Whats your budget?
Thats a good start to decide.

 

i've no experience of anyone else but i have been to engine tuner and had a chat with alan and he's a good guy to deal with imo, he certainly knows his onions when it comes to engine building, when he showed me round the workshop he had a couple of fully forged setups sitting on a bench waiting to go into scooby lumps and there was loads of scooby's sitting outside awaiting work, that'd be enough for me to know people use him because his reputation is good.

 

I'm taking a wee trip down to Cornwall to see an old Army mate in April and stopping off to get Martyn to map my car and give it a once over it's a 2 and a half hour journey each way for me and well worth it!! All their mechanics are good as gold and as said above they've got a fair few jobs on the go! They built me a fully forged 2.1 CDB for my old Blob and it was a complete animal but still drivable everyday!! With the standardish fuel setup it was running 475/460 on an S206 Turbo! If I'd have changed to an external pump and swirl pot setup I'd have seen over 500

I've got the spec somewhere if anyone wants it

 

could you send me the spec please.. i want 500/450 on mine with an MD321V. currently saving fro syvecs before it all goes ahead.

 

ok theres a lot of i would do this and i would do that on this thread
well I have done this and have done that,

I have had 2 big hp builds and im talking 450 plus that have failed in short order by some of the firms mentioned here as being the beez neez and no im not naming anyone,
i have had big power builds done by two companys here and im talking streetable 600 hp on straight v power in a car that gets ragged to the max regulary but drives so well you could take your gran to the shops in it and she wouldnt even complain about the noise,

for me Zen did a realy great build for me at the stated spec that did 10,000 miles trouble free and id go back there anytime,
for obvious reasons i cant
so we chose tracktive solutions to rebuild and maintain the car,
anyone who tells you a car at this level will not need rebuilding maintaining regulary is way wrong,and im talking rings bearings ect but this car does get propper thrashed not a few traffic lite skirmishes

the only way that will happen is if you get a big power build then creep around the streets never using it,

tracktive did a realy nice job they changed the spec a little but not much, but if anything it drives even better now.

Tracktive run race cars, RCM run race, cars Zen run race, cars, see the common theme here, and i dont mean 1 car im talking customer race cars of major high spec,
they are not just subaru specialists, they are race car specialists and that is what you get from these type of guys knowledge from running lots of race cars as to what works and what dont
more data from more cars= more knowledge

remember
knowledge breeds power,

 

500 bhp is about average these days...

API can easily do the job. It's more about the supporting mods IMHO.

My 2.1 is being done by Alan Jeffery's team @ Enginetuner and I hope to get close to 500 bhp

Don't expect to need any RCMS parts at this level but a bit of Cosworth jewellery is likely in there somewhere...

dunx

 

500bhp is pretty easy if you are A) willing to use methanol or B) willing to go rotated it all comes to down to how deep your pockets are and who you trust to do the build.

 

PM'd

 

My 500bhp 2.5 was built by Len at Subaru4You in Newbury. He is 100% honest and up front with you, doesn't bull****, and delivered what he said he would.

Apart from a minor oil leak that was fixed ASAP, I had no problem with the engine in 25k miles until it blew it's headgaskets while being mapped with methanol for the upgraded/reworked turbo that had just been fitted. With hindsight, the gaskets had started going some months before out on track, and basically blew as a result of hard use rather than anything else.

At that time, I decided to go for 14mm studs and Cosworth gaskets rather than cometics - and, of course, chose Len again to do this work.

The crank, rings, and shells were all inspected and found to be "as new" but I did go for new shells as it seemed daft not to while it was all apart.

S4Y have a rolling road and generally use JGM for mapping. A brilliant combination IMHO

Since the OP is in Oxfordshire, I can definitely recommend that you give him a call and discuss what you're after - tell him I sent you

Look in my garage for a full list of the parts used.

Oh - I will echo the comments made above: you need to budget for "refreshing" at this power level: in my case it was after 2 years of mixed use and 25k miles.

 

Quote " Since the OP is in Oxfordshire, "

Since when was Kent in Oxfordshire ??

 

He might have misheard. There are a lot of kents in Oxfordshire, complete kents.

 

anyone noticed that threads asking who to use for soemthing always desend into 50 different opinions? lol

 

My bad...had seen a reply from someone in Oxon and misremembered it as being the OP. Oh well

 

My only comment?; Surely there must be more than 50 ways

 

Paul Simon will be along in a minute to sing us a song.....

 

500 trick ponies maybe?

 

only normaly 50 people who can be bothered to repsond,,,,,,

 

I'm not going to go in to a long boring post..... just check my Spec C project thread and find out who I worked with, and an engine that is still performing to this day after having the backside knocked out of it for nearly four years (and still going).

None of this stuff is cheap and neither is it always EASY.... especially if you decide not to go rotated and don't want to faff around with "special" fuel mixes.

Have a CLEAR set of goals, requirements and budget. Speak to the various tuners around and make a decision based on the facts you gain...... or ask again for other peoples comments on here.

Whilst RCM are certainly great at what they do, they are not the only company out there delivering the goods.

 

Heard nothing but praise for Engine tuner on here & from a friend who had 400 bhp plus build from them.

 

If Kent is in Oxfordshire then I've been taking a very long route to the midlands!!

As someone who's just had a relatively big power build done, I can offer some advice.

1) Start with a budget - you might want 600bhp; can you afford to have it done properly, emphasis on the last word!! Also, don't be fooled into thinking that there is a cheap option. There isn't .... ever! All very well getting a short block built capable of a power output, but it's the supporting mods that'll jack the price right up. e.g. ECU 1.5k, turbo 1.5k etc... etc...

2) Have a go/ride in a car with a similar output: why pay through the nose for 600bhp if 450/450 is all you'd want for the road. I'd suggest for most a 450/450 set up will be plenty. There is a law of diminshing returns with this tuning lark. e.g. to get my PPP hawk to 350/380 I spent the price of a BRD remap. To get it to a reliable circa 460/480 (won't know until its run in) I've spent a 5 figure sum.

3) You need somewhere with good aftercare; in any build like this there are things that need a tweak here and there - when you're investing a lot of money in a car, you want someone who wants the finished product to be right with you, not someone who'll just ignore your E-mails after they've got your dough.

4) Go with David at Api - that's where I had mine done and even though I'm running it in and driving accordingly.... it's already eye wideningly rapid. What it'll feel like when it's loosened up and Bob turns the wick up to 1.8 bar on the SC46 I have no idea, but suspect I'm going to have to watch my licence!!

 

I knew I`d forgot something. Lend me yours when its run in...

 

Living in Cornwall why do you not go to Enginetuner?

 

Walked into that one didn't I!

 

whatever you get you soon get used to it and want more
and that is as true at 600 as it is at 400, do yourself and your wallet a big favor dont go beyong 430 ish thats fast can be reliable without spending the national debt,
the 600 car great for pub numbers id put myself in the firing line and say iv probably got one of the best 600 hp road car here as regards to running on pump fuel and being a realy good daily driver, oh yes im know there are others with more that are road cars iv seen them on the "leader board" race fuel and meth were in everything above mine almost,

now we done it its not enough so at this point we realized we will never scratch that itch with these cars so its for sale for way less than the sum of the parts and only running in miles from tracktive...call richard at tracktive for the SP if anyones interested
or pm me your email address for piccys or look on pistonheads

 

As much as i appreciate RCM and there work, i also have some of there parts in my build, i for one cannot justify there prices.

I would suggest API or Engine Tuner, they seem to be doing some very good stuff.

 

FBtuning in Bucks

 

+1 For Tracktive, they have done all the work on my car including a recent 500 build. Personally i wouldn't go anywhere else.
I cannot comment on the other companies listed as i have not dealt with them but from what i can see they will also do a good job & have a good reputation. The decision is down to personal preference & funds.

BTW Badbird, was yours the blue blobeye ?

Dave

 

Budget is the first hurdle I'm just havin a fully built enginetuner 2.1 for 600+ the engine was 8k plus turbo 1k clutch 1.3k ecu1.5k rcm rotated kit 1k then there's all the fuel system injectors air filter etc I'm expecting 15-20k to be near 600!

 

Its a no-brainer for me,RCM all the way,all their parts are tried and tested and are top quality,they never skip things,the attention to detail is second to none.
The Gobstopper has won many titles and never missed a beat,Subarus like Marty P1, Skullfudges P1,are second to none.
The 2.35 engines being built at RCM at present are just amazing.


All their parts are well engineered,and the distance their customers travel to use them is testament to how good they are.
Pay peanuts and you get monkeys.
And you never ever find them on any club sites touting for business,or slagging any other tuners off.
We have a lot of good tuners,we also have RCM.

 

I only use these guys http://www.euro-spec2000.co.uk/ speak to a guy called Ben or Mark, and tell him I recommended you, these guys have helped me out alot in the past on my old car the 3000GT and currently on my Scooby, I'm sure there are plenty of places out there, however I would only use these guys, they're very friendly and very helpful any issues i have they'll tell me to bring it on the day and look at it free, they've also done an engine block for my mates GTO running at 500bhp, top notch guys!

regards

VJ