first they are round and secound i cant get em to fix any one have this prob

 

They are round, which makes them better. They are coated so that you can resuse them easily. I have them, and they fit fine for me.

 

you gotta stretch them

 

Yes, you do alittle bit. But they do fit.

 

in colder climates they like to shrink up a little, you could try warming up some water but not boiling and let them soak some then dry and install them into the irons real quick and put the rotor housings on them with the dowels to hold them in place(don't bolt them together, just let gravity do it's work), i let them sit for about an hour or so and they will stay just fine. the middle iron seems to hate these seals because they always want to pop out of the groove.

 

Same answer as everyone above. I needed a couple extra hands to make mine stay.
-John

 

i streched them a little, and yea the middleones do hate them.. i feellike i need like 17 hands

 

If they shrink when cold, be sure to get them plenty warm so they stretch and fit good. You don't want one to pop out slightly when you are lowering the irons down.

I've had to pull a motor apart and replace the coolant seals because one stepped out of line alittle on me.

 

god i hope mine doesnt slip out during rebuild

 

once they are in the grooves for a short while they usually tend to stay put.

 

Mine stayed in the hylomar for the most part. The Front one, outer one, kept creeping out. I put a C clamp on it until the rotor housing was ready. When I was lowering the rotor housing down I took off the C clamp but the damn thing started creeping. I ran my finger along it and pressed it back down and lowered the housing.

 

This is really odd, I never had that problem... are RA coolant seals different from Atkins?

--Gary

 

Gary,

Did you get a motor??? I replied to your S5 pea in the parts wanted section

 

I had my engine rebuilt with the RA kit a while back and the coolant seals didn't last too long. It was probably the builder's fault more than the seals though. Too bad they closed shop and I had to pay someone else to rebuild it again. Less than 2,000 miles on that engine too
Anyways, I'd take everyone's advice in this thread so you don't have any problems like I did.

 

Atkins seals are either factory or of a factory design, RA seals are encapsulated in a tubular teflon jacket, which makes them a bit of a PITA to work with.

 

They must do that for a reason... better once they ARE installed correctly??? I'm really interested, I didn't know there was more than one option for coolant seals.

--Gary

 

i think its so you can reuse them right ?

i didn't have much of a problem with mine, i had two sets of hands and had to stretch em a bit, the hylomar held em in good enough, no problems really.

 

they are pretty much circular when new.

I put them in the iron over night with out hylamar. Then the next day they are oval shapped to fit.

I put a housing over them to make sure they dont' pop out. It might take a few mins of try'n but you can do it. I usually start at the bottom of the iron and take my thumbs and index fingers and move outward in both directions pressing it into to groove.

Make sure you find the seam and put that above the intake. Do this before you put hylamar on

 

i duobt they are as reusable as the factory seals, i had reused mine 3 times before replacing them but this was in short periods between tear downs.

 

next build i will use atkins coolent seals.. well im at school and i will try assembly when i get home so i will tell u how it went.. should i load the holes really good with hylomar??or just a little

 

Are you serious? Kevin told me you couldn't re-use them ever once the engine had run! =/

Or did your engine run?

--Gary

 

not ideal

I've built a motor with used outer o-rings for both inner and outer (had to cut them to use in the inner). The engine was one i built for free (used apex seals and such). Most of the time the inner de-laminate and are junk.

The motor only has about 1-2k miles on it. So far seems fine. The goal was to get a running NA for about 200 or so and we did that

 

engine builders usually have a CYA(cover your ***) approach to suggestions and policies, as this engine was mine i decided on my own, the engine ran fine but i doubt they would have lasted as long as they would had i not reused them, the coolant seals still sealed fine until the water jacket blew out 4k miles later after they had been reused 3 times.

 

I use the McMaster tef-sil o-rings all the time.
It's funny how other vendors like to charge over the McMaster price of $10 each. :P

It takes a certain technique to get them to fit nicely.

I use enough Hylomar to lightly coat the o-ring all the way around.
I used to use a LOT of Hylomar initially but figured out how to do it with very little Hylomar sparingly.

Yes, they are SLIGHTLY smaller.
Even a stock OEM brand new Mazda o-ring is slighty smaller!
The key is to know how much to stretch it.
If you do it right, it'll keep it's shape and is easier to install than the stock Mazda OEM o-ring.
Be careful when you stretch them - they do NOT shrink back down even when you stuff them in the freezer - don't ask how I know this. :P

Yes, they are reusable.
I don't have long-term examples, but I've pulled them out of a 20k rebuild with no significant wear except for the seals forming to the groove.
I've pulled stock o-rings at 5k rebuilds that fell apart and stretched - you just cannot reuse the stock o-rings period (except for those getto rebuilds).

These things are not for rookies of for those people who expect the o-ring to be a PERFECT fit.
Be warned.


-Ted

 

Here's what happens if the ring o- ring pops out of the groove and you don't realize it. This is from the rear iron. I had water leaks into the combustion chamber as well as oil leaks out the side of the engine. The engine wont clench properly if the o-ring pops out.