when did mazda go to 2 piece seals?
 

Just wondering because I was thinking about buying a rebuild kit this guy is selling but I descided to ask him if they where 2 or 3mm seals and if they where 2 piece and he said that they where 3 piece and had no idea what mm they are??? Any help would be great! thanks.

This happened about 3 - 5 years ago.
No warning - in fact, the part numbers are identical! :P


-Ted

lol, make sure you get the right size there, last thing you want is 3mm seals to come in the mail when you don't expect it and you have to get your rotors machined.

So whats the deal with 2/1 piece seals, is there a particular ratio of compression/longevity between the two?

Thanks ted, are the 3 piece seals and better or worse than the 2 piece?


exaclty thats why I didn't send him the money yet. Also do you mean "whats the deal with the 2/3 piece seals? I don't think they make a 1 piece seal :)

They make one piece, at least Racing Beat carries some. I think they are race only or something though, and not meant for longevity.

I beleive when you do a full bridge port you have to use one peice seals so yes there are one peice seals.
Dom

I haven't heard that, where'd you hear this from or who?

just something i thought i heard here around the forum no clue who though. I would think you would absolutly need one peice seals though. Makes sense when i think about it. I could be wrong though

You don't, but as far as my understanding goes the 1 piece is just for high rpm use.

makes sense, someone definetly said that though. but if you go full bridge you are going to be hitting some seriously high rpms anyhow i would think. thanks for correcting me
dom

ok what about the 2 and 3 piece though is there any differances as far as how long they last etc...

From watching a few video's, Most companies, including mazda, switched to a 2 Peice design over a 3 peice due to the increased wear on the apex seal groove. The main peice of the apex seal (the peice that contacts the rotor housing) was allowed more play, eventually bowing the apex seal grooves in some cases, making the rotor unusable unless machined to 3MM. Also using a 3 peice design, heat transfer was suffered compared to 2 peice or 1 peice seal. The benefit from running a 3 peice seal, is better sealing at all times, especially on startup, or cold starts.

-Justin

ahhh, cool thanks for the info. I think I'm going to stick with the 2 piece seals. Thanks again.

Ive used racing beat carbon seals before.
They only lasted 8000 miles but they sealed
real good at high rpm and they are really
only meant for racing, unless you like
tearing your engine down every 10k miles.
I thought that the original idea behind 3
piece seals was for better sealing at high
rpm. But I noticed that the rx8 uses 2 piece
seals, would that be because the exhaust
ports are in the side housing now?

I deffinatley don't want to tear my engine down very often thats why I am trying to find the best seals. I think I may just go with RA though since they are so hard to crack and brake when detonated.

3-5 years ago? Uhm...the renesis was only developed 2, 2.5 years ago max, which is where the 2pc seals came from. I'd say 2 years at most since they made the switch. 3 years ago I was still able to buy 3pc mazda seals.

are three piece mazda seals bad?

They worked on every engine built between 1985.5 and early 2004, so you decide.

internesting, ok well shit, maybe I'll go for it.