I know that many people have beat into the ground that non OEM steel seals suck but I'm getting ready to put some money down with RotorSports Racing in Kannapolis, NC. They claim to have apex seals that are up to 7x harder than any other steel seal. I'm wondering if anyone has experience with a blown motor that was either built by RSR or with their rebuild kit and what condition the housings and seals were in after taking the motor apart. Pics of housings and seals would be nice too.

 

It's not just about having a harder seal.

 

I never said it was.

For anyone else replying... If you cant offer exactly what I'm asking for please dont respond to this thread. Not trying to be an ******* but the quality of responses on this forum is alot worse than it was only 2 years ago. Simply respond to whats asked in the thread.

As a little more info I'm planning on spending more money with RSR than just on a rebuild kit. They have alot of other interesting modifications, treatments and parts that seem to be worthwhile. I've usually been set on using only Mazda apex seals but I'd like to put all of my money in one place and only have to worry about delivery of parts and services from one location.

 

The only seals that I've seen in person that don't hurt the internals are the hurley seals. They were junk though.

 

If they're building the engine and are confident in the abilities of the seals, that's a lot of the deal there. I would want to make sure they seal well, and make sure the engine builders understand what you actually use the car for. You can literally spend a fortune building a motor, but 98% of the people here wouldn't get their money's worth out off a seriously built motor. Many of the exotic oil mods and stuff really only apply to full-time track cars that only live at high RPM.

Might also want to search around and do some asking on the engine building forum at NoPistons - they have some REALLY sharp guys there who really know engine building well.

Dale

 

I'm putting the motor back together. I'm just having some other thing done to the housings and rotors. The car will see alot of SCCA use but will remain streetable. While I'm putting this motor in my FD it will actually be put in my FC once I'm work out how the motor I want for the FD will be built. Both will see alot of high RPM time. I'm not expecting 100k miles out of the motor or anything but trying to avoid housing damage as much as possible.

 

There is no way that they can be 7x harder than the mazda seals it is possible that they are significantly tougher though ie fracture toughness, as the mazda seals have alot of free graphite in the non quenched area of the seal which acts as crack initiation points this is also why the corner seals as brittle they are. The benifit of this graphite is that it can provide a solid lubrication between the seal and the rotor.

 

7x harder?
Sure sounds like rebadged RA seals to me...


-Ted

 

Thats something along the lines of what I was looking to hear. I'm guessing you've heard that figure or something close in reference to RA's seals. I haven't heard very many positive comments about RA's seals in the aftermath of a blown engine. If I can somehow work that info out of RSR then I'll probably look elsewhere for the rebuild kit. Have you looked at the info they have on their site regarding their rebuild parts?

 

Here's a link to the info about their seals. It seems a little strange...

http://www.rotorsportsracing.com/per....htm#apexseals

 

Those are re-badged R.A apex seals.

As yet no problems with the seals, however the supplied springs are ****.
Make sure they/you use stock mazda springs in your engine if you can.
That is the stock 2 piece seal config as found in all 2mm apex'd mazda engines.

 

Go with the Mazda OEM seals.

 

I was able to confirm today that the seals offered by RSR are the same seals provided by RA. These seals are made by Bruce Turrentine (the overhaul video guy). These seals are currently in their 3rd version after a change in alloy. This information has probably been posted several times before but now its posted again.

 

i didn't know there was a third version, i know there was a second. so whats different about these new seals?

but regarding ur question, harder seals will wear ur housing quicker than softer, as u probably already know; so if ur not planning on getting a lot of miles out of the motor, stick with oem, and u'll get less wear on the housings.

 

yea I'd already decided to go oem but I figured since I'd have the seals lying around I might as well know something about em.

 

so the seals came with the rebuild kit? just sell them as ra seals

 

true. don't know why I didn't think of that.