A great day had by all – The main aim of the day was to get the RX8 engine stripped down and inspect the mode of failure. Full gallery
Work was slow to start as we descovered removing a flywheel bolt @ 300 lbf ft is not easy:
First we tried with using a traditional approach with a couple of breaker bars…But we destroyed the smaller of the two
So we manufactured a flywheel stopper using a handy gate hinge we had hanging around the garage. Although a galant effort by Craig and Josh (After applying the correct saftey gear) still no joy as we could not stop the engine rotating.
So next plan was to apply some fat buggers to the top of the engine. Cue Chris F and Jon…
We even drafted in the big guns, Suzie even had the safety’s off
Finally the nut was beaten after Josh told us all to stop tickling it and grow some.
At which point the dismantling began, pictures speak a thousand.
So after a bit of head scratching and inspecting the internals it became clear that the engine had suffered a huge stationary gear bearing failure. Maybe RX8 owner really should keep the oil topped up… Oh well more engines for us
And that was that one 13b-msp engine in pieces…
Time to order some rebuild parts one thinks.