"Mazda was able to avoid this cost by enriching the air/fuel mixture and increasing the amount of unburned hydrocarbons in the exhaust to actually support complete combustion in a 'thermal reactor' (an enlarged open chamber in the exhaust manifold) without the need for a catalytic converter, thereby producing a clean exhaust at the cost of some extra fuel consumption."


Is it possible to bypass this thermal reactor and lean the air/fuel mixture to have less unused gas? Just wondering what the results would be

 

From what context was that quote taken ?
It is nothing to do with RX8 - we still have a Cat .

 

wikipedia on the rotary. apparently it was used on rx7s. didnt know if ours applied

 

very early rx7 u mean

 

My old RX-3 had one, and like NYCPS says, early '7s had 'em, but they are old tech.

S

 

this is the thing that I dont like about wikipedia. they have **** loads of information for sure, but some of them just not *clear* enough.

 

The last rotaries to have them were the '79-'80 1st gen RX-7's. In '81 they switched to a cat and have never looked back. It was more than just an open chamber. It had some crazy baffling inside that was absolutely horrid for airflow. A cat is a free flowing device by comparison.

Be careful about what you choose to believe on Wikipedia. Some of it is good info. Other bits aren't.

 

Are you sure? IF I remember correctly my 82 GSL had the reactor and a cat.

 

Nope you had a plain old cast manifold and a cat. All 1st gens 81 and up were this way. The manifold was nothing more than a box. The thermal reactors were big round cast manifolds with internal baffling.

 

Wow, now if I could only remember who fibbed to me all those years ago. LOL