TitaniumTT's I hope I make it to DGRR '09 Build

[TitaniumTT]

I'm going to try to keep a daily log this week complete with hours of how long this actually takes
Tonight - engine is ready to pull - time = 2 hours

[WE3RX7]

All I can say is there needs to be an award for "the most patience with a rotary ever" and that Brian should get said award right now...

I got a call from Brian at 11pm Friday night getting the low down on the current situation and when we got off the phone about an hour later, I couldnt believe he was going through all this again with the fuel system! I received a text at 6:45am that he had just got the car together and was on his way down... thats NO sleep from 11pm all the way through.. this man is dedicated!!

I told Dave my history of bringing bad luck to the dyno's and to not let me dyno first, and this is what happens!

EJ - to his defense, I was sitting ready and willing with the video camera, lol. Once they pulled the comp test, I thought it best to put the camera down - no need for evidence of what may have been the destruction of a perfectly clean FC caught on tape .

I'm more than impressed with Dave though at KDR, the man is awesome... I really cant wait to see you yank that year rotor out and find it be as simple as the corner seal!

Engine 4DOT5 is the one... I can feel it! It'd be sweet if you get that comp test sorted out on the Motec though too... at least that will save you some drive time...

[TitaniumTT]

Originally Posted by classicauto

jesus skydiving christmas berrys! I have no other words. Except maybe: poop

BTW hood looks sick

Thanks..... no more rebuild races in your future Joe?

Originally Posted by WE3RX7

All I can say is there needs to be an award for "the most patience with a rotary ever" and that Brian should get said award right now...

I got a call from Brian at 11pm Friday night getting the low down on the current situation and when we got off the phone about an hour later, I couldnt believe he was going through all this again with the fuel system! I received a text at 6:45am that he had just got the car together and was on his way down... thats NO sleep from 11pm all the way through.. this man is dedicated!!

Yeah, I had been awake since about 7:30 that morning too. After all was said and done it was another 40 hr strait day. Ended up going to Oyster Bay too - cocktails, a hotub and some well.... made the day a little easier. I overdid it though and slept till noon, woke up all sore and hungover and only managed to squeeze out 2 hours of work on the FC. Heading out to the shop now though. Hopefully tonight I'll get the engine out and broken open. Lofty goal so we'll see what happens. I ordered all my gaskets and o-rings from MazdaMotorsports today, they're due in tomorrow morning.

Originally Posted by WE3RX7

I told Dave my history of bringing bad luck to the dyno's and to not let me dyno first, and this is what happens!

EJ - to his defense, I was sitting ready and willing with the video camera, lol. Once they pulled the comp test, I thought it best to put the camera down - no need for evidence of what may have been the destruction of a perfectly clean FC caught on tape .

I'm more than impressed with Dave though at KDR, the man is awesome... I really cant wait to see you yank that year rotor out and find it be as simple as the corner seal!

Engine 4DOT5 is the one... I can feel it! It'd be sweet if you get that comp test sorted out on the Motec though too... at least that will save you some drive time...

I spent some time with the Motec last night, I got it reading betterm but I really think the sensor isn't the greatest. I got 3 nice bounces to 79.5-81. I tried to get that low bounce but regardless how much I tried, I couldn't find it. The engine was cold though so that may have something to do with it. We'll see, hopefully the fucker is easy to spot and I'll be able to take care of it quick and be driving again by the weekend.

[classicauto]

Originally Posted by TitaniumTT

Thanks..... no more rebuild races in your future Joe?

Rebuilds? yeah no doubt. Races? absolutely. Rebuild races? I never turn down a challenge

Best of luck after you've fitted that corner seal again, or whatever's needed to remedy the clearance. I know you know - but you'll get it. And then you'll give it.......give it hell at the track!!

[TitaniumTT]

Originally Posted by classicauto

Rebuilds? yeah no doubt. Races? absolutely. Rebuild races? I never turn down a challenge

Best of luck after you've fitted that corner seal again, or whatever's needed to remedy the clearance. I know you know - but you'll get it. And then you'll give it.......give it hell at the track!!

Yup Joe, turned out to be a corner seal. One was "sticky" when she went together the first time. When I say sticky I mean it just didn't pop up quite as high as the others but still pretty high. I worked that recess and seal with some rubbing compound (becuase I don't have lapping compound) untill it was smooth and thought it good, still not popping up all the way but my thinking was, it's not going to come up that high when the engines assembled. When I pulled her apart tonight there was one seal that wouldn't pop up all the way and there was noticably more carbon build-up on that one. I re-worked that untill it was the smoothest out of all of them and of equal hieght upon release. Then I felt the others that weren't giving any grief when assembled and worked those as well. All total I spent more time moving corner seals than wrenches or parts tonight Tomorrow she gets restacked.

Total time tonight to finish disassembling everything, clean, work the seals and recheck everylast clearance - 3 hours.

Total time this week - 8 hours so far and I'm at the 1/2 wayish point.

[classicauto]

jesus skydiving christmas berrys! I have no other words. Except maybe: poop

BTW hood looks sick

[WE3RX7]

No video, but here are two shots I took... I had to digitally remaster the one w/ the hood as some with "drool like consistency" must have got on the lens.

[TitaniumTT]

Damn Bill!! Sweet... thanks man... that's awesome, really awesome. Too bad we couldn't get vids of dyno's or burnouts... next time.

So I managed about 3 hours tonight before I had to call it quits, too damn tired. Engines out and mostly broken down. All that's left is the clutch, counterweight and Intake mani's before I can crack the girl open. Hopefully tomorrow night I'll be home a little earlier and can get 5-6 hours in. Goal tomorrow is cracked and restacked. Then Wed/Thurs reassemble the engine, stab her in Friday and be driving before midnight on Friday. We shall see.

So the running total is 5 hours to get her out and mostly broken down.

[WE3RX7]

Lets hope this time she's good - maybe then you can use your new plugs and lay down a silky 380whp

[FC3S Murray]

I am speechless bro..............BUT am very impressed with the toatal time for this teardown/stack.

You know I had a sticky corner seal on my rear rotor too when I was clearancing side seals. I had to "lightly' dremel that eyelet area until I got it to spring up to a certain comfortable height. I ended up comparing it to the other 2 corner seal eyelets on that face and it still was not as "high" as the other two BUT was way higher then before and didn't stick. I was also convinced it would never reach that height when the keg was torqued so it would be fine.

I need to do my compression test(want to at 500 miles before oil change) BUT I want to do it with a MAZDA tester. I have a standard comp tester and I may just be assuming but wouldn't be harder to notice a drop in compression doing the "3 bounce/pulse" check?

[WE3RX7]

Yea - catching a sticking corner like what bri had would be hard on a conventional tester, not impossible, but hard.

[TitaniumTT]

Originally Posted by FC3S Murray

I am speechless bro..............BUT am very impressed with the toatal time for this teardown/stack.

You know I had a sticky corner seal on my rear rotor too when I was clearancing side seals. I had to "lightly' dremel that eyelet area until I got it to spring up to a certain comfortable height. I ended up comparing it to the other 2 corner seal eyelets on that face and it still was not as "high" as the other two BUT was way higher then before and didn't stick. I was also convinced it would never reach that height when the keg was torqued so it would be fine.

I need to do my compression test(want to at 500 miles before oil change) BUT I want to do it with a MAZDA tester. I have a standard comp tester and I may just be assuming but wouldn't be harder to notice a drop in compression doing the "3 bounce/pulse" check?

Definately use a Mazda tester or one of the ones from Rotary Diagnostics. As long as it's electronic, and logging, you should be fine. Dave has the one from Rotary Diagnostics and it's a nice unit without a doubt. I "THOUGHT" I saw a low bounce every once in a while while I was testing but it happens so fast, you cannot be sure.

I had the same concerns as you did with the corner seal not popping up as high and had the same thought, it's not going to reach this height when the keg is torqued so why bother? I pray for you Sean. I hope yours isn't sticking. Sounds like you took away more material than I did though which is probably a good thing. I know I got it this time, I was watching the metal shavings work thier way out of the recess with the rubbing compound and it was by far the smoothest of all of them when I was done.

Originally Posted by WE3RX7

Yea - catching a sticking corner like what bri had would be hard on a conventional tester, not impossible, but hard.

You really have to trust yourself. I didn't believe it. I may just buy a digital comp tester one of these days. We'll see. A buddy of mine and I have been kicking around the idea of opening our own shop for quite some time. Maybe we'll grow a really large pair in the near future and actually do it. Would be fun if nothing else.

Alright Gents, I'm heading outside to stack a keg. Hopefully tonight I can get her stacked and get the front cover and oil pan on tonight. Then tomorrow get the rest of the engine together, then stab her in on Friday night and bomb out to Dave's on Saturday and deal with all the name calling that I'm sure will ensue, you sick puppy, you sick motherfucker, what's wrong with you? I dunno, I e-mailed with him a few times today about the trans issue. Apparently he has like 6-7 guys showing up on Sat for the dyno, so we'll see. Doubtfull I'll get any tuning in but it'll still be a nice 300 miles worth of shakedown and a good excuse to go back to Oyster Bay

On another note though, I found out that the WG Actuator rod had managed to slip off the WG levers pin. Which explains why my boost response was slow. The fricken WG was pretty much wide open all the time. Still boosted was just a little slow. I figured it was becuase I was babying her. Now I'm really excited to get her back on the rd....... mmmmmmmm....... rotary boost.

[TitaniumTT]

Got home late, only got about 2 hours in. Engine is stacked, rotates nicely, the front cover and oil pan gasket areas are clean, not installed though. I was afraid that if I did I would get a 4th wind and be up till 3am and that's not cool with work tomorrow. Tomorrow need to fully assemble the engine...... that will be tight.

[WE3RX7]

*Fingers Crossed*

Good luck... you better reward yourself with some time on the boat this holiday weekend!

[TitaniumTT]

Originally Posted by WE3RX7

*Fingers Crossed*

Good luck... you better reward yourself with some time on the boat this holiday weekend!

Nah.... well maybe on Sunday. Gonna reward myself with another trip to Oyster Bay

So I didn't get everything done that I wanted to tonight. Got sidetracked porting the exhaust mani slightly, by porting I mean removing the air injection that I should've done a while ago, chasing a few threads and "adjusting" the studs for the turbo's. Got about 3.5 hours in today all total. All that is left before the engine can go back in is to install the clutch, UIM, Alt, 2-stroke tank and DP, bolt the tranny up and wipe the engine bay down. Tomorrow night I expect about 7 hours all total and finishing her up around midnight or so Depending on when I get home from work, We shall see.

Total time to date - 13.5 hours if my math is right.