Fixing the BIGGEST Problems of the Rotary Engine

Learning by testing, trying to correct problems and making mistakes, them sharing with everyone. You are a good man Rob.

Idk if I'll own a rotary engine, but I'm sure as hell gonna sit here and learn. 21 minute video!!

It’s an utter shame how the engineering world gave up on the Rotary engine so quickly. Had they gotten the same attention piston engines got, who knows where they’d be today. People like you are putting in the effort to bring it back!

The first new car my family had was a 1972 Mazda RX2. I remember how smooth that engine was and it never left my mind. Sadly, the car was totaled when it was three weeks old and we replaced it with a larger car. I thought that the rotary engine would be the thing of the future at the time. Here we are fifty years later and this video is a blast from the past for me. Well done, sir. You have earned another subscriber.

Dahm just wants the rotary to live. Dahm does not care about secrets. This is the way.

THIS! Sad part is, so many in the rotary community will deny and call you a liar because they don't want their customers to be wise and save money. Keep it up! So glad I'm learning this before I do my inevitable rebuild

We used to remove 3 thou off each side entirely not just the tips. We also machined the actual faces down on the rotors as well. You’d be surprised how different each casting is and how unevenly material removal was on those faces. Ran 13b’s with 58psi making 980+whp pretty much indefinitely for multiple drag seasons on customer cars. Just clearance and balance and run a good studded block and they’ll run forever. There’s no real secrets to be had or magic port work that hasn’t already been tried over the past 50yrs.

Man, I feel like you glossed over detonation, which is a bug issue for the FD. Detonation will destroy those apex seals and, like mentioned, will destroy the rotor housing and the turbochargers on the way out. Two necessary solutions here that weren't mentioned. First, the stock intercooler for the FD3S is laughably small. A larger intercooler will keep charge air temperature down to reduce the risk of detonation. Also, the factory apex seals come in two pieces. They do slide around and make somewhat of a better seal but machining the rotors to accept a larger 3mm single piece apex seal is a much better option.

“That’s what you get when you’re surrounded by guys who smoke weed in the shop” RIP Rob’s torch

When I discuss Rotary engines vs Piston engines with folks I always point out the difference in engineering efforts. The overall effort (engineering/testing/etc) to improve the piston engine absolutely dwarfs the Rotary engine. I often wonder what may have been if the Rotary had even 1/10th of the same effort applied to it. Great video.

Man the 2stroke idea is brilliant.

Really interesting vid, I've said this for a long time, tighter fitting components make much stronger motors. As long as clearances arnt silly tight like f1 motors and you warm things ups properly (2 stroke talk there) then your going to avoid so much hassle in the future. High hp builds are difficult, my daily vehicles are usually low tune massive reliability. My toys are high tune lower reliably... but in the same breath if you warm things up and dont just beat on them out the gate then higher performance motors can still give very respectable bang for buck. Thanks for being an inspiration for many years Rob, I'm genuinely glad it's worked out for you. I'm a bike guy through and through but your passion for rotary engines is genuinely inspiring!

Love the fact you’ve gone from starting with a basic knowledge of rotaries, to fully fabricating parts and successfully building and tuning them to 1000+hp. Dahm, take a fucking bow my friend.

The Dahm gods have blessed us with another video

The Wankel Engine has SO much potential. It defies belief that only one company was willing to take the risks to produce it. I remember coming to the exact same conclusion you did about the two-stroke oil. E-85...that's brilliant because it's a little bit counter intuitive. I always wondered why the apex seals would fail...which you explained beautifully. I just had a thought about a maranging stainless steel alloy. Such an alloy actually gets stronger as it gets hotter...up to a certain temperature. You may need some babbit metals alloyed with it to provide proper wear characteristics. You need to study metallurgy on your own. A smart guy like you may come up with the best alloy and solve that issue once and for all. Also, the spring under the apex seal, maybe there's some super unobtanium alloy that will last the useful life of the engine. I think you should focus on the aviation market...once you fix all of the issues. It's a good compromise between a reciprocating engine & gas turbine. The sky is the limit!

I never have owned or driven a rotary, I still found this interesting. Thanks Rob.

I love the fact that Dahm is shitting on years upon years of shite mechanics (which are responsible for many cool cars having bad reputations in US, not just an engine, because of their incompetence) but also the "boutique" gate keepers. Rotaries are here to stay. Every day there's new rotary content and more and more people who learn that the bullshit is just that, bullshit.

Guys in the shop in one of robs car: why we goin do fuckin fast!? Rob sitting there, stationary: I knew I shouldn't have given them the torch

I plan on fixing my 2004 Rx 8. She has been sitting for a little bit. I start her up once in a while. Everyone keeps on telling me to swap that boat anchor out and I refuse. ( yes I'm a girl that knows a lot more about rotary then the guys around me ) I've done most of the work on my car. I love 💕 working on cars. Can't wait to pull my engine and see inside and at the same time nervous. It takes a lot of money to rebuild. Good thing im about to start a job. Great Vid by the way. I'm going to prove them all wrong one of these days a rotary can be reliable. Hopefully sooner then later 13B

Great video man, it's really nice that people like you keep the rotary alive and improve it.