Newbie Tip question

[TiddlesRX7]

What are the apex seal tips made of in the TII S5? Ceramic or steel?

[Jit]

steel blah blah blah making up the charactrs

[TiddlesRX7]

Ok just I\'ve been offered both and wasn\'t sure. I always thought they were ceramic or coated or something.

[L18M]

ceramics i heard are super mega expensive!
what tips u going for..? good to know for future prep when i get my rotor ported.

would like to use the hardest thing on this planet... dried wheetabix!! but i dunt think it would mix too well with heat lol

[TiddlesRX7]

I\'ve been quoted around £300 for a full kit from Mazda with Ceramic tips. Just got to get them here.

[L18M]

o.. thats nt too bad then.. i\'s consider hurleys.. they ment to make some quite gd tips

[m1tch]

Ceramics cost a lot, but when they go bang they don\'t wreck the rotors, Mazda OEM seals are best as they are basically the correct size and fit well as well as they have spent millions on getting the right hardness/flexabilty in the tip. Hurley and Atkins seals are good for certain applications, if they aren\'t correctly installed an INDIVIDUALLY sanded to fit the rotor, the engine won\'t last long. Thats why most places go for OEM seals as some other after market seals are good but only in specific applications ie race or high rev engines.

Here are the ceramic seals @ $2000 a set of 6:

http://www.pineappleracing.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=23

[TiddlesRX7]

Yeah they are Mazda kits I\'ve been looking at. I\'d rather buy from them for all of the above reasons.

[mickh]

hello m1tch you should never have to sand any new tip seal whoever the
manufacturer is if the tip doesnt fit its the rotor slot that needs the attention

[m1tch]

That would be why the engine fails....

Check out pinapple racing\'s videos

http://www.rebuildingrotaryengines.com/videos/Basic_Rotary_Engine_Rebuild_Parts

[mickh]

when a ceramic tip breaks it does untold damage but on the plus side it takes
a lot to break them.No tip seal is unbreakable despite various claims i probably see more engines with broken corner pins or side seals nowadays.
have the weetabix idea on trial at the moment(kin clarkson) watch this space:mmmm

[g11ary]

I\'ve been quoted around £300 for a full kit from Mazda with Ceramic tips. Just got to get them here.

Double check what you are buying if coming from Mazda, as Mazda do not make ceramic apex seals, Mazdaspeed USA use ceramics but they are made by Iannetti and cost around £1000.
You can also get Carbon which are really for high RPM in Naturally aspirated cars, again no good for what you want.
All stock Mazda Apex seals are Steel.

You should never have to sand Apex seals as these are made to be correct length and depth. They are made in different thinkness if stock rotors 2mm are whats required, or you can have rotor slots made bigger for 3mm.

It is only the side seals that will require honing/sanding to fit.

[Ada7]

Have watch the rebuild dvds that are for sale as i wouldn\'t mind having a go at rebuilding a motor one day and was just wondering why are the apex seal in 2 or 3 parts? Whats the point of this? I cant figure it out. It seems to me that if they were one piece they wouldn\'t have a weak point.

Adam

[g11ary]

There are 1 piece seals available, usually ceramic as they seal better and are stronger for high rpm and high boost, downside is lower compression for starting where as at high rpm compression is not an issue.
So most make 2 piece as they are still very strong and seal better for starting and everyday on off use.

Several ive seen that have broken or failed have not always been at the thinnest point or where the joint is, if it gets detonated it seems to brake where it occurred.