Winter Activities
02-15-09, 09:55 PM
#1
Winter Activities
Well, all this cold weather has slowed me down on my Stiletto project, and I am waiting for warm weather to do the painting. I hate trying to paint when it is cold and damp. I have kept busy building the LED tail and turn lights and a few other details I can do in the house where it is cozy.
Meanwhile, my friend Kenny is self employed these days and is a really good mechanic, so he is working for me two-three days a week. He did the timing belt/water pump, etc on my Montero, fresh engine in my Geo Metro, and is now doing numerous tasks on my son's Lexus coupe. The Lexus has the 6 cylinder Supra motor, and it is the most poorly designed engine installation for access I have ever seen in 50 years of working on cars. It required several hours work to remove and replace the intake system to access the spark plugs. It is just inexcusably poor design. Really makes you appreciate the simple accessibilty of the early rotaries.
So I mentioned to Kenny that the 12a I removed from my 84 GSL, when I did the V8, had only 63k miles, and maybe some of the parts were pretty good. He asked "How do you know it is bad?" So we did some investigation and found that it had one compression pulse per revolution on each rotor. This means one bad apex seal per rotor. He said both rotor housings were probably good. We tore it down and the internals were just like new, except for the apex seals and springs. I decided for the price of some gaskets and apex seals, I could build a first class engine. I ported the secondary intakes as shown, minor exhaust porting and left the primaries essentially stock. The rotor housings are bead blasted, the alternator is wire brushed, and everything else, including the front cover, is painted with Seymour MRO stainless spray paint,which I have used for years on brake calipers and other parts. Both Kenny and Jerry Wright have always advised me to never bead blast any parts that have oil passages. I think that is good advice. The rats nest and all the extraneous carburetor parts were removed, including the shutter valve.
I decided to go more for a conservative look for the 12a, particularly since I have no idea what sort of car it may be used in. Some people on this forum use really bizarre color schemes, so I am showing these photos to suggest your engine compartment does not need to look like Easter an egg.
I previously built a 4 port 13b with brand new SE rotor housings, RX-4 intake and carb, GSL-SE oil pan and 2nd gen aluminum water pump housing. The 13b was originally intended to go onto a 912 I had, but a friend talked me out of the 912, and God knows I have enough projects. Now that I have two spare engines, I think it is time to dispose of all my rotary parts sometime this year, and make room for other things. Those of you who have been in my shop know I have enough projects to keep me busy for years.
Meanwhile, my friend Kenny is self employed these days and is a really good mechanic, so he is working for me two-three days a week. He did the timing belt/water pump, etc on my Montero, fresh engine in my Geo Metro, and is now doing numerous tasks on my son's Lexus coupe. The Lexus has the 6 cylinder Supra motor, and it is the most poorly designed engine installation for access I have ever seen in 50 years of working on cars. It required several hours work to remove and replace the intake system to access the spark plugs. It is just inexcusably poor design. Really makes you appreciate the simple accessibilty of the early rotaries.
So I mentioned to Kenny that the 12a I removed from my 84 GSL, when I did the V8, had only 63k miles, and maybe some of the parts were pretty good. He asked "How do you know it is bad?" So we did some investigation and found that it had one compression pulse per revolution on each rotor. This means one bad apex seal per rotor. He said both rotor housings were probably good. We tore it down and the internals were just like new, except for the apex seals and springs. I decided for the price of some gaskets and apex seals, I could build a first class engine. I ported the secondary intakes as shown, minor exhaust porting and left the primaries essentially stock. The rotor housings are bead blasted, the alternator is wire brushed, and everything else, including the front cover, is painted with Seymour MRO stainless spray paint,which I have used for years on brake calipers and other parts. Both Kenny and Jerry Wright have always advised me to never bead blast any parts that have oil passages. I think that is good advice. The rats nest and all the extraneous carburetor parts were removed, including the shutter valve.
I decided to go more for a conservative look for the 12a, particularly since I have no idea what sort of car it may be used in. Some people on this forum use really bizarre color schemes, so I am showing these photos to suggest your engine compartment does not need to look like Easter an egg.
I previously built a 4 port 13b with brand new SE rotor housings, RX-4 intake and carb, GSL-SE oil pan and 2nd gen aluminum water pump housing. The 13b was originally intended to go onto a 912 I had, but a friend talked me out of the 912, and God knows I have enough projects. Now that I have two spare engines, I think it is time to dispose of all my rotary parts sometime this year, and make room for other things. Those of you who have been in my shop know I have enough projects to keep me busy for years.
02-26-09, 01:18 PM
#4
its supposed to do that
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post