Ive been reading the new Drag Sport oversized magazine lately, and must admit, theres alot of good info in there. more importantly, they dedicate a few good pages on the rotary engine. In there latest one, Issue 3, I noticed a Racing Beat AD selling Carbon Apex seals and springs. Now I wish I heard about this sooner, when I was doing some reseach on ceramic, 3mm, and 4mm seals. But, I was just wondering if any one run these, or know anything about them. Im sure there expensive as hell, probably dont last very long, but possibly can hold a heck of alot of boost, but I just wanted to know whats up with them, and what type of applications they are mainly used for.

 

Stick with stock 2mm 3 piece

 

I believe in the racing beat catalog it specifically says the carbon seals are for non-turbo applications only.

 

they last 20,000 miles worth of 'spirited' driving, 35,000 if you baby it.

Dun do it... stock seals take a BUNCH of power (see Soul Assassin's car... 620rwhp on shotpeened stock seals... wee!)

-manolis

 

Carbon seals don't seal well so are not suited for street use.

 

they are designed for N/A high RPM applications like bridgeport and p-port....they are very light and very brittle(you could snap a seal with your fingers!)not for turbo!!!

 

What exactly is shotpeened??

 

Parts are blasted for a long period of time with a material, usually tiny metal particals.
It applies compressive stress along the surface.
of the part, to even out stronger/weaker points in the metal and in turn makes it stronger.

 

Cyrogenic treeting engine parts is also what some guys do to increase strength of components and seals.

Check out these links...

http://members.ozemail.com.au/~mtce/peeninfo.htm

http://members.ozemail.com.au/~mtce/coldinfo.htm
"Even the Wankel rotary engine brigade have benefited from cryo treatment of all rotor seals. Experience has shown that the engines can be tuned to higher power outputs without premature failure of the otherwise brittle cast apex seals."

Sorry this is kind of off topic of the Carbon Apex seals

 

actually, they're cheaper than the stock seals. i was going to put them in my 13B streetport in my '85 GSL, but b/c of the longevity issue, i went with stock.

rotary reliability and racing has them listed pretty cheap, too. check with louis or nick
http://www.rotaryracing.com/race_eng.htm

 

Figure $200 for a set. They last longer than the engines they're made for. If you don't plan on turning more than 8500 RPM, they're not for you. They're a must for engines that need clearanced rotors and positively retained rotor gears without turbos. The carbon is brittle and does age like the old RX2 seals. Unlike the RX2 seals, these are carbon covered aluminum and thus maintain their shape very well. As for leakage, they seal the same as any other one piece seal under 8500 rpm. Over 8500 they seal better, they don't float. You turbo boys should stick with stock, steel, or ceramic.