olddude

Title says side seal...I meant apex seal.





When clearancing apex seals for end gap how are you guys measuring this? With the stock 2-piece seals when they are glued together there is a slight amount of glue in the gap (maybe .001-.002" ?) and the assist piece is never glued absolutely correctly so that will skew the measurement a little too. So how can you accurately measure what the end clearance will be?

olddude

Went ahead and called Mazdatrix since I bought the kit from them. Dave told me that they do not get clearanced. Only the one piece seals get clearanced. I'd read in some threads where ITO was saying to clearance Atkins and Hurley seals. Are those multi-piece seals as well or one piece?

mazdaspeed7

There is more to clearance than just the length. The problem with the atkins and hurley seals is they expand more when heated than OEM seals, and Ito has seen them sieze in the groove when hot. To solve this, the apex seal groove may need to be clearanced slightly to account for the expansion of the seal.



If you want to check the length, you need to do it before you glue the seals to get an accurate measurement. Otherwise you are just guessing. I usually do this, regardless of what brand Im using. A little extra time and care here can mean a lot of difference down the road.