Rebuild Kits? Atkins, RB, RR
 

Hello everyone. Do excuse me, but this is a somewhat long message as it is about a major procedure that I and many others have not done before. I have some questions about the available engine rebuild kits that I was hoping some of you experienced engine builders might be able to answer for me. Of course, and advice or guidance from anyone would be welcome and greatly appreciated.

To begin, I am planning on pulling the motor out of my 1990 NA very soon and rebuilding it with the help of my friend (piston eater). It has about 167,000 miles on it and is pretty much on its last legs. It has always blown a small spurt of burnt oil on startup after sitting for a couple days. At one point, it was producing huge clouds of coolant and flooding with water. I dumped in a bottle of Bar's StopLeak which seemed to clear that up, but it still shows signs of blown water seals.
I am going to need to purchase a "rebuild kit", however I am slightly confused as to which one I should get becasue I have never rebuilt an engine before. The three that I know of are avaialble from Atkins Rotary, Racing beat, and Revolution Rotary, and for reference I will copy and paste the contents of each kit here.

Revolution Rotary: Gasket Set, Rotor Bearings, Front Main Seal, Inner & Outer Oil O-rings, Main Bearings, Rear Main Seal, Apex Seals and Springs (3piece 2mm steel), Side Seal Springs, Corner Seal Plugs, Corner Seal Springs, and Thermo Pellet (13B 86 - ) All Genuine Mazda Parts.
PRICE: $698.25

Atkins Rotary: Overhaul gasket set, Apex seals + Springs (2piece 2mm steel), Corner Seals + springs, Side seal + springs, Oil control Ring Rubbers, Oil control Rings Metal, Front + Rear Main Seal, Pilot Bearing & Seal, Thermal Pellet, Replacement, Rotor Bearings, Main Brg, Stationary gear bearing, Hylomar sealant
PRICE: $1014

Racing beat: Apex seals and springs (3piece 2mm steel), side seals and springs, corner seals and springs, complete rotor oil seals with O-rings and springs, front and rear main seals, and complete gasket and O-ring set. All Mazda OEM components.
PRICE: $995

In addition to the rebuild kit I will need to buy, I plan to get two new rotor housings.
Although I am not certain, the Atkins Rotary kit seems like a the "best" deal, including every seal and the bearings. There are, however, a few things that are tripping me up still. In a motor with 167K should I get the most complete kit? Are 2 piece seals good for a stock NA motor? Are there some of those parts that pretty much always come out re-useable? Of course, I am going to spec out all the parts while the engine is apart, but I am aiming to put together an NA motor that will run strong for a long, long time. Again, sorry for such a lenghtly post, and again, any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Andrew

Andrew,
Stock seals are best with new housings. You can re-use the metal oil control rings, hence a few kits don't have them. Rotor and main bearings could be reused if there is no surface wear because it shortens break-in period, provided it falls within mazda spec for inner diameter. The used one will have just a wee bit of addtional clearance for lubrication than a fresh one. You are better off getting everything else new.
All the shops you mentioned sell good stuff, so it'll come down to best price.

Atkins Rotary sells a video on how to tear down and rebuild a rotary. Also, get a Haynes manual, shop manual, and any other manual you can possible get your hands on. Take your time and label everything you disconnect. Its easy to try too hard not to fuck something major up and then end up fucking up something little like crossing a few vacuum lines on rebuilt, causing your car to run like a bag of hammers. Good luck and have fun. :D

Call rob at PINEapple racing. download the FSM from fc3s.org