Re: whats the purpose of an apex seal? (G60 GOLF)
The apex seals were damaged, or the seats they sit in were?
Think of the apex seals as disposable. You don't want to buy a used one from someone. Get em from a place like Gruven AutoWerks or Bahn Brenner (www.gruvenauto.com and http://www.bahnbrenner.com , respectively.) Should be something like $100 for a set. (Yeah, there's more than one. In fact, there are 8.)
Did you take the charger apart yourself, or did someone else do it and tell you it needs apex strips? Cause if you'd seen the inside of the charger, the job the apex strips do would be pretty self-explanatory. I wish I had a cutaway drawing to explain it, but I'll give it a shot without one:
Inside your charger, the two halves form a sort of spiral pattern. Think of the inside of a snail shell. Or, think of a capital letter G (that's how the g60, aka g-ladder got it's name.) Nestled inside that housing is the displacer. Think of it as another curly G shape, so that the two G's (the housing and the displacer) are sort of nesteld inside eachother - two spirals wound up together.
The displacer is shaped in such a way that it can move around inside the housing - it is "smaller" than the housing spiral. The displacer rides on two shafts, that control it's movement. Nothing spins inside the charger - just think of the displacer wiggling around in little circles. It does more of a circular vibration than a spin.
Anyways, to get to the answer of your question, the apex strips (or apex seals, same thing) seal the gaps where the ends of the displacer meet the flat parts of the housing, and where the ends of the housing meet the flat parts of the displacer. They are wear items, and should more or less be replaced if you are doing anything inside the charger. Wear on the apex strips leads to low boost, and eventually damage to the seats they sit in. In more extreme cases, an apex strip will come off it's seat and get thrown through the charger, causing pretty bad damage.
If you've got more questions, feel free to ask.
-Nate
[Modified by SaabFan, 10:59 AM 11-30-2001]
The apex seals were damaged, or the seats they sit in were?
Think of the apex seals as disposable. You don't want to buy a used one from someone. Get em from a place like Gruven AutoWerks or Bahn Brenner (www.gruvenauto.com and http://www.bahnbrenner.com , respectively.) Should be something like $100 for a set. (Yeah, there's more than one. In fact, there are 8.)
Did you take the charger apart yourself, or did someone else do it and tell you it needs apex strips? Cause if you'd seen the inside of the charger, the job the apex strips do would be pretty self-explanatory. I wish I had a cutaway drawing to explain it, but I'll give it a shot without one:
Inside your charger, the two halves form a sort of spiral pattern. Think of the inside of a snail shell. Or, think of a capital letter G (that's how the g60, aka g-ladder got it's name.) Nestled inside that housing is the displacer. Think of it as another curly G shape, so that the two G's (the housing and the displacer) are sort of nesteld inside eachother - two spirals wound up together.
The displacer is shaped in such a way that it can move around inside the housing - it is "smaller" than the housing spiral. The displacer rides on two shafts, that control it's movement. Nothing spins inside the charger - just think of the displacer wiggling around in little circles. It does more of a circular vibration than a spin.
Anyways, to get to the answer of your question, the apex strips (or apex seals, same thing) seal the gaps where the ends of the displacer meet the flat parts of the housing, and where the ends of the housing meet the flat parts of the displacer. They are wear items, and should more or less be replaced if you are doing anything inside the charger. Wear on the apex strips leads to low boost, and eventually damage to the seats they sit in. In more extreme cases, an apex strip will come off it's seat and get thrown through the charger, causing pretty bad damage.
If you've got more questions, feel free to ask.
-Nate
[Modified by SaabFan, 10:59 AM 11-30-2001]
