fuel mixture

[ratmn218]

i have a 1972( i think )artic cat with a wankle motor and i cant remember what mixture to run?

[loosegoose]

It would be either 40:1 or 50:1.

[ChuckN]

Good question on the Wankle, never owned one.

I've owned '74 Panther (Kawasaki) Cats and 75-78 Panthers/Jags (Suzuki). Those engines called for 20:1 mix, really rich.

[ratmn218]

anyone with a guess? 20 to 1 ?or 50 to 1?

[hanson]

I sent an e-mail to a guy I sort of know about the Wankle. He has a Wankle cat and knows a thing or two about vintage cats. I'll post a response if I find out anything. Is it a Sachs 303 Wankle?

I would say run it rich to start 20:1. If you are having problems with plugs oil fouling or excessive smoke, you could lean it out a bit.

I will say I love that motor, sort of sounds like a helicopter.

Who would have thought rotary engine technology would make a comeback- Mazda RX-8.

[Surface Tension]

1 qt of oil to 5 gals of gas or 20:1

[Knotwood]

What's my oil mix? Working at a chainsaw place, this had to be the most asked question. Oils have improved dramatically, old manuals will state 16:1, 24:1, 40:1, but unless it's a slow turning engine, or has bushings for bearings, I'd go with the 50:1 oils, and keep your gas fresh. Don't use an outboard oil, anything that has BIA on it, designed for water-cooled engines, lower temps, steady loads, lower rpm's. There are new two cycle ratings out, too, partly due to new snowmobiles and EPA regs. For many years, manufacturers could put in any old sludge and sell it as two stroke mix oil. The industry has been making "smoke-less" oils, and lots of additives to keep fuels from deteriorating. We saw more seized pistons due to too much oil, more than the guys who forgot to put any in at all. Wankels need good ring sealing, so they might need a slightly richer mix, but too much will make them stick. Also, switching brands can make your plugs carbon foul, which means carbon builds up with one brand, and gets knocked off by another, the tiny bits lodge in between the electrodes and pop, or even shut down the engine, pull the plug, remove the offending chunk, and your good to go- can happen several times, saw one guy happened a dozen tries before it got cleaned up good. Techron or Lucas top end cylinder lubricants helps clean deposits off. You might check in with some vintage rider clubs, see what works for those guys.

[Knotwood]

Try this site for some info and links...

www.monito.com/wankel/snow.html

[hanson]

ratmn218-

Here is the response I received. Good info.

"Thanks for writing me. Yeah it used to be you had to buy a special two stroke oil for piston engines and another for the Sachs and OMC wankels, but not anymore. I've run my 1972 Panther 303 for so much now the chassis needs to be taken down to the bare tunnel and done over again, but my engine runs fine on what I am feeding it. I run at 40-1 for the 303 KM914B Sachs and use the ordinary Arctic Cat 50-1 premix/oil injection "green" oil and 92 Octane minimum super unleaded. I also run the NGK B7HS or the resistor version of the same plug, depending on what I can get, and gap it at 20 thousands. You can run that mix with almost any vintage Arctic motor and do fine if all you want to do is putt putt. Friends tell me they do the same with the other brands of old sleds too. Klotz synthetic works OK too. So does Amsoil traditional synthetic at the same ratio. Just avoid the cheap Walmart brands of generic two stroke oils and the outboard boat oils as they are not meant to run at super cold temps like the sled oils are. Funny thing is you can run sled oil in a boat but I would not run boat oil in a sled. Just one of those things. I know it says 25-1 for the KM24 engine but you can run the same mix in both now and ditto for the OMC motors I'd bet. The new oils are so good even the basic big 4 (Cat/Doo/Polaris/Yam) will work in these engines OK. If I was going to race I'd run the new Klotz or Amsoil for an added measure of insurance. But for trail riding I've had NO trouble running the newer Cat oil and the nice green dye is great for eyeballing the fuel to see if it is mixed or not. Also, if they are running the KM24 Sachs 295 rotary to watch out for that plug reach! (Contact US Regarding This Word) engine was switched over in mid model year 1974 to a different reach plug casting and it can be dangerous to the rotor to run the wrong reach. Some el-cheapo plugs for the 303 are listed wrong and have the same problem. You can wipe out the rotor tips. OUCH."

[ratmn218]

just want to thank everyone for the good info. im going to run artic cat pre mix oil at a rich 40-1 mixture, with a high octane gas .im going to run the tamarac to lawler run this saterday, then the fish lake run in feb. thanks again everyone.now if i could only find a new leopard seat i would be happy, without spending an arm and a leg.!!!!!