Well I am about to attempt my first solo re-build. (with the help of the Atkins rebuild DVD)

The reason being I am reinstalling the check ball and spring (low oil pressure).


- are there any schematics or pictures people might have of the installation of the check ball and spring? (this isn't on the atkins video)



Also, looking at the video. There are two springs that push the apex seal against the rotor housing. I don't understand how both springs interact once installed. Does 1 spring rest on the other? Where to the tips of the spring rest on the apex seal? Does anyone have a 'cut out' image of the apex seal slot with the seal and springs installed? Maybe I am just hoping someone can explain it better.

Maybe it would be easy to show the springs and seal laid flat on a table?



Lastly, I am looking to rent/buy a dial indicator with a magnetic base. Where did you get yours? I want to get it to measure the front to back movement of the E-shaft.


thanks!
Berto

 

the springs have groves in the apex seals that they clip into u can here the long spring clikc when its seated into the apex seal and im not sure but i dont think they rest on each other as the little 1 fits in the middle of the larger spring.
its so that the apex seals has equal pressure along its face

 

Serious?

 

I got my mag base at Harbor Freight for about $15 I think, it works fine. I got a steal on a dial indicator at Sears though because they had them mislabeled.

I'd give a thorough response, but I don't have time. I just built a streetport 13Bt for my '87 TII a few weeks ago and it's hauling *** now. PM me with a link to this thread and I'll try to help more later. Other tips I can leave you with is just to search here and other rotary forums like nopistons and rotarycarclub. There are a number of videos freely available online, too, that you might find helpful. Also check out rotorwiki, but I'm not sure they have much about rebuilds. RotaryResurrection.com does though.

 

Check ball and spring? On the e-shaft jets? Would have been easier to install a TII oil pump.

FSM...

The spring openings face the apex seals, not the rotors. The small spring gets installed first and pushed down as far as you can with a little screwdriver. Then install the big spring and push it down until it "clicks" over the retaining bumps in the apex seal. Thus the little spring sits inside the bigger spring. Once the engine begins to rotate, the springs will self-adjust into their proper positions.

If you look at an apex seal, you can see how there is a longish center notch. This is where the springs sit.

 

Thanks Aaron


______________________________
|................................................. |
|.......____________________........|
|___/ ^..............................^\____|
*................................................*

* - Show where the tips of long spring sits
^ - Show where the tips of the short spring sits


Is this right?

 

Both springs sit within the groove. The short spring kind of floats and is held in place by the longer spring.

 

How would you have troubleshot your low op problem down to check ball and spring? Is there a blockage in the system? Was the Oil pump or chain worn? Is the guage correct?

 

Oil pumps and chains simply don't wear out.

Sounds like he did the Weber jet mod and therefore had low oil pressure. The NA oil pump doesn't push enough volume to keep the pressure up with that mod.

Unless the car is a TII, in which case who knows...

 

My car is a TII.

One of the people helping me with my *first* rebuild had heard of people taking out the check ball....so that oil would be constantly flowing to the rotor.

I didn't know any better and I didn't know that people do remove them but they also install a webber jet in there. The webber jet mod is really only designed for race cars that don't idle much at all. Mine is not a race car so I am putting the check ***** back in.

its an expensive and time consuming lesson but I learned it.

I already boughta mechanical oil pressure gauge and checked the pressure too.

 

Ahh, my prob too. but I do have a TII w/ a turbo oil pump I only get about 10psi @ 1200rpm idle. scares me a little, but is it really a prob? the rotors ride on gears too?... at 2k rpm i'm seeing 30psi at +3k its like 60psi.

I thought Bruce turrentine, in the vid, suggest it for cars running more than stock power, but I too would have stayed w/ the check ball and spring.

Has anyone diagnosed that 10psi or less at Idle is bad?

 

you dont really need that much pressure at idle. The gauges may be off too... yes rotors ride on gears, or rather around the gears, stationary gears attached to the side housings. and as far as the check ball, i dunno, but can't you just shim the jet with washers?

 

I'm getting almost 0 PSI at idle. and at 3k rpm i'm getting 25-30 psi.

 

Blah, 0 PSI! That's not quite enough. I get around 5 PSI with the Weber jet mod on an NA oil pump. It's annoying, but not particularly harmful. A TII oil pump is on my list, or just dry sump...

 

http://mazdatrix.com/faq/oring.htm

I dealt with that ^^^ on my rebuild, twice in fact because first I didn't have it installed at all, then when I installed it I did it wrong so I had to fix it again. I had pretty similar symptoms. Without the o-ring at all I saw no oil pressure (so I didn't drive it or rev it much, I didn't know what the pressure would have been at higher RPM, I 'fixed' it promptly). After installing an o-ring I had what seemed to be normal oil pressure, but before long it blew out because I didn't use the teflon ring, the instructions confused me and I was also in a hurry. With the o-ring blown out I had about 0 oil pressure at idle and around 30psi around 4k RPM. After installing the teflon ring and a new o-ring (I hope it lasts, I read once someone said those o-rings are specially made to take the heat... and I assume I used the only one in my kit on the first try). I think the 'early casting' they refer to means the 12A casting and not the S4 casting (as if the S5 casting were the later casting). But no, I think they meant 'early casting': 12A, 'later casting': 13B.

 

well I dismantled everything today. Sure enough I think the O-ring was compromised on the front cover ( a later gasket was installed on my S4). but also, I remembered right, the check ***** were gone. So I put some in. I will update with results.