Reconstructing water O-ring seal walls?
 

I have 2 S5 TII irons sitting here with a broken water seal wall at 2 points/iron. I'm wondering if it is possible to rebuild/reconstruct a water seal wall using something like steel putty?

I did it with an S5 NA, using a very thin piece of steel to reenforce the ring groove. Steel epoxy will not last on its own. I used teflon encapsulated silicone inner o-rings from McMaster Carr. I have just started the rebuilt engine up and have no information about how long it will last.

But:

How long do you want the engine to last? I'll be very happy with 25 to 50,000 miles.

I'm not sure how well it will last with boost.

RXDad

So you basically just welded a piece of steel on the edge where the O-rin meets the wall?

clement, bring them over to my place and i'll see what i can do with them...you're way overdue for a visit anyway!

There was a thread on another forum, where someone used a piece of cut down side seal to make up for a deep bridge port... Not sure if it ran or not in the end. it was on no pistons..max

Dave, yea I still have never been out there...lol I'm too lazy. But I picked up another FC and an S5 Jspec I'm dropping in probably this week. By the way, I'll give you a call probably Friday night to remind you about the thing.

Maxthe7man - Yea, I've been searching a lot of the threads on nopistons and could not find any info in building this "fence". Judge Ito mentions it several times, but I couldn't find any info on it.

I had that problem, I picked up 2 sideplates that just got lapped and my car got totalled on the way back. One had damage to the outter seal wall.

I took it to a local machine shop and they filled it in w/ nickel (pretty sure) then ground it flat. paid about $20
5000 miles and still good

Its a turbo engine?

wow thats a good idea!

i would reccomend looking for some good used housings though, just to be on the safe side

trickfc - Filled it in with Nickel? What do you mean? Sorry I'm not too familiar with metal-work...

680RWHP12A - I don't really need irons... These were just sitting in the garage and I thought maybe I could "revive" them for a "just-in-case-I-blow-my-current-motor" situation :)

The cut down side seal tends to be too brittle to form exactly to the ring groove. I used a small piece of flat steel and machined it to be as thin as a side seal and to fit the groove height. You can bend it slightly to fit exactly the radius of the groove wall. You want to make it about 1/2 inch longer than the broken out area so that the existing ring groove wall will support the steel.

Make sure that the steel does not stand above the plane of the ring groove wall. You can machine the groove slightly so that it is a uniform width for the o-ring.

Use steel epoxy on the water jacket side to hold the steel in place until you can bolt the housings together. The pressure of the compressed o-ring will hold it in place.

RXDad

^^ Thanks! That doesn't sound too hard :)

3mm apex seal springs would work if the bit that is broke out is not to long.

I've done this several times using a TIG welder and mild steel filler wire. Heat the entire plate slightly with the gas before welding. I build up the missing section carefully then flatten it off with an aluminium disk on a grinder and finish with an oil stone. Ofcourse if the plate needs skimming anyway the weld doesnt need to be flattened off.

^^ So basically just torch the entire plate before TIG welding the section? That will prevent warpage?

get a big chunk of channel(flat)...bolt plate to it... torque some... stick in oven heat.... that will help even the temps.... I heat heads alll the time for fixing.. cast and aluminum.... whats kool is when you powder weld cast.... I'd prolly use nickel

Yes just to take the 'chill' out of the metal. You could do what astrochild said but I've never found it necessary as it's such a small area being repaired with a very thin bead of weld build up and TIG is quite localised heat. If it were welding a crack it would be a different story as the 2 halves would be pulled together, possibly warping.

I have used a 2mm apex seal spring on some of my personal engines and no problems at all ..I mean engines running for years with no problem.. I had a 6 port bridgeport mazda B2200 pick up and one of the sidehousings had the problem. I used the 2mm spring block off the broken groove and magic. fits real nice between the coolant seal and the side housing. If you want to try is up to you. It's a proven method..