JMLBlues@aol.com wrote:

Interesting... Ed's engine may not properly drain the oil out of the rotors,
and he had what I call apex seal flatting on one bank... Perhaps his rear
rotor is running too hot from running too full of oil???

Excellent point Jon and highly likely given Ed's current oil pan design.

Below is a reversed photo of Ed's pan from his web site. 
(A little confusing eh what? The pan is actually on the other side 
of the engine :-))  The engine is in the plugs up orientation. 

Ed-Andersen-underneath-reversed.jpg

As you can see the white oil pan does not extend below the engine. 

When Ed first put five or six quarts in the pan (I do not remember
which)  
the oil was probably above or level with the e-shaft centerline.
This did not allow proper drain back of the oil from the rotors
and apparently caused the oil foaming. Ed reduced the oil level which 
reduced the oil foaming.
  
 

On the large diesel fueled rotaries I worked on for Deere and others, we had
a major problem with seal flatting. One of the key factors is making sure
that the seal is free to move in the slot with low friction. A hot rotor will
cause the oil in the slot to be less effective and the seal may stick and
that will cause it to flat. These comments apply to the large engines, and
may or may not apply to the Mazda. I think seal wear of the type Ed has seen
is very rare in the Mazda. On the large engines it could occur very, very
rapidly. In one worst case we completely wore out the seals (which were about
.6 inches high) in 16 hours! Flatting could happen in minutes.

 
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