installing new apex seals in 12a
 

Im rebuilding my 12a and have a question concerning the apex seals. I have a set of new atkin's apex seals and I was reading over the FSM and also in my Hayne's manual and both of the procedures in them show the need to install "assist pieces" on the apex seals, when reassembling. What Im wondering is, how nesscesary are these assist pieces and can I assemble without them, because they weren't included in my kit from atkin's. any info would be greatly appreciated.


thanks

jake*

don't know what these assist pieces are, but if they're 2 pieces, they're glued together which makes for an easier installation so try not to break them apart. sometimes the smaller piece can get trapped and cause problems when laying the intermediate housing on top as the individual sections go together.

if you look in the '80 FSM it shows them.

assist piece isn't needed, and it might be discontinued.

you don't need them

They were discontinued.

You can use a small dot of crazy glue to hold the apex together during assembly.

crazy glue
 

has anyone else tried the crazy glue idea? it seems kind of sketchy to me. anyone?

jake*

Works great. Clean the seal and corner piece with brake cleaner, blow dry. Put a drop of glue on the main piece, assemble on a clean sheet of glass. Make sure the 2 parts mate up perfectly, trim any excess glue with a razor blade. I prefer using the thicker crazy glue for this. Once the engine is assembles, turn over by hand. You will hear pops like the seals are breaking. This is simply the two parts of the seal breaking the glue joint, no worries.

I unfortunetly did not have any success because it was difficult to "tack" my three piece 13B apex seals. But many members and professional rebuilders will use it, the pressure and heat will fracture the small amount glue used and just burn it up.

Remember that the glue trick is just to hold the corner seals in place so they don't move when installing the intermediate housing.

Don't put any glue on the corner seals... You only want to hold the apex seal together by putting a small dot between the triangular piece and the longer piece of the apex seal.

Black might of been refering to the smaller triangular piece of the apex seal as the corner seal. They are two different things. The corner seal doesn't need any glue.

+1 for crazy glue.. :icon_tup:

Sorry meant the triangular piece, what is that called anyways? I dunno why corner seal popped in my head. Good catch mate! :blush:

Crazy GLUE works great and crisco grease for the rest!

ok cool....
 

i'm gonna give it a try when i get to the reassembly stage. i appreciate everyone's input, i freakin' love this site. so good.

thanks

jake*

your asking a question about installing apex seals...then tell us the crazy glue is sketchy...lol...

dude crazy glue for the win...we wouldn't be saying it just to pull a joke on you...

good luck with the build lets us know how it works out...

well yeah, i said it sounds kind of sketchy, i mean super glue in an engine...but that is usually the way things seem to me when going from all my previous experience to what processes and things that are involved with rotary engines. but yeah i trust the info i get from this forum. if several folks here tell me to do something i'm probably going to give it a try. if it weren't for this site i would have never even have gotten my rotary up and running after the first swap i did. due to carbon locked seals and a no-compression issue. after doing my research on here and finding out about MMO and how the seals of a rotary engine can get locked up after sitting up. i did what people on here told me to and it worked. and that was a very glorious moment when she fired up with only a header on the engine.....alll that smoke and noise, i think my neighbors were ready to kill me. hahahaha.....buy yeah i will let ya'll know how it works out....probably going to have to rebuild the engine from my '79 since this other motor has very few reusable parts. looks like both rotors and rotors housings are no good. so gonna have to tear into my other engine see if it is salvageable.