Hawkeye D

No idea what caused it, the only thing is where you can see the outside of the cylinder is milled out to allow access to a bolt (there's a milled area on the passenger side bank too) I guess it's a weak point as material is milled out. Perhaps cylinder flex caused it.

- Vxr, Yes, it was Len. The pics were from Feb 2020 and got it back in May 2020 due to the first major lockdown. This was the second forged build Len had done for me on the same car. Managed to save the the Manley rods and ARP studs but that was about it. Couldn't save Mahle pistons as they were oversized as my original block had been bored / honed etc.
Clearly I needed a new block so had to go standard size Mahle pistons, Mahle bearings, Cossie gaskets. Crank checked out fine apparently. Len did my original first build 5 years ago where it was just classic head gaskets, so I got it forged.

Bad luck yes, but it kills confidence dead - especially when straight after a fresh (second build) the oil pick up tube developed a hairline crack at the top like they do. Oil pump and pick up replaced, plenty of oil pressure now. The oil pick up was close to shearing off, but luckily didn't, the crack was about half way round - so I'm sort of confident no major damage to my fresh build was done - Len did an oil and filter change and nothing sinister was in the oil apparently. The oil light would flicker on start up, but never going along or cornering etc. Len tried oil pump first but no joy, then discovered the pick up tube was toast.

Haha yes I could make a coffee table, but I said to Len he could keep the block and make a large paperweight! - he may still have it as he showed me the cs400 block when I was there. Identical crack in the same place.

Vxr2010

you don’t seem lucky oil pick up pipe too , well at least it did not fully fail , i assume you kept the over size pistons ? i thought buying a used engine and getting that forged was a route ? , was a new block a lot ? and as you said not running a lot of power , i don’t think there is a fix for the pick up pipe , i’m sure Len would do a good re build , i would definitively use him again , he’s re built two of mine so far , i made the mistake of going to a regular garage to re build a scooby engine , it did not go well , more knowledge from a good builder goes a lot further 👍

Hawkeye D

I did wonder about getting a used block, but how long before it may have gone knowing my luck etc, so went for piece of mind. The new block was £1250 + VAT
I kept one piston as a grim reminder lol. I did also keep an original cast Subaru piston from the first build, the Mahle one is so much beefier in every way.

I would never go anywhere else but Len. I do stuff myself where I can. I first started going there for a rear anti roll bar about 8 years ago. I then recognised him from an engine rebuild series on YouTube. When I watched those videos months before ever going to S4U, I always said - "If I want anyone to rebuild my engine it would be him" but didn't know who he was or where he was.

Arrived for rear ARB and the rest was history! This was back in the day when S4U was about twice the size, and his brother Rick was there.

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