I dont have millions for RnD, but all that chedda hasnt done squat for mazda since they keep putting out problematic engines. The funny thing is, they know these problems are gonna exist.

No harm in doing my own RnD with the couple rotaries I've owned...

 

The apex seals still need time to seat against the housings. New housings make it less time because it doesn't have to learn flaws but it's not a instant thing.

Also, Premixing and your "coating" woudl actually increase your break in period because the friction used to seat the seals is drastically reduced. In fact I think your suppose to reduce the amount you premix during the first few miles to help the engine seal quicker.

 

I like to be on the safe side. When my mom bought her new car with only 13 miles on it, the owners manual and the dealer said 4,500 miles of keeping the engine under 3,900 revs. I made sure that 4,500 miles was extended to 10,000 miles. Sound overkill? Well...when your mom is as stupid with cars as a Honda owner is with their oil changes... waiting 10,000 miles before letting her drive how she drives is a good thing.

Needless to say, the car runs flawlessly with it creeping up on 20,000 miles. This , sadly, is when her previous vehicles started acting weird...

 

My rebuild has arrpoximately 92,000mi on it. Still runs fine but it does smoke abit more on startup than it used to. I used one new rotor,new rotor housing and had the side and intermediate housings lapped by Mazdatrix. Built it myself. There is some information out there about a harder break in being better,for piston engines anyway. I don't know if it would apply to a rotary or not. The thinking is by driving harder this forces more combustion gasses under the piston rings causing them to seat faster against the cylinder wall and in the end form a better seal. they didn't talk much about bearing wear. I used Racing Beat's recomended procedure for break in which was similar to the link posted above.

 

I'm gonna do about 10-12 oz per tank right from the start. I'll let ya know how it goes.

Like I was saying before, by blueprinting the engine with the proper clearences, AND by doing it with less variation than mazda spec, my engine will be sealed.

Kinda what I was talking about above. I understand that rotary engines are different, but we're still dealing with internal combustion, yes?

 

I'm not crazy about side housing lapping....it removes the hard plating that is supposed to reduce step wear.

 

I have heard this as well but not until after I did my engine. I've also heard it depends on how deep they go with the lapping whether the hard coating is removed. I think before I did lapping on another motor it would depend on how much stepped wear there was on the side housings. Very little wear and I may not do it. With alot of wear getting them smooth again may be more important than keeping the coating. I personally don't know and opinions seem to be split on it. Oh and in my original post I meant to say new rotor housings. I replaced them both.

 

A "lightly" drivin engine is more likely to experience apex seal failure due to carbon build up. An engine that was redlined at least once daily will most certainly last longer. I am not talking about and engine that is raced and beat on every day it runs, but an engine that was not babied either.

I personally have built close to 10 engines now, and my first one went on a friend of mines car. 85K on new apex seals springs ect, but used engine parts. The thing that killed the engine was the front oil cover O ring failed, and ruined the bearings. It ran when we pulled it apart but it was almost a total loss. Proof that Mazda OEM engine kits are better than the aftermarket rebuild kits like those at Atkins likes to push for a low price.