thewhitewarrior

i need to find out what the age of my engine is, it is ment to be an 94 sti engine but the way these engines are messed around it could be anything, it is a closed dec one so it could be an sti, but how can i tell the year of it, cheers phil.

merlin24

iTrader: (1)

Apart from pulling a cylinder head to see if it has:
a) Inner Shim's(STi) Outer Shim's(UK Spec.)
b)Valve's stamped up as EH and IH (STi)

When the head is off,pull a piston out to see if it is:
Forged(STi - might have HF stamped underside of Crown)
Cast(UK Spec - should have Cross Hatching underside of Crown)

thewhitewarrior

the pistons have the cross hatching under neath them, but they could have been chabged as one of the conrods have a differant number to the rest, what about the block its self is there any way of telling the age and what block it is.

merlin24

iTrader: (1)

You got a CDB ( V2 - 3 ish) so you are off to a good start Phil,
you will have to weigh the rods and make sure they are within 1 to 2 gram's of each other to be a matched,balanced set.
Unless you can get the engine code off the VIN plate from the Doner vehicle,to check the age - dont know of any other clue's to age.
Even finding a Date stamp on a seal is no sure way of telling on an engine block which is approx. 13 yrs old.
Cheers,
Mick

thewhitewarrior

nice one, the engine came out of a car i have and that is a 94 sti, so i guess it has been changed some time, ill look for the engine stamp on the vin and see if it matches, cheers mick.

thewhitewarrior

p.s. what are inner shims

dabow

iTrader: (19)

so you may be better getting the hole set of conrods from another car, just to make sure of the weight

hi mate. you will find better info on here, i'll tell you.
i was going to tell you regards the pistons you pulled out, mine are Cross Hatching too. & they are cast

the wieght could have been why the engine conrod went, or even that the piston was wrong for that pot.

if your crank is good, & you can sort that block out. i can do a deel with these p1 rods + new shells. then you just need that piston you mentioned.

thewhitewarrior

here are the pics of my engine, can you tell what year it came from.

thewhitewarrior

oh and the only numbers i found if they are the right ones are on the valves are on the bottom they are e250 and i281.

thewhitewarrior

so where and what are inner and outer shim's.

merlin24

iTrader: (1)

Nice STRONG Closed Deck Block you got there
Inner Shims :
When you took the Camshaft Retaining Caps off,to get the Cams out - you will see the Buckets which sit over the Valve Springs and top retainer.
Lift the Bucket off and if you have a pukka Sti,you will see a small shim which sits in the top retainer( or it might be stuck to the underside of the bucket by oil stiction).
A UK spec. car will have a large shim ONTOP of the Bucket.

Good luck with the Build.
Mick

thewhitewarrior

ill take a look tomorrow and post a pic if i dont understand what im looking for, thanks very much mick.

merlin24

iTrader: (1)

A picture is worth a 1000 words Phil
This is a UK spec outer shim head - Shims highlighted Green, Buckets are Red.






The Numbers you found on the Valve's are where No.1 points to.

thewhitewarrior

aha i see so by the look of my pics they are sti heads, yes,


there isnt any outer shim's so they must be, thanks very much mick.

dabow

iTrader: (19)

i have uk heads. and this pick of one of the lifters is the same as mine.
there must be a better way to tell if his subaru head are sti

merlin24

iTrader: (1)

From all the pics and numbers you have found - the Cylinder Heads are early
Hydraulic Lifter one's.
But dont panic - Early V2 STi's came with these heads,which are the same as the UK 93/96 WRX one's.
The V2 STi RA heads were different again - the only ones to have Top Hat Inner Shims(different to the V3/4 STi Inner Shims).
Whitewarrior -
1)Your heads should have LH and RH stamped on them (by the exhaust ports)
2)Inlet Valves stamped I250 or I252
3)Exhaust Valves stamped E281 or E282
4)40mm red coded Valve Springs.
5)Hydraulic Lifters/Lash Adjusters.
6)Composite (non-steel) Head Gaskets.

Hope this helps when put together with the other info.

thewhitewarrior

that all makes sense as it came of a 94 sti (v1) so i would say it is the original engine but someone has rebuilt it with the wrong pistons unless the v1 came with non forged pistons, they also put in one conrod that made it out of balance from the rest which popped the engine again, thankyou very much that man, you have helped me in a big way, nice one.

thewhitewarrior

just one more thing, what cams will it have in as its a v1 sti, are there any numbers to check if they have been changed.

merlin24

iTrader: (1)

They do vary but -
Inlets R2IN,L2IN or R3IN,L3IN - Lobe height 41.9mm ?
Exhausts R2EX,L2EX or R3EX,L3EX - Lobe height 41.8mm ?

thewhitewarrior

nice one, you sorted things once again, cheers mick.