Last night I finally got the engine all the way down to the front casing. That is the good news. The bad news is that I have a broken edge along the inner seal and the water passage. It looks like it broke off on a beveled type edge. It is one of the smaller passages, only about 3/4" long. I don't have the cash for a new front engine plate so i'm contemplating using the DEVCON plastic steel putty that Racing Beat recommends for filling in ports for a peripheral port engine. I'm not sure of just building-up a new thickned edge or just filling in that whole water passage. Any suggestions?

need a pic

yea show us a pic

generally speaking that won't work. i believe ?

I don't have a digital camera but here is a sketch. I'm leaning towards filling in the whole water passage and then using a Dremel tool to cut the seat for the o-ring.

http://www.mazdatrix.com/faqpics/sidehsgs/watercls.jpg like this? i dunno if devcon will work, if youre willing to pull the motor apart again, try it



mike

It might, I wouldn't try to myself, but if you are willing to sacrifice a soft gasket set you can. GOOD LUCK!

I have a whole set of s4 6 port housings sitting in my garage from my 100,000 mile motor that i rebuilt due to oil seals, using all new ported housings.



I can sell them to you cheap, I just want them out of the garage. I took some pics of the parts, find them here:



http://pengaru.com/~swivel/cars/rx-7/forsale/



PM me if you're interested





BTW, I can take more pics if you want showing the intermediate and side housings. I also have the stationary gears.

Thanks for the offer but the gasket seat is on the steel front plate not the rotor housing. And by the way I read about 51 responses to clear tail lights, but where's the overwelming response to my problem? https://www.nopistons.com/forums/pub...O_DIR#>/11.gif https://www.nopistons.com/forums/pub...O_DIR#>/11.gif https://www.nopistons.com/forums/pub...O_DIR#>/11.gif It is similar to the pic from J9fd3s but the pieces are gone. I bet that is why there is a new water pump on the engine.

ummm



I have all the housings, not just the rotor housings, and the gasket seats are in the same place, the motor I have in pieces is the same series NA motor you are working with.



http://pengaru.com/~swivel/cars/rx-7...e/IMG_2202.JPG



see, all housings, they're in decent shape... that orange area on the front plates face isnt rust or anything it's a reflection btw. I'll take more pics later after work that show more detail.

hey penguru, i wonder if there is a connection between your hks filter and the engine burning oil?



mike

It was smoking a little before the HKS was put on, then one day the oil pressure gauge started being wacky (resting below the 0) and showing low pressure... and then I went on some road trips with it like that and the smoke got worse and worse real fast.



When I tore down the motor I found my front cover O ring torn and squeezed out...



the gauge is still not working right though, I have to find another cluster to replace it with.. I tried replacing the sending unit when it first flaked out didnt help.





I'd like to note that this was driven hard at least another 1000 miles with the o ring squeezed out and the motor didnt demonstrate any loss of performance, just the smoking. The reliability of these things amazes me. I will likely get a k&n cone though since many people have told me bad things about the hks...

hey guys, what do you think is a fair price for my used front housing? I don't need the money just want a fair deal... would like to hear what you guys think, for mine and jimmymotto's sake.

yah, the rotary is amazingly durable :bigthumg: mine sees excessive rpms with low oil pressure (new sender!) and it doesnt even smoke much



mike

Just in case anyone cares. I have filled the entire passage with playdough as a form. I have used JB WELD metal epoxy to fill in the missing edge and about half of the passage. After letting the epoxy set for two days, I have removed the playdough from around the hardened epoxy. I will grind the dome of the patch down to the level of the casing. As long as the exopy expands and contracts at the same rate as the piece it is bonded to, it should hold. I only expect to get the summer Autocross season out of the engine before I have to rebuild. I will Bridgeport it the next time I take it apart (don't have the money or time right now).

Good luck, There is a diffence in using Devcon to fill a passage in the housing for porting and using it to replace a broken machined surface. I don't think it will have the tensile stength needed. What epoxy did you use?

It is called JB WELD. I talked to two people in my office about this product and both either used it or heard about how good it is. $4.27 at Autozone. It claims to bold to steel and aluminum. If it doesn't work o-well. I can't afford to buy a new or used front plate anyway.

There is a world of difference between consumer grade products such as JB weld and Industrial Grade epoxies such as DEVCON (Choose between the umpteen different grades of it). I have a decent front plate I will sell you have for $20.00 + shipping. I would hate to see you put a lot of hard work effort and $$$ into a repair that will most likely fail. John

yeah, same here.

i would take them up on the offer jimmy :bigthumg: