Hi All.



Does anyone have any Tips for fitting side seals?



At the moment i'm using a Sharpening stone to remove to bring them down to the correct size.



is there any Tricks or methods that could speed up the prosses without overheating or taking them down to quick?



I guess its just one of those jobs that takes time to get right, Its just taken me 6 hours to do one rotor so i think its worth asking.



Cheers

Chris

I use a rotating sandpaperthingie on my Dremeltool.

45min. max for a rotor.

Use a sp-thingie with the same diameter as a cornerseal.

sucker a friend into helping you! just take your time, its better to waste it now then it is to waste it pulling apart a engine for a stuck side seal.



im not a very patient person in the least so its extremly difficult to force myself to take my time doing this but in the end the results are well worth the time.



i discourage the use of powertools when you are not very experienced as it is WAY to easy to make the seal to short. then you gota wait till another one comes in to keep working on the engine.

oh and 6 hours seems a little long maybe you should just work harder!!! https://www.nopistons.com/forums/pub...#>/biggrin.png

Make a little jig to mark just over the correct length. Mark each seal in your jig.



I cut them with a diaganal wire cutter. It kinda shatters them into two pieces.



I grind the end close to the right length on a regular bench grinder, cooling th end in water as I go along.



When I get close, I finish up with a diamond file.



I go for a zero clearance fit. Just loose enough that the corner seal and side seal will pop back up when depressed.



The ends must be dead square against the corner seal.



Always have an extra set of new side seals on hand. You will use them up just from the screw ups you generate.



Mazda could just manufacture these things just a few thousandths too long, and make life so much nicer.





Lynn E. Hanover

Yeh this is the part i'm having most truble with, i'm using a Sharpening stone and its quite hard to get it 100% square so i have to realy take my time and its not enjoyable at all.

Has anyone tried getting an old rotor and fitting a corner seal/side seal then take it down close with a die grinder then when its close fit it to the new rotor? I'm thinking that way you'd have the correct basic end shape?

There are two kinds of sideseals you can get, one has just the finished end and the square, non finished end, the other has one shiny finished end and one dull finished end. The first kind needs tons of material removed, the second kind only needs a few thousanths. When i got a rotary aviation rebuild kit i got the first kind and it was a pita, I actually overclearenced two and had to order two new ones from mazda, who gave me the second kind which were super easy with a sanding block, like 3-10 strokes and they are done.





I have one of the good kind in front of me from mazdacomp, it is part# n3y1-11-c11





I dont use the dremal method anymore, it is way to easy to take to much off, and you dont need it with that good kind of seal.

I have the hurley duplex seals and there needs to be about 1mm taken off to get it somewhere close.



A grinder heats them up too much and they will become soft at the end, something you dont want.



Think the only way to do it without a jig is just take your time like you have, at least you know its done right.

I sort of made a jig up, I cut up an old rotor then used it as a Jig, I removed most of the seal with a Die grinder with a Carbide bit (the rotor acts like a big heat sink and there was very little heat involved).



I got them withing a few Thou then finnished them with a Sharpening stone.



In my opinion after trying to fit one with a sharpening stone i'd say there is no way you can get the end of the Seal square enough so i'd say if you are thinking of fitting some new Side seals get Mazda Oe seals they are the ones that need very minor work to fit.



BTW have you used Hurley seals before? what do you think of them?