reefsting

I have been told that the very loud tapping noise coming from the engine of my 2000 wrx sti type ra is that of a knackered bottom end.
To get this repaired what would be the best and cheapest way to go or has anyone got any places that they would recommend to do the work. I am in essex.

MarkFitz

Bad luck mate,

Same happened to me a couple of years ago with my 97 UK.

Best option would be to have your car flat-bedded over to Dave at API...

Welcome to the API website

I live in essex as well but after been ****'d by local "specialists" I opted to have the car sent direct to API, - transport cost me approx £100.

For peace of mind you'd struggle to do better.

Cheers

reefsting

Thanks will give them a bell.

Roughly how much was the engine rebuild cost?

MarkFitz

In the region of £1500, but best to confirm with Dave. Can't remember how much the train fare was when it was time to collect, but wasn't too bad. Other 'hidden' costs you might want to factor-in would be the oil changes you'll do when running it in, but overall I thought it was great value for money, considering you're effectively getting a 'new' engine.
Best of Luck!

Gear Head

iTrader: (2)

£1500?
This is what he quoted me:
A properly built engine from APi Impreza comes to you with a 6 months guarantee and to vouch for our warranty, we have had only 25 genuine claims in over 1000
rebuilds in nearly 6 years. We supply comprehensive witten information with the 'NEW' engine for your own confidence, on how to run it in and how to look after it once run-in.

What about buying a secondhand engine? The problem with a used Subaru engine, is that you can never be sure of the engine's quality until it is stripped.
And because of the flat four construction, the bit you need to look at - the crankshaft, is the last thing you come to when you strip the engine. At that point
with so much labour time expended, it would be silly to not freshen it up whilst you are in there. We almost NEVER sell a used engine that hasn't been to pieces
here. That way we can be sure of quality.

Can we re-grind the crankshaft ? In our experience re-grinding a Subaru Turbo crank is a poor idea. Once the surface hardening has been removed in the
re-grinding process, the crank is ' soft' and will fail again quite quickly. It can of course, be re-hardened, but this is a specialist process and will involve extra cost in
re-polishing and straightening the crank after the hardening treatment. Cost saving by then, is minimal. Even so, the gallery plugs that need to be removed when cleaning a crank, are un-removable on a Subaru crank and the risk of not being able to remove metal swarf created by grinding is too great.

Was it my oil pump that failed? Usually not, in our experience. We have only ever fitted 10 new oil pumps in all of our rebuilds and we find that once a pump has been built and set up properly it is perfectly usable. With no need to modify it from standard spec.

Will just a short motor fix it properly? In a word - No! The engine oil carries debris all around the engine at a rate of 9 times a minute. So the metal particles from the failure are everywhere. It requires a full strip of the cylinder heads and all the oil pressure supply galleries to get the muck out. It is also probable that some valves are bent - generally 2 quite often 4. On the cylinder that has failed, the con rod and piston are now not attached correctly to the crankshaft and tend to be in the way as the valves open. The stems of the valves are very small are are prone to bending. It is necessary to take them out of the heads and spin them in a drill chuck to check them properly. Once out, the damage can be seen and assessed. To just fit the short motor and not do anything to the heads WILL drag debris into the new short motor and potentially ruin a new motor before it even gets a chance.

A fully rebuilt APi engine for your STi Vers 3 is built using genuine Subaru parts, with the exception of the copper backed competition crank bearings ** which are sourced elsewhere, the engine comes with:

NEW standard-bearing-size crank & competition bearings.
4 weight matched & balanced con rods.
NEW pistons and rings & fresh bores. ** Since January 2007, all STi engines are upgraded to forged alloy pistons at no extra cost
Fully overhauled cylinder heads with new valves as nec.
APi rebuilt & improved oil pump.
NEW cam belt, gaskets & oil filter.
ALL re-usable parts chemically cleaned inside & out where appropriate
STi Engines get a repainted red crackle finish inlet manifold

For the sum of : £2400.00

That is a fixed price and will not change no matter what we find when we strip your original engine. We prefer to rebuild the customers unit rather than create a new
engine, firstly because it is quicker for us. Secondly, It also preserves the vehicle history by keeping the engine number, chassis number and registration number as a matched set to the information held at the DVLA.

If you need fitting we also charge a fixed price ; £550.00, which includes all liquids and consumable parts. The only possible extras might be a clutch or possibly
radiator hoses or sometimes, on the 1997 onwards cars, the rubber induction hose that goes from the inlet pipe under the inlet manifold to the turbo. The jubilee clip cuts into it at the turbo end and the damage is revealed on strip down. We will advise on these parts when we have the car in bits.

We also offer two quite simple, inexpensive improvements that many people find excellent value for money.

The first is a lightened flywheel. When an Impreza clutch wears, it generates heat that damages the surface of the flywheel. Skimming can generally save most.
However, faced with having to do something to the flywheel, most people opt for a fully lightened version at a cost of £150.00. The original weighs 12 Kg's and our lightweight one weighs about 7 Kg's. It brings the benefit of less weight in the rotating parts of the engine, meaning that it will spin up quicker and be more responsive generally.

The second is 'porting the exhaust headers' [ manifold ] The original headers are deliberately made with mismatching of the ports from the cylinder head, this a crude
way of keeping power down. By matching all the joins in the headers to the adjacent pipe we can improve gas flow and speed up to the turbo and get the turbo
spinning far sooner than standard. Usually Imprezas start to build boost at about 3300 rpm, by porting the headers correctly we can start the boost from as low as
2900 in most cases. This gives a much wider spread of usable power and is genuine value for money. Cost is £150.00 and done at the time of the engine repair attracts
no labour charge. Normally the cost to fit is £105.00

We can collect your car if necessary, the cost from your postcode area is £120.00 We are currently returning cars booked in now for: End May

If you are in the UK please add VAT [ Sales tax ] at 17.5% to all quoted prices. If you need more information or I have missed something, or you wish to place an order,
please call me on the sales line above.

Thanks and kind regards
David API

MarkFitz

Prob best to have a chat with Dave. He's a top man! My work was done a couple of yrs ago and wasn't as above.
I'd just had a 90k serv, incl new P1 clutch and OE F/W, and belts.
Then good old cyl.3 did it's party trick!
My job with API involved re-build with new internals only...
Cheers

Robin Mullan

Very good and genuine information.

Pete

API, you won`t go far wrong fella....

reefsting

Thanks for all the info guys. I will be giving them a ring tomorrow.

Does anyone actually know why this problem seems to occur so often on these engines, bearing in mind most people look after their engines on these cars?

Gear Head

iTrader: (2)

Api quoted me £3400 inc vat for a standard rebuild on an sti. Yes, some of the internals were uprated, but he didn't offer any other option.

APIDavid

iTrader: (4)

Thanks for the mentions fellas, much appreciated. Give me a call Mr reefsting and l'll tell you all about it, as they say om the telly.

David APi

APIDavid

iTrader: (4)

I though the info page that I send out covers the obvious options and their pitfalls. Clearly l am missing something.

David. APi

reefsting

Thanks David. Can i call you on that number on your description , 01926 614522

banny sti

iTrader: (68)

Had a fully forged 2ltr engine built with a semi closed deck block from Pennine Subaru and it came to £2600 all in. Speak to Chy and he will tell you the best course of action.

Banny

APIDavid

iTrader: (4)

Yup, That's fine, any time after 09.15 please.

David