Can anyone definitively answer whether a V3 (Jan 97) Sti V-ltd would have an open or a closed deck block fitted as std?

Cheers,

dr_jones

 

my guess is open

 

yep, open

 

My Sti v3 facelift is open
Graham

 

Cheers chaps - I'll check this evening (apparently crosshatching above the oil filter on the casting is the tell tale...)

Next question in - and I know there is not a definative absoute answer - but what are the reasonable max boost / power / torque levels for the open deck blocked in comparison to a closed deck?

 

The pistons and rods, or the driveability/power band if a road car (because you'll need a big turbo) will probably be the limiting factors on a 2.0 before the fact it is open deck is relevant.

 

Thanks John - Its a road car but I'm "going" to be using it for some sprint events also - Sounds like I really needn't stress too much about it.

On the id'ing front - just stuck my head under the car tooking for the cross hatching (or more probably lack of it) above the oil filter and can;t tell either way there appears to be a sleeve above the filter that is obstructing things (above what I take to be a water cooling module?) is this normal???

 

I think that the need for a closed deck block for big power may have been another one of the Scooby myths. The open deck blocks handle power well over 500bhp as far as I know without failure atributable to the block itself.
For a daily driver it may be preferable to have an open deck or semi open deck. My thoughts behind this are the temperature gradients that will exist in a CDB with continual heating and cooling and therefore on a CDB, gentle warm up and cooling and the avoidance of thermal shock is very important.

 

Hmm yeah see you point - i was under the impression that the open generally had a higher incident of gasket failure thant the CDB - mind I've no actual numbers on this....

 

and just in case other ppl didnt know the difference between open and closed deck blocks

http://www.cgperformance.com/subaru_block.htm

 

yeah but its not factory build but a conversion to a closed deck

 

" Generally speaking if your run over 10lbs of boost you need a closed deck block to be reliable. "

So says CG Performance - What a load of tosh !!

David APi Engines / APi Impreza
www.apiengines.com

 

you can guess what you like about the above, but you have to ask yourself why all the wrc engines start off with CDBs.

 

Yeah, but look at the energy they absorb and the sheer hard work that they have to put up with. At one time they were trying a huge compression ratio and super high boost too!!

It's just the point that 10 psi is their chosen pressure, which is extremely low by most standards.

David APi