This morning I went over to my mechanics shop and we measured most of my engine components. For the most part everything was within spec and with little wear for a 104k mile motor... I have a few questions that he could not answer since he builds piston race motors and had never opened up a rotary motor. So here are the pics and questions...

Is this bearing too far worn on the front stationary gear?




How does this rear stationary bearing look?

 

Here are the front and rear irons... do these look ok? They are flat and not worn out of spec but does that look like surface rust or is it normal-looking? The surface is still really smooth but can I polish/ lightly wet sand/scotch brite these surfaces to make them look better/ me feel better about using them?

Front :



Rear


The intermediate housings look about the same, with the same discoloration... but i ran out of battery in the camera...

 

And finally my questions about my rotors...

I dont even know if you can see this(since my camera wouldn't focus on the right thing) but this is one apex seal groove where the groove seems to widen out at the edge(gear side) of the rotor where the arrows are drawn on. The closed arrow(the one on top) is the edge that is kinda forced back and there is a little raised lip on that side of the groove that you can catch a finger nail on, it is like that on all of the apex seal grooves(just on one side of the groove) on both rotors... So is this rotor with the wider area at the edge something to be concerned about? and is the raised edge that you can catch a fingernail on every apex seal groove normal?

Here's the pics...



Thanks alot,
Rob

 

one of my stat bearings waz like that, i used it.. if u have the money to get a new one i would go for it

 

seriously, listen to him.
ive never cracked mine open myself, but i would trust dustin about it all.

that rotor seems iffy though, hopefully a guru can help you with that

 

Your pictures are way blurry, but that looks like a fair amount of copper is showing to me, I wouldn't reuse it. It's not a lot, but it's not a little either, personally I wouldn't but some people would.

That looks fine.

Your irons look fine, I've seen ones dirtier/more worn used before. If you want to feel better just use some degreaser and scotch brite, that's all I used to clean mine. I wouldn't sand them, though.

Pic is a bit blurry, but it doesn't look too major.

 

Yeah sorry about the blurry pics, my digital camera is usually great but has trouble on close up things. How much does it usually cost to get one bearing replaced? Should I get them replaced in pairs, like front stat and rear stat? As far as everything else goes... it ran/ idled well before I took it apart, just had really low compression... so it should be fine to use again. Im going to replace the apex seals, side seals, and corner seals(solid seals this time). The solid corner seals seem like they would hold the apex seal in place even if the end widens a little... but maybe it doesnt work that way... I dunno:shrug:

Thanks for the opinions so far
-Rob

 

hehehe, your idea on the corner seals would put alot of stress on the seal in the middle.. it prob really anit that bad.. u could also have then machined to 3mm.. as far as changing side and corner seals i would measure yours to see if there still in spec usally the side seals are allways in spec.. corner seals aare usally in spec too..what brand rebuild kit you going with?? if u go RA be extreamly carfull with there coolent seals(get oems lol) well i hope this helps..


peace


Dustin

 

Solid corner seals don't add any more stress to anything, they're very common to use.

And if you're going to replace the bearings you don't have to do it in pairs, just replacing the one/s that need it is fine while leaving the others. All it would cost is however much the part is, check Mazdatrix, and then finding someone with a hydrolic press that can press them in and out for you.

 

[QUOTE=dDuB]Solid corner seals don't add any more stress to anything, they're very common to use.


i think u missunderstood what i ment, i THINK he ment if his apex seal grooves where a little wide on the rotor that the new corner seals would hold the apex seal fine, but the large groove and the corner seals holding it would bring some stress to the middle of the apex seal

 

We have a hydrolic press, what adaptors do you need to press the bearings? How much are they from mazda... can I be creative and make some out of common materials? As far as stressing the motor, I mainly want this car just to run as a summer car and possibly an occasional autox run, So this doesnt need to be bulletproof with the 3mm apex seals and I probably would sell it if a decent turbo2 cam u for sale in the area... I will post my shopping list later since I want to get this back together and driving ASAP!!!

 

No idea what adapters are needed, I've never actually pressed out a bearing myself, only had people I know of do it to theirs. For everything I've pressed out, though, which is mostly suspension stuff, I just got creative with what I used for adapters.

As for the apex seal groove/solid corner seal argument, I don't think that groove has been widened enough to cause much of a problem.

 

That hydraulic die to press the bearings cost about $80 and $12 for each main bearing. So if you get the die, might as well spend another $12 to change the bearing in the rear gear while you have it out.