Originally Posted by Judge Ito

John according to all your data. the only thing left is the simplist, but sometimes the worst. When your building the engine and laying down the side housings, sometimes and in very rare occasions. if the side housing did NOT lay flat on top of the rotor housing, the side HOUSING(iron plate) will push the side seal out of the rotor groove a little and twisted the side seal. at this point it goes un-noticed and the rest of the build is done,(the damage happens when you torque the tension bolts). the engine will fire up. but the damage was already done.



for your next build, always make sure the plates come down even on the dowel pins, on both sides. and always make sure the side seals are tucked away in the rotor. side seals have a tendency to pop up out of the rotor groove while assembly. .. hope this helped a little.

Originally Posted by John V

Thanks for the tip. But what I'm curious about is the engine ran fine and had great compression front and rear for about 35 miles. I would think that if what you described had happened the seal would have failed right away?



The front rotor is showing excellent compression on all three faces. Would you recommend I fully tear down the motor and re-check every side seal clearance?



Thanks,



John

Originally Posted by Judge Ito

sometimes the damage has a progression, fine at start and slowly starts to give away.sideseal is very soft.. and yes tear your engine totally apart.

Originally Posted by John V

Okay, thanks. I agree with you, it only makes sense to tear it down and check everything at this point. I ordered a new gasket set, a couple new side seals and a new side seal spring and I'll go through everything again. I took the greatest of care building this motor, so I'm surprised something failed, but now I know one more thing to look for when I do it again.



Thanks everyone for your help, I'll post back when it's up and running again.