Well, she responded to me on a Sunday, which is even weirder than her responding to me on a Saturday.

"The warranty is a lifetime warranty in STOCK applications (defined as no other non-factory mods to the engine - no additional turbo boost - no porting, etc). The owner also has to prove that the seals were installed in an engine with new rotor housings. Proof is defined as a receipt for the housings. The proof of the housings is not required until a warranty claim is made.


Re the test cars - running up to 10 psi of boost. There are no other significant mods to the engines other than some mild porting.

The seals are made of a different material that is much more ductile and therefore more chip resistant.

Hope this helps,
Laura"

 

So basically the warranty is useless for most of us, but if the seals hold up better, then it's still a better solution.

edit: coughpostwhorecough :P

 

okay, so consider them "without warranty." is this any different than any other apex seal makers/distributors? i myself haven't looked into htis, but i imagine most aren't warrantied, especially on modded engines. and how many people leave their RX7 100% unmodded?

 

may have to buy a couple sets for the inevitble engine rebuild in the future.

 

Guys, I just took the plunge and bought a set of them, along with an O ring and installation gasket kit for my upcoming rebuild w/ street port. I figure I am around this forum enough to be a good test mule for them.

I should have the engine together in two weeks to a month. I will do a pictoral documentary thread on the assembly process, so stay tuned.

 

I am interested to know how well they will hold up to used rotor housings that have the dreaded corner grooves.

I have pulled apart 3 motors and every single one had the little corner peice on stock apex seals cut a groove in the housing. I figured I will go with two piece or one piece seals after this.

I might try and order these to build up my spare motor as a buget build and see how well they will hold up.

 

That sucks that seals prices will be going up, I should grab a pair now for the future..

 

sweet...good deal...Keep us post.

 

We have used 4 sets of these seals in ported engines. One of the engines has 8000 miles on it. No complaints yet.

We are doing some testing on them and comparing them to the hurley, atkins, and stock seals. If I'm allowed (I'm a bit of a grunt right now), I'll let you know the results.

 

Ah, you are one of the original testers . . . how quickly did they bed in (to give >100psi compression)?

 

In kilometers? Unknown. We used new housings to test them on, and let the engines idle for 8 hours, and drove them for 5 hours through low revs before doing our compression tests.
Our lowest was 105 psi on a large streetport, so we are generally pleased with them.

I, personally, am starting a car with with them in tomorrow. 65,000 miles on the rotor housings, large streetport, S4 Turbo. I will do 100 miles, 500 miles, 1000 miles, and 2000 mile reports for you. Sound good?

 

Two things:

1. Harder seals are not necessarily a good thing. A harder seal will chew up the rotor housing more then a softer seal.

2. The "chipping" problem is due to detonation, not a defect in the seals.

 

Sounds great.

 

Ummm I thought when two surface rub against each other. A soft material will see less wear compared to a harder material due to the fact the harder surface has more surface area. Isn't that why gear driven pumps have a soft gear and a hard gear.

 

Im going to buy atleast one set, maby 2 if i can get the $ in a week or so, just hope this price lasts

 

It is certainly better to wear out apex seals than rotor housings. The second part is true but there is more than 50 times more rotor surface than apex seal surface. The apex seals would have to wear 50 times better for the effect to be even.

Chipping is more common with cast iron than alloy steel. I read their ad to say they are probably using something like nitrided 4130.

The guarantee is not too impressive, if you trash your 'new' rotor housings you get a $140 set of seals free. The other concern is 'tested for 4000 miles' , someone needs to get some real time on these seals, ideally they would support a race car or two.

 

My seals just arrived, and for what it is worth, here is a picture of them.



They look pretty good, like new apex seals would be expected to look. Of course the sealing surface has a rounded edge, but the corner piece is different from Mazda's past and present seals in that it does not form a sharp point but rather a 1/4" segment at the tip. Even Mazda's new 2mm 2 piece seals have this sharp corner to the corner piece . . . surely for the purpose of making that nice chipped and worn area right on the edge of used rotor housings so you will buy new ones at rebuild time.

They came in a shrink wrapped bag with two springs for each seal.

So . . . they do ship the product. My engine will be together in a couple weeks, depending on my state of mental health during the assembly process. I will keep you all informed as to how they work (or don't).

 

Before ever running, the engine saw 72 psi across the board. At 100 kms and 6 hours of idling, the engine was seeing 85 psi (87psi rear)across the board. I expect to have the numbers for 500 kms on monday.

 

Not a bad sign! Sounds like they are starting to bed in a little.