Would you run this rotor??
 

I dropped the rotor after pressing a new bearing in it and I finally decided to fix it. The slight gap around the corner seal is only about 1/16" deep. The impact closed off the groove for the side seal about 1/2" near the corner seal. The gouge on the combustion side of the side seal is from a chisel I was using to open the gap back up. ALL seals are free moving with no clearance. ( the corner/side/apex seal feels just as good as the undamaged grooves) Would you guys run this rotor on the street? Its a 3mm rotor with non seq turbos...full exhaust..power fc...front mount I/C etc..etc..

hmmm..ionno about that one

I would'nt ...but what do I know..

You have to remember that the rotor does not actually touch any of the housings. The Apex seals are the main seals for combustion.. I'm just not sure...
I assembled the front halve of the motor last night and blood is pumpin to get er done! lol Also I found a used one for 220 with shipping + 20 to ship to get 3mm cut + 175 to have it cut + 20 to ship it back home = $435 (used and may be worse than the one I have) I can get a new one for 600 from mazda + milling= $815 total Not to mention 2 more weeks down time waiting on 3mm milling

I dont know!!

back on the road or staying on the road.... perhaps that is the question?

Pretty much!

I think it's fine. As long as the seals move freely, but not to loosely, I think it would be ok. I haven't heard any reasons why not to use it, besides, I dunno. Only 2 things can go wrong if that part of the rotor is messed with. Doesn't hold the seal well, or the corner of the rotor is sticking out little bit, and scartches the irons.

It's really up to you.
If you one of those people that has to have everything perfect, then don't use it, but if your the type like me, that know its going to work well even though it doesn't look pretty, then use it. It's up to you.

i would be concerned as to cornerseal/rotor clearance from looking at picture one. as you know, cornerseals must be very tight to the rotor so they don't hammer the sideseals. if they do, you will lose compression fast.
send your pics to Judge Ito and ask him for his advice.

good luck,

howard coleman

I'm not an expert, but I wouldn't use it..
with that kind of gash, as rotor is spinning and with compression, it might throw off the rotor a bit.. Especially on the compression side..
Also, I'm not sure if I would mill it to 3mm either..

i dunno if i'd use it, but i'm rediculously paranoid about anything and everything that has anything to do with my car :D it might be ok, but you'd be better off getting a newer one most likely.

I've built many an engine with a "repaired" rotor, even some due to light apex seal damage and the like. That is pretty severe damage, and I personally would not run it in any engine. It looks like there is enough play at the corner seal and side seal joint to cause problems. The corner seal must stay perfect parallel to the rotor and the iron, but with that much clearance it could move around under load, causing sealing and wear problems. It could also harm the apex seal, since this odd motion would cause wear on the apex seal end too...

It also looks like the sideseal groove will never be right again..it doesnt look like a natural curve anymore. I think a sideseal would have freeplay in some spots. I've seen this cause a sideseal to break after a few hundred miles of use, causing low compression on that face. I also think that because the corner seal could move around quite a bit, it'd be impossible to set sideseal-to-cornerseal clearance, so there will either be binding between the 2 resulting in breakage somewhere, or there will be freeplay between the 2, resulting in a lot of blowby.

I saw your post on the forum and your reasoning for wanting to run this rotor because of time and cost. IF this were strictly an apex seal slot bent or something I'd say file it out and go for it. BUt this is the junction of not one, but 3 seals, all of which require precise clearances to work.

I saw the picture and as soon as i did i felt like theres no way I would even consider using that rotor. You don't want to fix your car and get the motor back in and have it get messed up because of that.