I dug out my tripod and some three piece two mm Mazda apex seals
out of a junkyard engine.

The apex seal on the left is a nearly new after market
apex seal with three hours on it. The stock Mazda apex seal
on the right has God knows how many hours.

Notice the difference in surface finish.

Also notice the difference in the shape of the crown
of the seals. The Mazda seal forms a hydrodynamic
wedge of oil between it and the rotor housing.

The after market seal has a simple radius that looks
like it was done with a coarse grind stone.

This really pisses me off!!!!!!!!!!!

DON'T PUT AFTER MARKET METAL APEX SEALS IN YOUR ENGINE!
The technology needed to make proper metal apex seals is
WAY beyond anybody but Mazda.

BTW After I took these pictures I figured out a yet better
way of taking pictures of these tiny seals. More of this
in the near future.

Paul Lamar ...No rotor no motor.

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