Subject: Another Rotary Failure
From: ACRE
Date: 7/23/2003, 7:18 PM


Jim Mosur wrote:

Hi Paul.

I guess misery likes company.
Last Friday on climb out at about 300 ft. I felt a slight bang, RPM
dropped about 400, thought I had lost a plug or injector,
engine continued to run smooth just down on power, I continued around
the circuit and landed. When I tried to idle the engine
after landing it was extemely rough , anyway the following day I went
thru checks on injectors , plugs, timing etc. then
compression check, 2  rotor ok ,1 rotor nada. Disassembled engine
following day. I found the 1 rotor had shed a end seal which
took part of the apex seal with it, gouged quite badly the rotor and
chamber face although not as bad as Chucks, inter. and end
sections ok. I hope to have this thing back in the air in a week or so.
I had experienced a large increase in oil consumption starting about 25
hours ago, I checked the oil seals on the rotors and
they seemed ok, but I guess the search will go on to see if there is a
connection.

Jim Mosur
RV 6
Brampton Ont.


While you have it down Jim put those TES O-rings in the oil scraper rings.
Also check and see if the scraper rings are still in spec.
That is the usually the reason for high oil consumption. Have you been
mixing
2 cycle oil with the fuel or are you using the oil injector pump?

If you have been using the oil injectors pump several failure modes
are possible. I have seen instances where the oil fails to distribute
over the insides of the rotor housings. Hence the corner seal may
not have received its fair share of lube oil. This does not happen
when 2 cycle oil is mixed with the gas. Believe it or not the main
function of apex seal oil is to cool the apex seals.

If it is ported and it was done just slightly wrong you can
lose support for the corner seal as it passes over the intake port. Check
with Dave Lemon or John at Mazdatrix. They have had their problems with
corner seals. The corner seals also have a tiny rubber insert to damp
a vibration mode I suspect. If the rubber goes away from long term
heat the very hard seal can shatter when you hit that resonant frequency.

The RX8 engine has two changes in this area. There are now two injectors
per
rotor mounted such that they are aimed at the corner seals. The corner
seal itself
is much smaller allowing larger intake ports.

Paul Lamar

Jim Mosur wrote:

I do mix my fuel with 5 oz. of 2 stroke outboard oil too 5 gal. u.s. fuel.
The scrapper rings were intaked [mic-ed?] and appeared ok , they will be replaced on
assembly along with all the other seals. My engine is street ported , I have
yet to check on the overlap at the ports, I am not happy with the exhaust
ports they seem way to high reducing the combustion area and support for
apex seals,I will be replacing both rotor housings and leave the exhaust
ports stock.

Jim

What you also need to check and see if the corner seals are completely
supported when they pass over the street intake port.

Paul Lamar


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