Bad ***.

 

 

Turning right!


Turning left!


Blowing away the Lambos (LOL)! Wildflowers are pretty this time of year. I'm sure there's a cat out there somewhere.


Diagnostic photos. In the first picture, I'm on the throttle. In the second I've lifted to rotate the car with trail braking into "Rattlesnake." Nice puff of oil smoke after I lift -- makes me think valve guide seals.




Fun group. Had an epic battle with this S2000. As soon as I would point him by, I'd be on his a$$ and vice-versa. We passed each other several times. The mini in the background had a front row seat to the fun for several laps, but wasn't able to come up and play. It's interesting how these 3 different cars were so even on the track.


Off to the garage. Time to mount Xidas and replace valve guide seals.

 

Thats not a lambo. You shouldn't insult mclaren like that!

 

Yeah, really need to up my game on supercar spotting. Keith Verges was driving that thing. He was just a little bit quicker than me, LOL.

 

Halfway through my valve guide seal replacement exercise. Using the following tools that I bought on Amazon:

Pneumatic Valve Keeper:


Valve Service Kit:


I'm doing this without pulling the head and so far it's working out great. The magnetic valve keeper tool in the service kit is absolute magic. Works just like in the videos. Last night I tore the engine down and did two of the cylinders (8 valves). Will finish tonight.

What I found was that Supertech valve guide seals were installed in this engine. But intake seals (brown colored) were installed on all the valves. In my replacement kit, the intake seals are brown colored and the exhaust seals are a different part that are light blue colored. I also checked Rosenthal, and they list different part numbers for OEM intake vs. exhaust seals as well.

So, my operating theory right now is that the exhaust valve seals were leaking because they were the incorrect part/material. That would also explain why my oil gets dark quickly but I don't otherwise have ring symptoms such as low compression/blowby. I'll know for sure in a couple of days. Standby.

 

Oh . . . and the XIDAs are INSTALLED!!!

 

Curious on your results with replacing the valve seals. Having very similar problems with oil consumption as you mentioned in my thread. Nice looking car, btw.

 

Finished the valve guide seal refresh. Made no difference whatsoever. Rings for sure. So . . . ring refresh coming up.

Note to self . . . bad compression/blowby is an indicator for bad compression rings, but not determinative for a bad/incorrectly installed oil control ring. My compression is excellent and blowby minimal judging from the breather filter. But I sure am using some oil.

Drove the car to work this AM (about 1 hour) to monitor the oil use. Xidas with 700/400 springs are really comfortable, even on less than smooth roads.

 

Time for a vvt engine!

 

Hmmm. How much better is VVT than VICS? Current engine has a '99 head.

 

Oh, not worth it. 10:1 pistons and a compression grind though...that's worth it.

 

Are you certain the valve stems and/or valve guides themselves aren't excessively worn?

 

That's actually a McLaren MP4-12C.

 

PO had used later pistons in the rebuild to get about 10.5:1 according to the engine builder. Not sure about the valve guides, but the head was redone when the engine was rebuilt in 2011, about 4,000 track miles ago. According to PO, engine used oil from the getgo.

Still, the way the oil gets dark quickly is a really strong ring indicator to me.

And I've already apologized for my lack of Supercar spotting skills. LOL.

 

Did you use the rope method when installing the valves? I think I will try to knock those out this weekend. Any advice before I dive in?

 

Props for listing the tools used for the valve seal job.

 

Really? I bought a top end rebuild kit quite a while back from someone on M.net. Gaskets, seals, etc. As far as I remember, all the valve seals were sky blue. It is supposed to be a Mazda OEM set.

Then again, I haven't looked at it in a while, so I very well may just be mistaken.

 

I used compressed air to keep the valves in place. Tools used listed in prior post.

In your case, you should really eliminate the possibility that your CHRA is leaking first. As mentioned in the other thread, inspect the intake piping leading to the intercooler and also the downpipe for signs of oil.

 

Well, the Supertech set I bought from Emilio definitely had different parts intake vs. exhaust. And when I looked up the parts at Rosenthal, they showed different part numbers and the colors were different. That's not to say what you might have gotten in a head kit. The builder of this engine used the same seals for all valves and, as it turned out, it wasn't an issue.