HI Y'ALL

went on my 1st trackday today, not the best experience, as i have knackered my engine, i got a my98 wrx

im not the best mechanically minded person in the world, but 3 different people have said exactly the samething on different occasions. so im taking that as they know more than me.

anyhow was going around castlecombe today did 3 laps and the next thing i hear is CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANG, i slowed down and it stopped got to the next straight foot down CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANG, so i gave up.

then 3 people listened to it and said the samething.

SO......... whats best to do and who to see?????????

is it worth upgrading the broken bits too make it stronger/powerful, whilst the engine is apart???????????????????????????

thanks for any help

dazzer

 

I take it they all said the bottom end has gone?

If you want a stronger engine STi's have stronger cranks and internals so you can push more power. But as long as your not up by the 300bhp+ mark you std engine should be okay for track days etc. The best way to keep the engine sweet is more than regular oil changes. Yours may have suffered from the famous oil starvation problem on pistion number 3, but its hard to tell not seeing the car etc. Either way it sounds very expensive :-(

Anyone any other ideas?

Nath

 

David @ Api will sort you out, budget for £2.5k for a decent job

 

Just to correct you there Nath, Sti bottom ends only differ from stock UK/WRX's in that they forged pistons as opposed to cast. The crank, rods, bearings and block are all the same. The latest (version 9 on) new age cars do seem run a cross drilled crank, but I wouldn't be surprised to learn that the regular WRX's do to.

Anyway, as to rebuilding the engine, you will probably find that the only salavagable parts will be the heads, block, pistons, a couple of the rods (one or more of the big ends will have more than likely have spun damaging the rod itself), the sump, windage tray, oil pick up and water pump. You will probably need; a new crank, a couple of rods, a full set of bearings, oil pump, modine oil cooler, and gaskets.

Zen Performance can do all of this work, including remove and refit the engine. Recently I know someone who had just this job done by them for a smidge under 2k, all in

 

Hmm, now I'm confused I was told by a specialist that the STi had sliglty bigger crank journals as this is a major weakness (weak crank) on more powerful GC8 engines.

 

Nah, total BS...

The only differences between cranks have been either the afformentioned cross drilling, or the position of the thrust bearing, which moved from the end to the middle between the phase 1 and 2 engines (be that UK, WRX or Sti)...confusingly this happened rather randomly, as there have been some phase 1.5 engines with centre thrust bearings and phase 2 engines with end thrust bearings...Subaru are nice like that, they tend to use what they have in stock at the time

 

And don't forget the cranks with center and end thrust surfaces. Just to muddy the waters even more

 

Cheers Tim, I'll take your word as you seem to know what your talking about. Just goes to show that you should only say stuff if you have first had knowledge. Don't believe everything you read (slaps himself for being bad).

 

No worries Nath, my problem is I've speant far too much time hanging around with people like Pat (the mapper), Mark (Lateral), Paul (Zen), Moray, Steven (P20SPD) and David (Wallis) since I bought my car back in '98...been there done that

 

Dazzer, you have my sympathy. Mine did the same recently and it was an STi3. It's really gutting when it happens

After some cursing and the some deliberation I decided that a rebuild would have been on the cards in a few years time, c'est la vie What to do, rebuild and then want a bigger engine in a year or two, or bite the bullet now and get a 2.5

I got the 2.5, a bit more exspensive than a straight rebuild (but not too much if you've done the old engine big time!) but well worth it I think in the long term. Soooo much torque So thanks to all at Zen for sorting it all out for me and turning my disaster into an golden oppertunity to get a 2.5!!!

 

tim is right, sti bottom end is the same as the wrx bar the pistons.

sti's seems to suffer more from big end failure though, in my opinion its down to the higher rev limit and aggressive map they have in them as standard.

i wouldn't bother going for the 2.5 in your position, i would stick with a 2.0 with a good set of rods and pistons and a 9 crank, also a mappable ecu (if you don't already have one) as you wll be able to make the most of your set up then

 

thanks for the replies people

still not sure what to do,

call me stupid but.......

does having a 2.5 bottom end bring more power and torque and roughly how much?

same with the 2.0 with uprated pistons and crank etc.

also does anyone have a web address or phone number for zen performance?

thanks again

dazzer

 

http://www.zenperformance.co.uk/