I bought the Atkins Rotary Video...It is very good. However they didnt cover much on how to instal the Apex seals. I have 2 piece 3mm seals and I wasn't sure how to add the side piece. Does anybody superglue the side piece to the Apex seals to make it easier or is this bad?

 

There was a big thread on this in the engine building forum IIRC.

 

well what did they decide?

 

with the 3 piece seals the corner piece wants to fall out so you superglue it to the rest and let it dry before putting it in the rotor. The 2 piece seals are usually longer pieces that should stay put with the help of vaseline making it all sticky in there.





regardless, if you use superglue, when you have the engine together, you crank it with the plugs out a few times with your hands via the flywheel and you'll hear all these snaps and pops, it's the superglue giving.

 

2 piece 3mm is cake. Just push the end in. It should go in. If it doesn't, then the corner seal may be turned and you'll probably ahve to pull the rotor out to turn it again.

 

uh........ superglue???!?!?!?!?



That doesn't seem to be entirely good for the apex seal.

 

uh............. have you ever seen a new set of apex seals from mazda?!?!?!





The 3 piece seals come from the factory with the corner piece glued to the long sealing edge piece



a tiny dab of super glue will hold the corner piece on and it will break apart when the engine is put together after it's already done it's job. If it doesnt snap when you're torquing down the tension bolts as the sandwich compresses it will certainly snap when you go crank it around a few times by hand.



make sure you only use a tiny bit and don't get it all over, and let the things dry fully before you put them in the rotor.



it's not necessary to do though, it's just a convenience thing. The vaseline holds stuff together pretty well:







all slathered up and ready to go.

 

Superglue for 3 piece apex seals is actually quite a common rotary engine building trick. Even for the 2 piece apex seals when you're doing a bridgeport.



But if your doing 2 piece apex seal with a streetport/stock port...no need.



2 piece 3mm apex seals need the apex seal grooves machined. You knew that right Joe Flo?

 

Oh crap!!! Really? Haha...just playing. Yeah the engine was fairly new. I blew the coolant seal being stupid! It didn't take long to discover the damage. I just finished the front rotor. I ended up not using the super glue. I just put the side piece in after the housing was on and it worked. Built like a champ. And it only took me 12 hours!! Course I did take a few lunch breaks. All that building made me hungry!







Ooh Ooh...I do have battle scars too! I sliced both my thumbs open trying to push down the oil control rings. Didn't noticed until I saw blood splattered on the rotor.

 

Oh yeah, the old "slashing your fingers open while pushing the O-rings down" trick, eh?



Had that happen many times (I'm a slow learner...)



I just like to think that each motor I built has a little bit of me in it. Blood and a bit of knuckle skin usually.