I've heard the 3rd gen engines go because the apex seals wear out. Then I heard that instead of replacing the engines you can "simply" replace the seals with new ceramic ones. Whadya think???

 

Yes, the seals can wear down and can be replaced by stock or ceramic ones. Hurly http://www.hurleyrotary.com/ also sells very nice seals and are considered by many to be the best. If a seal breaks the housing is normally scared making replacing just the seals pointless. This seems to happen before they wear down.

 

Wow ... what a misconception. I hope you don't think ceramics mean you can do whatever you want to you motor and not worry about detonation and running lean ... sounds like it to me.

 

From what I've heard, the ceramic seals are good for bridge ported motors that run high rpm's. They make the low-end suffer though because they're not heavy enough to seal properly until higher rpm ranges. The best one's I've actually used were reinforced steel 1pc apex seals with dual springs. I had them in a 1990 Japanese T2 and they were great up to about 10000 rpms. One night I over revved and the RPM's shot off the scale and I blew a seal, normally shifted at 10k. Anyway, that's just my opinion... just like ********, everyone's got one

 

That's a new one. I've never heard of a 3rd gen. engine living long enough to have the seals wear out. The two most common forms of engine death are 1) broken seals, and 2) overheating.

Broken seals come from detonation, a side effect of too much boost, too little fuel, and too much heat, which comes back to the overheating problem. Ceramic apex seals *will* withstand more detonation than a stock ceal, but that means you'll get 3 pings instead of 1, pretty much. They can (and do) break, and are not proof against detonation.

They do decrease wear. They do have lower rpm sealing "problems". They do increase the rpm at which the apex seals "float" or pull away from the surface of the rotor housing. They are self-lubricating. But they're not detonation-proof.

You'd be better off spending the money on fuel system mods and a good knock sensor and sticking with stock seals. You'll cry less when (if) you blow an engine, and your chances of blowing one will be reduced, especially if you spend some money on an aftermarket radiator and intercooler, both of which (OEM) are horribly inadequate for what the car is capable of.

 

That's a great point, instead of just fixing what's broke over and over again. Fix it, then fix the parts that are causing the problems. The reliability mods are the first thing going onto my car once I get the money for it. A new radiator is first, then a bigger intercooler. The OEM parts can't handle the engine.

 

AWESOME INFO!! THE 93 FD I'M PURCHASING HAS PF INTERCOOLER SYSTEM,PF SS EXHAUST, PF COOL CHARGE AIR INDUCTION & PFS BOOST GAUGE. I DON'T SEE A RADIATOR LISTED AT THE PF WEB SITE. ANY SUGGESTIONS ON WHERE TO PICK UP A MORE ROBUST RADIATOR??

 

The most popular radiator is the Fluidyne. Apex makes one too, but I haven't heard anything about it. I know there's a couple other people that makes them, SR Motorsports makes one I believe, you just don't hear of them as much. The Fluidyne is probably the best way to go.