Who to use for an Engine rebuild?
 

Hello to all,
This is my first post as I'm a first time Subaru owner. I've just bought a STi RA, which I bought knowing it needed a head gasket, and what I'd like to do is an engine rebuild with some minor upgardes for a little more power, (I thought about 350bhp), whilst the engine is out for the head gasket.
My question is who should I use to do the job? Is there any one particular person or Company who anyone would think is best for this sort of job?
Ideally while at it, I'd like things like a general service and wheel alignment and set up done at the same time, although I would be happy to take it elsewhere for this if the two don't go hand in hand.
I live in South Hertfordshire/North London, closest place is junction 25 on the M25, although because of our business I can get the car to most places in the country so am really looking for the best place to take the car to rather than the closest place.
Any help would be much appreciated!......
All the best,
Wobbs

Many an engine builder but only a handful I would suggest. My personal choice would be API, followed by roger Clark if I had the money lol, others who have a good feedback on here are engine tuner and Scooby clinic all four have positive feedback. I think you should call a as many as you can, talk it out with them all and see who YOU feel comfortable with as its your money you will be handing over so you need to feel confident with the company.

Just my two pence but API would get my vote

Alan jefery

If you want an engine builder who specialises in just building Subaru engines to the highest standards, but doesn't do wheel alignment etc, then contact Paul Finch of Finch Motorsport.

That's who's building mine as we speak. A man who used to build F1 and indy car engines for nearly 20 years must know what he's doing :thumb:

Another vote here for Paul Finch, if he is good enough for Maclaren F1, he good enough for me :)

Made a cracking job of mine after someone else messed it up. It runs better than ever since Paul rebuilt it.

I had a main dealer fix but it still was not right. Paul emailed me and told me what was wrong plus new damage caused by the main dealer. It was obvious paul has great attention to detail. Should have gone to him in the first place but had to give the dealer the chance to fix it first.:thumb:

I won't say who did mine originally for personal reasons, but Paul found a list of things wrong with the original build, & when it failed the original builder refused to even look at it even though at this stage I hadn't accused him of incompetence. The fact I'd spent thousands with him meant nothing.
I wish I'd gone to Paul originally & had the job done properly first time.

What work did paul do for you ? Im having forged pistons, studs, bearings and the liners pinned.

From personal experience I could not rate David O'Brien @ API more highly!

Also Harvey Smith has to be up there too for me. Both these chaps will give no nonsense and unbiased advice.

My HG failed, it should have been a simple job but I decided I wanted the whole engine stripping & checking. The Mahle pistons were still OK but a set of shells were needed & the heads ended up being rebuilt using parts from my spare STI heads to keep costs down. The CR was too low & Paul upped it with thinner Cosworth gaskets.
It could have been a lot worse I suppose, but the original build lasted a whole 2000 miles so I wasn't too happy.

My main dealer re-build lasted 398 running in miles :lol1::lol1:

I use Rich at FB tuning and so do many others and he is an engine builder, mapper and he has access to alignment kit and knows his way around that as others will back me up :) Richard isn't far from you at just outside princes risborough in buckinghamshire and he's up there with the best which are also recommended in this thread:) I haven't spotted a bad name mentioned on this thread yet :thumb:

Engine rebuild
 

Just wanted to say thank you to everyone who has replied to my post so far, you've all given me some useful pointers which is very much appreciated and made me feel very welcome to the Scooby community.
I'm still open to learn more about the engine builders so if anyone does have anything more to add to this post I would still be interested to hear of other people experience and recommendations.
Many thanks again.

I am in the same area as you and although not requiring any work yet I'd be interested to know if you find anybody nearby.

Cheers

We're using only Neil@Slowboy racing and we will be using him again on 2.35L build

Jura

Although I have not had a rebuild by him, I have had lots of other work done by Nick @ Advanced Automotives in Bristol, and seen alot of his rebuilds and took the guided tour of his premises. He has also just took the crown for the highest powered 2.1 stroker aswell :cool:

Richard at FBtuning did my rebuild early last year:notworthy
5500 miles and seven track days later all is going well
The car has not missed a beat
Look at my profile for spec if interested

Give Paul / Ren a shout at Zen Performance.

Alan Jeffreys Enginetuner is the only place in the UK that can offer every service necessary for a professional build 'in-house'. Many 'other firms' send their blocks here for honing, reboring, etc etc. I was there last week and they have two full time technicians who only build engines. Each techie builds his own engine from the stripped down engine block halves, seeing it right upto the final install. The workshop is a queue of engines waiting their turn - and there were a few of 'em.

I had my 2.5 rebuilt there 2+ yrs ago - its never missed a beat, doesn't drink oil, no piston slap, no drop in pistons, no cheap corner cuts - absolutely reliable. When mine was being put together a set of rings were discarded being a couple of thou out....

SPeak to Alan for impartial advice and a bit of wisdom too.

A

Out of curiosity, what power will that be able handle?

Ive been told because i kept the standard sti rods it is best to keep below 450bhp. Im happy with the 360 i have to be honest but may get the mapper to eek it to about 380 when i get the final map.

silly but considering you have had it all out, for that little it extra would it not of just been worth upgrading the rods at the same time as yo know that bug for more power will get you one day lol

I know what your saying about the tuning bug as ive been there in the past. But i want to keep this car pretty standard as it's an RB320 but wanted the engine strengthened. The standard rods are ok up to 450bhp max and any more than that would ruin it as a road car i believe. An extra £500 plus vat for a set of rods is not chicken feed either and not worth the expense if i have no intention of exceeding the standard rods capability. I did think about it but what with the road tax up as well i decided against it in the end.

Call David at APi

Job's a good un!

Ns04

Sounds just like API................. We do it all as well........2 dedicated builders, machining in house. APi custom engine parts made purely for us. Plus all the usual brand names that people ask for. How else does a professional engine building operation work??

Plus a dedicated Subaru transmission department with 2 guys. Plus a dedicated head department with machinery and hot / cold high pressure testing tank.

Ooooooh, I wanna come look around your workshops now. :luvlove: :D

Fair point mate, I said the same about my new car. Still the urge is there and being a 2.5 something needs to be done to the engine but for the next 12 months its under warranty so it gives me plenty of time to make my mind up and in the meantime all the aesthetics and suspension tweaks can be addressed ;-)

Nick at Advanced Automotives does everything in house too, machining, full re-builds etc. Only thing they dont do is mapping.