Hi guys, I know this is a milion times aked questions, but I can't find post new enough (I only find posts dated 2005-2009) so please excuse me for the post.
short story:

Engine was rebuild 40k miles ago back in 2007, car sat in the past 2 years done around 1-2k miles.

Headgasket is gone? (diagnosed by 1 mechanic) No air in water system, then as soon as turbo boosts in, air is released in the water system, pushing water out in overflow tank. No oil mix, no water mix and no smoke whatsoever present, Kinda confused.

Anyway, I don't know what shall I do regarding the engine rebuild.I narrowed down to 2 choices:

1: heard about Paul Finch motorsport: top guy and price well... he said usually ends up around £1800 but it could be less if I am lucky. but everyone on forum has good stuff said about him.

2: I have a friend working "The Garage" in Hammersmith and he said their top mechanic can do the job. website here: http://www.192.com/atoz/business/lon...0b9bca936/ugc/

Now advantage of this friend would be that is cheaper £1000 all in (at first look with parts) as I buy my own good parts (a little cheaper than usual garages example cosworth hg = £130 vs usuall 145+vat etc) and with me working in a factory, I can skim and nitrate whatever I need and want when it comes to heads, piston etc.

That mechanic is Polish and my friend said he knows what he's doing.

Question is, shall I trust a good willing mechanic when it comes to this rebuild, or shall I go with a proven one? I don't know how much experience this one has with these engines, all I know is that he is usually doing things properly and doesn't cut corners.

Or any other people around london who can do this job? No xtremescoobies as they are to expensive = over 1800+vat. same with API they want again 1800+vat.


Thank you.

 

Professionals like Xtreme & APi + Finchy give a warranty. What guarantee does some Polish guy that is moonlighting give.....?

 

Thanks David! I Totally missed this point...No more general mechanics. If I can just have maybe hear other options, mechanics closer to London who are good engine builders like the ones mentioned above? then thread can be closed. Thank you all.

 

Warranty only any good when they are honoured.

 

Meaning???

 

Meaning exactly what it says. A warranty is only any good if it is honoured, if a problem is met with a list of excuses of its the component not workmanship or its this its that, altho the company honouring the warranty was the last company to fasten, undo, remove, replace, torque or have to physically move it from its original position to allow work to commence then they must surly be liable and honour the warranty without question. If this is not the case then any warranty can be easily avoided by not accepting liability for doing any of the above and blaming something else.

 

So I was talking to Paul Finch today, I was decided to go ahead with him. Trouble is that he is fully booked all the way up to end of july, start of august, then on top of this the 2 weeks for my car + if there is any delays in the current job, they will postpone mine.

This means now I am looking for someone around London? anyone ? Budget is starting from £1200 up to a sensible £1800max (of course worse could happen, but don't be greedy). to do Head gasket + inspect and replace everything else what needs to be done in order to ensure this engine will not break down a year later.

 

Slowboy racing, not too far from london. Pretty well respected on here.

 

Whats the recommended time for how long it takes to replace headgasket?

As my cambelt needs doing and my car has been off the road for a year and just drove 100 miles stop start with very low water level, so might have done headgasket in aswell, might aswell do 3 birds with one stone as got abit of oil leak aswell had for a while

 

May I ask why you are rebuilding the engine if you have a hg problem?

Could be done a lot less than £1800 and that's using top brand parts (cossie gasket, arp head bolts and so on)

 

Obviously this is very subjective as you are limited by funds and this ultimately has a bearing on who does the job.
Buy cheap buy twice in my experience.
If you plan to sell on soon then get the h/g done and leave it at that.
If the car is a keeper then splitting the block replacing bearings, oil / water pump, inspecting pistons, rods, bores, valves, heads and replace and re bore if needed.
I had 2 unseated valves causing a misfire but I wanted to keep the car so while the engine was out I replaced pistons and rebored, rods, set of valves, head bolts, water pump and all gaskets and bearings, oil pump clutch and all cam belt components had recently been done so I saved on that.
Cost me around 4k in the end as my builder is very thorough and little things like perished hoses that need replacing start to add up.
Find someone who leaves nothing to chance and you will get a job that lasts.
I would be pretty pi$$ed if I spent a couple of grand and the bottom end went 6 months down the line.
Like I said it's very subjective but this is my experience.

Siv

 

Did anyone know Andy Standley froom Colchester? He said he used to own special scoobies in essex. Now why I am questioning the guy is that he said if bottom end is not knocking, to leave it like that. This is the exact opposite I got from everyone else. Price is okay-ish, as he is matching Finch , but without the bottom strip-down. Most I squeezed out of the bottom job related was a new oil pump.

 

With these engines if the head gasket goes the bottom end usually follows a little later down the line, you may get away with it but any engine builder worth their salt will not just do the head gasket repair and leave the bottom end, reason being the engine needs to come out and be stripped which is a large part of the cost so better to be 100% sure it's going to last.

Cut corners and take chances then 1000 miles down the road it has to come out again and be done properly, so another £3k bill on top of what ever it cost first time round.

If the car has been sat for 1 year whats another month or two.

I'd wait for Paul Finch if you want a proper job at decent money that will last.

But hey your car, your money.

 

Ok I get that, I was reading between lines that weren't there.

David APi

 

That's the thing, I don't plan to sell, I plan to keep it. I bought the car 1 month ago and I was stitched up on it... No smke and so on, but the seller swapped the Overlow pipe from the overflow tank with the Overflow pipe from the radiator. In this way, pressure has no where to go and stays in the system. I only found this after my radiator split open in 2, new rad cap + radiator = pipes blew up. This is when I discovered them pipes other way round... Also clutch went on it 1 week after I bought it then this HG. This is why I wanted something a bit faster, as this is a nice summer car, and by the looks of it I`ll have it back in September (after I bought it in May)

 

Thats some bad luck bud, what year is it?

 

98 impreza terzo. Was rebuild back in 2007 (july) by scoobybits. got receipt and stuff costed £4.5k at the time with uprated fuel pump, injectors, exhaust, induction kit and it is running at around 1.5-1.6 bars. Done 40k miles since then (by previous owner) so when I bought the car I assumed it should be a fine runner. Engine ticks over so smoothly and pulls like a train still I've fount it the hard way that 40k miles is a lot for these engines...

for ditchmyster: At the moment PAUL is the cheapest too: by miles ... I compare him with all the other reputable builders, and not the mechanics from ebay who would "sell and fit a fully rebuild engine for £1200" lol ) with "acl bearings, and coswoth / cometic hg" I`m Just to eager to have my car... I`ll go today at 1 more shop: rosslyn motors in canning town. There is an old man bulding nissan engines and I want to just go and meet him, if the impression is right I go for him, otherwise I`ll give that Andy a shot, only if he inspects bottom part and let me know what's to be replaced, if not I`ll wait for Paul... so much wait ...

My test for the mechanis is I say I want hg changed. good way to tell if hey actually know bits of the scoobies is that they will say they wont do the job without having a peek in the bottom end and replace what's needed. so far only Paul and API gave me this answer.

 

Thanks all for the replies. I have decided : Paul Finch Motorsport it is. Despite the long queue he had the best price, and even doh I haven't meet him in person like some other people, he gave me the impression that when he works he pays the same attention to detail like he would do it for himself or I would do it for myself.

I specially liked when he said that if he takes the job he wants to do it right (full strip down) as he has a reputation to work for and he can't let any engine out in which he is not 100% sure is good.

 

Before you settle for that guy, check West Herts Customs in Hemel Hempstead, just off M25.

In the Prodrive meet last Saturday they had 8 Subarus with them, and as much as I have heard, they know a bit about these cars as well.

May be worth just checking and comparing.

 

Okay. I will contact them to see what's all about. Also I found MOCOM Racing is a nother good one, only thing was time wise they were like Paul so I kept for Paul. Having only just bought the car, whoever will do it faster, will buy me lol

 

+1 for paul did a top job on mines well worth the wait and the long drive

 

I would take the Finch option but then I'm biased. I had an engine built by Paul last year, I really cant fault the service.

 

So back with this.

I have done my engine. Paul Finch has done it for me and I don't have words to describe it:

1. It fitted it within my budget which is amazing.

and 2. most important of them all. The engine is brilliant, so smooth and the rumble it makes is just out of this word. runs better than my 2010 C Class with 16k miles.


and 3. You can tell where his work extended by the fact that everything was cleaned and bolted on properly (i have to admit i had a few things missing). and he even painted my oil pan back in black.


Also this is the headgasket put in by the previous very good builder. Probably will send them an email to express my disappointment for using cheap ebay stuff.





Paul has done an Amazing. Recommended for sure. Wouldn't go anywhere else.

 

The picture link doesn't work.
Pauls after sale service is first class too, I really cant fault the experience. I work for a major motor manufacturer and build engines on an industrial scale. I was going to build my own engine until I spoke to Paul.
I realised he was in a different league after a few emails and handed the build over to him. Follow his advice and you wont go wrong. If he tells you put a sicker on your car "powered by fairy dust" do it, there's probably a very sound and proven engineering theory behind it

 

This is the hg. Not full steel one. is some sort of weird ****. And yes even after he got his money I have sent him an email regarding a couple of questions (hitting fuel cut every now and then) and he was happy to reply with good advice.

and for the same reasons I have chosen him. because when i sent him the first emails about the problem he was very open about it, explaining stuff while other builders probably are fed up with them emails and I was getting replies like "£1500 + VAT" or "£1800 + vat for a service that all customers are happy with" : which service ? what? (if immage doesn't work this is the link http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=5n9ls5&s=8#.VAQqksOwVqU )

 

Isn't that one of those early OEM WRX 'compressed fibre'-like gaskets?!

 

I have no idea. But I don't think so, as this gasket was changed in july 2007. there is no way a proper bit of kit would rust like this unless is some cheap stuff. that's my opinion at least. probably a Chinese copy of them gaskets but for sure not a genuine one.

 

shouldn't rust anyway with correct coolant, has anti rust chemical in it.

Did you get the crank bearings sorted as well?

 

he has done everything. bearings, conrods,all new gaskets, seals where required and stuff. all my old engine was in my boot pretty much apart from the pistons which were changed back then and were still good. top guy he is

 

London and suburbs tap water is very hard, it will fur, block and corrode any metal casting. Only use deionised water or premixed coolant.
I ended up buying 8 litres of motul inugel coolant, not cheap but no point cutting corners now.