Yeah thats right, we just cant get enough of the old school Rotaries. Unfortunatly though this project isn't ours. The customer will not sell the car what so ever. But he wants us to rebuild the engine and get it running for him. So of course we agreed to! Especially on something as rare as an orignal 1970 NSU Ro80!

Its the second production vehicle ever made with a Rotary engine licenced under NSU. The engine isn't considered a 12A or a 13B, its just known as a twin rotor and has less displacement than a 12A. Also the engine is a factory Peripheral Port design which uses twin Solex sidedraft carbs.

He happens to have 2 spare complete engines as well as the engine that originally came out of it, so we have a few parts to choose from when rebuilding it which is going to be very helpful especially knowing how rare these parts are.

The car itself is a 1970 and was last licenced on the road in 1973, it has only 53,xxx miles on it. Its an unbelievebly advanced car for its time, power sunroof, 3spd clutchless transmission (old skool tip-tronic basically) 4 wheel disc brakes ect...

Enough reading I bet you want to see some pics!





























Probably the best part is that its another hidden Rotary treasure we came across right here in Ontario....

 

that must be worth a shiny nickle right there

 

That is a level of sweetness very rarely seen.

Was this by any chance a car that was originally from the Rhode Island (however it is spelled...) area? I was bidding on one a few years ago through eBay that looked exactly the same but it fell through due to the seller....

Great find! Hopefully it will rebuilt exactly as stock? And become a new daily driver?

While not as cool as an Ro80, I have recently entered the realm of old-school rotary as well...Will post pictures in a new thread once I officially take possession.

Pretty soon there will be some great old rotaries at the meets instead of just the usual RX-7s!

 

very kool

what does NSU stand for ?

 

Quoting my own post here, just because I'm an idiot. Reread the first paragraph and saw that the owner is the original...Very cool.

 

Nice Aaron! your going to tease me now and not post pics eh? Damn you! haha
Yes this car is still with the original owner, was never for sale.

NSU was a very old company by the time they began making cars, a quick Google search tells me that "NSU" came from the word Neckarsulm which is a city in northern Germany and where the founders Heinrich Stoll and Christian Schmidt were orignally from.

 

wow........very nice.
have fun working on it!

 

Funny thing - back in the day (in theUK) NSU was fondly known to stand for No Sodding Use....

BTW - how will you overcome the apex seal chatter problems that plagued these early rotaries - life expectancy of the engine at the time was horribly short?

 

True, infact the owner told me that its the 3rd motor that was in it from new! They sometimes only lasted 10,000 miles.
I've been in contact with Hurley in the UK, they can get me all the parts needed to rebuild it and make it realiable (newer seals).

 

That is truly Vintage!

 

Wankel came to NSU (Neckarsulmer Strickmachinen Union) in 1951 when they were still building motorcycles. Felix's initial job was to develop a rotary valve for their motorcycle engines. He threatened to leave them in '54 unless they provided funding and equipment to develop his idea of the rotary engine. NSU offered the Spyder in '64 that had a single 498cc rotary that was under the floor of the trunk. It too was fed with a Solex carb. It used peripheral ports for both the intake and the exhaust.

Apparently, owners of the RO80 (which ran a twin rotor 996cc engine) would salute each other holding up fingers of how many carbon apex seals that they had replaced, all under warranty. Glad to hear that you can get a hold of newer seals Joe!

I'll stop rambling on...for now. Damn I love vintage rotaries! I hope that you're gonna have that car around for a few weeks. This I gotta see...and work on my car some more of course.

 

Hehe, are you teaching history this semester Brian?

Funny you mention the NSU Spyder, cause this guy also has a 1959 NSU Prinz Sport which is the hard top piston engine version of the Rotary Spyder.











He has some pretty rare cars!

I dont have the Ro80 at the shop yet, he's going to keep it stored and we are going to collect parts and build the engine over the winter. Then install it in the spring.

 

Oh I dont think I ever posted up the pics I took of the Mazda R360 we went to look at did I? At least not in the Canadian section.

Dan and I came across this 1963 Mazda R360 in Ontario as well, very rare car. Supposedly only 8 in North America. It was Mazda's first ever production car, V twin 14hp air cooled engine and the car is about the size of a large go-kart lol.





We considered buying this, but as you can tell, it is in need of a major resto and would cost alot of $$$ to get the right parts that are missing.


Anyways, our search for more rare Mazda cars continue.....someone must have a mint Cosmo 110S hiding in a barn somewhere or maybe a Mazda Parkway Rotary bus, only 8 ever made.....yeah that'd be nice!

 

It's been a few years since I taught history. But I still manage to bring in a discussion or two of rotaries in most of my classes every so often. You've gotta convince that guy to bring his RO80 to a meet!

I just looked at the time of your post...I can't believe that you're up already. Or...knowing you, you haven't gone to bed yet.

 

Haha no no, I actually sleep now. No more all nighters.

And yes, the Ro80 will be at meets next summer for sure.

 

hey joe , better put mechanic / museum curator on your business card ..... i smell an old school obsession forming.

any rotary motorcycles , boats , lawnmowers, out there ?

 

Haha, yeah museum curator! I like that. The old school obsession has already been formed, no stopping us now lol.

And yes, I know where there is a Susuki RE5 motorcycle



The guy that owns ^that^ also has an FD, FB, a rotary chainsaw and a vintage racecar with a Factory Peripheral Port 13B engine in it





AND Back in the day when I was just a kid, my dad had a 1972? Evinrude RC-35-Q snowmobile. It had a single rotor air cooled rotary in it. Lots of fun!!
Infact that reminds me, maybe this weekend I'll take a drive and visit the guy we sold that snowmobile to and take some pics!

 

Damn...We need to get the owners of these cars to the meets...It will be several years before I'll be able to show up in my vintage rotary, so until then it's the plain ol' RX-7.

Keep the pictures coming...

 

Com'on Aaron tell us what your getting...the suspense is killin me

 

yea , at the very least you can be a Virtual museum curator . fill this thread with all vintage rotary !!!

 

the guy with that chainsaw and motorcycle, I'm pretty sure its Mr. Sean Burgess. I have a picture of his rotary powered chainsaw that I'll post up when I find. He also has a ferrari of some sorts, but I think the FD is his real love. cool guy.

 

The Ro80 also has inboard disc brakes mounted to the inboard CV shaft drive flange. Not a very good idea if one of the axle breaks. I think it also uses a 4 piston caliper there as well.

We had an Ro80 at the shop I used to work at. It wasn't in as nearly as good of a condition as the one in Joe's pictures though.

 

Would that engine not be the same one that was found in the Cosmo 110? the
10A motor I think?

 

Yeah your right, his name is Sean. Great guy.

B6T - was that Ro80 in Canada that you saw?

orion84gsl - No, the NSU engine is different from the Mazda 10A found in the Comso