13b Turbo Miata W/pics

[green91]

I have had quite a few rotarys of all 3 generations with well over 50K. My FD was the worst with 105K on the first motor, and over 100K and still going on the second. UI have had 3 1st gens with well over 200K on them, including 1 that had 285K on it with no major problems. How many Elements have you seen over 150K so far?
As for Honda motors - a friend of mine on this forum has gone through multiple motors in his Civic DX before hitting 100K. They die easily.

Im going to sound like a fanboy for this but saying honda motors die easily is pretty ignorant and false. The only excuse for them dying is lack of maintenance or people not knowing how to drive.

The rotary on the other hand is flawed by design in that the apex seals simply don't provide reliable service in a majority of the motors, especially when driven hard. Sure there are some with high miles but are typically owned by the same people that put 250k on a camry too, they baby them. When driven consistently in higher RPMs, don't count on the rotary to provide high-mileage service.

[David88vert]

Im going to sound like a fanboy for this but saying honda motors die easily is pretty ignorant and false. The only excuse for them dying is lack of maintenance or people not knowing how to drive.

The rotary on the other hand is flawed by design in that the apex seals simply don't provide reliable service in a majority of the motors, especially when driven hard. Sure there are some with high miles but are typically owned by the same people that put 250k on a camry too, they baby them. When driven consistently in higher RPMs, don't count on the rotary to provide high-mileage service.

My point wasn't that Honda's die easily. It's that any motor type can have the same issues. I've seen plenty of Honda's die, but I'm not saying that it is a flawed design.

If you truely understand rotarys, then you know that they are not even close to a "flawed design". They perform perfectly for a very long time IF you know how they work, and what they need. I have owned many RX7s over the years, and have had only 1 motor die on me - and that was my fault for overheating it. It still ran fine, raced that day, made it to the quarterfinals, and drove home from Moroso - while warped. I have had numerous old 7s with over 200K on them - with no issues.

Rotarys need to see redline. If you baby them, they will blow. They were designed to be run hard. Rotarys have an oil injection system, that must be maintained. They shoot more oil into the engine as the throttle is applied farther. Based on your earlier comments, I can see that you do not understand how the system works, and should not have a rotary. You would kill it from driving it like grandma. They need to be revved out and run at higher rpms than most piston motors are happy with. That said, you still have to managed the heat of the engine.