What do all of you think about the atkins corner seals ? I have always used mazda , What would be the advantage of these corner seals . I bought an aluminum shifter bushing from atkins once(for my 79-80 sa trans ) and about 500 miles later the thing wedged site ways . So I am a little weary of atkins products .

 

OEM stock all the way.... they work, period. No need to try and reinvent the wheel

 

agreed, no point to going aftermarket.

 

Lets hear some more i just installed atkins solid corner seals in my half bridge 12A with FD springs and RA seals. Ok i am not na but still wondering any more input?

 

I'm thinking of running solid corner seals in the next build, its a race motor and with a bridgeport I might want that extra corner seal strength.

 

for bridged motors it will aid in sealing but it will also exponentially add wear at the extremeties.

even for bridged engines i just use OEM corner seals with no plugs.

i've built a small number of engines with solid corners and never had a problem but the OEM seals work and work well.

if you want the longest life from your engine just stick with OEM corners.

 

Solid corner seals look like they'd be weaker than OEM rubber plug style seals. The OEM seals have no inside corners like solids do.

That said the biggest problem, for an N/A, is the side seal wearing into the corner seal. I've reused old side seals and just used new corner seals to close the gaps back up.

 

solids work better at preventing breakage, but in almost every event that a corner seal had broken the apex seal is what took it out. so even if you saved the corner seal the apex seals were still already trashed, requiring the engine to come apart anyways. even solid corners will wear from the side seals, the added friction and density is likely what causes them to eat some end plates.

 

Always OEM corner seals.
If you are running 3mm apex seals then you can buy the OEM solid corners seals. other than that just buy the OEM 2mm with rubber plug.

 

Right, I forgot about the time I broke a corner seal. The apex seal disappeared and the side seal pushed the corner seal closed.

 

That's what I thought.

 

yet you've just heard from some of the most experienced on the forum that they're a waste and can do more harm than good, and even in some cases cause poorer sealing.

 

1. Its not exactly a stock motor or application and besides its running RA classics and everyone seems to say that they eat housings but my compression loss is due to the shrunken old side seals. BUT I cannot confirm this until I tear the motor apart soon. However I do hate flaking.

2. Ran it with no center plugs? hrmm. never thought of that - care to elaborate your reasoning/experience?

I would have figured for a bridgeport to enjoy the larger surface area on a solid corner seal.

 

because the plugs push out and get chewed up as soon as they sweep over the bridge anyways.

 

I dont think the problem here are the seals ...

 

i had 2 engines with issues on the solids from atkins. this happened recently .

but i always use mazda , no issues at all

 

When I assembled my large street port T2 block, I used new corner seals with plugs. When I disassembled it, all corner plugs were missing.

I don't use them anymore, they just make it a PITA to assemble and don't seem to do anything useful anyway. Maybe they help at 750rpm, but who cares when even a street port idles at 1200?

 

i replace em, but even on a stock engine they are missing sometimes

 

What about 20b corner seal? it shows as a competition part in their book for 13b.

 

You mean the spring? The NF01 corner spring is the stock part number of the 20B and also came stock in the FD. I use them in earlier engines as long as they have nitrided side plates and are planned to be boosted. They're very stiff. If you want a less stiff spring for NA use, get the RX-8 spring.

 

No, I already run the NF01 corner seal spring. Good stuff

This is a screen shot from mazdaspeed motors sport comp catalog.



S is stock part
C is competition part
the racing flag is new comp part

 

you mean ZR03? that is the 20B race engine, and not the JC cosmo street car engine. i think it will be for a 3mm apex seal as well

 

ahhh okay, I was thinking street engine. I'll have to call mazda later today and get more details on that, its not much of a price difference. It just peaked my curiosity.

 

Good info in this thread. I built my last engine, a franken-NA application, without the plugs, but with 3mm OEM corner seals and FD corner springs. My irons checked out in-spec and I had no wear on the corner seals from the side seals. I guess the differences in experiences lie relative to the differences in assembly technique paired with the different combinations of parts.
My $0.02

Also, Fidelity, you're looking for piqued* there. Hahah

 

Hey its the internet, everyone has their own opinion. Plus I like to play devil's advocate. There is a lot of witchcraft in these engines, everyone builds/cleans/ports/preps/assembles them all a little bit different, everyone has their own preferences.

Either way I have assembled a motor with each kind (SP = stock corner seals, half bridge = solid) but neither are torn down yet, application/injection is similar but it may be years before they are both apart. However the stock corner seal built engine had much shittier irons/housings to begin with.