salsa-king

have you thought about ringing Scooby Clinic on a price, if HG is on its way out other issues could be round the corner that need checking first.

I read a thread about SC and their price for a HG was over £1k. the customer went elsewhere and had the HG done... a few weeks later all hell broke loose and a new re build was on the cards.

Reason ScoobyClinic's price was a bit more was they would of done a strip down on the bottom end to see if there were other problems. the other company didn't do that hence the engine going pop.




the above was from memory of the thread I read, you might want to check it out though.

96sti

Im at 8k atm

mickeymouse

When I done some research regarding my HG.. The general feeling was that not one respected subaru garage would 'just' do the HG.. Bearings was needing to be changed aswell.. If they just done the HG and the bearings failed the person who had the work done would be straight on here posting about it.. As it's commonly accepted that if just the HG is repaired then bearings would fail shortly after taking the crank with it and maybe something else.. Which is why they will always insist on doing bearings.. If you just opted for the HG repair without bearings I doubt most respected subaru garages would touch it..

This is not by any way aimed at anyone.. Just my opinion.

As a side note OP.. If you do get it done get the block closed and 14mm studs.. You'll only regret it if you don't... Like I do!!!!!

mickeymouse

Is that pounds or miles??

wms-racing

I doubt scoobyclinic or any other decent garage would include stripping the bottom end as well for £1k? Well, they may do but the cost to put it back together would be alot more than that.

wms-racing

The problem with the 2.5 sti's is headgasket issues and cracked pistons as you probably are well aware. You can either A, don't worry about it and if it goes bang, fix it. Theres nothing wrong with this but it can cost more to fix and you may be along way from home with a broken car. B, build a good solid engine and relax and enojoy it without the worry.

Steve001

iTrader: (7)

Also the way I look at it, come sale time a prospective buyer asks (based on the horror stories of the 2.5 engine )

'is it forged mate? '
you say no its been fine for xK miles. He says 'oh errrrm I'll have a think about it'

poolio74

The problem is that 2.5 cars that have been forged don't seem to be worth more than standard cars. It just makes them more sellable (In theory)


Even when they have been built buy top builders they don't seem to sell unless there pretty cheap. Why is this?


The way I see it is if your going to fork out the expense to sort the engine out you have to be pretty committed to keeping the car for a couple of years at least. But so often they come up for sale not long after they've been forged, with the owner taking a considerable hit in the pocket. Again why is this? I except that peoples situations change but it happens far to often for this to be the main reason.


Or there not quite as happy with there all singing and dancing new engine, and the reassurances from the engine builders regarding all will be great with trouble free motoring for years to come is not quite so true? (Engine noise, Oil usage etc )


I am tempted to get a 2.5 and get the work done, as really good blobs are hard to find and are knocking on a bit now, But I must say that the amount of people that want rid not long after they shell out a fortune has put me right off.


Thoughts and opinions?

Steve001

iTrader: (7)

I agree I will be getting mine done as soon as funds allow and keep the car for a few years to come

Like all mods you don't get much if any back on resale but it would help the sale IMO

salsa-king

lol, yep sorry, it's a bit more than that, I've found the thread on m-soc.com

copied from the thread...

Posted 13 July 2014 - 01:43 PM
Hi,

Subaru head-gasket failure is something we see on the increase in warm weather, especially so with the 2.5 engines which are notorious for this and of course the well publicised ring land failure.

Here at the clinic we have been many times accused of being expensive when it comes to head gasket replacement and in a few cases we have been described as "touting for extra business"........

Let me explain....

Having been specialising in the flat 4 boxer engine for over 20 years and operating from these premises, surrounding our selves with performance cars for 25 years we have gained a lot of experience, with the amount of vehicles on site, in and out all the time this equates to more experience than probably any tuner in Europe giving us chance to know what works and what doesn’t.

When we at the clinic quote for head gasket replacement we always include a re fresh of the bottom end in the price, WHY ?, you may ask, because from experience we have found that the likely hood of big end failure after head gasket replacement is approx 85% within just a few miles.

Again, WHY ?, you may ask, the answer is that the top end gets refreshed on an already worn bottom end and the extra pressure causes the failure, its upset the engines karma.

Why not strip the block, after all its only a few bolts, sump off and inspect the bearings, its simply not worth NOT doing for the sake of a few quid and almost every one we strip we find the big ends worn and ready to fail, a set of new bearings at £80.00 + vat for race versions, a clean up and all back together it adds around £500.00 to the job but it enables us to give a FULL warranty on the whole engine.

Also this gives us chance, especially on the 2.5 engines, to check the pistons for ring land failure, essential as many owners have run their cars on 95 octane unaware of the damage this can cause, also allows us to re face the block ensuring total confidence that the job wont fail again, we also add a set of ARP head studs just to help clamp the whole thing together with a set of cosworth head-gaskets included in the price.

So, in reality are we expensive at £2500.00, with a full 12 month warranty and all the race experience extras added in the price to ensure longevity, I don’t think we are expensive, we just look that way when other , so called "specialists" offer to do JUST the head-gaskets alone for £1500.00, when they do, be warned you will have an 85% chance of big end fail very soon after

That will cost you the whole job being done again at your cost and the extra cost of a crank, and should the engine builder choose to do the job properly the debris from the completely failed big ends, yes they are shredding debris if they are knocking, will have gone through the modine and oil pump which will need replacing and chances are if driven for any distance whilst this debris is flying around in your engine it will have scored the bores leading to a re bore and 4 new pistons, now are we expensive ??

The above post is based on what we see every week and not aimed at any particular case, just we don’t want it to happen to members of M-SOC, or any scoob owner

Hope the above is helpful

Cheers
Kev

poolio74

"Quote" and keep the car for a few years to come . Everybody plans on keeping it for a few years, or they wouldn't do it. My worry is the reason a hell of a lot pass them on pretty soon? That's my concern.

ditchmyster

iTrader: (7)

@ Poolio74.

I'd say it's because they fall out of love with the car and sink the £3k in to get the rest of their money out, which when you think they maybe stumped up £10/12k for the car then a year down the line it goes pop or shows signs of failure.

Also if you plan on getting out of the car the best time to do it is when it's had a fresh build by a reputable outfit, the other option is to sell as is or break both of which are hassle.

Another point is maybe the the car is on finance and the re-build on credit cards, it's a lot of money to fork out each month for an expensive to run car that you no longer trust, cheaper to flog it, pay everything off and get a diesel golf.

poolio74

That's one of my points. If they have forked out for a rebuild they should trust it shouldn't they. Some of your other points may be valid. Call me paranoid but they don't seem that happy when they've done it? There always going on about engine noise and drinking oil and the likes.

matt-c

iTrader: (5)

If done properly to a decent spec there is no reason why there should be issues with excessive noise or oil consumption.

I think it's likely that having had an engine go people lose a bit of faith and so sell it on while it's still going even though it should be more reliable now.

poolio74

.[/QUOTE]

If done properly to a decent spec there is no reason why there should be issues with excessive noise or oil consumption. Yet many seem to complain about exactly that.

Steve001

iTrader: (7)

I've started a poll

Let the community decide

poolio74

I'm not saying that forged isn't better than standard! Only a complete idiot wouldn't think that. My point is that having it done doesn't seem to make people keep them for long.


Pointless poll to be honest mate

Steve001

iTrader: (7)

So your not that paranoid after all

TBH I would be interested in the general result

My thoughts on people forging and selling on quickly may be down to a few things not necessarily noisy engine oil usage etc etc

2.5 standard cars seem to be difficult to sell due to the bad rep of the 2.5

Forging gives any prospective buyer confidence in a car plus loads of people generally have their car mapped as a matter of course.

Forged cars seem to be advertised a couple of grand more than a standard car. In the end it's down to spending a bit of money to get the best premium price possible when you sell

poolio74

I really don't think forged ones go for much more if any to be honest mate. They advertise them for more, but then usually keep dropping the price.


Usually because they've only had it five bloody minutes and people including me probably think why are you selling so quickly!! You get my point?

mickeymouse

Many reasons why people choose to sell straight after forging and engine.. Mostly stated above..

But you also see 2.0 getting sold soon after a rebuild/refresh..

Personally I think a lot of it is they are either trying to recoup as much as possible.. Or they just fall out of love with the car or lose faith.

96sti

Thats pounds £££

Steve001

iTrader: (7)

I do see your point

Some people make money doing this

Buy a car, any car really with an engine problem, for let's say 5k

Fix it for 2k proper job BTW receipts and everything

Sell it for the going rate of 10k

That's a 3k profit and you've only had the car 5 minutes

poolio74

I give up

Steve001

iTrader: (7)

Yay

fpan

iTrader: (11)

I'd try and avoid buying from someone that does this.

If money is his God he would most probably try and cut corners to have more profit so the work may not be the best.

Steve001

iTrader: (7)

so would I, I mean proper job as in, receipts for everything, name of builder with good rep etc etc.

forgedmarco

iTrader: (10)

Exactly this I think, sometimes you just fall out of love with a car after having to fix it.