closed_deck

Hi all,

It's been a long time since I owned my first classic in 1997, since then i've been through EVO 6/7/8, Cosworths, C63 Merc, and god knows what else, but ended up with a nice STI V3 wagon.

The previous owner had the car mapped my Andy F and it went considerably well, but was down on power due to a split boost hose.

Following the main bearings letting go, I comissioned a build of new engine with plans for 450bhp and as near to 500 ft/lbs as possible- The engine is as follows:-

Fully closed deck EJ20 2.0
Polished and ported V3 STI heads
Cosworth Head Gaskets
Cosworth Oil Pump 10mm - maybe should have gone 12mm?
ARP head bolts
Heat wrapped Equal length H&S headers, flow matched, heat wrapped up pipe, and heat wrapped downpipe. (turbo jacket on its way)
JE Pistons - not sure which ones but they are forged
440cc injectors for running in
ACL Race Bearings
Billet crank
Manley billet rods
Walbro 255 Fuel pump
HKS super induction kit
3.5" straight through system (twin dump)
Apeci Power FC running standard out of box map (more on this later)
VF23 for running in
Semi synthetic again for running in..
Polished inlet manifold and thinned butterfly for throttle reponse

The engine has been fitted, and almost instantly after going down the road from the engine builder, started knocking noise on deceleration.

Thinking something was loose inside or not torqued up properly i cr8pped it and towed the car home. Upon further inspection I noticed that whilst the car is warming up (noisy forged pistons to be expected) the noise isn't there, and indeed, without the car in gear, no noise. As soon as you put it in gear (and it seems to be worse in reverse) the knocking as the revs drop from blipping the throttle, comes back.

I have noticed it whilst driving, and whilst stationary but only in gear...

Could the engine builders have left off a gearbox mount? They are suggesting my coilovers, but it's a totally different sound and it seems to be coming from the gearbox tunnel area whilst sat inside the car.... I have reset the ECU to standard map just to be sure it isn't engine, and no knock or any problems at all being detected by ECU.

Any help gratefully appreciated.

My plans for the next phase once run in and all these little gripes are sorted:-

700cc Injectors
Parallel fuel rail setup
6 Speed
New clutch
GT35r or similar
GT spec front mount
Jolly Green or Andy Forrest remap... (ideas please)

As I know of old, plenty of helpful suggestions are available on here....

If anyone knows the management of the site, and would like to make things better for the users who are complaining (I experienced a massive delay on signup emails being sent) then you could suggest to them I have a 10Gb/s internet connection and loads of quad core dedicated servers available and would be happy to host the site for free....

Cheers in advance for any help, feel free to move my thread if I'm going off the beaten track

Jolly Green Monster

iTrader: (4)

does sound gearbox related but difficult to diagnose further without seeing / hearing it.

few things - 2litre won't make more torque than bhp.. so 450bhp would see you about 380~400lbs - GT35R is a 550~600+ bhp turbo.. so over kill if you only want 450.. you can get bolt on turbos to do that.. depending on what year the powerfc may not be best route either.

Simon

closed_deck

thanks for the reply Simon... We've spoken on email briefly, and my plans are changing after having the car back, but the target is still the same....

I need to get to the bottom of the current problem, and the engine builder has offered to have the car back on tuesday, so i reckon this may be the best route, unless i am advised otherwise.... Bearing in mind i have spent 4k on a partial rebuild and i just want things to be right with the motor.

Regarding my current requirements, I am using the car as a daily driver and need power and reliability (hence the closed deck config and forged bits) but the option of upping the car to over 400ft/lbs and limiting to 400bhp for competition in the aaa saloons series. (Andy F has indicated he may be interested in entering a vehicle also)

AAA Saloons - Ajec Group 2009

I don't mind having much more power on tap for playing around on the road and track, but for the purposes of the series and scrutineering, I need to swap the turbo for a variant of the standard STI - any model year up to and including current - i.e. 20G or Spec C twin scroll..

The car is a MY97 STI V3 and i observe your comment regarding Power FC and wonder what the alternaive is... I know Rich from Powerstation and spoke to him on saturday. He recommended the Simtek as a good path to go on, and quoted what i felt was a fair 850 quid for fitting and remap, but having had a bad experience with my saph cossie, I am siding towards dealing with either your good self or Andy F... You are closer to me by a long shot, but Andy mapped the car when the last (scot based) owner had it. Truth is, i really don't fancy the drive and would rather get you down here, and map the thing on road / Ajec rollers.. What do you think?

closed_deck

OK,

On the way to work yesterday I lost power, the car stalled... Briefly switching the engine on, heard a loud metallic rattle, sounds terminal, so it's off to the engine builder again after only 80 miles. Very disappointed!

Guess this thread is in the wrong place now.