Is the extra cost worth it for ceramic seals? I have read the archives and still am not sure if i want to spend the extra money. The shop rebuilding my engine recommended them for the amount of hp and boost I want to run, but it adds an extra 1200$ to the cost of the rebuild. They also reccommended using the older style corners seals for increased reliability.

 

I would get them if I were you. they won't ever break, do you need more convincing. talk to rob at www.pineappleracing.com he knows his ****.

Matt

 

i run the ianetti ceramic seals

if i did not run them i would not have a motor right now

xs did my ecu tuning and they did it horribly. I got so much detonation at 2800 rpms under light boost that the guy who built my motor was curled up like a fetus in the passenger seat.

the exact words out of his mouth were "good thing you got the ceramics cuz that would have blown your motor"

i run high boost...run 15lbs every single day on my m2 set. Have run as high as 16lbs....plan on running 19-20 once i get my 3bar map sensor.

mazda claims the ceramics are good for 24 lbs of boost...the ceramic 3mm one piece are better for high rpm abuse if you drive it that way.

however...ive seen someones blown motor from the ceramics...and it wasnt pretty...scars all over the housings...they didnt even disintegrate...there were just three broken pieces of seal.

however...they werent conservative in their tuning.

The main benefit is that you will get a little bit of padding when you do the initial tuning after you get the motor done....if you experience detonation you have a good chance to make it thru without needing a new motor. My motor is perfect example of that. I had huge detonation yet it is still purring strong...no loss in compression.

there are guys running high boost on stock apex seals...but their cars are tuned extremely well and they pay constant attention to their afr's and temperatures.


good luck...it was worth the money to me.


j

 

Just happened to talk to Rob today about something else and this topic came up.

His advice was to run Hurley's in it until it's dialed in (read: tuned) and then when we send the engine back in for "freshening" switch to ceramic.

Doing anything cutting edge on the ceramic might prove costly. In other words, they don't break easily, but when they go, everything goes!

Rob is THE man for engines.

 

Thanks I appreciate the advice. Tuning is going to be a problem for me since there is know one in my area with any experiance with this. I plan on doing alot of homework in order to properly tune my car. it wont be put back together until next spring so I have lots of time. I think I will go woth the ceramic. I do tend to drive my vehicles hard so I might consider the one piece.

 

runing ceramics now... talked virtually everyone and they recommend it but if it breaks.. they say it's like dropping a hand full of diamonds in your engine.. it will eat everything up..=(