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Chris,
Lynn is the expert in these things, but I was under
the impression that the end housing grooves had to show signs of cracking before
the seal would allow leaks. The seals, seal at the top and bottom of the seal,
the sides of the grooves merely restrict the seal from moving from it's
predetermined place. For instance a seal groove slot would need to loose a piece
from the thin side ( water jacket side) to allow the seal to move and allow
water in. That has been my take on it anyway.
The reason Mazda went back to water jacket
seals in the rotor housings like in the 12A, is because the steel liner is
sturdier than the thin wall in the cast iron end housings and there is less
chance of this happening.
In my single I will use 12A housing and early 13B
cosmo rotor housings as they are the same style as the RX8.
The cost of housings are approx $500 in most
places. The rotor housings should be OK unless they have been shrunk through
overheating - they could be machined but I worry about side clearance for the
rotors in this case.
Don't know about the plugs - but be sure to tell us
when you find out..
George ( down under)
I have been inspecting and re-inspecting the
plates (front, center and rear) and the housing over the last few days...over
and over with trusted second set of eyes helping with the process. I
have taken a straight edge to the plates and with a .0015 feeler
gage (the smallest I could find...the spec is 0016 IIRC ) could
not get it to even think about going under the straight edge. The plates
seem solid, straight and in damn good shape.
I have taken a dental pick and "ticked" it around
the oil seal grooves and it seems solid all around. However, after
viewing the Mazdatrix website, it shows where the side of the O-ring groves
may give way. They state it is hard to diagnose but can be a way coolant
gets into the combustion chamber (http://www.mazdatrix.com/faq/sidehsgs.htm photo's
4 and 5). They had to use very high pressure over an extended period to make
the bad area actually VISIBLY fail. IS THERE A WAY to determine if
these groove side walls are solid without the high pressure, long term
pressure test process....which is beyond my ability? I hate the
idea of putting these back together and continue to have a problem......I also
hate the idea of the about $400.00 ish each for new plates :-( I
really thing the side plates are ok IF these grooves are good. Any
ideas?
Next, when we have meticulously inspected the
housings, we seem to see a couple of EXTREMELY slight irregularities around
the edge where the water seal would lay between it and the side seals.
My buddy...a VERY trusted resource, feels this could be enough to cause a
problem. Also, when I broke out the digital calipers I measured several places
around the housings and it seems the thickness around the diameter I am
getting is reading slightly out of spec for differences in thickness around
the housings.
Is it proper or even possible to take these to a
machine shop and have them machined smooth and flat? Or is it better to
just suck it up and buy new housings? I am about a "wild hair" away from
just giving in and buying two new housing just to get going again and end all
question of them being a future problem....at least for the current
reasons. I hate the idea of throwing money at something that may be
perfectly fine (after all I am not the government) What are y'all's
thoughts?
As to the O-rings that came out of the engine for
the inner rings there does seem to be some roughness along a couple of areas
on the O-rings. The areas are about 1.5 inches long, give are take, and
seem to be on a couple of the rings and in about the same area on the various
plates. This would seem to be indicative to over heating......Yes,
No....?????
Also, the price for new housings from
Pineapple Racing (558.00) does not seem too bad (Mazdatrix are 571.78 w/
cash discount). One of the "features" Pineapple
Racing promotes on their site is that they have "machined spark plug
holes" so as to accept alternative plugs. What the heck is this? I
hope to get a chance to call them on the morrow but what say Ye?
I tend to kick around the various ideas before I
decide, but as a rule do not knee jerk react to things even though it may seem
this way. I do not want to drop a grand+ for new housings, but that may
be inevitable. More so, I don't want to toss an additional $1400 on new
side plates......however, I also want some piece of mind that at least these
issues are addressed.
Will love to get your opinions.
TIA.
All the best,
Chris
Velocity SE
Houston
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