I acquired this jspec s5 T2 rear iron and I just noticed it has this nick in the inside of the inner o-ring groove. Sorry for the quality of the picture. It might be a millimeter deep. What sucks is that s5 T2 rear irons are highly demanded items and hard to find used. Mazdatrix wants about $400 for a new one.

So the questions are,

1. Given its location on the inside wall of the inner o-ring groove, would this result in symptoms of a blown coolant seal?

2. Would this result in loss of compression? It's on the left side btw, if you were laying it bellhousing-side down while trying to install the coolant seals.

3. If I did use it anyway, would the chip rapidly get worse over time?

4. Would any kind of brazing or repair be possible? I'm guessing it would not be advisable.

 

well arghx, in my opinion i would say that it is reusable and shouldnt exhibit any bad coolant oring symptoms. Here is my reasoning, i had a rear rotor housing that had somehow broken or disintergrated the casting on the exact opposite side of the oring as your small chip, i was able to reweld a small bead and hand grind it back into a "as close as i can get it" shape and after 6-8k miles, 3 years and about a dozen trips down the 1320 i am yet to have any problems. the oring is thick enough that it should prevent any issue of coolant, and if the chip goes in and no points i would assume small enough to not cause any corner seal issue. If there is nothing for the rotor seals to catch on as they pass over it shouldnt get worse and the only type of possible repair that i am aware of like the jhb ceramic or whatever coating.

 

I would lay the rotor housing in place on top of the iron, You may not see it at all. I would be more concerned about the rotor seals catching it as they pass than the coolant escaping. It doesn't appear that the chip is large enough to let any compression by, and it shouldn't allow the seal to slip out of place either.

 

I wouldn't be worried. Just like everyone else said, just be careful of the seals.