I am rebuilding my engine and have some questions. I would like some advice from people with first hand experience.

What are some of your recomendations new apex seals?
I am thinking stock, but Rotary Aviation sounds pretty confident about theirs.

I am not aiming for any super high horsepower figures, So they don't have to be made for high boost or anything.

Who else makes/sells resonably priced, 2mm seals besides mazda, hurley, adkins, and rotary aviation?

(on a side note, does anyone know advantages of 3 piece over 2 piece, or vise-versa?)


My rear rotor housing has some receding "chrome," starting near the bottom, closer to the exhaust port, and going roughly 3" towards the exhaust port. The max width of the affected area is about 1/8", although most is closer to 1/16". According to Bruce Turrentine's(sp?) rebuild video, it is ok. But I am wondering if anyone has had significant problems or decreased performance because of this. I am kind of figuring that Bruce knows what he is talking about and since it is near the exhaust side, it'll be a little less critical.

Thanks guys.

 

The apex seal debate is never ending. I've run the stockers, atkins and Rotary aviation in my FD. The stockers hold tons of power, but when they go...they destroy tons of stuff in their place. The atkins don't like high EGT's so they'll let go faster than the stockers...but when they go, they do minimal to NO damage to ANYTHING. I've had 2 engine's go out that had the atkins seals in them...not one single scratch when the engine blew. I currently have the rotary aviation seals in and they seem to be holding quite well. I'm trying to be the first person to blow them up...but I'm having a little bit of difficulty doing it.

 

Coming from a guy that knows how to blow an apex seal like a pro.
End of round 1:
RA:1
Adkins:-2




Also, what's the latest on what type of o-rings to use? OEM or silicone, etc.

Thanks

 

i am using OEM o-rings, i feel that mazda has more R&D than any of these other companies, and perhaps there's a reason they used the materials they did

just my $.02

i think solid corner seals are a safe bet, as well as the RA seals

 

stock corner's should be fine. Lots of High HP cars with the stock corners. 99% of the time, it's the apex seals that go anyways. The new hurley corner seal design is promising however, with their built in springs. The only real experience I've had with solid corner seals is second hand. The solid corner seals wore down WAY too fast to be used in an engine that'll be daily driven or an engine that's meant to last a long time.

 

I went with teflon.

Yes mazda did a lot of research but they had to consider cost also. 2x the cost would add up and the bean counters wouldn't agree. Teflon only counts when u run a bit hot.

the stockers give a bit more compression due to the 3 peice design. My rebuilt i just used the atkins kit.

i got some porting templates poss if u want them.

 

i noticed my pineapple motor had solid corner seals, i think it's the norm with their motors and they offer 5yr warranties

 

solid corner seals would just decrease compression again if i'm not mistaken but increase life.

in the grand scheme of things i dont' think it makes a noticable difference.

He just needs to figure out what he wants out of it and go for it.

Prices for me makes a bigger difference.

 

I'll probably just go with stock corner seals.

I am leaning toward RA's apex seals. I haven't heard/read anything bad about them, though they are fairly new. Costing less than stock for a set is just icing on the cake


I haven't decided on if i'm going to do anything to the ports yet. Probably just clean them up a little. I've heard that on piston engines, you want a little bit of a rough surface on the intake to help fuel mixture, is this the same on a rotary? Also, if i were to port the exhaust and not the intake, would this help high end flow (at least out of the engine) w/o reducing idle quality? Somebody set me straight here

I do agree with sesshoumaru, just because they have the knowledge of how to choose the best parts available doesn't mean that they actually do.

thanks for the help so far guys. I'm sure i'll have more questions later.

 

oigh

yes on the fuel atomization.......i brought that up in a thread somewhere else...........it's done by the time it's in the chamber. So dont' smooth out the intake runner me thinks. Same as pistons.

idle is not that bad for a mild street port.

input=output

your intake would limit your output and decrese the velocity of exhaust increasin'n turbo lag.

but then agian............i'm pretty drunk righ now.....(2nd thread i state this in)

 

when you port you don't smooth the runners, you enlarge them and increase the flow...you can't avoid smoothing them in this process

atomization? it's TURBO CHARGED, lol

 

eh?

at·om·ize ( P ) Pronunciation Key (t-mz)
tr.v. at·om·ized, at·om·iz·ing, at·om·iz·es
To reduce to or separate into atoms.
To reduce to tiny particles or a fine spray.
To break into small fragments.

fuel does that........it has to if you want a uniformed combustion.

why wouldnt' it do it in a turbo charged vehicle?

the rough sufaces only help that process.

you can have a smooth surface but won't be as atomized reducing efficiency.

 

i'd say definitely go with the silicon seals! if you hold the stock seals and the silicon seals in your hand, you'll understand why. silicon looks and feels so much sturdier and the stock ones just look and feel like cheap crap.

if you are not looking for high hp/boost situations, the factory mazda 2mm are the recommended choice. do a search on here and you will see just how many people recommend just using the stock seals for needs like you described.

while you have the motor out you might want to consider replacing the FPD (fuel pulsation dampener) and the fuel lines to/from it. I had my motor done in July and regret not knowing enough to do that while everything was apart. Now I'll be duplicating some labor and $$ fixing that.

again, since you stated that you are not looking for big power/boost, skip the porting. it will not really give you anything except maybe a rougher idle. plus i have read (mahjik) that mild porting is next to useless. go big or don't bother. maybe use the funds you save from porting for some jet-hot on the intake manifold...

my 2 cents...

 

why is medium porting next to useless?