ok so within 24 hours i will be buying the atkins rebuild kit off ebay, but my question is how are the apex seals from atkins? i was thinkin of selling the atkins seals and using RA seals, but then i hear RA seals are too hard and the wear down housings faster, and also are the RA apex seals springs any good or do they flatten out when heated?

 

Atkins seals seem to be ok now(biting my tongue or someone will hack it off), some swear by RA seals due to their resistance to breaking but that is not always a good thing. RA springs tend to flatten out in performance engines but many have not had any issues with them in stock applications usually in N/A motors though, maybe a few rare instances of them flattening in stock boosted motors.

softer seals - Atkins but they have been proven in 600RWHP engines
mild - OEM
harder seals - Rotary aviation, also proven in high HP applications

preferably i would suggest OEM but they are pricier, being in the rebuild business i chose Atkins even knowing there is some risk involved but i would rather run a softer seal than a harder one. there is no best choice so i can't even give a suggestion.

notice Hurley is off the list? i won't touch them.

 

yea well my FC is a 87 TII and im shootin for 300+ hp so im thinkin maybe RA with atkins springs? also my old setups was with atkins 3MM seals but my rotors and housings were fubared. so now i have new rotors do u think i should mill out the rotors and go 3MM or will 2MM hold up high hp numbers fine?

 

I recommend the RA seals if you cermet the housings, but OEM seals for everything else.

 

cermet housings? whats that?

 

If the housings are shot, you can have them Cermeted (a type of ceramic coating), to replace the chrome. They are much harder, but also much smoother, and it is about half the price of new housings.

http://www.jhbperformance.com/products/rotorhousing.php

 

not quite half price but they are reasonably priced to save a mildly worn housing and also supposedly alot more durable but they have not been widely proven so far under many variables. i wouldn't mind testing them out eventually though.

stick with 2mm seals, there is no real reason to pay more for 3mm unless your rotors are worn or already milled for 3mm. the money spent would be much wiser spent on a good tuner than adding the buffer level.

 

I agree, unless you are using ungodly amounts of boost and no tuning, 3mm seals add too much friction to be used for most street applications.

 

this is useful, I'm trying to gather as much info for my build this month.

 

OEM apex seals and springs. I do not believe you could go wrong with them.

James

 

If you going with a budget, go with the Atkins hard seals and go with RA's soft seals, mainly the coolant seals, I myself just emailed asking RA if I could buy their inner coolant seals, they're $10 each and $4.95 shipping with a 4 seal max per box. This is just my .02 cents though.

 

That is good to know when I go with OEM hard seals on my next build Thanks!

James

 

ok so im th8inking maybe gettin the atkins kit, and using OEM apex seals. im only planning on boosting as high as maybe 15-16 psgi so i guess 2mm seals would be better. is mazdatrix the only place i can get OEM seals from?