First off, I am new to rotary motors so forgive my ignorance. I picked up a 84 12a recently. The car has been sitting for years, like 10. I obviously had zero compression, for the last couple of days I have been trying ever idea I can find online to get these unstuck (atf, seafoam, etc.), i actually see movement in the guage now. The motor is free so I can turn it over or even try and start it. I did take off the exhaust manifold and have been trying to push the seals in but I feel no movement. How long should I continue this? I was told the motor had only a couple thousand miles on it before it stopped running, I don't know why it stopped either. It looks like pulling the motor and tearing it down is pretty straight forward but if I can get it running without I would rather.

 

PB Blaster or any good penetrating oil would be ur best bet. Drop the exhaust manifold to inspect ur seals. This will take a couple weeks of spraying and waiting. If this doesn't work it's rebuild time.

 

After about a week of soaking and pressing on the seals I pulled the motor. The apex seals came out fairly easy but I broke two soft seals and the first and only side seals I've tried. I am soaking the rotors now, I hope I can save a couple seals. All of the apex seals measured over 8mm, so I would hope the sides are good too, just need to get them out.

 

I'm no experts on rebuilding rotaries but..... I would assume you would never want to re-use old apex seals. It's already tore down I would install new ones.