The mystery of the disappearing apex seal pin springs

[rustynuts]

I've finally got my Interpol engine to reveal its internal workings after putting up quite a fight. There was so much carbon on the inside diameter of the l/h stationary gear that the rotor shaft refused to come out without much soaking and persuasion.Much carbon everywhere but worse on the l/h rotor on which one apex seal and all of the apex seal pins were stuck. The passages in the rotor shaft were half full of gunge and the oil ways to the rotor bearings were restricted or blocked. This is a high mileage engine run on mineral oil until I got my hands on it, so a good advert for the benefits of using the red stuff methinks.The strange thing is that two and a half apex seal springs were missing. Did they just evaporate? I would have thought that during an attempt to make a bid for freedom out of the exhaust port they would have caused some severe damage, but my rotor housings are fine and the end plates are a bit scuffed, but not to the extent I would expect if big fragments of steel were being tossed about.

[Bob]

The clue could be in the last remaining part of the seal, look at the ends of the spring under a say a 10x loupe and see if the end/s are chamfered, I have seen seal's worn down but never totally disappear.And I take it that the springs are not baked flat to the underside of the apex seal?Bob

[Bob]

Sorry, should say corner bolt spring. these did break and parts escaped, when you rebuild ensure that the corner bolt flat base hole in the rotor is sufficient to allow the corner bolt ( seal) to travel below the rotor side face. Bob