1974 Suzuki Rotary Tokyo Motorcycle Show - 3-Page Vintage Article

Description

1974 Suzuki Rotary Tokyo Motorcycle Show - 3-Page Vintage Article
Original, vintage magazine article.
Page Size: Approx. 8" x 11" (21 cm x 28 cm) each page
Condition: Good
Our Mission to Tokyo comes
home with news of a new
motorcycle that may be
more civilized than
believable.
electrodes of a single spark plug.
Primary external cooling is accom-
plished by a large radiator, curved to com-
press more surface into an acceptable
frontal area. The electrically driven fan
draws air through the radiator for static
cooling and is entirely shrouded, both for
greater thermal efficiency and to prevent
untimely severing of infant digits.
The lubricant is also treated by its own
cooler, neatly mated to the bottom of the
coolant radiator. These two liquid reser-
voirs are adequately protected from road
rash by a sturdy perimeter guard, known
in Paleolithic times as a crash bar.
Meanwhile, back at the engine, this oil
will circulate through the eccentric shaft
and rotor to aid internal cooling as well as
to provide lubrication. Oil is also injected
at the intake port, transferred with the
fuel/air mixture, and consumed in com-
bustion—cum two-stroke practice—to lub-
ricate the rotary engine’s only known
Achilles’ heel, the rotor tip seals.
As is now well known, Wankel engine
exhaust gases—like the two-stroke piston
engine—have a rich component of un-
burned hydrocarbons, but—unlike the
two-stroke—exit the exhaust port at a strat-
ospheric temperature. The exhaust system
must therefore cope with these challeng-
ing characteristics in a manner heretofore
unseen on a motorcycle, and the Suzuki
engineers have created some exotic, al-
though conventional looking plumbing
which attacks the problems in three ways.
There is a heavily finned spigot that re-
ceives the incandescent blast from the per-
ipheral port and splits the output in two.
The two head pipes, coupled to the spigot
with conventional finned collars, then start
their run to the mufflers, entering a larger,
concentric tube at the first bend, where a
louvered intake points into the airstream
Above
Right side of new Suzuki. Two
cylindrical projections are: ignition
breaker housing (top); oil filter cartridge
(bottom). Note extensive radiator
protection, finned exhaust spigot.
Right
Weird bedside dock-radio instrument
pod includes speedometer, tachometer
and water temperature gauge.
Last month, Cycle Guide described the
new Suzuki RX-5, as introduced al the
Tokyo Motor Show. This month, we have
some four-color photos and more details
for you.
Contrary to reports in some weekly en-
thusiast newspapers (both North Ameri-
can and Continental), the RX-5 engine
has but one rotor and, unlike the Mazda
engine, both induction and exhaust take
place through peripheral ports. The igni-
tion system is transistorized for the critical
firing control demanded by any rotary-
piston system but wisely depends on con-
tact points for liming of the arc across the...
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