EjCabrera

iTrader: (4)

well yeah i did my reseach and i found a bunch of places to get rotor housings like malloy, atkins, pineapple, jhb, and mazdatrix but i was wondering where's the best place to get the housings because im doing a rebuild. Also all the numbers i get for malloy "ray crowe" dont seem to work. I'm leaning toward the streetport option and jhb offers cermet b rotors but they say they recommend having ceramic apex seals. I have the rotary aviation master rebuild kit so i was also wondering if having only the housings in ceramic would be safe to run. Feedback will be appreciated. Thanks

GoodfellaFD3S

iTrader: (213)

Ray's # is 888 533 3400. He can be tough to get ahold of sometimes, b/c he is always on the phone.

What housings are you looking for, just rotor? The engine also has three iron housings. You mentioned 'streetport option,' the exhaust ports are located on the rotor housings but the 4 intake ports are located on the iron housings (front/intermediate/rear).

Last thing, cermet and ceramic are two different things. It all depends on what needs to be replaced, but a reman motor from malloy (complete with stock 2mm 2 piece apex seals) that is torn down and streetported, then have the seals clearanced and built back up would have been your best option. You already have the rebuild kit, but you can always sell that.

EjCabrera

iTrader: (4)

yeah i considered that option of getting a reman but i would like to build this engine on my own. yeah i do know about the front, intermediate, and end housings but on the RA rebuild video he suggests that replacing the rotor housings is a must. I havent really pulled out my engine as of yet so i dont really know the condition of the irons or the eshaft. what do remans run again 2500?

EjCabrera

iTrader: (4)

another thought, brand new housings itself would cost you about 1270, 635 for the rear housing, 406 for the front, and 406 for the intermediate. This would make a total of 2717. I took these prices fromt he mazdatrix website since it was the only one with prices. Looking at rx7stores website a reman would 2750 so im wondering why these pieces of iron are so expensive. Should i just wait till i tear down my engine and then see what needs to be replaced because if i had to replace everything it would cost me more than the reman.

R.P.M.

iTrader: (3)

I've never had to replace an iron, unless it was cracked. If they are worn out, then send them some place that does lapping and re-nitriding.

I've also built 3 motors using the JHB Cermet B housings, 2 of them used stock Mazda apex seals and the other used Atkins seals. All 3 motors dont have too many miles on them, but they seem to be working good so far.

rotaryinspired

iTrader: (3)

I have a motor I built that was just fired up w/ aviation seals and JHB cermet b housings. It is making great compression and after running for 20 min fires up everytime. No flooding issues. Not much help there.

EjCabrera

iTrader: (4)

alright it seems like i should take the cermet b route. For about 300 dollars extra its not too bad considering your spending 1200 for your housings. i still cant see why its 1200 for housings a piece of aluminum. thanks for your guys input.

EjCabrera

iTrader: (4)

i read somewhere that the ra seals are softer because they were designed for old engines so they can break in faster. would this be a problem since the jhb guy emailed me and said that "The best apex seals to use are Mazda OEM seals or ceramics, period. RA
seals are much softer and are intended for use with used rotor housings so
that they seat in faster and also for high boost applications (above 22 psi)
where the high hardness of the OEM seals causes chipping and cracking of the
apex seal whereas the softer RA seals are more ductile and take the higher
boost. This being said, our cermet housings are harder than the chrome OEM
surface and we recommend using Mazda OEM seals or ceramics because these are
proven and are hard enough to last and break in the cermet material. Some
customers have used the atkins/RA/Acme brand seals with good success but we
still cannot recommend these because we know the properties are not as good
as the OEM seals for this application. If you want your housings street
ported it is best to port your housings before you send them to us for
coating, but you can do it before or after." Should i get oem seals and sell the ones that come with the kit

rotaryinspired

iTrader: (3)

well atkins are the softer of the aftermarket seals. The RA's are definitely not soft. I am adding a couple oz of premix to add to the omp to compensate for the harder cermet b rotor housings. Good luck w/ whatever you decide.

rarson

EjCabrera, you are confusing the side plates with the rotor housings. The rear, intermediate, and front irons are side plates, the pieces between them are the rotor housings. The housings RA recommends to replace are probably the aluminum rotor housings since they tend to take the brunt of apex seal damage.

EjCabrera

iTrader: (4)

yeah thats what im talking about the cermet b housings from jhb

Hyper4mance2k

iTrader: (40)

From everything I've read and heard RA seals are very hard, way harder than stock seals. then its mazda. then atkins ubbers soft seals.

GoodfellaFD3S

iTrader: (213)

Then hurley playdoh seals.

SMKNRX7IL

Even if the RA seals are harder than OEM, could some of that be counteracted by running premix instead of using the stock OMS?

BLUE TII

iTrader: (9)

That is what I am hoping.

I have my stock S4 mech OMP set for max flow and premix 50:1 as well.

It did take a comparitively LONG time for the seals to break in and make decent compression.

SMKNRX7IL

How long did it take to seat the RA seals and make good compression?

BLUE TII

iTrader: (9)

I have my stock S4 mech OMP set for max flow and premix 50:1 as well.
It did take a comparitively LONG time for the seals to break in and make decent compression.

I have broken in two rebuilds on 3mm Hurley, one on 2mm Atkins and this one on 3mm RA seals.

The RA seals would not start hot or cold without holding the throttle down and prolonged cranking for the first ~100 miles.

They would not start hot without the above efforts for the first ~300 miles.

The ECU maps were fine (and are still fine now that it is broken in), since the last rebuild was exactly the same except for the apex seals.

All the previous rebuilds started fine hot or cold after the first heat cycling, but they were soft type seals with only the OMP for lubrication.

Currently (~1,500miles) the RA seals feel exactly the same as the 3mm Hurley seals did compression and power wise- which isn't bad, but not quite as good as the (fragile) 2mm Atkins seals.

Not complaining, I think it is great for cheap tough apex seals in garbage housings. Next experiment is 3mm 1 piece ceramics in new housings.

drago86

You either had horrible horrible housings or a bad batch of seals. My rebuild with RA seals fired up first time, and started within seconds of cranking every time after that.