Looking to see how many people here have had their irons lapped by mazdatrix and how they turned out. I have been looking around for a decent price to have the irons lapped before I rebuild. They have a real good price but I feel slightly hesitant to send to them because they do not offer nitiriding. The person I spoke with over the phone said the plates would be fine without nitriding after they lapped them guess they only take 1-2 thou off the surface. Anyways, looking for feedback on anyone who has this service done with them. Id hate to have to rebuild 20k later :/

 

I used Mazdatrix lapped stock port irons on my build, they looked like new when the motor was stacked. I have less then 500 miles on the engine so I cannot really give a long term feedback.

 

I seem to recall from a thread from 2-3 years ago that a new iron is around 39c Rockwell Hardness on the surface, while a lapped iron is around 20-21c. Re-nitriding brought it back up to 40c. As I cannot locate the thread in which these numbers came from nor am I well versed in metallurgy, this information should be taken with a grain of salt and independently verified.

The following link to Nopistons has a detailed answer about what re-nitriding the surface does, as explained by Lynn Hanover. The exact numbers for surface hardness are not mentioned AFAIK, but it should clear up most of your questions.
13B MFR side plate and rotary housing wear - NoPistons -Mazda Rx7 & Rx8 Rotary Forum

 

I really should just bite the bullet and get chip to do my irons so i can have some peace of mind, but you know how fast funds go during a rebuild :S

 

Yep I used Chip and they came out great after the re-nitriding.

 

I had the side plates lapped on my old FC. They looked awesome like brand new.

The one thing you need to be aware of is that you should measure the end play of the rotating assembly once you stack the motor back together. You're supposed to do this ANYWAY, so it's not like it's really any extra work.

 

I would say just go with Chip, I don't know if you've worked with him before but (from my experience) he's top notch, both in quality and professionalism.

 

Can you guys please let me know who Chip is for the lapping/renitriding service and how to contact him? Thanks

 

His website is chipsmotorsports but it seems to be hit or miss if it's up. His email is chipsmotorsports@gmail.com

 

he did my irons and they came out great

 

Thanks for the info. kanundra!

 

Hope it's ok to ressurect this thread as I am debating lapping again myself. Mazdatrix lapped my housings when I rebuilt my engine. Thinking of not doing it to my spare housings since it removes the nitride but, it lasted 147,000 miles. It is currently locked up but my guess is an apex seal fell out of the groove in the rotor as I used stock( at the time) 3 piece seals.I am curious as to the wear on the irons as I did not get them renitrided. This was 15 years ago and I didn't know it was an option but they will last more than 20k without it. Still ran good (though it did smoke alittle at start up) right up to the point it went. I will decide once I see the wear on these.