So im putting together a 82 12a with a streetport I get the rotor in place and start to put in the e shaft but leave room to rotate the middle iron to get it set however everytime I lightly touch the the shaft the apex seal corner peice springs up and shoots it somewhere into the shop I’ve lost two of them so far lol what is the best way to get the e shaft and middle iron set without launching the corner peices into orbit

 

Super glue the corner seals to the apex seals. Also, put the seals in after the rotor and e-shaft are in.

 

This is always the most nerve wracking part of a build!


I never, ever have luck with gluing. What I do is to just make absolutely sure that the E-shaft goes straight up and down when raising it to gyrate the eccentric shaft into position.

Mazda used to provide a little piece that stuck to the long apex seal that held the spring away from the corner piece, so the spring didn't have any tension on it and reduced/eliminated the tendency for the corner piece to pop out and get lodged in a coolant jacket or disappear under a bench.

 

Clean the apex seals really good (acetone or brake cleaner) and then glue the corner piece on. Will make installation a breeze and you will hear the super glue break when torquing down the tension bolts.

note: power seals little corner piece of the apex seal has slight ridges in them and they don’t glue for $#i%.

 

My issue is that I can never glue them straight, so they don't fit in the slot.

I do glue the ones for my bridge port because the rear seals have to be installed backwards, but it's a real pain so I forego it when installing them normally.