Sure, the rotary engine could also be an oil-eating machine crammed with Nazi-designed spinning tortilla chips that flip cash into nightmares, however god, I really like them. My first automotive was an RX-7, and whereas, considerably tellingly, I haven’t owned one other rotary since, I take into consideration them typically. Not as typically as Rotary Stifler, aka Rob Dahm, although, and particularly not since somebody gave him a selfmade 12-rotor marine engine to attempt to get operating.
Yes, 12 rotors. It’s lots to take care of, even for a rotary knowledgeable like Rob. This engine was cooked up and constructed by a man, which suggests it has all types of idiosyncrasies and quirks that should be handled to get this pile of components that hasn’t run since 2008 again into combating form. Maybe it’s simply my pure love of schadenfreude, however seeing an hour-and-a-half-long video of individuals organizing springs and seals and determining rotor timing on this one-of-a-kind motor with little or no documentation is so satisfying, which is why I’m sharing it with you.
In addition to the large organizational problem offered by this many rotors, Dahm and firm should attempt to work out what made this engine kick the bucket within the first place, then attempt to forestall it from occurring once more. This includes working with a ton of custom-machined components, astronomical costs for even Mazda-based rotary engines after which performing some A Beautiful Mind stage arithmetic in order that not solely are all of the rotors timed appropriately, however they’re additionally set up so {that a} trendy laptop can run the ignition and in addition so it received’t blow up or shake itself to items.
There’s quite a lot of transferring components. OK, effectively, not that many; it’s a rotary, however as a determine of speech, it really works. Enjoy.
Source: jalopnik.com