I have been doing some research into apex seals and I found something about Mazda having updated their apex seals and now they are not as good as they used to be. Is this true or false? Explain if possible. Thanks. I know there has been a couple polls posted on which apex seals people use but I would also like to know from people that build these things for a living what they would personally use in their own engines.
One more question to add is how do atkin's viton oil control rings compare against the Mazda OEM? I know they are cheaper (good thing) but do they work as well?

So to sum things up basicaly I want to know what apex seals and other internal seals are best for longevity and reliability in a NA motor. Yes I have searched for answers but have not found anything concrete except that hurley seals are weak, atkins seals are just about as good as mazda, and rotary aviation seals are very hard.

 

yeah
its 2 piece now instead of the wonderful 3 pieces...

 

I though the two peice "were" the good seals?

 

They are on a higher mileage engine. The thing I can't stand about the old 3 piece seals is that the top piece gets very brittle and breaks easily as the mileage goes up. 3 piece seals are **** when it comes to durability in high mileage situations. The top piece will also flip out of the rotor grooves on high mileage engines. They also stick more easily when it comes to excessive carbon build-up. If youve ever owned a first gen, those 12a and 13b's had 2 piece 3mm seals. Those engines would run forever if you took care of them. I'm talking 200+ thousand miles easy. That kind of mileage on 3 piece seals is few far in between. The newer NA engines (86-91) with the 3 piece seals have lasted no where near as long (on average) as the 1st gens. Some say it's due to the 3mm thickness, I say it's due to the more structurally sound 2 piece design. Think about it, the 2 piece seals have a lot more structural support and resist breakage.

Now I'm strictly talking NA application. Turbo engines and detonation is a whole differant ball game.

 

I personally love the 2 piece 2mm seals. They are stronger than the 3 piece without the drawbacks of going up to a 3mm seal.