Rebuild Kits - RA vs Atkins
 

Hey guys,

Ive been working on my engine for a few weeks now, getting things cleaned, prepped, and buying some accessories that will compliment this project (such as power fc and new exhaust). The one giant question i've had looming over my head is the different rebuild kits on the market, namely Rotary Aviation and Atkins Rotary rebuild kits. I was wondering if some members who have experience with either would be willing to share their stories of success or failure and throw in any advice you feel like giving.

For the record this is a stock rebuild that is getting the stock twins put back in and the OMP is being deleted.

I cannot speak for any of the seals, but I trust what my builder wanted to use.

Howard Coleman built my engine and I told him to go with whatever seals he wants. He ended up going with Atkins 2mm seals explaining that it is what he has been using on all his engines and hasn't had any problems. He said if I wanted the RA seals, then I could use them, but he said he has never had any problems with Atkins, so I went with what he is comfortable with.

I know that didn't answer any question of which is "best" to use, but I highly doubt you can go wrong with any of those.

Well i respect a lot of what Howard has done for these forums in regards to rotary tech so your post is useful. Im leaning towards the atkins kit considering their master rebuilt kit is more "complete" than the RA master kit, im mostly concerned about the apex seals from each company.

I would advise against blocking off the OMP. I can post pictures of what it looks like if the mixture is wrong for oil to fuel ratio. Unless this is a race car only I always would recommend the OMP.

Now about the kits.

Both have their advantages. Atkins uses more Mazda parts while RA is pretty much all aftermarket parts. They both inlcude the thermal pellet replacement. I like the mazda inner coolant seals (Atkins sells these) than the RA or mcmaster carr ones. The stock ones fit much better. However if you need to tear it down several times the RA inner coolant seals will be reuseable while you can right off the Mazda inner coolant seals.

For stock boost levels the Atkins kit would serve you great. The main difference is that RA apex seals will bend in the case of detonation where as the Atkins will not. I have run both and have had success w/ both. I generally use RA apex seals for high boost single cars, but I have tried Atkins in the same setups again w/ sucess. It's just a little extra protection for a boost spike or bad gas.

If you rebuilding this yourself for the first time I would recommend the Atkins kit for ease of use and mostly Mazda parts. Hope that helps some.