Engine teardown

[ianelvar]

Finally got round to pulling the original engine out of my red FD apart. What a mess!

Pics to follow shortly, but so far I\'ve discovered bodged combustion seals, knackered housings, 3mm apex seals (could be good or bad, won\'t know till I measure the clearances and check if it\'s been done properly), loads of nasty white scum in the coolant passages and silicone where I really don\'t think silicone should be.

No wonder the poor thing gave up!

Good news is that the Irons look good so far, and providing the rotors have been machined correctly then they should be OK too.

This really is the easiest engine I\'ve ever worked on. The mechanics are just so simple. Can\'t wait to start building it up again

[interloper393]

Yeah you look at it fitted and go OMG!! what the Fook have i let myself infor lol.. but once the turbo packs n intercoolers off theres nothing there really
Tiz why iv removed everything i can and went non-seq, cleans up the bay so much and should make engine removal n rebuild a doddle.. cant wait mesa on the look ou for a 2nd hand engine to rebuild for a spare, but ported ofcourse

[ianelvar]

TBH it only took me 5 hours to pull the engine out this time. Just follow the FSM and it\'s a piece of cake. I didn\'t remove the exhaust or gearbox though.

Looks like this motor is going to turn out like an irish mans hammer; three new heads and two new handles and it\'s good as new!

Irons are all totalled, housings are useless, I\'m not even sure if I can save the rotors.
So far the post mortem has revealed that for some reason the side seals have stopped sealing and combustion gases were blowing right past them.

See the pictures where the irons are all blued. This has led to localised cracking, so these are all definately scrap.

The rotors are dirty, but with not obvious damage yet. However, the side seals are stuck fast in their little grooves, and I\'m having real trouble shifting them.

So, what\'s good? The e-shaft looks OK :Party

[ianelvar]

Crome missing on housings. Both are exactly the same.

[gsb876]

What was the mileage on the engine before it gave up the ghost

[ianelvar]

Who could say :confused: I bought her as a non runner at 99000 miles. It\'s a UK car, so I know that\'s accurate.

It\'s clearly had an engine swap, as there is no EGR valve on the manifold, but can\'t tell much more than that.

Anyone got any advice on freeing stuck side seals? I\'m in two minds about whether to use a little heat or not.

[interloper393]

bloody hell the the worst engine state iv seen yet

[ianelvar]

Lol. I remember speaking to Carl about it ages ago. His comment was \'hmm, that\'s usually expensive when they\'re like that\'. It\'s pretty much a write off as far as I can see.
I think it\'s been flogged well after it should have been looked at and sorted out. Who knows how it was managing to start in that state though. Can\'t have happened overnight!

[shaunwil]

Shows that the rotary isn\'t all that fragile though.

Thats properly mullered !

Shaun

[Ricco_04]

Anyone got any advice on freeing stuck side seals? I\'m in two minds about whether to use a little heat or not.

Try using a load of carb cleaner to get some of the rubbish out maybe? (or are they warped stuck?)

I have seen some deep scrapes on engines before but I think you take 1st place! :eek

[ianelvar]

Try using a load of carb cleaner to get some of the rubbish out maybe? (or are they warped stuck?)

I\'ve stuffed a load on to see what it\'ll do. They\'re now sat in the part cleaner with the citric cleaning solution. It\'s funny, the ends are free to move but the middles are totally stuck. Also the middles are completely flush with the rotor face. I have a feeling they\'ve been welded in, but I\'ll do my best.
I haven\'t measured anything on the rotors yet, but I\'d like to save them if I can.

I have seen some deep scrapes on engines before but I think you take 1st place! :eek

Lol. Thankyou :King I\'ll post a full set of pictures tomorrow. One of the plates looks like it\'s been lapped REALLY badly. You can see the marks as the machine must have moved over it, because the rotor sure as hell didn\'t make them.

Does give me a full set of scrap rex metal to test out my copper coolant seal theory though

[Ricco_04]

Does give me a full set of scrap rex metal to test out my copper coolant seal theory though

Ahhh yes, I was only thinking of that recently, I was going to dig up the thread and see what you had been pondering!

[ianelvar]

I\'ll work out what size of copper I need, clean the bits up, and get started with the write up. I\'ll have to work out some weird way of plugging it into the cooling system of a working car to get it up to temp and pressure after doing hydraulic pressure tests. Hard to simulate combustion though

[Carl]

The damage on that engine is due to one of two things,either very worn bearings or to many revs which allow the rotors to lean too much,then the side seals get stuck into their grooves as the slots close up with the repeated bashing they get.
The blueing marks on the side plates are where the sides and lands of the rotors have been rubbing on them at speed,only seals should touch any of the housings.
Because the slots have closed up is why you can\'t get the side seals out.
Those plates have not been lapped,they are as they come from Mazda,it is thier type of machining.
There is a crack on one plate it seems.
I also think that the engine looks like it has got extremely hot at some stage.
Regards
Carl

[ianelvar]

Thanks for clearing that up :Thumbs-up I am suprised about the machining marks though. Does the depth of the coating vary to make the difference in colour?

There are cracks on both sides of the intermediate plate, and the front plate. The rear seems to have come out best, but it\'s still junk.

I take it the rotors are probably past saving as well?