Chief_MC

Hi everybody!

Want to ask for your opinion - which one of the overhaul kits is better?

Atkins or RotaryAviation? Atkins' is a bit cheaper (like $200) but RA's have more items in it, like Oil pump chain... And RA claims that they Apex Seals are much better than any other. Which one whould you recommend?

Any input is appreciated!

Thanks!

Icemark

Your signature was removed, due to it being way past the 10 lines maximum... It will be removed entirely and deleted if you do not fix it.

WonkoTheSane

iTrader: (2)

dude, do a search (I feel old!)

Either way, this subject has been beaten to death. As far as quality goes, Atkins is well known for quality, Rotary Aviation is more of a new player, they had one or two reported problems when the first started making the seals, but I haven't heard of any problems since their first generation seals. I'm running a RA kit in my car, and I'm very happy with it so far.

Good luck!

ddub

RA Apex seals/springs with Atkins everything else.

The "problems" RA had with their seals in the very beginning was not their fault, it was the fault of the person producing their seals not knowing the precision required for them, they recalled all the bad seals and replaced them. Since then the problem has been resolved.

Read this month's RXTuner, it has a nice article on the RA seals where a guy pretty much blew his engine and was running off of 1 rotor, only to have it come back to life the next day when the RA seals could re-settle. RA seals apparently don't break, they just bend and warp and will re-settle later. This guy somewhat proved it, the hard way

Chief_MC

Thanks Icemark, i've corrected the signature.

Thanks for the info WonkoTheSane and dDub!

But how vital during a rebuild is changing things like oil pump chain, that Atkins' kit does not include?

WAYNE88N/A

The chain is a wear item, but on my 186,000 mile rebuild with the kit, the new chain had just marginally less play than the old (maybe 1/8"). So, it's more of a personal preference and "peace of mind" type thing...In any case, the new chains they use in the kits are a Mazda OEM part, so if anything, you could wait until she's torn down to see if the chain's play is out of limits, and if so, get one from your Mazda dealer...

jb55555

i rebuilt my rx recently and i used atkins. so far everything is good with the engine. i got the parts within 24 hours and if you have never done a rebuild get there video.

YearsOfDecay

I have an R/A kit on my TII, my irons were in decent shape but by no means great, my rotor housing weer good. The car pulls 16 PSI vaccume at idle (820-800 Rpms on the haltech) and now that its past the breaking in period, a've had ZERO problems with the motor even after beating the living **** out of it while tuning the haltech for boost.

I'd definately go with the R/A kit again.

Chief_MC

Thanks for your input guys!

Maybe some other items i should get like oil pump chain, which are not included in the kits?

Also is there any sense in getting bearings which included in Atkins' kit C (i believe those are rotor bearings)?

Mr. Gadget

As Shane as pointed out in a nice way your questions have been answered 1000 times before and a wealth of information is avaliable in those threads.

Some highlights - its too early to tell which is better. The RA seals are a new item, hence no one has put the mileage on that would be sufficent enough to make a clear statement on wear and durability. Anything else is pure opinion. ( I have motors running each type)

What to replace - read any rebuilding thread - you will get two seperate sets of answers - uneducated stating replace everything just in case, and hard core rebuilders stating to measure every thing and replace what is worn or nearing a marginal point in its life cycle. I subscribe to the second, have a couple sets of bearings in my garage I bought just to have with the motors I rebuild, they have more dust on them then anything else in the garage.

You will more by searching and reading as you will see questions and answers to topics you never thought of.

Chief_MC

Thank you Mr.Gadget!

Sorry for not searching on this topic - i have simply horrible internet access at home, and 1 webpage could be opening forever, that's the reason.

Thanks for your patience!

Mr. Gadget

no problem I am old and grouchy anyway.

Elysian

i live 45 minutes from atkins, and lately i have been one of their most frequent customers... they are great people, and their products are top notch

YearsOfDecay

AS for the Oil Pump chain.... If your motor has high miles, I'd get a new chain, my motor had 130K on it and the chain was BARELY in spec..... just better to spend the 33 bucks and have a new chain than to have a naggin feeling when you rebuild the motor!!!

Mr. Gadget

thats fair advise, however, how many engines have failed because the oil chain has gone out????????

New chains are barely in spec to start with

87RX7TII

isnt there a lifetime warranty with the RA seals???
Sounds good to me but you need to have new housings too I believe

ddub

Yes that is correct.

WAYNE88N/A

If you can afford it, and the present housings have over 150K on them, you should get new rotor housings anyway. My opinion...

Kevin will follow with a rebuttal as soon as he gets back on line, lol...

ddub

I wish I could afford new rotor housings on the rebuild I'm doing.. Oh well, some day.

Mr. Gadget

shop around you can find a few places for under 400.00 - and its necessary when the old ones are out of spec.

I sure would have a bunch of rebuilds out there with questionable housings and have them start going bad as they wear out. I will not use marginal wear items - AND - rotor housings are a wear item.

WonkoTheSane

iTrader: (2)

This is just to make Mr. Gadget a bit greyer and crankier

My housings had 217K on them when I rebuilt with RA seals (for the record, my first post was only to try to counter the bad info on RA he'd find searching, thanks for elaborating on it, though!), they were still within spec, and not THAT bad I'm sure they won't last another 200k, but for a poor-*** college kid like me, they were still good enough to work, and they've done great so far