Like the exhaust port tips thread I made, I have also seen to many failures with sideseals being destroyed because the proper attention was not payed when a large streetport was done to an engine. I feel the need to help out in an urgency in this department of engine rebuilding and reliability.



When an engine is streetported towards the intake opening in a way that will exposed the sideseal to the opening and closing of the port, careful attention needs to be paid to protect the sideseals from getting chewed up when closing the intake port cycle. Theres a couple of pictures in this forum showing perfect examples of that and I'll use does pictures to follow up with my informative tips on how to build a reliable engine with a large streetport that protects sideseals and corner seals.



I have been giving some valuable tips lately and this one I almost did not want to give but I have a purpose here and the benefits are greater then the rewards.



This is just the write up for my sideseal clerancing tips. I'll come back tonight and post specific pictures to help people through out this problem I have been seeing lately with other engine builders. Pictures will walk everybody step by step and give a clear understanding in why this is very crucial to engine reliability as many of you guys have already seen.



To be continue.........

Here I'll start with a stock port. A stock port opening and closing of the port does not exposed the sideseal to the hole of the port itslef. In a stock port form the sideseal travels outside the closing edge of the factory port protecting the sideseals. Picture shows where sideseal travels on a stock port.

The problem begins when the engine is ported to open earlier and close later. I have seen so many engines ported aggresively or to a wild streetport and engine builders have not payed attention to the sideseal to port closing SHARP EDGE. Here I'll show a picture of the beggining of a port. You could already see the sharp edge exposing the sideseal. If this sharp edge is left behind some serious sideseal failure will happen and the engine is damaged.

Here is another picture of the sideseal heading towards the closing of the port and that sharp edge is a problem waiting to happen. I'll show pics as I write this thread of my full proof mod to fix this problem.

I cannot repeat enough times how this is a mayor problem for many people that port engines aggresively. I recieve many phone calls at my shop asking how could they fix there sideseal problems.



here another picture of the sharp edge.

An aggresive or wild streetport could be done to any engine with great resutls as far as reliability is concern(which is my main concern right now, seeing how big name shops are dropping the ball with large streeports)



Here I will show pictures of what needs to be done. The closing edge of the port(upper edge) needs to be TAPERED OFF... you could start with a gradual angle on the porting bit and finish with a lower angle. this will create a perfect path for the sideseal to travel and close the port without any DAMAGE whats so ever.

When this sharp edge is TAPERED OFF the sideseal will be introduced back into the side housing with no failures. People and engine builders just need to take a little more time into fine tunning the reliability of a wild streetport.



Here you will see clearly how the sharp edge is TAPERED OFF and the sideseal is closing the port with visible clearance underneath the seal. the idea is to protect the beggining edge of the sideseal, which tapering off the sharp edge in the wild streetport will DO!

This picture here shows the TAPERED OFF closing part of the port with the sideseal introduced back into the side housing.



As far as this tapering off the sharp edge of a large street port working?

I have had one engine build 7 years ago with out tearing the engine apart with a wild street port. This engine makes more then impressive power and gets driven seriously insane, to the limits and no sideseal or engine damage 7 years later. So yes this is the secret to wild streetports and sideseal reliability mod.



I did not want to give this tip away but like i said earlier. to many engine builders droping the ball and the reliability of the rotary engine becomes a topic of conversation. When in all reality is the engine builder or who ever is doing the porting. many people try but few could really do it...

I'll finish this tech tip with saying that: I really get upset to see big name shops not taking there time to make sure sideseal damage and eventually engine damage does not happen when a large streetport is performed. Is either they don't have the sligthest idea that a huge streetport will expose the sideseal to the closing part of the port or they just don't care.



I honestly care and thats why I'm here. I hope you guys learn a bit from one of my most trusted mods with a large streetport.





I'll add with a mild street port sideseal to port closing edge mod is not needed. In a mild port the sideseal is not exposed and protected by the sidehousing itself..



Cheers..

have you ever thought about rounding off that corner of the side seal a bit? or is that not needed.



thanks for sharing this stuff judge, "to finish first one must first finish"

Mike. I have seen some japanese engine builders round off the sideseal instead of tapering off the sharp edge. I trush a tapered edge before Ill round off the sideseal. I feel there is still room for error with a rounded sideseal tip. Eventually the sharp edge will eat away into the rounded sideseal and chew up the rest of the sideseal.

how bout doin both..

or would that be overkill...

rounding off the seal would also compromise it's sealing abilities when it's not over any port (during compression).

thought about this as well..

but correct me if im wrong...

but i believe mike was referrin to chamferin the edges of the side seal...

without compromising height...

Well, this is what I imagined he meant considering the direction the seal is traveling when it encounters the closing edge of the intake port:

http://pengaru.com/~swivel/seal.png



which would cause a leak... mike can clarify if the image illustrates what he meant or not.

i envisioned it this way...

for the rounded edge to be only the portion that ran over the edges of the intake port...

elevated view at the end of the seal..

Pengaru's drawing is correct. And that is the reason I wouldn't round off the sideseal. I would not want to sacrifice sealing capabilities out side the closing edge of the port.

Yeah, I agree with the Judge on this. By chamfering the ports your essencially fixing the problem at the source. To start trying to alter the side seals would be to create a new one.

PK797 NYC

i dont think it was the problem where they knew about the sideseals getting damaged because they ported too far, but the lack of knowledge that the sideseal can get hurt if you port too much. i am sure most people only think about the corner seal not falling in or its little insert. if they knew the sideseal could get damaged once you go passed a certain point they would probabaly just not port that far out. if you calculate the length from the rotor housing once its placed on the engine to the sideseal inner edge, its about .3 of an inch so porting out any more then that will hurt it and this modification ITO was talking about will be needed if you port more, but then again you are already getting pretty close to where the corner seal insert would be completely exposed. unless you are running solid corner seals i dont see how you can port much more out to get more air stuffed into the engine.

thx for the tip , when i port in a week or 2 .. ill round off the port closing

i learned this the hard way.. didnt round the port out and lost the 3 seals in the first 5hrs of running. i went back and shamfered them out and all looks good now. should be ready to:drive: its heart out now.. fingers crossed

Hello From germany how many support needs the Corner seal ?

Re: Large Streetport Sideseal Clearancing
 

yo ito does your aggresive large street port template suport the side seals?

Re: Large Streetport Sideseal Clearancing
 

hmmm luckily i came accross this. my engine has made itself its own side seal groove over 7000kms and would probably have been fine for a while. i pulled it down after overheating it and noticed the port havin a groove and the side seal having a rounded edge. il smooth out the area and carry on .