It is my understanding the high exhaust emission caused the Rotary to be
discontinued for sale in the States. The fuel mileage was also a factor.
I seem to remember that one of the highly advertised attributes the
original Mazda Rotary Engines was how clean they were. They were using
catalytic converters to meet U.S. Emission Standards then. But standards
got tougher to meet as time went by. The VW bug air-cooled engine went
away for the same reason.
Tom
ardunbill@webtv.net wrote:
>
> Thanks for that historical perspective on the
> Wankel, Chuck. No question that this design has been very successful in
> all ways, best known as the powerful, reliable and long-lasting RX-7
> sports car engine for years and years.
>
> During its latter days adventures, the Norton motorcycle company in
> England made Wankel-powered bikes for a while. Not too many of them,
> but I do recall they made a few 'pukka' (genuine) racejobs that cut a
> great figure in the Isle of Man T.T. races for speed, power, reliability
> and lap records some years back.
>
> Despite all this, the type seems to have more or less been dropped. Are
> any being manufactured at all now? If not,why? Emissions, maybe? I
> seem to recall the Wankel loses some of its fuel out the exhaust as an
> inherent feature. For the same reasons the exhaust note is so loud.
>
> Regards, ArdunBill from Chesapeake, VA
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