Mazda restarts rotary mass production

https://www.motor1.com/news/673230/mazda-restarts-rotary-engine-production/

The factory never really shut down, although they did stop making anything but 13B parts a while back.  You can still buy brand new GSL-SE rotor housings and they occasionally will make a batch of all new FD engines.

But this is different, and it seems interesting: an 830cc single-rotor range extender for one of their EVs.  If they continue to use NSU-style displacement measurement and if they use the same eccentricity as a 10A-12A-13B-20B engine, that equates to a rotor width of a hair over 100mm, 20mm wider than that of a 13B and 40mm wider than that of the 10A.

It will be interesting to see what this engine looks like internally, and how much if any it shares with the older engines.  The last time Mazda made a significant change was in 1973,

At 830cc, I thought this might be half of the 16X engine shown years ago, but it's probably bigger since they rounded up with the 12A's 1146cc displacement.

I hope it's not a warm restart.......

In reply to EricM :

Electronics have improved since 1986, I assume they no longer have buggy software that adds an additional cold start enrichment on top of the existing one.

Any more evidence of Mazda playing with the intake and exhaust port location?I saw some diagrams maybe a year ago where the exhaust ports were at the top of the engine on what would be the passenger side of the car. This was I guess an attempt to manage heat a little better?

In reply to dannyp84 :

I think I know the patent drawings you're talking about, it also showed a turbo on top of the engine.

Images released earlier this year show it's still a side port exhaust, that's a lot better for emissions than a peripheral port, with an injector on top.

And the coolant seals are back on the side housings.

What? (I kid, I kid.)

On the one hand, boooo coolant seals on side housings.  Especially on a side exhaust engine.

On the other hand, since it is a one rotor, and does not need to power a transmission per se, the exhaust can exit straight out the engine instead of curving through the water jackets and cooking the seals.

If that is a mockup preproduction engine, it most certainly does not use the same eccentricity as the "everything Mazda made except the 13A" engines.  The rotor is way too narrow looking for that, which in itself is odd because thermal efficiency goes up as the rotor gets wider.

And where are the spark plugs?  I don't even see bosses in the water jackets for them.  Very, very curious.

In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :

It has a single spark plug, that CGI model doesn't show the water jacket around it so maybe the coolant seals were omitted too.

Ooof.  You know this engine will only kick on when it is going to be heavily loaded.  Personal experimentation suggests that the trailing plug is actually more important than leading when under light load.

That would be a very good thing if it were a peripheral exhaust engine, since being heavily loaded is what makes them happy and long lived.  The side exhaust engines do not seem to cotton to be heavily loaded for long periods of time.

I hope this is a success for Mazda. Isn't the big failure of rotaries that they generate all their heat in one region and thus, are prone to warp? Would that explain the plug position, better for more consistent heat?

GIRTHQUAKE said:

I hope this is a success for Mazda. Isn't the big failure of rotaries that they generate all their heat in one region and thus, are prone to warp? Would that explain the plug position, better for more consistent heat?

If you define failure in a business sense, their biggest failure has been returning V6 power with V8 mileage at best. I wonder if using it in a narrow RPM and load range improves this.

In reply to MadScientistMatt :

"Failure" as in, this is the thing that always seems to be the reason for rebuilds is the warping since the combustion chamber is only on one side of the engine.

I'm intrigued. It'd be nice to see Mazda come out with something other than another crossover. Ugh.

In reply to J.A. Ackley :

I wish they would put that straight 6 they made in a sedan or sports car. 

J.A. Ackley said:

I'm intrigued. It'd be nice to see Mazda come out with something other than another crossover. Ugh.

It'd be nice if the market asked for something other than another crossover.  

kanaric said:

In reply to J.A. Ackley :

I wish they would put that straight 6 they made in a sedan or sports car. 

when did Mazda make a straight 6?

Nevermind.