-able power
that was unlike the existing internal combustion motors
that were already out there at the time.
Eventually just kind of citing some of the weaknesses
that the IC's had.
So Wankel would then go out for some time,
like a serious amount of time,
to making an engine that was better.
That was faster, that was lighter,
and that was simpler than some of
those garbage standard motors at the time.
Not only that, but the ultimate goal
was to be able to create a platform
that allowed smooth power with minimal vibrations,
unlike a piston engine.
Something that had a nice power curve,
something that just worked well. And he did it!
In 1954 Felix would develop the rotary engine.
With the help of a few friends.
The Wankel rotary engine
dubbed the DKM 54 was up and operational.
And though it did a good job,
it was more of like a prototype then it was something
you could actually just slap into a car.
It was kind of punky and big and heavy
and wide and just unconventional.
And it took a few years
and a man by the name of Hans Dieter Paschke in 1956
who made it cheaper and easier
to produce into mass quantities.
Now I probably said his name wrong,
but at this point you guys are just along for the ride
and you know that I'm going to say it wrong.
I'm trying, and I'm sorry.
And by all technical terms,
it was Goliath to the piston engine and everyone wanted it.
When I say everyone,
I mean every manufacturer wanted this motor.
More than a hundred companies would rush to license
the rotary engine and hopes were high,
But just like electrical cars in 2001,
everyone liked the idea, but not enough to do it
because it just wasn't good enough
to be a reliable and consistent motor at the time,
mostly just because it was too far ahead of its time.
Except there was one company
that really just didn't want to give up.
And that company would be the one
that you know and I know,
the one that we love called Mazda.
Mazda would start selling rotary powered cars
starting with the Cosmo Sport in 1967.
And even while Suzuki, Norton,
and even almost Chevrolet with their Corvette,
would see rotary power plants either almost
get that actual beautiful little engine bay together,
or it was sold for a very short period of time.
You could actually see rotary engines
in non Mazda platforms
in the early sixties and late seventies.
But nearly everyone couldn't sustain the platform
outside of Mazda.
Mazda would try to continue and refine the rotary engine
making its way into the most iconic cars
like the JDM cars out there like the RX7.
And while the coffin was pretty well established
for its death in the late nineties,
Mazda would continue to try and keep it alive
as one of the sole manufacturers to produce
this incredibly interesting motor.
I mean, it really was kind of fun
and it was a really interesting design.
It was mechanically a very cool thing to do.
The 13B rotary with 1.3 liters produced 232 horsepower.
178 horsepower per liter, it was more addicting
than sports car manufacturers
trying to make this engine work because a comparable output,
like something like an LS2,
with that sort of horsepower per liter
would put it at 1100 horsepower
at the same amount of liters.
That's a lot of Coca-Cola bottles,
and that was something that was really sick.
And while we all love the Mazda RX8,
the most recent iteration of the RX,
we were also quickly to disavow it
for its unreliability, lack of high-end power
comparable to others at the same price,
and the fact that it really, really, really loved triangles.
I remember watching regular car reviews
when I was a little bit younger
and watching them review the RX8 and literally seeing
how many triangles they put on that car.
Now, the rotary engine is dead. So why?
Why is a motor that when talked about
it's treated as one of the best, strongest, fastest,
best sounding lawnmowers ever in the car scene? Why?
What immediately plagued the Wankel rotary Was its design.
now while it was small, lightweight,
and high on horsepower per liter,
it came at an incredibly high burn rate
in almost every part of it's design.
It's design simultaneously deals with heating and cooling
in vastly different parts of its assembly,
but it all occurs in the same housing.
This was one of the key pieces
that starts to wane on the design.
The heat transfer, as way more eloquently
described by engineering explained,
he got whiteboards and fancy things,
and he's got a nice smile that just makes you trust him,
is that the top of the housing is cool,
While the bottom of the housing is much hotter.
The seals essentially have difficulty mating to this,
especially with it being a metal to metal,
as one expands faster than other.
This can cause warping and issues to occur.
Now you can use things like cooling jackets
and other modifications,
which have been used in mass production in the past
and in the aftermarket scene as well.
But it only minimized the problem,
it doesn't inherently totally remove it.
That ceiling, always was tough,
but the motor wanted to make insane power.
And that was something that it did extremely well
for how small it actually was,
which is why it's another reason that it probably died.
The rotary is a powerful engine
and what are some of the most craziest, coolest builds
have this sort of motor under the hood.
And you've seen people like Mad Mike, Rob Dahm,
Rob my hero, call me back beautiful.
Hoonigan, Hurt and more all run them,
and the community is infatuated with the thought of them
because they do some incredible stuff,
but it's kind of like the DeLorean for car collectors.
They are so awesome,
but if you don't have someone managing
the car itself and it's maintenance,
it's not, it's just not going to be easy to work with.
DeLoreans are terrible to own as a collector,
and that's why a lot of people hire
collectors specifically to maintain the DeLorean.
Now, the motors require warmup,
additional oil consumption can become tedious,
and the occasional rebuilds that exist,
most predominantly for the RX8 and the RX7,
become ignored like a dentist appointment
because owners just don't want to do it anymore.
And that just feeds into the culture
of them being unreliable.
And normal enthusiasts really don't want to deal
with some of the quirks and features
that would make Doug DeMuro moist
when it comes to things like the rotary engine
and everything that comes along with it,
which is why the environmentalists and EPA also just,
they weren't fans of the engine.
They just never really have been,
because the platform wasn't really good for gas mileage,
the emissions weren't great at its launch
and they never really even got that much better
to crawl out of hole that it dug itself in,
especially when you consider the seventies
when the EPA was really getting into it.
It backfired constantly and got incredibly hot.
For 200 horsepower and 16 miles per actual gallon,
it made it relatively expensive to own,
And when the RX8 came out back in the late 2000s,
and when in 2008 when gas prices were over $5 a gallon,
it's further just kind of killed it.
And only the old G's remember,
when gas was like $5.30 a gallon.
That was terrible.
The reason the rotary engine officially died
in the mainstream market
is because it's not a mainstream engine.
the Wankel rotary engine,
for all intents and purposes,
was like an off meta build.
It was like a mid champ in bot lane, okay?
And it just wasn't really meant to be there,
and it required additional maintenance.
It had lower reliability,
and it couldn't be really mass produced
or it could scale the power
to align with some of the competition
in some of the most recent years.
but it is a (bleep) rotary
and they're one of the coolest things ever,
and it's like, an RX7 for life!
You get like you can't get out of it once you're in it.
It's like being an air cooled enthusiast.
You just hate water cooled because they exist.
The rotary Wankel can be an incredible platform
with incredible performance,
and it has a really good balanced power curve.
It has some insane RPM and my God,
the sound of the RX7 is like something
that makes you excited as a Sears catalog
when you're 10 years old.
I mean, my God, they sound so good!
And while the Wankel rotary may not be alive anymore,
its success lives on,
like it's air cooled engine counterpart,
by those that can manage some of its shortcomings
while maximizing its potential because they deserve it.
Because at the end of the day,
if you can put up with it,
and you do know how to work around it,
it's a great platform.
But yeah, it's dead.
It's doubtful the comeback with the pizzazz
that it had in the nineties, but that's okay.
It's just like the memories of Runescape,
likely to stay an actual memory
versus remembering the amount of grinding required
to get to rank 91 runecrafting and
running into Edgeville praying that you don't get smited.
What do you think should the rotary engine ever come back
or is it something that should just kind of
stay in the rear view mirror,
maybe in the record books and never ever come back.
Let us know below, and of course drop a comment
on what you'd like to see us talk about next
in our next episode of What Happened.
And if you're looking for wheels, tires or suspension,
be sure to check us out over at fitmentindustries.com
Special thanks to those on Instagram
that picked this out for me,
it truly means a lot,
and I hope to keep making more videos like this.
We will see you later, peace.
(energetic music)