Isn't it a bitch when you lose a side piece during a rebuild?

You apparently can't buy just the side piece for two-piece apex seals (just three-piece), and a new apex seal is 50 bucks, so that's AOTQ as well (yes, I just made up my own internet acronym).

I lost one my first rebuild two years ago, and found it after a good hour or two of searching.

And then I lost one again during this...breakdown/cleaning/reassemble (technically not a rebuild) because one of the baggies I put my seals in tore. It was gone for the better part of a day, but after a good hour of searching through a bunch of leaves and dust (don't do body work in your garage, kids...) (and yes, I cleaned my garage floor before I started the build), I finally found it. While cleaning up the dust, I could have sworn I saw it go into my hand vac, and sure enough, I found it in the pile of dust after dumping it out, but only after almost giving up the search... it's strange how well a piece of iron can hide in dust.

Lesson: Don't give up the search until you've looked for a good hour or two.

 

Or you could just keep a really big magnet in your garage, thats saved me from many headaches with tiny metal stuff

 

I lost a side piece when it flew off when I separated the housings, and a magnet hasn't helped thus far. Remember, 'kids', keep your eye on the seals!