RACING BEAT Aluminum Side Housings

[Prometheus]

Does anybody have any experience with this product?

I was reading about them in their catalog.

Racing beat claims that their aluminum side plates have better wear resistance than the OEM cast iron side plates. (this is what actually interests me)

+there is always the weight reduction aspect of the material difference...

My application would be in a 95 FD

plates weight differences (if you are interested)

Front:

OEM: 24.8 lbs Racing Beat: 10.5 lbs = -14.3 lbs (57% lighter than OEM)

Center:

OEM: 25.9 lbs Racing Beat: 10.5 lbs = 15.4 lbs (59% lighter than OEM)

Rear:

OEM: 25.8 lbs Racing Beat: 13 lbs = 12.8 lbs (49% lighter than OEM)

Total weight of Side plates.

OEM: 76.5 lbs Racing Beat 34 lbs = 42.5 lbs (55% lighter than OEM)

I'd like to see if anyone has any first hand experience with this product that would like to share.

Thanks in advance.

[Cp1]

they probably do have better wear resistance but the cost per plate seems to be more than some shops charge for a rebuild... also as a cnc machinist i can tell you from working with all types of carbide coatings that carbide while extremely durable is also extremely brittle and i doubt it will be of any benefit if your car starts detonating or blows up. once that carbide coating is scratched that housing is complete garbage. the aluminum base wont last that long if something scratches through or your engine starts knocking really bad, and you wont be able to lap or re-surface any possible defects out, as it is just too soft once the coating metal is compromised.

It seems to me that while they are a specialty product for a specialty use your better off money wise and for all practical purposes just to stick with the stock irons. which more than a few members have had great success in making massive hp and reliably. i wouldnt say that at nearly $1800 a piece it would be a sound investment that would offer you many benefits over the stock pieces.

my two cents is if the weight savings is what your after, removing your PS and AC will net you about the same amount. or take out the passenger seat and spare tire.

EDIT: after thinking about these for some time i would also be interested to see how they handle or control warpage and deformation. the factory irons "flex" somewhat between the housings as the engine is stressed when running but i wonder if an aluminum piece would be strong enough to resist both compressing and twisting. my thoughts are usually along the lines that if using an aluminum plate provided such a huge advantage then mazda surely would have used it instead of cast and coated iron like they did. with all the money and time they spent in R&D on these engines you can be sure mazda tried and tested damn near every combination of materials. so there must be a reason they went with cast iron.

[Prometheus]

I was thinking in realitivity to equal material expansion (aluminim housing and plates)

an all aluminum engine would thermally expand and contract equally offering greater seal and wear.

the 16x motor is what made me think of this.

thanks for your imput and opinion.

[SLOASFK]

my thoughts are usually along the lines that if using an aluminum plate provided such a huge advantage then mazda surely would have used it instead of cast and coated iron like they did. with all the money and time they spent in R&D on these engines you can be sure mazda tried and tested damn near every combination of materials. so there must be a reason they went with cast iron.

I agree with your entire post, however I just wanted to note here that the 16x has aluminum plates.

[Cp1]

I agree with your entire post, however I just wanted to note here that the 16x has aluminum plates.

Ive heard about that, but i would still wait to see one of the mazda aluminum ones and how they are being used, im thinking there has to be just more than a few changes made in order to use them for a new engine. i would also compare them to the racing beat ones once available and test the s*it out of them. I would just simply wait to see when mazda makes them available and i honestly doubt when they do they will cost half what the racing beat ones do.

It would be interesting to see how different or similar the two are.

[Herblenny]

Interesting.. I've also wondering about those AL housings..

[SLOASFK]

It would be interesting to see how different or similar the two are.

I don't know if it'll make a difference, but the mazda plate will be MSP plates, vs the RB plates with are pport plates

[cewrx7r1]

First off, do we really know what the housing surface is coated/treated with?
Most AL used for similar applications in the past was high silicone AL.
The surface was then chemically etched to leave the silicone which is harder than steel.

Hopefully, the new 16X will have a more advanced surface treatment.

[Cp1]

this is what Racing Beat claims for their plates:

"The greatly increased wear resistance is the result of this aerospace originated flame spray (or plasma spray) process that imbeds into the wear surfaces a proprietary carbide material whose durability greatly exceeds that of the nitride surface found on the stock cast iron housings."

[Phoenix7]

so mated with ceramic seals (apex and corner) a rotary will outlast a Volvo?

[blwnrtr93]

so mated with ceramic seals (apex and corner) a rotary will outlast a Volvo?

If so that would definately be worth the extra $.

[David Jerome]

I personally could only understand using these if you were building an NA 2 rotor P-Port setup. The only huge advantage I see is weight. I promise you something else will fail in your engine before the irons cause you any grief ;)

[ErnieT]

Plus if you use ceramic seals you can kiss those expensive housings goodbye when your motor does go!