Rotary God, for those of us that have added a turbo, what modifications would you suggest for longevity? Bigger radiators, another oil cooler, heat shielding around the turbo, ventillated hood, are all things I was considering, but I can't afford to do everything.

 

If you're not willing to settle for less than a statistically significant sample of engines under real-world usage conditions, then you're not going to be able get any reliability data past about 2 years and probably 25000-40000 miles driven at this point.

No test or survey has ever been created that will allow for the collection of data which doesn't exist. The closest you'll come is attempts at extrapolation based on similarity to other data which does exist. The alternative to that is straight fabrication, which won't get you anywhere good.....

 

How about averaging 134 miles per hour for 24 hours??

http://rotarynews.com/?q=node/view/463

 

That definitely can't hurt.

 

Zoom corrected me, but that article lists the endurance competition I had mistaken for LeMans.

Okay, on the bigger issue, correct me if I'm wrong, but the biggest changes made to the Renesis from previous rotaries are:

1) Side ports

2) Materials used to make Apex seals

3) No turbochargers

4) No forced induction

5) Larger capacity oil coolers (and dual oil coolers in MT version)

 

I think we'll know once a lot of RX-8s start topping the 50k mark. There has been a fair share of replaced engines it seems, but certainly doesn't seem to be at a point where it's a concern like it was with the FD. It's just one of those things that time will tell. I know if I owned an RX-8 I'd worry about it a little, just like I worry a little about the tranny with my WRX.