Coolant seal failure.....teardown w/ pics
 

I am doing a rebuild for a customer who had a complaint of coolant loss and overheating. He had just purchased the car, a '86 GTU with just over 100k on the odo. It had the characteristic "bubbling" at the coolant bottle and at the filler neck. It also had a exhaust smell at the filler neck with the cap removed. I didn't take a full set of pics of the teardown, mostly ones of the inspection results. Here's what can be seen when we neglect to properly service our cooling systems and sometimes when we let our 7's sit for months without following recommended storage procedures:

Initial inspection of blown coolant seal:
http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t...owaxAWS188.jpg
A closer inspection. Note the erosion of the coolant seal groove land in the front iron. D'OH!
http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t...owaxAWS193.jpg

I thought I would also include a few additional pics of the engine parts that needed attention:

A less-than-desirable rear rotor housing:
http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t...owaxAWS197.jpg
http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t...owaxAWS196.jpg
http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t...owaxAWS195.jpg


It's difficult to see some of the chrome flake, scoring and apex end-piece wear in the pics, but it is significant enough to suggest replacement. The engine would run, but would never produce the kind of power that it could if a better housing were used.

Here's what can sometimes be seen when someone gets in a hurry and lets poor quality work go right out the door to be sold to a prospective buyer:

Note the missing clutch cover bolt during a recent clutch replacement. The bolt is broken off in the flywheel:
http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t...owaxAWS186.jpg

And here's what you might see when someone does a wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am trans installation, also in a hurry:

The main engine ground eyelet was trapped between the trans and rear iron mounting flange. There wasn't a bolt installed at that location. The result is a cracked flange when the trans is bolted up:
http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t...owaxAWS198.jpg
http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t...owaxAWS192.jpg

thats too bad....

So who did this?

is that solomons engine?

Previous owner should be sent to rotor god prison for rotary neglect

Yep. I haven't spoken to him about it yet. He did say the clutch was put in recently, but didn't say by whom. I'll find out more today. It's not good news for a guy that just bought it and is faced with this.

That looks just like my iron my coolant seal melt down. I got lucky and bought a used Iron for $40 and rebuilt/ported the motor myself. Buying peoples second-hand shaddy workmanship is no fun. Hope you get her running soon!

backyard mechanics arent always a good thing!!
whoever did this damage needs to learn how to do it right the first time. glad to see your hooking him up right this time!

cool to see a thread on a local's engine, keep us updated =)

It's sad when cars are sold to good people that gave their hard-earned money and trust in them. I'll update you when I have collected all the necessary parts to do the build-up process, with pics.

I agree, that sucked for him, to my understanding the seal went a week or two after he bought it. how long do you think it will take to get the rest of the parts?

I'm hoping to make a trip to Ponca City this Thursday to look at a few housings to use in his engine. I still haven't been able to reach the customer (solomon). Busy guy I guess. I have some of the new parts already but I would say roughly 2 weeks before I have what I need to do the build.

If you still need to get in contact with him, shoot me a Pm and Ill get the message to him to call you.