edsel

iTrader: (2)

Having entered the scooby minefield in October and getting my fingers burnt with a shagged motor I'm now in the position to start the rebuild.

The car is a late V2 RA STI. I knew when I bought it that it had a WRX motor and not the original CDB.

Soooo..... Not willing to take a gamble on a breakers motor Ive decided to rebuild the WRX motor. The cam caps were not bolted down and it was basically botched by a recon engine firm.

The mains and big end bearings show signs of wear but the crank and journals passed the finger nail test

This is where you guys come in, I know I could throw thousands at it with forged bits but is it really needed for a reliable 300 horses at the wheels? I would appreciate opinions on my shopping list, the car will be used for occasional track days.

To do list

Wash block and heads and check for flat surfaces.
Piston cooler jets cleaned.
Replace mains and big ends with ACL either Dura glide or trimetal items.
ARP Big end bolts.
Bores honed.
Replace rings with subaru items.
Valves lapped.
Replace casing bolts with gen subaru bottom end rebuild kit.
Upgraded oil pump.
Gates timing belt kit
Pattern waterpump.
Head gaskets, either gen subaru cometic or cosworth.
Genuine Subaru head bolts

Have I cut too many corners on the internals to be reliable on the track?

Cheers

Steve

craigwrx277

iTrader: (1)

300 at the wheels will be hard to achieve on standard internals :-/ 300 at the flywheel be ok on standard internals

krisando

iTrader: (2)

Sounds like a good idea though, I'm running 318 at the road wheels on standard in a 2001, IMPO go for it!

jason_2013

Have you already started stripping this down?

Just you've mentioned cleaning the piston cooler jets which only the closed deck engines have?

jason_2013

It looks ok, although I would suggest getting hold of some sti v3/4 heads if possible. Those early wrx heads aren't great to be honest. The exhaust valves tend to break with abuse (and destroy the engine) and they're hydraulic lifters. The Sti heads have solid under bucket lifters and better for high revving with better cams too.

I would also if it where me invest in some forged pistons whilst you've got it all apart anyway along with steel rods if you intend giving it some stick on track. Standard pistons/rods will be fine for that power for road use but a bit of a gamble for lots of high rev driving round a track.

Make sure you set the compression ratio properly and gap all of the piston rings properly as they'll be too tight out of the packet.

edsel

iTrader: (2)

Thanks for the feedback. Yeah the motors stripped, I'm refering to the brass coloured jets on top of the main bearing journals, at least they look like theyre pointing towards the underside of the pistons. I have considered rods and piston upgrades but it will take me way over buget and delay the build by a good few months. Perhaps I'll build a higher spec engine at a later date, I just want to drive the damn thing before the summers finished!

Please explain about gapping the piston rings?
I plan to keep the bore and stroke standard, I assume setting the compression ratio is down to head gasket thickness?

I'll get some pics up later the motor looks like a right mongrel, I have no confidence that they even put a turbo lump back in

Cheers

Steve

jason_2013

Get some pictures up yeah, only the closed deck engines had the oil squirters where you've mentioned them, so it may well be a closed deck. But not necessarily the STi RA version. If it is the original engine then those STi RA heads are good heads with underbucket shims, better valves and cams etc. And the pistons will be forged. What are the codes on the valves and also on the underside of the piston with the gudgeon pin removed is there a HF code there?