Quote:
Originally Posted by Kevin@Lockley-Engineering  The general rule of thumb with rotary's is they need rebuilding every 60,000 miles. But this all depends like any other car of how well it's been looked after. Obviously the more power you push through it the shorter amount of life span the engine will have.
Our main car that we've currently built is a street ported FD RX7 with the 13B engine in it. The engine in the car lasted 77,000 miles previously before the water seal went on it and it needed rebuilding. Once mapping sessions have been done we hope to extract around the 400hp level, how long this will last is hard to say. The main part of maintaining a rotary is the cooling system, if this is kept on top of with decent upgraded radiator and regular oil/plug changes then it will last the distance. 
On a side note another one of our cars, which is an s14 has seen some moderate abuse and the engine give out @ 55K miles. 
Nothing is bullet proof in the world of drifting...... Except maybe a volvo?  |
Rotaries can and do last beyond 60 000 odd miles. As you rightly state, the cooling system is the most important part. Anyone concidering buying a rotary shouldn't be put off by the potential rebuild. As long as the engine is mapped properly by some one who knows the stresses of drifting, the powerplant can be more rewarding than most other setups.
Cheers,
John