Rebuilders . . .
 

Where is the best place to get a rebuild kit for my S4 NA 13B?

This section is full of experienced rebuilders so hence my asking here rather than the "second gen lounge". The best kit I have found (so far) is a full package including apex seals, springs, oil and water seals, bearings and gaskets for about $800, all OEM Mazda parts.


So is this the best package or is there another option?

Atkins kit on ebay for $440 is another option. Does not have side seals but those can usually be reused. They also sell the gasket set for $115. www.rotaryaviation.com also has some good prices.

$880 seems like quite a bit. A complete 20B rebuild should cost about $900-$1000 for the parts, so theoretically (sp?) a 13B should be no more than $700.

Atkins seems to have some pretty good competitive prices. I always see their kits on ebay for the prices rxxeven mentioned.

Since you are in Oregon your might want to give Rob at Pineapple Racing a call. I'm not sure if he sells rebuild kits out to people, but you can always check. One of the top rotary shops out there.

Read all current threads on Atkins before doing anything with them. There is a large body of reports that indicate they may not be producing/selling the best quality stuff.

Atkins may have a few disgruntled customers but for the most part their stuff is real good and kathy provides good customer support if there are any problems. As for their seals, they are the most widely used after the stock ones and I suspect most of the problems posted on the forums are largely due to improper tuning in turbo applications.

I will not be using Atkins parts. I have read of their apex seals having a large coefficient of expansion and seizing in the slots causing an engine to die. I just want to use OEM Mazda parts. I'll call Pineapple, thanks for the tip Bridgeported.

Jeff

Atlins seals
 

Atkins has more than just a few disgruntled customers. Good customer service----I doubt it!!!!---These people failed to inform my builder about critical slotting specifications for their 3mm and then blamed him for the failures. Oh I should mention that Atkins 3mms are made from a metal that has a higher coefficient of expansion than OEM, Hurley (BTW I am not recommending Hurley I understand they have as many or more problems than Atkins), Iannetti etc. The machining of the rotors was "spot on" for tolerances but they were spec'd to the tight end of spec. It turns out because Atkins' seals expand so much when they get hot, spec'ing the slots to anything but the sloppy side of spec will likely result in seizure. Atkins finally explained that to my builder after he found out for himself that the seals are made of a different metal composition than others. Atkins also told him that they would do nothing for him becuase he should have sent the rotors to them for machining. I am just grateful that my builder has more integrity than Atkins and ate the cost of 3 rebuilds.


Your claim that poor tuning results in most of the complaints about Atkins could use a realilty check. In my case, 3 sets of Atkins 3mm seals seized long before boost was reached (The engine either turned over and never lit or lit up until it reached operating temps and then seized.

By the way, I am not even complaining about the quality of their damn seals (which I understand is not real good) as much as the way Atking treated by builder. Even if they had the best seals in the world I would manufacture my own before I spent $1 with those people.

Good Luck and I truly hope you have no problems with your Atkins seals, there is no reason for anyone with a 7 to suffer for the failures of parts suppliers and builders.

. . . . exactly. Many builders feel that the OEM three piece Mazda seals are the best, short of ceramics.

www.rotaryaviatoin.com has the best prices i've been able to find anywhere. i am going to call rob at pineapple just to be sure though. he is a great guy

Atkins :rolleyes: