Hi, new to the world of Scoobies, very impressed with power and handling so I thought a track day would be a good idea. I spent several years racing saloon cars so I've a reasonable idea about car prep and limits etc. went to Bedford Autodrome, lots of Scoobies there. 18" wheels were rubbing on the arches so changed to 17". Three sessions no problems, all good fun. Final session before lunch, came out of sharp left hander onto the main straight and noticed the temperature had crept up to over halfway. Immediately slotted into fifth and slowed down, temp very quickly returned to normal. Pottered around the rest of the lap, came into the pits, left ticking over for 5 mins, watching the temp, all good. Turned off,let it cool down. Some time later started up, sounded like Armageddon, crunching banging squealing, immediate thought a broken pulley. Turned off, checked all pulleys, all ok. Started again, even worse, but blipped it and the noise started to fade. More revs and it cleared but there is still a loud metallic tac tac tac tac same speed as the engine revs. Conclusions, turbo shot and possibly an end, maybe follower, cam lobe. Not at all familiar with this engine so would appreciate any informed feedback. Someone at the track said I hadn't "burped it". Is there an air lock problem? Is this damage a result of overheating or maybe oil surge, lack of pickup due to high cornering speeds? Any constructive suggestions would also be appreciated.

 

bottom end failure.......rebuild and £££

 

happy new year

 

and yet you did no homework about the car and their weakness`s . . .
it does sound oil related and engine knackered, was the noise over the whole rev range or just 2700 rpm to about 3200 rpm ? if you say yes then you certainly have the dreaded bottom end knock as mentioned above.

 

Thanks Emmaroids, had a nasty feeling it might be. Is this common? Is the usual solution a short block?

 

Thanks JDM Stig, was told they were pretty strong engines, misinformed. The noise is from tick over, raising with the revs up to max 3000 when it gets mega noisy! Appears to be one cylinder as taking off leads one by one points to the rh rear cylinder!

 

big ends

dont run it

 

disaster feel for you pal

 

Purely out of interest mate, what model / year / spec was it?

Feel for you though

 

The oil temperature take-off point on Scoobs is on top of that cylinder for a reason: it runs hottest.

Does sound like the dreaded bottom end. Mega expensive, yes.

 

just get another engine. according to your profile its an x reg classic? cheap enough to get another one. hell you could probably buy another car for 2-2.5k

 

Bottom End mate big ends more than likely . Should of fitted a baffle plate min before hitting the track .Seen it done in so many times ' normally doing donuts in tescos car park . The knock of death '

 

Many thanks for all your replies. Consensus appears to be a big end. Options appear to be, repair and rebuild, short block, replace with second hand engine (what guarantee) or sell for spares/ repairs and get another car. Several comments about mega expensive. What typically would a short block cost?

 

2nd hand just isnt worth it if you are planning more track days,
just rebuild a decent engine to cope with what you want it to do, baffled sump etc,
also impreza`s struggle with fuel pick up on and under quarter of a tank on track days.

 

This all depends how good your are with your tools ?? If you can afford a proper build if not?? How much you love this car?? Breaking the car would be best bet if none of the above because no one spends good money on a broken car guttered for you pall if it was mine I'd pull the engine , new bearings ,rings , as a min hoping it's not done more than just the bearings obviously water pump cam belt and the norm while its out . Time to call in some favours if you got some decent mates

 

Plus a modine.

 

Plus removing the oil gallery plugs in the cylinder heads and flushing the debris out of them.


Mick

 

what is the spec of your car? is it just a standard street car you took on track or is it a track focused car with appropriate mods etc?

 

Hi yabbadoo4, this was just a stock road car I bought off my Nephew to help him out, for £1700. It had an induction kit, 3" exhaust system, lots of security, but no track prep! Being an ex racer it had to go on a track day!!! Prep was oil, water, pads, fuel, didn't realise they were fragile! Assumed with their rally heritage they would be bulletproof-wrong!
Unfortunately I've got completely besotted with this marque, I love them. Very loathe to scrap the car as everything else is up together.
A real quandary, don't know whether to rebuild the engine or scrap the car and start again.
Don't have time to rebuild the engine as very busy running my own company and family, so probably not cost effective to get somebody else to do it.
Anyone interested in making me an offer for the car, still has an mot until May!

 

Was it mapped for the mods, as if not that really wouldn't have helped your cause.

 

Subaru engines aren't particularly fragile, I'm not sure what you expected of a £1700 car on a track day I suspect the oil pick up pipe was starved when exiting that last corner or it might have been low on oil or the pressure dropped. The oil pressure relief valves have been known to stick. A modified oil pump is an answer and a baffled sump is also highly recommended for track day cars.

 

Cut Ya loses mate if it only stands you at 1700 quid you'll probably get best part of that back selling as it is if its half decent . A gasket kit and basic bits for a rebuild soon build up to a grand and so on . Least it want a ten grand toy you learnt on

 

i was going to say the same thing, its had bits fitted and not been mapped by the sound of it. they are not fragile if looked after properly and if you dont know the history of the car and wether its been looked after engine wise then taking it on track was always going to be a gamble.most guys who do track days fit mods to keep the engine safe, a baffled sump, uprated fuel pumps and swirl pots and oil modine and oil cooler setup. monitoring the inlet air temps is important as well as high air temps are engine killers on turbocharged cars and most people fit front mount intercoolers for this reason.

 

Hi guys, I'm getting the gist. I've been a complete walley, run a completely stock road car at race speeds, I was giving it death! Thought it was a Golf16v! Raced them for many years without problems! Yes my daughter told me, low and slow! Many thanks for all your replies but I think an unfortunate sale is coming on. Thanks for all of you're advice but I simply haven't got the time.

 

Takes a big man to admit he was wrong so good luck in the future.