upgrades to reach 370-400bhp advice please
 

i'm trying to get things clear in my head on how i should go about my project , at the moment i'm looking to get a garage to carry on with dismantling my car ready for treating and painting the underside myself .i plan to take the engine and gearbox out one question is ,while they are out is there anything i should consider having done to them.

the car is a version6 sti 110000 miles on it , not been driven for around 3years

this is the plan for the final spec

Full Decat turbo back 3” bore exhaust system
Tubular exhaust headers and flow matched uppipe
Walbro 255 l/hr uprated fuel pump
Fuel Lab turbo specification fuel pressure regulator with fitting kit & gauge
High Flow multi spray fuel injectors 550cc (440cc std)
STI V7/8 TMIC & matching undertray
0r
Front mount intercooler
AFP 05-20G custom ported turbocharger.
Stand alone fully mappable SimTek ECU with twin maps, permitting use of different fuels or octane booster and elimating the MAF sensor
Apexi Induction system
NGK PFR 7B uprated spark plugs

that list is taken direct from andy forests web site , i plan to have him map the car so makes sense to go with what he recomends ,but one thing i have noticed from scouring the web is that ported rather than tubular headers are recomended for that power level ,

also opinions on front mout or bigger top mount intercooler , turbo choice , and anything else

other things on my mind are lightweight flywheel, y pipe for top mount,brakes just upgrade the front or all round ,what front mount ,i've heard that badly speced ones can cause lag.is there an option for upgrading the vf29 turbo i have, i'd hate to losse the burble but is equal length headers worthwhile at that level

i wouldn't push an engine that old that hard, engine refresh would prob be a better option

340/350 is plenty fast enough in a classic :)

I don't know your budget but while the engine is out why not forge it. Best to be safe than sorry but it's all about budgets.

its back when they were proper engines, proper forged pistons :thumb:

what i've listed there is definatly stretching the budget allready but possable and engine refresh and just a smaller gain in bhp would be a better option.

what do you mean by refresh, engine stripped down and rebuilt ? what sort of costs would be involved in that , the problem i have is i always end up thinking ,if im going to do x y or z i might aswel do x y or z at the same time ,

this all started with planning to do a service lol

the car has been off the road and i plan on keeping it a long time so it was like ok im giving it a major service , i'll do the brakes aswel , hmm the suspension needs looked at oh the roll bars and drop links also , i should strip it all down and refresh/replace , might aswell sort all the rust underneath and behind bumpers, ok bumpers off wings off , no point doing all this and leaving the engine bay, engine needs to come out, hmm what should i do to that while its out/

and so it goes on lol

i need a clear isture what im going to do ,

Decat
Sti intercooler
7b plugs
Fuel pump
Remap

Would make a difference and be about 900 quid

my v5 type r had worn all its bearings down to copper at 105k so a fully strip downa nd rebuild with new bearings, gaskets etc etc.

your best bet is find a tuner your happy with and get them to price up the work.

for a proper rebuild inc head refresh assuming no major maching work is prob gonna be 3-4k

thats about double what i had expected to hear , i thought that was about the cost for a 2.1stroker build , i'll need to phone around a few places , i dont know of any engine builders near me apart from agra engineering in dundee , i'm in glenrothes fife btw

That old saying comes to mind. Cheap, fast, reliable. Pick any two.

Worth travelling for a decent build, scoobyclinic built mmy closed deck 2.5 and you'd be about 1/4 of the distance some travel to it hahahaha

2.1 kit, crank, rods and pistons is 1200-1500 just for the parts alone.

Given the age and milage i would expect the heads to need refereshing including machine work, new gaskets, fluids plus a whole heap or worn parts etc etc prob £4k+ for a refresh, 5-6k+ for a 2.1 stroker.

Mine went from a simple refresh to a full overhaul, valve guides, new valves, valve shims, buckets etc

inlet pipe was a mess, rad was a mess, loads of perished pipes so on and so on. Bear in mind its 17 years old and done 100k+ miles

......

I'd think about a brake upgrade first.

I'm in the middle of the same ish spec/ goal,
I'm having a bottom end rebuild all forged etc and the heads skimmed re valved etc and here's the list of mods
Fmic,RCM decat downpipe, 3inch exhaust, RCM induction kit, RCM manifold and up pipe,
Denso 550 injectors,parallel fuel rails,sti inlet manifold, RCM or walbro fuel pump,fpr, lightweight pulleys( though bob rawle has advised on not using the crank pulley) as the oem has damping to save the bearings? Denso 3 port, samco pipes incl inlet pipe and simtec ECU. But I'm stuck on turbo choice??? Any suggestions welcomed

im going to have to forget about the engine build for now anyway but taking the engine out to paint and put it back in without doing anything to it goes against the grain for me,

i've just spent couple hours watching you tube videos on building an engine, the short block look very easy not much to it at all , all be it the block would need to be sent away to be prepared . still to find a good video for the heads, but even then the costs of parts alone is to much especially when you add on the cost of brakes and ecu ,

i'll go ahead with getting what i have back in to shape then think about a new engine in the future, maybe buy a second hand engine and tackle it myself bit by bit to spread the costs , either way i can forget the block for now

thanks for your replies and bringing me back down to earth

If you think its easy crack on, unless your very lucky you'll be very disappointed with the results. I've seen home builds make less than standard power before.

Borrowed time at 400bhp will cost much more if it lets go, be better with a full refresh with a few uprated internals then a decent clutch and now you have a lottery with a 5 speed box, i ended up spending 10k on my classic to get reliable power levels

10 grand does sound realistic once you add everything up brakes ecu clutch gearbox and the engine build ,

Not sure if you misunderstood or maybe it's me but there is very little to a short engine , crankshaft pistons ,connecting rods , rings and some bushes and the two halves of the block itself , the pistons have to have the right clearance in the chamber which would be sorted by a machine shop the rest go together with absolutely no hassle at all , plenty oil in the right places , rings the right way around , that's honestly it , unless I missed something , if I have I would be interested to hear what .

The heads on the other hand look way more complex , I've not seen any good video of them being built ,

I'll post up the link to the short block build , done by a Subaru technician on his drive , for anyone interested

Lol not just as easy as firing a set of rings on they will need end gapping and spacing correctly yeh it may run but go through a ton of oil and burning oil will cause it too run lean hence the comments about, self built engines with no real idea other than youtube videos will probably loose you power and become a nice oil burning money pit

checking ring end gaps is a very simple process and they all fit into grooves on the piston , you cleary havent seen whats involved,

my only concern would be having the correct clearances on the crank bearings , there is a thread on here where someone (might have been boosted but not sure)did cover this process ,but like i say it is the only part i'm unsure of.

also the budget diy 2.1 stroker thread by kwik,comes to mind, the engine didnt run well after he was done , hopefully he resolves the issue ,i dont think his thread has been updated for a while now.
(just checked the thread and he did get it running well,but there is a lot of smoke comes into the shot on his video :wonder:)

the short block i've no doubts i could do right but like i said the heads are a different story, would be good to hear the pro engine builders advice

heres the link to the short block build ,you'll see how easy fitting the rings is ,and the rest, one thing tho, he doesnt check the clearances on the rod journals ,bearings and rods , ive seen that done and i'm guessing it should be ,also i'd be way more concerned about dust or any other dirt at all getting on anything,i'm guessing he did it outside for better lighting

ahhhhh the master technician,,,,, hahahahahahahaha

nuff said,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

??

if anyone can say what he does wrong or badly it would be greatly appreciated

it's a typical dealer build, not checking things like bearing matching, is the crank actually balanced etc etc etc

my heads being assembled, can see the measuring calliper and the note pad on the right to check, record and match tolerances.

Attachment 41404

and same thing with bottom end,

Attachment 41405

Haha i build engines for a living keep watching youtube vids mate and let us know how many miles to the gallon(oil that is) you get with your build lol

100% agree with you there about not checking the tolerances , obviously i would need to read up more on what exactly is involved but i honestly dont see anything difficult ,

i have found some info on rebuilding the heads and again nothing to much in it but again checking tolerances is going to be the critical part,

the hardest part of physically building the head is putting the retainer clips onto the valve but thats only because they are so small and fiddly .i've not seen anything about what tolerances to check on the head yet,

it would be good to have a thread dedicated to diy engine builds

most peoples first reaction would be recipe for disaster but with enough information and the right tools it shouldnt be a problem

thanks for your help :thumb:

what part of it do you think i couldnt do ?

what do you mean by spacing properly?

I'm back after putting my project on hold yet again ,

If anyone has any helpful information on engine builds it would be appreciated

Yes get a specialist to do it :)

Yip as banny said as if your having to ask on how to build one on a forum then id not be wasting time and money on an engine that wont last or perform too well.