Rotary AE86. Worth it?

[senna]

Hi, as a Mazda Rx7 Fc turbo driver i can tell you rotaries are absolutely awsome. Specialy when they're not broken. Most 13b's you'l find on the internet will require a overhaul pretty soon. The nasty thing with rotaries is that they run perfectly five minutes before a complete fail. So buying a rotary engine with nice compression and no nasty symptoms is absolutely no guarantee for a lasting engine. If by some miracle you are able to find a good engine then you will get 200 bhp / 265nm of rotary fun. Fun that will cost you lots and lots of fuel for they are legendary thirsty. Anything better then 8km on 1 liter gasoline will be hard to achieve and 4km/1 liter will be normal when you step on it. Tuning these engines for more power is pretty easy but will hurt reliability and fuel economy.

Good things:
Very smooth engine power
Rotary sound

Bad things:
Very poor fuel economy
engine will probably need a overhaul pretty soon
The moment you start tuning them there will be an eternal struggle for balance that will cost you lots of money.

Example:
Try 1: I started out with a racing beat exhaust that upped the power from 200 bhp to 260. I added a $120 fuel cut defenser for safety.
result: 500km of circuit fun and a blown engine.

Try 2: I got the engine overhauled and streetported for $4000
added a $150 fuel controler a $200 blow off and a $200 boost controler for safety.
result: 400 km of fun then the turbo blew.

Try 3:
Fitted a bigger $800 turbo to better match the flow of the engine.
result: 450 km of fun then the turbo blew.

Try 4:
Got myself a $500 front mount intercooler, a stock turbo and shimmed the stock 10mm wastegate.
Result 400 km of fun then the turbo blew.

Try 5:
Got myself a brand new (big) $900 HKS turbo and a $200 50mm external wastegate and bigger $200 injectors.
Result: Lots of horsepower and a fuel thirsty flame spitting monster.
I'm not even going to add those numbers for fear of fatal depression.
I could have saved myself those turbo's if i went straight for the giant wastegate but the lesson is that all of those parts are connected and need each other to be able to perform reliable. If you want more then stock power, your WAY better off with a nissan engine. Better mileage, more reliable, and cheaper to tune. If money is not an issue, by all means go for the rotary. If not, save yourself the trouble!