Renesis factory assembly video
 

http://www.rx-8.mazda.co.jp/products/driving10.html

link to video at bottom of page (WMV, about 2:20, 5MB)

Terrific Link!!! It really does show the beautiful simplicity of this engine. I know that we have constantly heard there are very few moving parts, but this video really takes you to whole different level of understanding that statement.

So now that I know how to assemble a rotary, I'll be opening my shop soon :D

Maybe I was expecting too much, but I thought the whole process looked supper low tech. It was kind of like watching Joe Izusu throw together an engine. I was expecting a super precision robotic clean room.

I would be proud of my engine being build by hand by expert craftmans. Like those Aston Martin engines or AMG engines, when they attach the name of the builder on the engine.
Honda is using the same "low tech" procedure on their NSX to ensure the maximum possible quality.
Not every manufacturer can afford this type of assembly. It is cheaper to use robots nowadays.

it's only cheaper if you're gonna build a million engines.... this is a limited production assembly line, and really, that's the way it's done for race engines, even F1... i think i like the idea of hand-built better too ;)

I suppose the more simple the engine construction and least moving parts, the less can go wrong. I like the human touch although the chance of a fcuk up is greater (sadly).

Nice to see that they are building something out there!

rael

actually, i think that the human compontent allows for a higher quality product, as you cannot have a machine to get a little bit screwed up and mucking up hundreds and hundreds of engines, requiring recalls and stuff... after all, the people that are putting these together are the ones who'd be "teaching" the machines how to do it anyways...

Actually, Mazda has built rotaries just like this for all the RX-7's - by hand. It's not very time consuming to build one - heck, my first rebuild took me about 3 hours from start to finish, and that was double-checking the shop manual every step of the way.

I would imagine at this stage it probably takes around 10-15 minutes to assemble an engine. It doesn't take long to install the seals on a rotor, and it sure doesn't take long to put all the components together into an engine.

One nice thing about the Renesis is they went back to having the water seal grooves on the rotor housings instead of on the irons - this is a VERY good thing. When it comes time to rebuild, you just huck the rotor housings, lap the side plates, put in new seals, and have a nice, tight engine again. The 2nd gen and 3rd gen engines had the water seal grooves in the irons, so you couldn't lap the side plates many times without removing too much material for the water seals.

There's a LOT less precision to building a rotary than a piston engine - the precision is in the machining. You really just fit the seals into the rotor and layer the whole works together.

Anyhow, that's one killer video. It's good to see PRODUCTION happening!

Dale

hopefully the renesis is sturdy enough so that we won't be talking about rebuilding one anytime soon (except if you're beefing it up for racing purposes :D )

Just show me any other car with an engine built by hand. If there exists one at all it is probably much more expensive. It like it very much to drive a car soon that has an engine wich was carefully build by a quiet calm worker by hand with passion and patience. It is not only the concept of the car that is exclusive and it is not the low production numbers either - it is also the way the car is built. I like the Japanese taking over the best tradition of british carmaking.

that's the whole idea of the wankel engine.

that poor man's got 30,000 more to do....well, maybe 15,000 if he's got a friend helping :)

Can some one tell me how to save this film to my harddrive?
Or can some one put it on a website so that you can download it...

//Magnus

Do a Google search for ASFRecorder or one of its variants (like ASFR+). I've put a zip of the 300 kbit stream
here (5167KB).

Thanks man!
It's enought for me....:)

//magnus

I think that was my engine they were building for my RX-8... :D :D

An odd thing is it has 1/3 the moving parts but takes Mazda 2x as long to assemble as a recip engine. I also like the hand built quality, plus I dont know if a machine forgets a side seal spring or something, they are very well trained and take a lot of pride in what they do, as they should.

Kyle Lancaster--El Cajon Mazda Kia

Twice as long to assemble eh?! I wonder how long it would take to assemble a boinger by hand.

1/3???? It only has 3 and even a 4 cyl. 2 valve would have over 30 plus (4 cyl + 8 valves + 4 connecting rods + 8 push rods + 8 lifters + ++) Any mechanics want to tackle this equation?

gamera (or anyone else),
would you be so kind as to repost the RENESIS_high.wmv.zip file? i get a 404 when using the original link in this thread. many thanks for capturing the files in the first place and making them available for us. i've tried the asf recorder, but it keeps hanging at 99%. i'll get it figured out eventually.
until the next time,
murl'n

Murln,
I just re-enabled the link:
RENESIS_high.wmv.zip

gamera,
many thanks. having never rebuilt a rotary before, i found it very enlightening. thanks again,
murl'n

Hate to pull this to the top again but does anybody have a copy of this video still. I have lost mine and its no longer on Mazda's websight.

Thanks,