I'm rebuilding my engine and I'm reusing most of the side seals. All the old ones went in fine, but when I tried to install the new ones I ordered from mazdatrix, they didn't fit right. Seemed to be just a hair too long, so they jam up against the corner seals and wont move freely up and down (and yes, I'm sure I ordered the correct part). I'm thinking about just sanding the ends down so they fit in correctly, would there be any downside to this?

ehhh, you are clearancing that engine, are you? that is part of the whole procedure. Try to do some more reading before you continue. It's important you get the correct specs.

do you have a manual? They are all longer and you have to shorten the non-finished end to bring it within factory spec.

yes, I am checking all the clearances, which is why i had to replace a few of the side seals. I just didnt expect the new ones to be so far out of spec. I looked through the manual some more and found the note about new side seals, so I'll just follow their reccomendation to sand the non-angled end until its correct. Thanks for the help.

i use a dremel bit that happens to be about the same diameter as the corner seal



mike

Never re-use sideseals. The old sideseals are always out of specs. I have never taken and engine apart and found old sideseals that gave me reusable specs. Old sideseals wear down seriously from regular usage. The most common side seal GAP between sideseal and cornerseal I have found from used siadeseal is .016 thousand of an inch. Specs when rebuilding and engine is .002 to .006 The new side seals are longer for that reason, so you could take your time and carefully sand down the new seals to a perfect .002 to .006 specs. every single sideseal needs to be sanded down to the same exact spec. If you check out the clearance and tolerance thread, you will find some of my specs on rebuilding and engine that work great.

hmm, thats dissapointing to hear. honestly, I've been doing this engine as a side project and by this point I'm fairly certain I've made a number of mistakes (these things really take your full attention). I'm considering just getting a a cheap jspec and throwing it in, or finding someone to re-rebuild it. know anyone near boston who would want to take on a project of rebuilding a shoddily put together 13bt?

I personally don't know anybody up in Mass. Keep on trying don't get discouraged.

ooops. lol it as my practice engine, though.

Practice makes you better. Keep on practicing.