ASH8

For those who would like to see some 'compact' images of where their Mazda Rotary Engine is made on the assembly line at the Mazda Ujina Plant in Hiroshima, these are MME sourced and are all of the 6 that are currently available.


At this stage there are no close up images of the engines actual internal construction available from MME.

ASH8

Images are now larger to view...thanks for you comments guys.

These are available in High Res 3.2mb size each, however, I can not at the moment host any requests, unless another member is prepared to say so here.
I am restricted at the moment to NARROWBAND....GRRRR, bloody telco.s..

XDEEDUBBX

thats where our babies are born! awwwwwww (tears)

RL8

Thanks for the post. Didn't know our engines were hand-built!?

9G Redline

That's something I love to brag about when it comes to my car. Perhaps it's also partly why no two rotarys run exactly the same.

Mazmart

iTrader: (12)

I'd like to see a close-up of the fourth image if possible. Thanks for these images by the way.
Paul.

Easy_E1

iTrader: (2)

number 5 is the best
Thanks for the pics, good job.

SilverEIGHT

Wow, there is not a speck of dust in that place. look how shinny everything is. Looks like an operating room. Thanks for sharing.

DailyDriver2k5

Hmmmm.......Thats why my rotary can go to 10k RPM....my builder put a little extra TLC into her.

9G Redline

LOL!!! Well fortuantely for us, your builder was a ***** bc they shared the TLC of 10k with everyone. Lol!

bascho

Most engines are hand built......at least for Ford they are.

canaryrx8

iTrader: (3)

sweet, nice find

Magic8

Most mass-production cars and engine are hand assembled.

I think the difference between a Ferrari hand-built engine and our hand assembled engine is that the fit between engine components on a Ferrari engine has to be manual adjusted to fit (i.e. file, polished, honed, whatever), where as the mass-produced engines, like the Renesis, have mass-produced components and are interchangeable.

rotarygod

^That's pretty much it. These guys aren't sitting there with calipers measuring every little thing to make sure each seal has the perfect gap. The Renesis is a little different than the 13B in that each side seal now has it's own corresponding letter stamped next to the seal groove. This letter corresponds with a certain length side seal. The guys look at the letter, grab the corresponding side seals and insert them hoping everything is perfect and labeled properly. The other seals are literally just grabbed out of a bin and inserted. They try to manufacture all of the parts within a certain spec so they don't need to go fine tune the fit. There's nothing wrong with this and auto manufacturers have taken this same approach for years with all kinds of engines. That's what sets Ferrari and other high end car engines apart. They go the extra mile and put in the extra effort to make sure it's perfect rather than "within spec".

Jedi54

iTrader: (7)

aaahhh, those little guys are soooo CUTE!!

ASH8

Yep...That's part of the reason why Mazda and most Japanese Auto makers do it better than any other over the past decades, and will continue to do so...

Until Ford, GM, others, in the US and Australia come close to the Japanese Attention to detail, QC, and overall pride/work ethic, etc, etc., there is no comparison with the Finnish and Quality of the product that you don't see when comparing to other brands.
Sorry, Bascho....

lesper4

iTrader: (3)

its pretty cool that we have hadn built engines, but it is also quite intresting to see what the people look like who build them.

Nemesis8

iTrader: (3)

I can host the High Resolution Pics

Xantium

I think another difference is that this is an assembly line. Each worker does and job and then the block looks like its passed on to the next person. The ls7 is built by just one person, the person actually had to put their name on the plaque on the engine.

brillo

The rotary plant is also Mazda's Halo facility, its like working on the Corvette for GM. Only the best get to work there, which hopefully means even better quality overall.

ASH8

Actually the assembly of the engine is completed by a total of 3 persons once the parts are manufactured.

Image "40" shows employees sub assembling the rotors (apex seals and springs, corner seals and springs, side seals and springs and oil control rings and springs) once this is done the worker puts a large rubber band around the 3 rotor's apex seals to hold the rotor assembly together for the installer.

Next, another worker is sub assembling the rotor housing with their o rings and seals.

The last worker, and this can only be done from start to finish by the same person, assembles the engine in a "sandwich form " like you see when you view the rotary engine in a car. The worker assembles ALL the sub parts mentioned earlier by hand.
First..End plate, then, rotor, rotor housing, eccentric shaft, middle plate, rotor, rotor housing, top plate.....in a precise manner and routine...that's basically it, then of course, water pump, metering oil pump, alternator, electricals and wiring and other 'hang ons' are added like you see and inspected/tested pics.

So, IMO, the Rotary engine IS Hand Made...yes all components are made to "within spec", but their manufactured tolerances are extremely close/fine.
Rotors are paired with the eccentric shaft (the parts that move) and are that close to what I would call "blue printed".