914 being unloaded - port of baltimore, interesting photo Options

[wonkipop]

was watching a great little documentary on the development of the wankel engine by mazda in the 1960s. this image came up at a point where discussion shifted to japanese focus on the US market and the foreign car "invasion". i grabbed a screenshot.

[chmillman]

was watching a great little documentary on the development of the wankel engine by mazda in the 1960s.

IIRC Mazda bought the Wankel motor patents from NSU. I had a ‘72 RX-2 I bought used in like ‘74. It was great, loved that car! Motor had incredible power for a little boxy sedan, revved to 7,000 RPM and sounded a bit like a two-stroke (Wankels are actually). And I think I sold it to buy my first 914 in something like ‘78 or ‘79.

Also fun to note that the three principal internal combustion engines were all invented by German engineers. Herr Otto, Herr Wankel and Herr Diesel… Vielen Dank, meine Herren!

[wonkipop]

was watching a great little documentary on the development of the wankel engine by mazda in the 1960s.

IIRC Mazda bought the Wankel motor patents from NSU. I had a ‘72 RX-2 I bought used in like ‘74. It was great, loved that car! Motor had incredible power for a little boxy sedan, revved to 7,000 RPM and sounded a bit like a two-stroke (Wankels are actually). And I think I sold it to buy my first 914 in something like ‘78 or ‘79.

Also fun to note that the three principal internal combustion engines were all invented by German engineers. Herr Otto, Herr Wankel and Herr Diesel… Vielen Dank, meine Herren!

Mazda took out a license from NSU to develope the wankel.
they were given a special rate (less $) on the licensing because they agreed to limit sales of any future wankel engine cars to the asian/pacific market.

other manufacturers also took out licenses from NSU. daimler (mercedes benz), GM are the ones i know about. not sure if Ford took it up, don't think so. Citroen signed a co development deal with NSU - this was known as Co-motor. the citroen deal did result in a production run of cars known as the GS Birotor. they were all bought back by citroen in an attempt to shut down warranty claims. (well nearly all - we look after a birotor here, very rare, think its the only one in aus).

my mate owns an NSU RO80. he has had the car since the very early 70s (second owner). still has its original wankel engine it came with. numbers matching as they say. thats rare as well. most of them blew up before they got past 20,000 miles so run either replacement wankels or mazda transplant engines. he has always looked after his carefully. long warm up and then if he drives it no short trip. gets driven all day. its meant its only had one rebuild its entire life to get new rotor tips. rest of engine was fine and was reassembled.
lot of challenges to keeping one going these days. spark plug unobtainable.

but you are right. they smell like a two stroke when running. use an oil injection system to lubricate the rotor tips in the combustion chambers. the tank is separate from the sump. one of the interesting features is the sump and general engine oil does not get contaminated by general engine fuel vapors etc like conventional engines. much longer time between general oil changes compared to otto cycle engines.

the NSU also has a sporto box. pretty much as per the porsche sporto box.

the NSU engineers were merged with Audi by VW in the late 60s.
the modern audi is in effect an extension out of the NSU.
the NSU RO80s were built to a very high standard of quality.
pretty much equal to a mercedes........but for the fatally flawed engine.