Back in the day I tore my motor down for a very stupid reason, and it burned oil like crazy after that.
I figured it was because I didn't check the oil control rings, but I just recently learned that oil control rings fail that often, but they are directional (or the springs are?).
Is it possible my engine burned oil so badly because switched the front and rear rotors?

 

Yes

 

Specifically, the springs are directional, there is a pair of springs for the "front" of a rotor (gear side for the front rotor, non gear side for the rear rotor) and a pair of springs for the "rear" of a rotor. They have a round nub that meets a spot faced hole in the rotor and a flat tab that meets a small cutout in the scraper ring, the purpose of this is so that the scraper ring does not rotate relative to the rotor.

If you got the springs reversed, the scraper ring will only be held in place rotationally by the O-ring, which will quickly lose that battle. The reason why the scraper is kept from rotating in the first place is so the O-ring doesn't die...

When I get a set of rotors and seals ready and laid out for assembly, I pretend-rotate the rotor while holding the scraper, before I put the O ring in it, and make sure that it locks into place instead of free spinning.

 

I’ll keep that in mind if I ever rebuild my FDs engine…

I am tempted to pull my FCs engine and redo it next time I am in the states, assuming it hasn’t completely turned to rust… I haven’t actually seen it in about five years.