no kidding I definitely will not do it again. now does anyone have any ideas what may have caused this. We can rule out the compression tester as there hasn't been one on the motor since i received it a few years ago. we can also rule out poor lubrication as all of the other apex seals are moving fine and there is so much assembly oil that it pools in the housing. so maybe the spark plug is what pinched the seal. obviously whatever hit it was in the center of the housing because, the rotor is damage dead center also the edges of the dent in the rotor are rounded. the odd part is that if it is damaged from the spark plug then one of them should have at least a dent in it. but, they aren't even scratched, nothing!

 

the area in the middle of the rotor has an area that wasnt compressed as much. and the plugs have a center area that is open. so im pretty sure that it is a spark plug that caused this but how are there no scratches or distortion on the plugs and how could it have set deep enough?
I tried the plugs in another housing I have and it was at least 1/3 of an inch from being even flush with the inside of the housing so how could it have hit the rotor?

 

I'm not so sure it's a plug issue, I'm curious to know why the damage is behind the apex seal, I assume you spun the engine backwards when this happened.

~S~

 

i have spun it backwards before but it never bound up. i pushed it past forward with the breaker bar. which i assume is when the damage was caused.

 

How could it have been spark plugs, when he said it turned over many times before with no problems? If it was incorrect spark plugs, then it would have got stuck on the first try. NO way is it spark plugs. I'm about 99.99999% sure it is foreign object matter. If it was porting, then it too would have been stuck on the first crank. So this leaves us with really only one option. Something fell into the engine or the builder dropped something inside the combustion chamber when putting the engine together and after turning it over many times it finally got stuck by the spark plug hole. I don't see what else could cause this.

 

if there was debris in the motor wouldnt it have caused damage to the other apex seal when i turned them past it. only one seal gets caught up and its only in one place. if it was debris wouldnt it have moved around and also affected the other seals when they passed by it as well?

 

Not neccessarily, the debris can bounce all over the place and 9 out of 10 times usually exit the exhaust port, but there is a chance it could get stuck especially in the spark plug hole and then the next apex seal in line gets the damage.

 

so I got a call form the freight company today the motor is stuck at the border because of problems with my builders brokerage company. so im having it brought back im going to take it to Ari from rotary performance in garland texas. I have been doing business with him for years and I will feel safer with it there than with some shipping company, that will do God knows what with it.

 

Ari is the man!

 

so after loosing several clients and spending 640 dollars for it to get half way there and come back I'm right back to where I was for 2 weeks ago. grrrreat..... but yes Ari is awesome

 

Keep us updated as to the cause and how it turned out.

 

so I finally got the motor back today after the freight company tried to raise the rate beyond what I was quoted (In writing) I finally got the corporate office to honor the agreement. Then the freight company refused to give me my motor back because they said I they couldn't take cash! they said the needed a cashiers check. I told them that It would have been nice before I drove 45 minutes to get the motor. So I offered every other method under the sun, Cash, check ,credit card, debit card. After a shouting match that nearly turned into violence between three of my friends and I versus the three workers. one of the guys became very close to physically assaulting me which I'm sad he didn't it would have given me the right to use my concealed carry. I finally talked them into taking a money order from 7-11. So I went and got it then brought it back loaded the motor and the guy tried to apologize I just threw the money order in his face told him to f*** off and drove off with my motor. while giving the bird to them out the window. NEVER EVER USE AVERITT EXPRESS

but after wards leaving the depot I saw something that made it worth while.... right across the street is a air force base and i saw a b2 stealth bomber take off and it was the coolest thing ever...... sorry A.D.D kicked in.

Either way the motor is back here at the house safe and sound and I'm going to rotary performance friday to have Ari Fix it

 

I dont know why it didnt post the last pic

 

Ari is a good choice, if in texas that's where I'd go for sure.

~S~

 

If you are in texas, why didn't you go to him in the first place?

 

im in oklahoma I thought it would be better to send it to the original builder. but its too damn hard to get it there

 

Man, what a freaking ordeal eh? Glad you got your motor back from those ******. Give us a heads up as soon as you know the verdict on the cause of the pinched seal. I am really curious now as I'm sure you and everyone else is too.

 

So I dropped off the motor today at rotary performance and picked up a magnum t56 for my t56 swap. Ari called me when he got in and theorized that maybe the bolts that I put in the motor in the past to fill the holes for the oil injectors may have been to long and could have punched through the hole and damaged the inside of the housing. I'm trying to find the bolts to send to him so he can take a look at them. they said they will tear down the motor next week so we will see what happens.

 

hopefully i dont need all new housings. keeping my fingers crossed

 

Well that was a key ingredient to this mystery that you left out- injector bolts!

 

yeah, that would have been nice to mention from the get-go

 

Well you cant just run long bolts in the oil injector holes, its almost like a blind hole. It becomes a little hole in the housing, where the oil injects. To run a bolt through that would require a lot of force, and I think whoever did it would say, "oh **** son"

Who knows what caused this, cant wait to find out...all I know is the owner can afford it, that is clear.

 

I can afford it not because I'm rich. I can afford it because I'm very frugal so i can pay for this car. I'm not a rich man.
I took these pics the bolt is the same legnth as the oil injector the only difference is that the oil injector would have two washers and a banjo bolt in the the way. Sadly I didnt consider that. the good news is that the bolt has a flared head and gets caught up on the housing so that may have saved my butt on this one. here are some pics to show you what i mean.

bolt length

oil injector length

bolt hung up on housing

oil injector in housing without banjo bolt and washers, it doesn't sit quite as deep maybe a millimeter difference. but at the same time bob13bt made a good point the hole is way too small.

 

Exactly the reason we developed this kit with oil injector plugs http://banzai-racing.com/store/20B_o...imination.html

 

Looking forward to seeing how this turns out for you. Ari is a good choice as he is close to you. Thought I'd see your engine down at Kilo though It would have only distracted Jesus from fixing my car.