I took off the exhaust manifold and, sure enough, two of the seals are shiny and spring back about 1/16 inch when you press them (hard). The other seal is intact, but not shiny and only springs back maybe 1/32 when pushed. It IS moving, so it's not a stuck seal - sounds like the side seals are gone. We'll know more when the Mazda guy gets the engine comes apart......


Hi John;
  After my little detonation adventure, I had similar compression results, as I'd expected, but as I began to prepare to pull the engine off the airframe, I first removed the turbo manifold just to see how bad the seals were. I was shocked to see them looking perfect, with shiny surfaces and spring in each seal. I couldn't understand this so I replaced the turbo on the block and tried again & again, even phoning Tracy's to have him tell me what I already knew, but didn't want to accept.
  After bringing the engine home and tearing it down that night (yes it really is that fast & easy.. well at least to pull it apart :-)), I was surprised at the way the apex seals were broken and were they ever broken, but from through the exhaust port all looked well. Pictures should be in the archives.
  I'm not suggesting that you detonated back when you were blowing turbos, but maybe something to consider.

Todd Bartrim     (giving Rusty more John ammo) (I'm really sick of school)

C-FSTB RV-9endurance
13B Turbo