an RX8er's rebuild thread
 

Well I took the leap and with SARX (that is both San Antonio and South Austin RX)

removal and teardown went fairly smooth but it looks like a significant event took place with the rear chamber (photos below)....soliciting feedback:crazy:

I am certainly going to go with new housings due to cracks but there was no visival chrome flaking and very minimal pitting on only 1 of the housing.

This is a N/A build btw (next build will have boost with it):rock:


Attachment 235059

its out:eyetwitch
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nice throwout bearing
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rotors (it looks like the zinc coating is only bad on 1 side of 1 rotor)
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slight wear on the edge of the rotor bearing
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rear stationary gear with significant wear
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rear housing
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intermediate housing rear face
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intermediate housing front face
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misc housing pitting
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housing
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uhh ho
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plug pitting
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not sure if this wear is normal but its on both of the rear rotor housings, it measured out to about .005 (notice the significant scratch)

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front housing
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front cover (notice spider cracks)
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e-shaft, looks pretty decent (pilot bearing did come out in pieces and there is a small discoloration in the bottom of the bearing hole but no maring or anything like that
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stationary gear wear
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Well this is certainly an adventure for a novice engine guy but where there is a will (and RX forum):suspect: there is a way

Free bump!

I did some searching on the 7 club, seems like it might have been an oil issue. I am helping with this rebuild and would love some input!

Mainly on the bearing wear.

Considering this was a reman with 40k on it, it is hard to know how the parts were when they put it back together. We do know when they put the remans together you get new bearings and since you changed the oil like clockwork using Castrol GTX 5W-20, we can probably say that the oil just didn't hold up all that well in this heat since there was significant wear on the bearings.

We also know you did not baby this engine either. I thought I noticed some Idemitsu on the shelf in your garage, you also premixed a bit right? The carbon build up on the rotors wasn't too bad. Also, that sludge in the coolant passage could have been due to oil leak through from that coolant seal as well. If coolant was leaking into the oil that would definitely affect the oil in a bad way.

Without measurements it's hard to say but i would at least relap the side plates, replace the front cover, housings and stationary gears. New bearings, seals etc.
Bit of an expensive build... but that's the right way to do it. Then change the water pump, oil pressure regulator and you're good to go.
I'd actually just call Paul @ Mazmart and buy an engine from them, it's probably going to be cheaper, more reliable and better built overall :)

Relaping and sealing the irons will happen for sure. Front cover is meh I had a shitton more fractures in mine and its holding up fine. The housing with the burn mark and the crack I'd like him to replace.

I would get with Phantom RX8 and see what parts he has left from his 07' 6 speed. I know he has the Eccentric shaft and some housings I believe.

I'm sticking to my guns and saying the rotating assembly should be fine. Bearing replacement, one housing, irons lapped, replacement of all seals and springs. done deal....

Replace both housings. It's moar bettah.

anyone else get a hardon when looking at engine teardown pics?

Yea over all I am thinking replace both housings, all seals, all bearings, reuse front cover, e-shaft (after more measurements), rotors, lap all the irons. slap that bitch together and see what happens

anyone get a hard on tearing down an engine :)

You wouldn't have a hard on if you were there scrubbing rotors with us :lol: Well Shady had a hard but that was because he has homo tendencies :lol:

sub

yea there were a few questionable moments :nono: but I will defend shady and attribute them to alcohol and sleep deprivation.

He just better watch his hands next time.............I think his 8 saw him cheating with my 8 and threw a fit when he tried to leave.....had nothing to do with the neutral saftey switch:suspect:

:sad:

lololol, keep in mind I was the only one shoving brushes down holes...

LOL's she was pisssseeddddd!

yea I wasnt going to mention "that" moment

I beg to differ on your foreplay

but she got you home

Yep! I'm pretty sure it was my shitty autozone battery acting up again.

Houston are you going with stock apex seals like I did? On a side note, those apex seals worked great at cleaning out the carbon gunk.

I think I've talked him into cryo treated apex seals.

yea for the price why not go cryo and HELL YES to side/apex seals for cleaning!!!!!!!

i did breakdown and get a few more brass brushes to do some final touchup.....next build we just need about 100 of them it was sooooooo much easier.....oh wait.....walnut blasting for the next go round

Focus on better seal springs. Treating what's the effect and not the cause of a failure doesn't really make sense.
You can either get fd corner\side seal springs or there's a manufacturer in the UK that also makes better ones, according to PhillipM.

Walnut blasting will be used on the next one for sure, I'm gonna talk to Hoss about it tonight :)

I'll settle for a brass wire wheel.

yea but even that doesnt fix the miles of scraping we had to do in the groves