take a video camera, film the disassembly, umm, err, for the forums

 

There is no possible way that much of the corner seal would have come out just because the engine detonated, unless it broke the rotor too!

I would almost bet that the intake port was way too big, the car possibly detonated and the corner seal may have been forced into the intake port then back into the next intake chamber and then pushed out the exhaust.

 

I'm going to be there for the engine tear down.....

 

Not a bad idea, I will have to do that.

 

Umm yeah.. Like Rotary Resurrection said 1 in 1,000,000.

I mean come on how could you not know if the port was too big? Out of all the engines Rob has built, I couldn't see him making such a mistake.

And after 1600 miles of usage and then the corner seal falls out, just very strange.

 

I think thats strange too. Personally I feel that maybe the side seal clearence was overlooked in that section of the rotor and that caused the corner seal to crack. A cracked corner seal would more easily leave it's home and fall into the larger ported intake port, then the incomming air forces it through the cumbustion cycle. After spining around a few times causing gouging of the housing, the apex seals get damaged in the process. If the ports where too large to begin with, I feel the seal would have fallen out much sooner.

 

my statement was to your tension bolt comment, do you understand how these engines go together? you could take all of the tension bolts out, there still would not be enough clearance for a corner seal to come out....you'd have to remove a bit more to make the stack that loose, and the exhaust/intake manifolds will still hold it together very well.....i'm not even going to dignify your statement with further discussion, it was just plain dumb

who says rob builds all of the pineapple motors? bueller? bueller? bueller?

hey guys, what's the lifespan of the other forum members who's pineapple engines did not make it? this guy may have a point...

 

Keep in mind that I needed to break the motor in by his requirements

1st 500 miles little on no boost and drive below 4000rpm then change oil.
Next 1000 miles I put on were light miles. I wanted to put the car on the dyno 1st to make sure I'm ok before I drive WOT through the gears. That was about the 3rd time(not counting the dyno pulls) or so that I actually got on the car, then it broke driving on the street.

Only way to determine what happen is to tear it apart. This happenig is very frustrating to me, I wanted to take all pre-cautions. I cant wait to find out what I might have did wrong.

 

My buddy "ebb" here on the forum, lost his Pineapple motor around 10k. We never did really determine what exactly happened (as to why it chucked a seal). It was tuned fairly conservatively by Steve Kan making around 370rwhp at 17 PSI (on the BNR Stage 3 twins).

 

[QUOTE=boostgasm]my statement was to your tension bolt comment, do you understand how these engines go together? you could take all of the tension bolts out, there still would not be enough clearance for a corner seal to come out....you'd have to remove a bit more to make the stack that loose, and the exhaust/intake manifolds will still hold it together very well.....i'm not even going to dignify your statement with further discussion, it was just plain dumb
QUOTE]

Okay I'll give that to you yes, it was something I just threw out there without actually thinking about it. What I meant to say is that when he assembled the engine a rock could have got lodged into one side without him actually knowing it, and then when he tightened the tension bolts one side was more open then the other, causing the seal to fall out.

 

[QUOTE=lopedl]but it ran for 1600miles....debunking your theory, not to mention how many other things wouldn't work if you did that initially

i'd say this is definitely porting, you're going to have to be super educated when you watch them tear it down, otherwise it would be easy to fool you

 

Dont show Rob that Dyno because your lean in a very critical place. The area where you are running right at 12:1 from 5100-5900 is the most important part of the map. Thats at your peak tq, you should be richest there...not leanest.

Also, it is very rare that a corner seal fall completely out and I dont see how a FULL corner seal could do it without porting being the problem; however since it was broken it might been possible for it to wiggle its way out. If the port was to big to keep the seal in then I would suspect it would have fallen out right away, not 1600 miles later. Never know though.

Stephen

 

Just to clarify, that's a solid cornerseal, and a side seal, even if clearanced wrong, could never break a solid cornerseal. It could cause it to bind up, not not break it. It takes a lot to break a solid corner, versus a stock corner which breaks easily.

Regardless, I'd expect a lot of **** to be fucked up inside there. It's going to cost several hundred dollars in parts alone to put back.

Oh, and it would take either a good experienced eye, or a bit of time and experimentation, to figure out if the port were at fault or not. If you've not seen a lot of ports and done this sort of investigation before, you won't see anything wrong with it.

 

you can break a corner seal if the milling was off on top of detonation. I have seen them break before but usually in high hp application. I split side seals springs in half before so anything is possible. I do believe that the intake port is too large though

 

Rob and I looked at the motor yesterday. The Corner seal that I had found in the turbine wheel of the turbo had to of came out of the old motor. We looked at all the corner seals with a mirror to see if one is missing, we found that all of them were still there. I couldn't believe it! The inlet of the turbo has no damage at all. I had majestic turbo rebuild the hold turbo before I had installed it, so I know that the corner seal wasn't left in the turbo from the last motor. What I think must happen, is that some how while moving parts around the garage the corner seal fell into the intercooler on the output side of it. Then under constant boost(WOT) the coner seal was blown out the intercooler into the motor. I can't believe that I have made this mistake, nor did I catch it. I have learned my lesson on this, and make this a lesson to everyone putting a motor back together. That anything is possible! Make sure to check all parts for loose pieces. Rob had asked me if there was anybody that was around that might have not liked me that would do this, I don't think that is the case. Rob has been helpful with me, and I'm looking forward to getting my new motor back and driving again

 

If Rob has the time today, we are going to break the motor down and see what the damage is.....or should I say how much it will dent my pocket book Forsure I will replacing the rotor, housing, and apex seals for one rotor. Maybe damage to the steel housing but we will see.

 

..damn that sucks, sounds like my kind of luck