Okay... first of all, assuming the engine was properly maintained before I got it and while I had it, and that it still ran when I parked the car. Should I have to worry about this type of wear at 180K miles? It's a 12A, The OMP still works well as it burned 1 quart per 2000 Miles.



Secondly, what type of apex seals are the best on a rebuild? The engine will see some spirited driving and a lot of street driving, so probably nothing over 8k RPM, adn even then, not for long at all?

I've seen that Hurley sells their own special Long Life seals (Tapered at the end), I think Atkins has thier own variety, and Mazdatrix sells stock seals.

I think I've asked this before, but couldnt find it in a search.

EDIT: WOW... Hurley has modified all three types of rotor seals. Are any of these any good?
http://www.hurleyrotary.com/

 

Stock Mazda seals will be perfectly fine.

 

If it ran good when you parked it, why are you rebuilding it?

 

I forgot to mention I'll have it street ported. Also, I know a lot of people use stock Mazda seals... That's what the car came with... It also came with a cast iron exhaust manifold and pellet style catalytic converter... Those do their job too...

I'm looking to see if perhaps these modified seals will be any sort of upgrade to the stock ones.

Need to tear it down to port it...

I'm actually considering repainting the entire car, so I'll have the engine out to get the engine bay... But I should probably clean the nastiness off and see what the paint looks like in there befrore I do that... May not need the bay painted, and then all I've gotta do is match Mazda K3 Sunbeam Silver Metallic.

 

Hel Pele,
Have you looked at the Hurley apex seals? They sound like they have some improvements over the stock seal.

 

Ok, so that was supposed to be "Hey," not "Hel".

 

damn, they do have some pretty "trick" stuff on their site. anyone have any personal experience using any of theese things? or any info about them?

 

Put it this way, there are a lot of experienced engine builders who specify the stock seals for high hp turbo engines. So why spend money on a "gimmick" that is probably inferior anyway.

 

That's what I'm trying to find out, if anyones used these and are they really a gimmick or are they an improvement?

 

I would use steel seals for anything below a bridgeport. I did bridgeport and used carbon seals with pre-mix with 20,000+miles on the seals, but are not meant for boost or light driving. They are intended for high rpm, high-load situations because low rpm causes carbon build up on the rotor tips and causes the carbon apex seal to stick. The other advantage is they don't cause damage to the housing when the break and they are light weight and don't bounce like steel seals do at 6200rpm+. Infact they seal best above 7000rpm. They are also cheaper then stock seals. One is $30/12a seal.

So if you were going to race this engine all the time or drive spirited all the time, and went to porting greater then a streetport, go carbon, otherwise steel seals are best in my opinion.

 

I'm defenately going with steel seals, but Hurley sells a modified version. The end is tapered and they revised the springs that hold the seals. Check out the link at the top of this thread to see what I'm talking about.