Rotary Engine REbuilds here in Colorado | Preparation is key

Any time there is a failure of the rotary engine, it is critical for the engine to come to us as a together package. This is so that we can take it apart with care and ‘See’ how it comes apart. This tells us a lot of what has gone on internally.

I’ve had motors come to me in boxes, first it is going to take more hours, thus more money. Every component needs to be measured and cataloged for which rotor housing and where on the rotor. Having a box full of parts is a painstaking process to reconstruct and understand what went wrong. The number one reason for this level of detail is so we ensure that it won’t happen again. It is overkill? I don’t think so, if you get the prep work right, the reassembly is going to go smoothly and the motor is going to fire right up and be reliable.

While there a few differences in a street motor and an all out race motor, the process is very similar. Here we have a set of rotors that needed new bearings after an oiling failure which tore up the main bearings and scuffed up the rotors a bit. As you can see, there is still bearing material that needs to be cleaned up in the rotor gears. Another hour and then into the ultrasonic cleaning tank before final assembly.

This means that hours were spent getting all the side seal grooves to spec as they touched the side housing without tearing up the whole engine.

This also means that the motor was shut off immediately when the oil pressure dropped, 6 seconds according to the data analysis. Paying attention to gauges and taking immediate action saves a lot of money.

The prep work continues now that I have the bearings in. One key note is that if new bearings are pressed in and they go in really easy, that means the rotors are internally cracked and now useless. As you can see these rotors are lightened, high compression, balanced and matched rotors, they are not cheap.

Once the rotors are fully ready, then it is time to get all the side seals cut, oil rings installed, corner seals, apex seals ready. Then we can get to the prep work for the housings. Notice the deep center groove in the rotor bearings? These are competition racing bearings, not OEM type.

Doing the right work with the right parts here in the shop always leads to quality performance later on. Don’t skimp on good parts, if you think a part is marginal, replace it. Quality workmanship, quality results.