Hello, i'm posting on behalf of a friend who's having problems with his scooby. I'll try and give as much info as I can.
OK he's got a 1996 WRX and not long after he bought it the crank bent. He's had it rebuilt by a subaru specialist, as far as I know it had most of the engine rebuit new crank/pullys/waterpump/cambelt don't know exactly what but will find out if anyone needs the info.
He ran it in as he's been told and been driving it quite sensibly until the new parts where run in. The other day though he said he gave it a boot and the radiator bust open, and the crank sounds like it's starting to make a squeaking noise. He tells me that the boost gauge was showing 2 bar boost at full acceleration and that it's always done that even before the engine was rebuilt.
Now i'm not sure but from what i've read in the past 2 bar of boost is pretty high and should only be used on engines that have been modified to take it.
OK so what i'm asking is:
is 2 bar too high for a standard engine?
will the rebuilt engine most likely be knackered again?
or could the boost gauge just be faulty? (he did say it went like a rocket though )
and i know this sounds like i'm trying to start trouble but it's not i'm just interested, but should the rebuilder have mapped the engine after the rebuild and should it have been picked up that it was running 2 bar on standard internals?
Sorry to go on but thanks very much for any help you can give

 

If the gauge is reading right then that is a time bomb imo without extensive internal strengthening. Go buy a cheap mechanical gauge and plumb it in to the inlet manifold etc and do a direct comparison. The fuel cut will have been bypassed in order to be running above 1.2 BAR on a car of that year iirc but I could be wrong (might be the STI limit and the WRX one might be lower).

 

Def def high...as said, get gauge and test (suggest gentle increase of boost) and see what she's really running but dont go upto 2 bar...end of engine unless forged everything.