3 piece seals are back...
 

For all those fretting over the 2 piece, you can once again buy the 3 piece seals, the old 3 piece number use to supercede to a the new 2 piece seals, but it just changed, and that numbers is now superceded by the number for the 3 piece seals..
My last order for seals showed up as 2 piece'ers, I just got another order of seals in and they are all 3 piece...Hmm I kinda like the 2 piece'rs myself...Max

Where can you get these 3-piece seals?

damn...I went with Ianetti ceramics...

Umm.. Mazda.... :D .....

I hate to think about what motiviated Mazda to change back.

Agreed

Probably a dumb question, how often do you have to change the seals?

I hear 30,000 miles, it might be wrong though

Way too many variables to give an answer..

It depends on the power you are making, the amount of knock you have, how your cooling system is , your fuel support, how you drive the car... etc etc etc etc etc

Once a week...(LOL)

What type of engine is this going in?

Is there an average amount of miles?
I have a 12a with about nothin done to it... could you give me an estimate?
Is there something that I can look for to see if I need to change the seals? Is there something that I will definetely notice... sorry for the dumb questions... I'm just kinda knew to the 7, just got mine 2 days ago.

Haha. These seals are made of the same material as the 2-piece apex?

Good question. How good are your squinting skills?

With the aid of the Zoom function, "New two-piece apex seal of acleular [?] cast iron with very low carbon content is adopted in the RENESIS two-rotor engine. . . The digitally controlled, electron-beam chill-hardening process results in a deeper and more uniform hardened area at the top of the seal. The apex seal is crowned and its tip is rounded so that it follows the trochoid sliding surface up to the engine's higher peak revolutions of 9000 rpm." I have been told these updates carried over to all the 2-piece seals.

Therefore, if Mazda completely reverts back to the old 3-piece seals then the replacement seals will have a higher carbon content.

young grashoppa, these are the apex seals, the equivalent of piston rings in a piston engine. they dont realy get replaced until they break (the dread of every rotary owner) or the engine is apart for other reasons and they are worn to the point that replacement would be worthwhile. just like how someone would not just up and say, well its been 30,000 miles, i need new piston rings......

An unmodified non-turbo rotary can run multiple hundreds of thousands of miles if you change the oil and keep from overheating it.

How easily does the car start up? That will tell you a lot about engine health.

Very interesting indeed. Why did you like the old 2 piece? I have heard of and witnessed multiple failures with the 2 piece seals in applications over 1 bar and with ported rotor housings. I wish the bastards weren't in my motor right now......

What's your take on this? If you find out anything from your buds at Mazda, be sure to let us know :)

Rich

Does anyone know what problems have been experianced with the new 1 piece seals that have replaced the old 2 piece?

As mentioned the 2 piece have become available again.... if the part number starts with N323 they are more likely the n/a 2 piece which are still available but are a different colour, which makes me wonder if they are a different material also..... possibly a weaker material as n/a seals wouldn't need to be as strong as turbo apex seals???

I think we already know why.

Also: YAY.

If the engine has enough compression to start, the seals are fine.

12A's last damned near forever. Mine has only 175k on it and it still fires on the first turn of the starter.

12A's have nothing to do with this thread, though. The 3-piece seals are only for 2mm seal 13Bs, which were made '86-02.

Do we know these are the same 3 piece seals as the original ones in terms of composition? and do we know why the 2 piece seals wern't holding out at certain boost? was it because of their 2 piece design or was it due to their composition or are the 2 piece and the latest 3 piece made from the same material as the original 3 piece?

Hmmm....Well, I'm running the new 2 piece seals and they've held up just as good as the 3 piece.....~20 psi on pump gas :-)

But the older 3 piece did offer slightly better sealing.

My .02

JD

That's good to hear. I am running the 2 piecers in my motor. JD, what kind of exhaust portwork do you have? I have heard rumors that the 'wrong' kind of exhaust porting will cause an early demise of these seals.....basically if the closing is more rounded than straight across.

Rich

<what kind of exhaust portwork do you have?>

my exhaust ports are rounded somewhat...similar to stock just bigger with smoothed edge all around.

<I have heard rumors that the 'wrong' kind of exhaust porting will cause an early demise of these seals.....basically if the closing is more rounded than straight across.>
more rounded would offer more support as the seal passes over the exhaust port.

The only weakness of the seal is same as the 3 piece...at the corner edge as it meets the corner piece...but overall they should be stronger and last longer.

JD

Well a friend has just ordered three lots of seals with the part no. xxxx-xx-c00c all turned outti be the 2 piece ones.