The specific mass shift (SMS) and energies of the (ls2p) ~,3p states in helium are evaluated using wave functions expressed in terms of radial "pair functions" which are obtained by numerical solution of inhomogeneous two-particle differential equations. The results obtained when including successively higher angular symmetries in the wave function indicate that the SMS converges as lm~ x for the singlet state and between 12~,~ and lm6x for the triplet state. These convergence rates are considerably slower than the l~,Sx and lm] x behaviours found for the singlet and triplet energies. The total energies, E(2~P)=-2.123835 a.u. and E(23P)=-2.133155 a.u., are about 0.00001 a.u. above the "exact" non-relativistic results obtained with perimetric coordinates and also the SMS between 3He and ~He, SMS(21P)=0.4533cm -1 and SMS(23p)---0.6356cm -1, are very close to the "exact" results.