Tried to send the below message
with 4 photos and it was rejected as 307K which exceeded the lists 300K
limit. So here it is again with two photos with this e mail and two
photos to follow with the next e mail.
Ed
Well, folks the Mystery of my
apex seal failure may never be solved completely. But, I can now
eliminate the spark plugs as well as the plastic plenum. The end of
the spark plug clears the combustion chamber even with the washer
removed - and no pieces of the porcelain appear to missing from the
plugs.
So just don't know what caused
the initial seal failure, but the sequence of events after that is
fairly evident.
Photos 3 piece Apex shows what
remained of one apex seal from rotor #1, clearly a rather large chuck
is missing and could not be found. But evidence of its passage through
the combustion chamber was left behind. The other two pieces of the
broken apex were still in their slot.
Photo Apex Departing Slot
clearly shows where the missing piece of the apex seal bent over the
straight edge of its slot when it departed. Apparently when it left the
clearance was getting less and the departing edge was apparently caught
between the lip of the slot and the rotor housing forming a flatten
corner.
Photo Apex Scrapes shows that
the ejected apex seal piece probably made it around the chamber a
couple of times, one impression looks to be smaller than the width of
the ejected piece - so perhaps it broke up further in its round.
Photo Apex Slot Peened shows
that the 2nd apex seal of #1 rotor that would not move up and down -
clear why, now. The departing piece peened over the slot and froze the
seal in its slot. I had to pry the opposite end of the seal up to the
position you see.
Overall rotor #1 is shot,
although I guess one could have the slot milled out to 3mm but I'm not
inclined to do so.
Surprisingly, I could find no
damage to either the side housing or the rotor housing. The rotor
housings were used (came with the core) and looks the same as when I
put them on in 2001. The side housings are new and minimal wear
- could not even catch the tip of a dentist took pick on any of the
marks.
So what was the initial cause of
the apex seal to fail - no evidence I could find. No indication of FOD
other than the broken apex seal imprints in the rotor. Could have been
some thing that just failed the seal and did no other damage before
departing. Before this intake I had a SS screen mesh placed over the
Mazda throttle body I had been using. Had not yet mounted one to the
new Mustang TB as it was not as easy to do. Don't know if that would
have made a difference.
I am still puzzled why it took
so long if it were a foreign object to cause the damage. Just one of
those things I'll likely never know.
Now the question is what to do
next. Someone suggested the 10:1 rotors of the new Rensis as cheaper
and higher compression - I like both of those features {:>). I'll
need to check with Bruce T and see if there is any merit to that idea.
Surprisingly little carbon on
the rotors and most was soft not hard baked - may have been caused a
bit by the gobs of fuel I was forcing through the chambers with no good
combustion taking place. But, certainly no where near as bad as a car
engine.
That's it for now.
Best Regards
Ed