I'm in the middle of a rebuild right now (13b-rew), I'm getting the atkins master kit and my mechanic recommended that I go with the Rotary Aviation Super Seals over the atkins or mazda-oem apex seals. Has anyone used these? Because I know someone will suggest it, I would go with ceramics but $ is an issue. I just need some input from the experienced... (this is a 2mm job btw)

 

I have these in my motor now. They came highly recommended from a few people.

Anthony

 

how many miles do you have on them and what kind of abuse have you put them through?

 

I always use stock. Mazda seals are excellent for the vast majority of motors, there is alot more R&D behind them than any aftermarket seal can offer.

 

I have about 2000 miles on them now and I drag race the car on 20-25psi at the track. If your car runs lean or detonates for any reason, these seals are known to warp and not break which usually takes out a housing and a rotor. Here's a vid a friend put together...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q16pq...id%3D104900868

Anthony

 

And not to mention what stock seals will do to your turbo on it's way out. Not only will you be replacing rotors and housings but most likely you will be in need of a turbo rebuild. I agree for the most part for street driven engines Mazda stock seals are the way to go but for racing applications there are much better altenatives out there. I personnally like these super seals for my type of driving which is drag racing.

 

Are the super seals the same as the "new" seals they started to offer a few years back?

 

the RA seals are damn near indestructable....in one vehicle ive seen, there have been multiple cracked irons...dented rotors(from detonation) ..all kinds of broken corner seals..but the apex seals have always been in tact and reusable

 

No, they are not. The new seals they are offering "superseal" is not their product, they are a reseller and it's much easier to get it through them than other sources.

Anthony

 

I'm nervous as to the long-term use of these seals. The RA seals have been shown to wear out apex seal grooves in rotors as well as rapidly accelerate the wear on rotor housings. Will these do the same? Only time will tell (if there is no QC from RA disprove this, that is).

B

 

I know alot of people say that the super seals are the way to go but I bet it has something to do with how hard the seals are. Since it's so hard it seems like it's unbreakable but with my new housings, I went with stock seals because I've seen what these ra seals do to housings first hand.

 

Different strokes for different folks. That's just it if you want a long lasting seal stick with stock seals. But for the most part those that are using these seals really don't care about longevity. Most of them are high horsepower purpose built drag cars. When a stock seals blows it looks like a grenade went off inside the motor. From what I've gathered the super seals don't break they will warp. Easier to change out apex seals than it is to replace rotors, housings and possibly have to rebuild a turbo. Can't beat stock seals for a long lasting motor but for what I do I will stick to these seals. I'm not looking to get 100k miles out of my engine I'm more like looking at getting close to 100 1/4mile passes out of it before I have to go back in and freshen it up and that's only 25miles. To me you have to look at what you are building and choose the best products that will meet your goal. If my car was a daily driver I would definetly be running OEM seals.

 

Will these seals do the same? First I would not associate them with the older RA seals since they are a totally different seal made by a different person. I know the person that makes these seals and spoke to him indepth, in person, about the wear etc on a daily driven car. He provides them to RA who then sells them.

He assured me that they have been testing these seals for a few years and they wear normally. I only found out about them last year since few cars in the modified class are running them. I have them know in a few street/drag cars so we'll see at the end of the season how they wear.

Anthony

 

How long do you need to base your opinion. Pro Drag Racers have been using them for years at very high boost applications. Im using them as well.

 

There is some good info on this thread from page 4-6. We have a bad habit of getting off topic .

https://www.rx7club.com/rotary-drag-racing-167/ken-scheepers-new-record-7-27-%40-186-mph-644876/page4/