An aluminum rotor housing, having a chromium plated steel liner inner surface, is formed in a preferred embodiment hereof by first providing a thin steel strip with a thin, porous layer of copper and nickel powder metallurgically bonded to one surface. The strip is then shaped to define the generally epitrochoidal inner surface of the housing of a Wankel type rotary engine with the ends of the strip welded together and the porous layer on the outside. The shaped strip then is positioned on a core member in a die casting machine and a suitable aluminum alloy is cast into and over the porous layer bonded to the steel strip, thereby infiltrating the porous layer and forming a main body portion of the housing mechanically bonded to a steel liner portion. A coating of chromium may then be electroplated or otherwise applied to the steel liner to provide a hard, strong wear surface in the operation of a rotary combustion engine.
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