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