When were mazda 3 piece apex seals discontinued?

[Matt_K]

I\'ve just stripped my engine down after suffering suspected water seal failure

Everything\'s apart and so far looking good! Nothing\'s cleaned to be able to tolerance things, but visual checks look promising. No scoring or chrome chipping, no breakthrough to the coolant passage, no pitting or ridges on the side seals. everything feels nice and smooth.

Confused the hell out of me when I took the rotors to pieces and there were 3 bits :rolleyes: When did mazda start using the 2 piece seals? The engine was apparantly rebuilt in japan 50,000KM ago

Everything looked nice and clean when I cracked it open:


And all apart on the bench, starting to dismantle the rotor\'s

[BlitzBoy]

Have no idea on the 3 piece seals, but 2 piece are the norm now for FD engines apparently they seal better.
Hey nice setup on the bench looks nice and orderly, you planning on a bit of mild porting?

[Brett]

Didn\'t they go back to 2 piece with the launch of the Renisis?

[SmbFD3S]

No idea, but i know 2 piece are the norm these days Blitzboy said.
 
Looks great apart mate, i can\'t wait to rip mine apart in a few months and rebuild it :D

[Carl]

The 3 peice Apex seals were used on ALL production FD rx7\'s and FC RX7\'s.
They ceased when the FD RX7 production ceased.
I don\'t think the new two peice are better,they are just cheaper to make.
Regards
Carl

[Matt_K]

So if production stopped around mid 2002 (iirc that\'s correct), then for my engine to have 3 piece still, it would have been rebuilt before that date?

Or were there a stock of 3 piece still in circulation for x amount of months after? Just trying to get a timeline of possibles

[Brett]

That would depend on what stocks were left over as to what parts were used

[Speedworks]

you can still get the 3mm apex seals on //www.rhdjapan.com

[Carl]

Be very careful about getting the 3 peice seals as Mazda themselves were passing off the ones for the EGI FC RX7 as suitable for the FD RX7 which they are not. We had to send quite a number back that had been repackaged.
Regards
Carl

[Matt_K]

Providing my rotor\'s meet tolerance and aren\'t damaged, can\'t I just use 2mm 2 piece instead of the 2mm 3 piece I\'ve taken out?

[Ricco_04]

Providing my rotor\'s meet tolerance and aren\'t damaged, can\'t I just use 2mm 2 piece instead of the 2mm 3 piece I\'ve taken out?

Yup, sure can

[Brett]

Be very careful about getting the 3 peice seals as Mazda themselves were passing off the ones for the EGI FC RX7 as suitable for the FD RX7 which they are not. We had to send quite a number back that had been repackaged.
Regards
Carl

Bloody hell!  When was that? :2Confused