I am embarking on my first 13b REW rebuild. I tore down a 13b engine that I got for $450 that had unknown history. For that price I figured I could salvage a few parts and wouldn't feel too bad if it was ruined. The irons appear to be in decent useable condition, but the front housing has some scoring and I do not plan to reuse. The rear housing appears to be in great shape with no chrome missing, chatter marks, and only very fine scratches and no obvious corrosion in the water passages. The only thing that seems off is the area around the oil injection hole. It is bulged out and the wear shows that is lifting the apex seals. Hard to get a measurement of it, you can clearly feel it. It is hard to get a solid pic of it. Has anyone ran into this and what are the thoughts on reusing this housing (after refinishing). Thanks!

 

welcome to the board.

did you take an oil injector out of there or did the previous owner block it off with a bolt?

 

There are different length oil injectors, the longer one could have been installed or a bolt to block off that was longer than needed and maybe caused that

 

There was an injector installed, however it looked like there was also RTV in there. The other housing did not have an injector installed but was also packed with what looked like RTV.

 

Yeah, sounds like the previous owner buggered up that housing. Probably stuck a too long bolt + RTV in there to plug up the OMP. At any rate, if there's a bulge there that you can feel with a finger, that housing is trashed.

 

I'm a cheap ***. I'd try to knock down the high point with a sharpening stone or a piece of 500 grit wrapped around a dowel. You could also send it to Goopy for resurfacing.

If I was able to get my hands on everything that is deemed "junk" on the forum, I would be one HAPPY guy.

Cheers,
Alex

 

I may give that a try just for the heck of it. I can't make it any worse right? For science.

 

as a follow up to my previous statement... definitely made it worse. That aluminum/chrome is a lot softer than it looks.

 

i hear ya on this.

 

yes. it is pretty soft.

all things considered, if you got that engine for $450, you probably just pulled off the score of the year. i'm seeing side housings going for that or more, each. i don't see rotor housings at all, and the last rotor i remember seeing was only about $100 less than a brand new one, so i'd say happy birthday, merry christmas and all that ....

 

Yeah, I didn't feel too bad about it. It also came with an older Greddy cast turbo manifold that I already sold for $300. I have an order in for new housings. My engine bay "dream" build list is already over $18k so I was hoping to find a little savings here and there. I have a good compression engine in my car now, but I like the idea of getting a separate one built before pulling it so there is a shorter down time.