Mongo

Hi there!

Thought I'd share my project with you guys.

I currently own an STi 2 Type RA Impreza, which unfortunately has spun a big end bearing (Hoping it's just that anyway!). The car has had an interesting life, there are a lot of scuffs on the underside and it also came to the uk with ohlins coilovers on it, unfortunately they were shot, so the previous owner has fitted a brand new set of STi shocks and springs. So I have decided to rebuild it. Having owned one or two modified cars, I have learnt the same lesson time and time again, which is to make your project future proof. My case always wanting more power. lol

So Having decided on what sort of power levels are reasonably and cost effectively attainable I have decided on capping the power levels at 400bhp. Hopefully if I'm sympathetic I should be able to retain the standard RA box. Having spoken to severall specialists and one or two people from internet land I have decided on the following spec. The initall rebuild is to get the car back on the road at standardish power (however it does have some random Japanese chip). So the current build in hand is:-

Omega Pistons.
Arrow Rods.
STi V9 Crank.
ACL Competition bearings.
Gasket set.
Cometic Head gaskets.
Exedy organic clutch if required.
Parallel fuel rail mod
Walboro fuel pump

Not too sure on an oil pump at the moment a lot of people say the standard one will be fine, but a strip down and investigation will be required to check for backlash and scoring around the relief valve area.

The rebuild will consist of a full strip down including the heads. Heads will be acid dipped to clean, fully rebuilt, lapped valves, re-shimmed and a new set of stem seals (cant be too certain!).

The blocks will more tha likely need an overbore however with carefull piston size selection I might just get away with honing to the correct size. I am hopefully going to use Omegas as they're one of the best suppliers on the market bar Cosworth and they're a little out of my price range. Having spoken to Mark Shied of MADevelopments (Autronic) I have decided to stick to the standard CR of 8.5-1. Hopefully I'll be able to run good quantities of boost and not to have too much lag.

The future plans wil include. Initially sorting out the suspension and braking then I'll go chasing power. List:-

Eibach lowering springs.
Whiteline anti-roll bar kit.
Anti-dive kit.
4 Wheel alignment.
Polybushes.
STi 4 Pot brakes (and bigger wheels to accept).

I have decided not to go for coil overs as the ride is too harsh having had them before and from other peoples feed back. The intended purpose of the car is for fast road use, Nurburgring and some trackdays. I want to retain some refinement and don't ant the car to be too skittish on bumpy roads.

When thats all been done then I can chase power, if I feel I need to.

Turbo is unselected, poss TD05 20G or garrett Ball Bearing item (owen developments just down the road )
Hybred FMIC
650cc Injectors
FPR
Swirl pot and Bosch 044
Autronic or live mapped standard ECU

Don't think that I've missed anything there.

I'm currently taking the engine out of the car, so not too much to look at. Not that I've a camera at the moment. All of the ancillaries have been stripped off, I just need to release the clutch and I'm there.

Should have some strip down pics soon

Mark

Jap Import

Hi Mark
Welcome to Scoobynet, they guys and girls here are very helpful as you will soon learn.
I too have an early STi Type RA, and I'm sure your'll love yours (even in its standard form)
Good luck with the project and keep us updated

Mongo

Cheers mate. I'll try and keep you guys updated as much as possible.. Got some parts on the way as we speak

Having a few problems with the clutch release pin at the moment!

911

Hello, and welcome to the slippy world of The Modified Impreza.

Pics are a pre-requisite!

Good luck and we all look forward to your adventures.

Graham

Mongo

I'll be getting a camera soon

This is one I want a record of doing.

There's nothing to take pics of as of yet. Finally got the engine out a minute ago. Slight hole in the air con rad. Just as well its going then.

I really am having second thoughts of re-fitting the engine I think it might be a bit of a swine

911

Yep!
Only done it once to change the clutch and so much grief compared to removing the box
Graham

Mongo

Righty ho then..

Got me a camera and a few other bits and peices for the build

Arrow Rods




Cometic Gaskets



I'll pop up to the shed later on this eve and get some pics of the car etc.

Mongo

Here's a quick pic of the RA and engine and a peek at my little workshop

Paul JC

Nice shed!! good luck with it all mate.

rosswalker

Looking good!!!

Have you considered getting your rotating assembly dynamicaly balanced?

It is worth real horse power and reliability :-) & doesn't cost too much.

Vibration Free - Specialists in vibration analysis & dynamic balancing dynamic balancing services crankshaft balancing, propshaft balancing, propshaft vibration, vibration on propshaft, balancing, vibration, dynamic balancing, crankshaft balancing, p

Mongo

Yes mate. I have thought about it, but I'll prob use my own engineers, no offense intended. They're just down the road and have never let me down

Mongo

Cheers mate.. You cant see half of it. Prob squeeze 20 cars in there on a good day lol

marshyRA

Hello mate, nice motor - can't beat a white v2 Sti RA! I didn't realise there was another one locally! How is the build going? You should sign up on type-ra.co.uk if you haven't already!?

Mongo

I'm on there but can't remember my password lol

I'm also on www.tye-r-ra.co.uk too (called Mark T)

Where abouts are you based?

Should have some more progress pics up on sunday

Mongo

Little update. No pics though, as shortly after building my 8'x4' engine building bench, I decided it it'd be a fantastic idea to sandwich my new digi camera between the bench and a certain flat 4 engine.. What a ****!

Anyway, all ancillaries have been stripped off, the inlet manifold and the exhaust headers (after a bit of an arguement with the heat shields). All thats left to do for the final strip down is remove the flywheel and crank pulley and take the heads off.

I should have another camera sorted by next week, so will take some pics of the dammaged internals.

Mongo

All good the camera still works!

One 8'x4' table

One engine ready for strip down

One Buggered Clutch

Inlet off, took a while as I didn't know where it was connected to the heads/block etc.

Mongo

Little update.

Heads are now removed after having a few arguements with the cam pulleys. A windy gun settled that one lol!

It is deffinately an RA engine as it has a closed deck block and solid lifters

After a lot of thinking I have decided to get a company to build up my short block as I don't have time or the money if it goes **** up lol. I will however re-build my own heads.

Full pics of the strip down will be up shortly fridayish.

SanMan

Hi mongo,
I have a my96 sti and was thinking of a similar rebuild for my cabbie,
Please could you let me know where you sourced your parts from?
Thanks man and keep the pics coming.
Have you looked at the 2.2l stroker kits? Are they any good?
What is ure budget for your upgrade?
Regards,
SanMan

Mongo

Just finnished stripping down the engine. Firstly I was quite supprised to find under piston oil squirters. Didn't think these were OE. Secondly how badly fooked the bottom end is lol.

We split the 2 block halves appart and were left with the crank and rods. 3 of which seemed normal and the fourth.. Well lets just say it was a little sloppy lol, there must have been 5mm of travel.

After taking the rods off of the crank we descovered that the 2 external rods were ok, bar scoring from the swarf that was circulating and the two internal 2+3 were shocking to say the least. One of which the bearing was worn down to the copper layer and the other with 5mm of travel had no bearing at all. It had totally disintegrated and what was left had fused itself to the crank.

I have just gotten back from the engineers and have decided that it is necessary to have a re-bore. So will be going for a +.5 overbore. This is due to verticle scoring down a couple of the bores. However bore wear isn't that drastic, varying between 1/2thou and 1thou. They also measured the crank and the journal that ate the bearing was 3/4mm smaller!!

Mongo

Ps pics to follow

Mongo

I'll let you know as I buy them.. Got a fairly good package from Zen performance so far though.

Not looked into the stroker kits. IIRC the bes way to stoke the engine is to use the 2.2 blocks and the 2.5 crank to deliver the 2.33 package

Not too sure on budget but I'd like to stay under £2500

Mongo

Picasa Web Albums - Alex - Scooby Strip

Link to lots of pics

Mongo

Little up date, had some fun with the parts washer, cleaning all of the swarf out of the sump pan (crap job), pick up pipe, oil cooler and had a little strip down of the oil pump.

In general the oil pump looked in good condition, however there's scoring to the casting and one of the surfaces of the relief valve is polished. The gears have no burs to them, however where swarf has been circulated, it has pitted where the gears mesh togeather. Pics in a mo.

Mongo

Cleaned out sump, was a pig to do (time consuming) due to baffles etc.

Polished surface on relief valve.

Scratching on oil pump casting

Oil pump gears

Pitted surfaces

Pitted surfaces

Oil pick up pipe. Any bright sparks tell me how to get the 'o' ring out of there?

Mongo

Any feed back on the condition of the oil pump wear would be much appreciated.

911

Is it worth trying to 'fix'?
Best get a new RCMS unit?

Mongo

Thanks Graham. Proably not, I can pick up a RCMS pump for 145.00, but as usuall costs are mounting up. I didn't know if there were rebuild kits.. I'm relatively new to the way of the subaru.

Can you se any essential items that, i'm going to need for the build on standard power?

What's the breather mod?

Sorry about all of the questions lol

Mark

500

do this to your sump


I have a spare used oil pump if you want it, 30 + P+P, just needs a clean

Adam.

Mongo

Looks good mate, the ones I've been looking at have like a cylinder around the pick up pipe. What exactly have you done to yours? Welded around the sides of the top baffle and filled in the holes?

Could you PM me some pics of the oil pump etc

Thanks Mark

911

Use a new cooler from what I've read, (Modeen?) as you cant get ALL the crud out.
Don't skimp now!