Can I salvage this housing or is it trash?



The biggest chip appears to go below the chromeplating.

 

if your looking for a motor to beat on for one season i'd say use it but make sure the end piece is on the other side, if you looking for a long term build i'd say trash it.

 

Thanks for your reply Syritis, What do you mean by end piece? Apex seal end piece?

 

yes, the small corner piece of the apex seal

 

The apex seals are one piece carbon. Can the housing be repaired?

 

i'm sure they could be repaired but probably more cost effective to just replace it.

if you choose to use it use a file to remove any high spots from the side of the housing, be sure not to remove any material other then the high spot.

 

13A like a LUCE engine?

that looks like it will run, but it will always have gas leakage in that spot. how much leakage depends on WHERE it is on the housing.

i wonder if it could be filled?

if its a 12A or a 13B, you might wanna look for a better housing

 

13A parts are so rare, the R-130 in Mazda's museum does not have an engine.

Or, so I am told.

 

since the parts are so rare and not too many people can weld good enough to fix that i would say u should smooth it out and run it just make sure your corner seal or the end of the seal is on the other end so it dont get snagged and it should run

 

Hey All,
I am somewhat new here so you can take my input with a grain of salt. Anyways, I purchased the rebuild DVD by MazdaTrix to learn more about the engine and I remember them saying that any major damage done like that to the face of the rotor housing cannot be repaired and if it is left as is, it will create a hot spot and could lead to detonation.

Whether or not this is true, I cannot say, but I have included a clip from the DVD that refers to a similar issue:

Scroll to 1:48 in the video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYtUZtRW1S8

Hope this helps!
Jason

 

Thankyou everyone for your help. I'll fill you all in a bit more on my predicament.
These 13A engines are much harder than I expected to find. I really thought luck was on my side when I FINALLY located one and handed over my hard earned cash for this dismantled rusty engine site unseen.
After waiting a few months before seeing it I was disappointed to find this damage.

On a lighter note the Mazda Corporation purchased some parts from me which funded the whole deal and I still do have a good running 13A engine.

However I cant bring myself to trash this housing without second opinion so repairing the housing would be my preferred option if its possible?

 

^ Yes, please keep up posted! I would really like to see if / how it can be done for the future. I have a 13B S4 block that may have some damage to a housing and if it can be repaired, that would be so much better than having to buy a new, expensive one.

 

The odds of locating another 13A housing is near on impossible. So Im happy to spend a few thousand dollars to fix this one so I have some spare parts to future proof my existing engine.

If the rotor housing was the same diameter as 10A/12A/13B I would cut one down to size but obviously that is not an option.

What do you guys think? Can it be fixed?

 

I really doubt you are going to be able to fix that... there seems to be cracks forming all over the chrome in your pics. If you were able to fill in the material and get the housing replated, it might be ok.

Ive seen the replated housings done a few times, and I am not really a fan, but for a 13A it might be your only option, since finding a new housing would be damn near impossible.

 

Well, I found a place that can strip off the old chrome plating and resurfaces the housings with their own material. I have no idea how good of a job they do but it may be worth a shot emailing them an image of the rotor housing to see if they can fix the damage. Here is a link to their page:

http://www.jhbperformance.com/services.php