Just wanted to make a poll and see which seals are used more when rebuidling a Reman....

 

I got the Rotary Aviation seals because they were a good deal at the time. I still have them hanging around even though I decided to not rebuild my fiance's engine. Probably will come in handy down the road somewhere

 

I just installed a set of RA's. I like how they are cut. I hope they work well in average housings.

 

bump

 

does anyone have the aviation seals currently in there motor? is there anything good/bad about them... im about to rebuild and i cant decide which seals to get. I want OEM, but im kinda short on $$ right now to get oem... so im wondering which seal is the next best thing

 

I am using atkins only becuase my seal are still in good condition. I plan on buying some RA seals in a little while to keep around for another rebuild.

 

RA seals are FANTASTIC seals to use on new housings... but if the rotor housings have any kind of wear, I use stock apex seals.

I am currently running RA seals with new rotor housings. I really like them, and how well the seals are covered by their manufacturer.

 

Hurley Seals = teh Suck

 

Do you have first hand experience with used housings and RA's or are your just following RA's recommondations?

 

Yes. They take too long to break into used housing in my opinion.

 

You didnt mention rotary specialties apex seals .. the 3mm cgi ones are QUITE a bit stronger than ... im not gonna say their name.. but they are in the poll ... apex seals.

 

I would stray away from those seals from Rx-7 specialties if I were you... aviation and sock mazda seems to be the better ones. I used personally mazda stock! and when I do another I think it will be aviation! Just my $0.02

 

2 questions . . .

1. How many miles did they take to break in?

2. What condition were your rotor housings in?

 

When you say OEM mazda seals does this mean reusing the seals or new ones? I rebuilt my j-spec and the seals were still good and w/in spec so I reused them, I voted OEM.

 

I would assume that he meant new replacements.

 

OE = teh good

 

5000 miles until I saw peak compression on very good condition rotor housings. No flaking, no feelable edge groove, just some slight apex seal chatter.

 

WOW, that bad news. how many miles did it take to reasonable drive the car?

Did you use old side seals / plugs?

Just trying to see what I am in for.

thanks

 

Do you have any evidence to justify me staying away from them. From the testing ive seen they are gobs better than stock or aviation seals. Have you ever used them, or known anyone who HAS used them? Stock seals will not hold 500+ hp reliably. No way in hell.

 

I have seen stock seals support 698 hp. What evidence do you have to prove they won't support it?

The stock apex seals usually fail when they wear thin on high-milage engine, or via detonation.

I have used the RX-7 specialties seals. I was not exactly impressed...

 

The car was drivable from first start-up, making 85 psi front and rear, and going up from there.
I did not reuse side seals or coner seals, but it this difference should be negligible; they hardly wear

You have a couple things going for you: Full support. If you ever break a seal, even from detonation, RA will cover you. They back their seals 100%. These seals do not break easily. Aside from their long break-in period, I cannot say enough good about their product.

I won't even get into their customer service. Top-notch!

I would not worry about it. You can continue to beat on the car as normal after your normal 2000 mile break-in, but typically, the compression won't be at its peak until 5000.

Really, what do you expect? These seals are designed to take hard abuse and detonation; they will take longer to break-in. (coincidentally, if anyone is wondering, rotor housing wear was not increased by any amount I could measure when using these seals).

 

How long ago was this and what seals and size?

Yeah, stock seals can handle alot of power. But as soon as it gets 1 ping its gone. The only time you will see stock 2mm seals being used in a high horsepower engine is in a drag car. Drag cars dont see normal driving conditions. Im talking daily driven/drag/road course engine. I would love to see someone make 698 hp on stock 2mm seals and drive it around every day for more than a year. Even with great tuning they if they encounter even 1 slight ping .. ANY type of detonation will distroy them.

 

It was more like the 5000 mile thing scaring the hell out of me.

Can't agree more on customer service. I needed an extra oring. They are out this week on vacation. Bruce was monitoring the email and handeled it for me.

 

Great tuning means zero detonation.
One ping can take out ANY apex seal, Mazda seals are no different.