Blower Stripping - SSI B-Rotor

Ok;

So I just got brave enough to pull the bearing plates off, leaving the rotors attached to the front plate.

I did this so I could send out the mag case to be powder coated.

I bought this used blower in 'fresh' condition from RBS.

Upon disassembling this (which went MUCH easier than expected), I've discovered a few things that I'm not particularly happy to see.

1. The o-rings that seal the bearing plates to the case have silicon on them, and the o-rings look mashed (basically there for cosmetic purpose).

2. The case has quite a bit of visible and 'feelable' wear to it. Not gouges per say, but it 'feels' wavy as I run my hand down the length inside. It also has about 50% of the interior coating worn away.

3. The biggest concern for me is the teflon stripping. Every strip has broken at the point of the screw, and has shrunk away from the screw by 1/4".

Now, I'm not running top alky with it, looking to spin the world backwards, but is this broken teflon going to cause a noticeable boost loss?

How is it determined whether a case is still good or not, especially in the case of magnesium?

The o-rings are replaced easily enough, but I wouldn't think a 'fresh' blower would come with old o-rings.

Thoughts?

 

blower

call JR and talk with him he is a fair guy I have never had any problems he owns the business and I know for sure he does not want a bad name someone may have traded it in an told him it was fresh he is an honest guy and hell everyone should be honest if he is guilty of anything it would be trusting someone else when the blowers are gone trough there is normal wear if it was totally redone it would cost as much or more than a new huffer give him a call and get the story he is not out to screw over anyone he is a hard working guy like the rest of us and please dont bash his name until you get the story if he was wrong he will make it right good luck

 

Craig;

I'm not trying to disparage JR by any means.

I'm trying to ascertain whether or not this is even an issue worth bringing up with him.

The o-rings are easy enough to fix.

The teflon will take some actual work to fix.

The case may be an issue I dont want to mess with.

But, again, I need to know what others with far more experience than I have to say about this.

It may be that I'm being overly pickey about nothing, or it may be a issue I want to take to JR. I'd prefer to have a neutral opinion from someone who doesn't have a financial stake in the transaction from either side.

 

These images may help further explain my concerns:

 

huffer

I would give him a call the rotors look good do not know why the strips are broken I would bet the case scuffing would not cost more than one psi hay I did not mean to be a smart ass and I hope you did not take it that way but if it is wrong he will make it right he is that kind of guy good luck craig

 

for what you are doing it should be fine the whites will cost about 35.00 to replace but you need a rotor fixture its not very hard its harder to get back in the case than it is to strip the key question is how much did you give for it i have had the whites come out before it will still make air good luck with it but it doesnt look that bad put new whites in it and skinner back

 

it all looks in decent shape to me just restrip it and go racing..the reason for the shrinkage is they stripped it and cut the tefs to length and ran it all in 1 day..if you have time to restrip it and let it set over night with the tefs a little long and let it relax it will last longer and not shrink..Dave
www.myspace.com/daveloweswr

 

oh shit.......I just looked at the rotors and I see the problem...you dont screw the tefs down in the center of it..the screw should be on the side so just the counter sink part of the head grabs the outer part of the tefelon strip.
any questions call me
1-620-249-5909
been doing my own blowers for many years

 

Our Littlefields were off to the side but our SSI's are dead centered. This is factory, are you suggesting to stop using the factory centered ones and drill new ones?

 

measure the od of the screw and then measure the od of the tefelon..and see what the difference is..let me know how much margin you have!! I'am woundering if they tighten it up way to tight and split the tef.which then failed?? the counter sunk screw would seem to work like a wedge and make it spread out..what do you think..Dave
www.myspace.com/daveloweswr

 

I put new strips in my f and it was cold enough that I had to warm things up just to install. the next day I put the screws in but some of the strips broke and I didn't think I would worry about it. guess what..when I started the motor it started spitting striping out the exhaust cause they were moveing to the front and getting chewwed up... Next time I'll drill holes in the strips first. stuff happens...As for the case and other stuff remember that b's are older guys (got one of them too) and that wear is expected but they still will work
If you don't have a rotor fixture a lathe will work, that's all I've ever had..

another thing,,when ever I needed some thought help, JR would always talk to me...He has my respect

 

Guys, I thank you for the replies.

I called JR earlier tonight, and told him about the thread and told him I wasn't trying to disparage him or his company.

We wound up speaking for about 45 minutes. He remembered me from nearly 4 months ago.

At any rate, he said he did the blower in house, and that he wouldn't send out anything that was questionable.

We got to BS'ing about so much stuff I forgot to bring up the teflon and o-ring issue.

I'll go remove a screw tomorrow and snap a photo. From the looks of it to me, they are dead center in the teflon. I cant, however, tell if it was pre-drilled or not.

I have access to neither a lathe or a rotor fixture. Might be time to buy one though from the way it sounds, and as easy as this blower was to disassemble.

How much can I screw up by removing the gears and rotors from the front bearing plate?

Are they keyed, or splined? Can they be re-installed incorrectly?

 

On my D and F rotor the gears and rotors have a - mark on them that line up , kind of hard to mess them up but anything is possible . These might be the easiest blowers to work on , make a drawing or take a pic of the orientation if you have to . With new blacks and whites the rotors are often tough to get back into the case . SSI uses a tool to squeeze the rotors together that makes the job very easy . A simple version is to screw rod ends into both ends of the rotors and run a bolt and nut through them and snug them up enough to get the rotors into the case . Use blower gel on the case and rotor tips during install and they slide in much easier . The screws run through the center of the strips on mine .

 

When we restrip blowers for ourselves and customers we always put a center punch mark on 3 teeth (one in the middle, and the two surrounding on the opposite gear) then there is no question as to where they line up, also put a mark of some sort of the ends of the rotors so you know where those line up to eachother. The gears will be splined, and might have one "master spline", but I've seen many without.

And to answer your question, YES, they can be installed incorrectly and still turn. Make sure when you put it back together that when you are looking at the front of the blower that the right-hand (pulley) rotor twists to the right from front to back. We have seen blowers put together the wrond way, and yes - it will run, but it will run and sound like a tractor.

A note on your rotors, we had an older SSI top fuel roots a few years back (not hi-helix, not retro fit) and were told not to re-strip the extra ones (the two closest to the center of the rotor) and leave the old ones in them and to only re-strip the standard location ones. If I remember correctly this was because it created too much heat.