Steve's Bugeye WRX PPP

[Steve_PPP]

Originally Posted by oldskool

Its such a gorgeous car ! All those ingredients added up to a great recipe

Thanks mate

Originally Posted by SilverSurfer

Quite a cheap effective modification on the rear brakes that brembo conversation !!!!

I'm just off outside to have a chat with my turbo.

They are much better than the old rear brakes, but that wasn't helped by the old calipers being sticky.... whats wrong with the turbo?

[Red Baron]

Think he's commenting on your auto correct, according to your update you've had a conversation with your brakes rather than a conversion. It's the lack of sleep Steve, the joys of kids

Shane

[Bytes]

I've been fortunate enough to have a passenger ride around Brand's Hatch and the brake conversation upgrade definitely worked ... I was too busy holding on tightly to talk though

[Steve_PPP]

Originally Posted by Red Baron

Think he's commenting on your auto correct, according to your update you've had a conversation with your brakes rather than a conversion. It's the lack of sleep Steve, the joys of kids

Shane

Hahahah i didn't even see the error when i read it back in Scott's quote

Post edited

[Steve_PPP]

Well, I popped down to Brents on Tuesday to have a sniff test done on the head gaskets. As some of you will know, it pushed some coolant out of the expansion tank in Germany and wanted to be 100% sure everything was fine with the engine before spending a load of money on the car.

And the good news is that there's no evidence of a head gasket problem. Its been fine since Germany (including the long drive home) and Brent just thinks it might have been overfilled beforehand.

So.... shopping list time

- Gearbox rebuild.
- Clutch
- Lightened flywheel
- New sump (mine is rusting badly)
- Baffle plate

I might go with an ADL or OEM clutch, as I'm only running less than 300bhp. The current Subaru clutch has done 92,000 miles and still works fine so can't be bad I've also heard of judder problems with exedy or competition clutches so it makes sense to save some cash here and just stay with a standard one.

[Granby]

That's good news Steve, I had a slight judder on my exedy clutch but only when it was bedding in, apart from that they are OEM to use

[Scott.T]

ADL or OE are not far off the price of a excedy pink.
I have had a lot less judder on the excedy than the ADL I had before. Maybe the lightened flywheel has helped.

[Lucky]

Good news with the engine mate. At least you can now start getting it sorted

[Ginola]

Good news about the engine dude. Get a proper sump, instead of new sump and plate! Cost will not be a lot different.

[drakesnow]

Agree with Dave, if you wern't replacing the entire sump just go plate but depends on price point.

Great news on your engine : D : )

As far as clutch choice maybe go pink as you could then easily go power up to 320/340 and it would be worth having for farther down the road after all of the above gets sorted.

[Steve_PPP]

Originally Posted by Ginola

Good news about the engine dude. Get a proper sump, instead of new sump and plate! Cost will not be a lot different.

Originally Posted by drakesnow

Agree with Dave, if you wern't replacing the entire sump just go plate but depends on price point.

Cheers guys, I did think about getting a proper baffled sump rather than a standard sump & plate but the difference in price was quite a bit. I can get a genuine Subaru sump for £68 plus the baffle plates are about £180-£200.

http://www.importcarparts.co.uk/part...=subaru%20sump

Suggestions of places to buy are welcome but proper sumps were coming in at £550-£600 when I was looking.

[Ginola]

Originally Posted by Steve_PPP

Cheers guys, I did think about getting a proper baffled sump rather than a standard sump & plate but the difference in price was quite a bit. I can get a genuine Subaru sump for £68 plus the baffle plates are about £180-£200.

http://www.importcarparts.co.uk/part...=subaru%20sump

Suggestions of places to buy are welcome but proper sumps were coming in at £550-£600 when I was looking.

Speak to Ali burrows motorsport in NL or perhaps Alyn knows someone but you don't need to pay RCM/Lateral prices to get one., Group N sumps are modified standard sumps with a baffled insert bolted/welded into the sump, but they are more effective than a cosworth plate which have been proven to be detrimental in certain circumstances.

[C. J.]

Ayln sells a few levels of sumps

[Steve_PPP]

Thanks CJ, I'll ask Alyn as I'm bound to be calling him about some of the other bits I'll need

[SpecB]

How about?
http://bbs.scoobynet.com/subaru-part...p-package.html

[Scott.T]

Originally Posted by BlueBugEye

How about?
http://bbs.scoobynet.com/subaru-part...p-package.html

Lol at the price of that.
Some people really like pissing money away don't they.
How do they justify these prices for a glorified bucket.

I'm sure retailers of these will be able to spin you 100's of reasons why you must have one.
That's why many owners go to an engine builder expecting to pay 3k for a build end up being talked into spending 15k.
And they still have more issues then they ever had with the OE engine.

[C. J.]

Oe twin scroll sump with a plate is all I have ever had with a accusump added two yrs ago .

[Steve_PPP]

Well, collecting a nice pile of parts for the scoob now

Top service from Alyn as always and now have exedy pink clutch, ACT streetlite flywheel, gearbox and engine oil. Plus a lateral baffled sump from Anger. Just got to get it all fitted now..... plus have the box rebuilt and jobs a good'un.

[scotty]

Originally Posted by Steve_PPP

Well, collecting a nice pile of parts for the scoob now

Top service from Alyn as always and now have exedy pink clutch, ACT streetlite flywheel, gearbox and engine oil. Plus a lateral baffled sump from Anger. Just got to get it all fitted now..... plus have the box rebuilt and jobs a good'un.

Good to here it's coming along Steve you fitting the parts your self .

[Steve_PPP]

Not a chance, I'm not that good with the spanners Plus gearbox is coming out so need ramps, its going to SMD for the work.

[Steve_PPP]

Time flies by... nearly a year since I updated this thread already. Priorities have changed, renovating a house and having a little'un means the scoob has spent a lot of time tucked up in the garage doing not a lot.

Still, some changes since last year

SMD fitted a Lateral baffled sump last Autumn, and began the job of getting the gearbox refurbed. Unfortunately, it turned into quite a saga and eventually we ended up identifying that a faulty Exedy clutch was the problem. Some of you know the details, but its a long story that would take far too long to type here (plus i've tried to forgot most of it deliberately!) It took many weeks to resolve with gearbox swaps and flywheel changes etc. SMD were top drawer thoughout though, especially as all problems ended up being cause by a faulty part that i'd supplied myself.

Anyway, since then..... bought a set of freshly refurbed PFF7s from Joel and fitted my current Vredesteins to them... new road/winter wheels.

These turned up for the Ultralites... Nangkang NS-2Rs in 120 soft compound.


The current suspension has also been replaced with a set of Tein SuperStreet coilovers. Its really sharpened up the handling and there's much less roll/pitch compared to the Prodrive springs I was running before.


This is how the car looked at Supercar Siege this year:


I've added carbon-effect wing markers instead of the painted blue originals, as they were going spare on Si's red wagon. The gunmetal wheels are back on now and will stay there until winter starts to come I expect. Other than that, most things are the same.

[Steve_PPP]

Oh, and latest little issue.... a small oil leak

Thanks to Ginola for popping up last weekend and helping with getting under the car and doing an oil/filter swap. There was evidence of oil leaking around the filter and we hoped we'd cure it by removing and cleaning up the bottom of the oil modine and replacing. But alas not.... 50 quid of new Millers in the car and its still dripping slightly. We're not talking much at all, probably a teaspoon of oil in a few days but annoying none the less.

Guessing the cause is now the O ring between the oil modine and the block has perished. The O ring is a cheap fix at £7 but it means dropping the oil and coolant to change it. Doh.

[scotty]

Looking very nice Steve are they flex A or Z sounds like I'm going in the right direction with a set of Tein coilovers .

[Steve_PPP]

Originally Posted by scotty

Looking very nice Steve are they flex A or Z sounds like I'm going in the right direction with a set of Tein coilovers .

Now you've made me think as the Tein range confuses me at the best of times. Just checked and they're Super Streets - post above edited

[scotty]

Still good bit of kit regardless .

[C. J.]

You don't need to drop the oil or water to change . But you will get about 1/2 ltr of oil that will drop out

[Steve_PPP]

Originally Posted by C. J.

You don't need to drop the oil or water to change . But you will get about 1/2 ltr of oil that will drop out

Really? I read there's not enough flex in the modine water hose to pull it away from the block enough to clean surfaces and replace?

I'm planning on dropping the coolant anyway as the cars still on original top/bottom rad hoses and they're looking a bit old, don't want them failing in future (especially on the Ring in front of a biker!)

The oils only done about 20 miles so I'll drop it into a clean container then re-use.

[Rdlangy1]

Gotta say this is one of my fav bugs

Not good about the oil leak, but lets hope its a quick fix...

[Steve_PPP]

Thanks mate sure it won't be a major problem (assuming the oil is not coming from somewhere higher up!)

[C. J.]

Drop the water if you're doing hoses but still no need to drop the oil !
It sits in the sump 😉
You're still get the same amount of oil come out the oil modine regardless

[Steve_PPP]

Cool, cheers CJ

[Hongkongfooi]

Looks good with the prodrives

[Matt23]

Loving the look of the car with the PFF7s on, really suits it

[NL03Scooby]

Looking really good Steve, the new stance on the Tein's mixed with the new wheels really suit it, I hope you feel the time, money and effort have been worth it given the way the car looks and drives now.

[Lucky]

Looking really good mate. The new coily's will make you even quicker around the ring lol

Still love the look of the prodrive wheels too. They are still one of the nicest I think.

[SamSTI]

Looking good Steve! Love them alloys.

[Steve_PPP]

So... little update..... After failing a couple of weekend ago to get the car up in the air high enough to get my axle stands under it with my existing jack (no room in garage to jack from side) i invested in one of these:
http://www.sgs-engineering.com/garag...m-trolley-jack
Nice bit of kit and a good reach.

So spent this afternoon under the car tinkering. Definitely won't be in the scoob at tomorrow's meet as it currently has no coolant (or battery) in it.


Changed both the top and bottom rad hose easily enough, although one of the oem hose clips was being a bit of a pig for a while.

Still have the minor oil leak that I discovered last July (been busy working on house rather than car!) so next job is to fix that. Definitely looks like its seeping out between the block and the oil modine as the block looks clean and dry but the sides of the modine are all oily.


Got a replacement O ring for it, and having no coolant in the car will make the change easier too.

Couple of questions though.... first - coolant recommendations? Not sure what was in there before as I expect SMD put it in there but it was a nice shade of orangy-pink.

Second... the expansion bottle is a right state, full of slime and gunk at the bottom. I could probably clean it out with a pressure washer but it'd be a damn messy job. Was thinking of just replacing from importcarparts for a shiny new one, but the one they list is 02-07 and different part code to whats stamped on my bottle.
http://www.importcarparts.co.uk/part...y=&searchPart=
I know the radiators are different between bug and blob (blob has filler cap on top) but anyone know if the expansion bottle in the link would fit a bug? Surely they can't be different

[Rdlangy1]

I ha e the motul expert coolant in mine - recommended by Alyn - good stuff

And obviously coz it says expert in the title it gives me 5bhp extra Pmsl

I won't be in the scoob tomorrow either - so u won't be alone in the daily drive

[Banstead Stig]

Opposed Forces suggests it could be the same... look at item 7. If you click through to the part numbers and look at the "usage", the dates suggest a wide coverage.

http://opposedforces.com/parts/impre...llustration_4/

Hope that helps!

[Ginola]

Just put the same coloured glycol based coolant in that came out, doesn't need anything special, as above bottle didn't change till 05 when they went plastic (which are easily broken!)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[SpecB]

I've got a blob radiator in mine and a bugeye bottle if that helps? I cleaned mine out with a bottle brush and pressure wash last time I dropped the coolant - not as new but good enough for me.

While you're working in that area take a good look at the hard cross over pipe from the modine under the engine as this rots badly. Also the water pump pipes (small L shaped pipes behind the timing covers).


http://www.importcarparts.co.uk/part...y=&searchPart=

£36 not much to pay for peace of mind.

Or £46 for the bling version!

[Banstead Stig]

That's a good point. Had mine replaced last year as it was looking less than convincing!

[Steve_PPP]

Nick, thanks for the heads up about the modine hard pipe. I've had a look at mine today and it is corroded but it appears to be just surface rust. However, I think it's best to change it considering i'll probably never have as much access to it as I do now. Only thing i'm not sure about is how the support bracket is fixed to the block, looks a bit odd.

And do I have to remove the timing belt covers to change the other water hoses in that kit?

[Steve_PPP]

Loving the lighter evenings too, got home from work and managed to get a couple of hours in the garage tonight. Still not fixed oil leak (yet) but took a look at the radiator closer. Back of it looked absolutely fine and front is not visible due to air con rad but once removed i was pretty surprised, all the fins are turning to dust:



I can literally run my finger down the radiator and the fins flake off. Time for a new one of those then! Still, its the original so 14 years of life isn't too bad.



Found rust underneath though Before:



And after a clean up, wire brushing with a rotary attachment on my drill and some rust treatment:



Will get a nice coat of black stonechip tomorrow after work

[SpecB]

You can do the hoses without removing the timing belt covers but you need a long set of angled needle nose pliers

Support bracket should be a single bolt

[Steve_PPP]

Just to remove the clips i guess? Will look into it... have you done it yourself on your scoob whilst engine was in situe or when it was out of the car?

[SpecB]

I'll admit I had mine done at a garage - cost me £20! But only because I couldn't get the car high enough at home. It looked pretty easy once you could get under the car properly and it was just two of the clamps to undo but I guess it depends on the orientation of the clamps on your car.

[Steve_PPP]

OK. Don't really want to take the timing belt covers off. The sides look simple but the access means the centre one probably needs to come off to and that gets me into removing the bottom pulley and belts which I don't want to do (mainly as i don't know how and don't have a puller )

The kit comes with clips so i guess i could dremel the old ones off easily enough if the orientation of them is all wrong!

[SpecB]

I'd try to see if you can remove the clips leaving the pipes in place - slide the clips off the hard pipe underneath before cutting anything as if you can't you can just slide the clips back into place.

[Steve_PPP]

Well... new radiator, coolant and modine hard pipe ordered from Alyn @ AS Performance, great service and advice again as usual

[SpecB]

Did he give you the correct sequence of swear words to use as you try to remove the clips?

[Steve_PPP]

lol

And another good result, swapped my 3 year old Bosch S4 battery at eurocarparts in Crawley with no questions/quibbles. It was pretty dead - put it on charge for 24 hours and lasted only 3 or 4 days before there wasn't enough CCA to turn the car over. Read some reviews about people having hassles, staff putting testers put on them, claims of using wrong chargers etc but no problems at all.

[NL03Scooby]

I think there are many who have radiators that are slowly decaying or past their best, we don't normally find out until they are removed as you have seen with yours or they fail! nice to see you are freshening up some vital parts before Germany.

Having pulled apart my original Scoob and done plenty of 'nosing around' on my current one its pretty clear the metalwork that runs below the radiators suffers somewhat in the rust/rot department, I think ImportCarParts even sell a repair panel specifically for this area.

[Steve_PPP]

Bit of an update... done a few bits over the last couple of days.

New radiator arrived from Alyn. Shiny


And fitted up with fans after giving them a clean.


Went with the blob one with the rad cap as it was available quickly. I thought it was just a hose tweak (Alyn threw in a t-piece and length of hose to do the job) but now realised the metal overflow pipe that runs along the top of the radiator fouls the cap



Could bend it but it seems a bit fragile and don't want to create a tiny crack/weakness so need a blob equivalent. Anyone got one spare kicking around? Otherwise will pop into JPP before the weekend.

So... on with the oil leak. Always suspected this was caused by a bad seal between modine and engine block, so removed the modine hard pipe first. Old vs new:





And once out the way, modine removed and O ring replaced





Looks clean enough above so hopefully it was just a failed O ring and job done. Now all re-fitted with a new oil filter. Topped up oil (only lost about half a litre removing filter/modine) and its only about 500 miles old so didn't do a full change.

Also noticed that the heatwrap on my uppipe had nearly all gone, was obviously not very good stuff as it had all gone brittle and split - sections (basically anything not under a steel tie) had disappeared! It'd been on the car for 8 or 9 years though. Had some decent wrap spare so with the car in the air, looked at the options of wrapping it in situe. What a pig of a job, but its done. Combination of access from underneath by removing nearest header heatshield, and from behind the subframe (arm inserted through gap above the driveshaft), whilst the old man helped from above (airbox removed). Still preferable to taking turbo out to remove uppipe though, as that's another fairly big job in itself... you can see it freshly wrapped on right hand side (ignore the rusty oem headers!)



Hopefully get her back on the ground and running this weekend!

[scotty]

Good effort in wrapping the up pipe while it was still fitted i need to re do my downpipe at some point .

[Scott.T]

Good job
Fingers crossed for no more oil leaks.

[Lucky]

Nice one Steve. At least it'll be tip top for Germany

[NL03Scooby]

Patience of a saint wrapping with the pipe in place! Hope your oil leak is now fixed, the car I am sure is looking forward to another battering around the ring.

Are your Nankangs all good from last years trip?

[Steve_PPP]

Thanks guys

Originally Posted by scotty

Good effort in wrapping the up pipe while it was still fitted i need to re do my downpipe at some point .

Having done the uppipe and got fairly well acquainted with the underside of the car, I think the downpipe is easily wrappable whilst it is on the car - assuming there's the same clearance as on a newage.

Originally Posted by Lucky

Nice one Steve. At least it'll be tip top for Germany

That's the plan... just got to try and finish it off now and get coolant back in without airlocking it.

Originally Posted by NL03Scooby

Are your Nankangs all good from last years trip?

Should be mate, they've been in the shed since last November though. Once the car is moving again they'll be going back on (no room to swap wheels in the garage).

[SpecB]

I managed to bend the hard pipe on my blob radiator without any issues - try a hot air gun first though. I'm actually thinking it looks a little tatty so may just replace the whole pipe with silicone all the way along the rad.

[Steve_PPP]

Originally Posted by BlueBugEye

I managed to bend the hard pipe on my blob radiator without any issues - try a hot air gun first though. I'm actually thinking it looks a little tatty so may just replace the whole pipe with silicone all the way along the rad.

I did think about running hose all the way, but it looks neater as a rigid pipe and I guess Subaru went that way to prevent issues with flex and slack getting caught in the rad fans.

Getting the blob pipe will be the tidiest, as I think it has the T piece all as one part of the pipe.

[SpecB]

Part number 45175FE010 if it helps.

http://opposedforces.com/parts/impre...llustration_5/

[Ginola]

Finally got round to stopping your oil leak! its only been a year! :P

Glad you've hopefully got it sorted.

I don't envy you wrapping the up-pipe in place!

[Steve_PPP]

Coolant overflow pipe sourced from JPP for £15 Not bad considering Subaru wanted £57.90

Couple more hoses on their way from Alyn as well, so all the parts i need are pretty much here. Time to start putting everything back together!

Originally Posted by Ginola

Finally got round to stopping your oil leak! its only been a year! :P

I know, it was only leaking a little bit... just put a bit more in the top now and then

[Steve_PPP]

Another update, did a couple of hours in the garage this evening.

Replacement hoses and clips arrived from Alyn today for the modine hard pipe, as the old hoses were pretty crusty. They're right next to the headers so must get hot all the time, which probably helped them perish a bit. Anyway, replacement pipe all fitted.



Also got some decent jubilee clips round the top/bottom of the wrapped uppipe which should help to hold it in place, and the header heatshield, airbox assembly refitted.

Finally got the radiator fitted, new metal overflow pipe from JPP works a treat as you can see:


All hoses put back in and tightened up, fans plugged in, overflow bottle cleaned and back in and pretty much there.



So, at the weekend i'll get it off the axle stands and put new coolant in. Done some reading as it sounds easy to airlock them but a lot of people recommend filling from the bottom up via the turbo hose off the back of the header tank. Hopefully it'll be nice and easy

[SamSTI]

Looking good Steve. Awesome stuff

[Steve_PPP]

She runs

Was a little concerned I'd airlocked it at first as after 10 minutes running (at idle) the water was roughly up to temp, rad top hose was hot and pressurised but bottom hose was cold. Wasn't sure as I had heat in the car without any problems. Left it to cool down and guess it was just that the thermostat hadn't opened (fans didn't kick in). Tried burping both top and bottom hoses and no noticeable air came out so wonder if having the heater fans on full in the car was taking enough heat out to stop it getting hot enough.

Checked it when cold and all levels looked good, so took it for a run last night. This time got up to temperature nicely, fans kicked in and everything working. Gave it quite a bit of stick (including a few big stops to clean up the brakes where its sat for a while) and temperature stayed where it should on the gauge so no overheating....all good I think

Oh, and no more oil drips so definitely looks like the modine seal was the cause Now she just needs a swap to the other wheels/tyres and a damn good clean/polish and she should be ready for Germany.

[Rdlangy1]

Glad you've managed to get everything sorted Steve

[NL03Scooby]

Glad all is back to normal and the car back in one piece ok. Will get a thorough testing come Germany! I am seeing Brent tomorrow for a few bits to be done.

[scotty]

Happydays thats one car sorted for the trip lol .

[Steve_PPP]

So... as many of you know, the scoob wasn't faultless in Germany. On the plus side, no problems with the radiator and the oil leak anymore

But on the downside, it looks like head gaskets are failing. Car overheated on 3rd lap of the weekend, pushed some coolant out the overflow bottle and got bubbing in the bottle too (even for 5 mins after engine switched off). Coolant level has been fluctuating too and there's no leaks so its going somewhere... so despite driving absolutely fine on the way home, there's obviously an issue when on track.

So, what to do. Considered breaking and moving onto something else but i'd need to drop £10k+ to find a nice example 2.0 widetrack or better. There's £4k-5k of parts on mine if I did break (yes, I went through it painstakingly...) but i'd probably end up keeping some of those parts like wheels, Lateral sump, ksport brake kit etc so I'd end up with less cash than that.

Think the easiest/best solution is to try and get a low miles STI8 long engine from a reputable breaker and drop it in and then map. Transplant the sump and new hoses of my current engine beforehand. I'm reliably informed I can just run with the AVCS heads unplugged....

Saw this one breaking
http://www.scoobynet.com/full-cars-b...a2-eibach.html

ej207 uk sti semi closed deck engine with avcs heads long engine excellent working order no knocks or rattles pulls very well and doesn't use water or oil and no smoke at all..sold as a long engine so bottom end and heads complete all inlet/exhaust/turbo/aux ect removed £1350complete

So £1350 but would need to add
- vf35
- pinks
- intake manifold
- ported oem headers in decent condition ideally (mine are rusty old feckers)
- 3 port solenoid?

Don't know the mileage on that car though, can't see it in the ad. Or I could take a visit to see Saj, of course.

[555_Si]

mine ran fine on 2 port, I have a spare set of pinks here, headers I also have spare with the pinks in, so no messing with injector seals.

[scotty]

I know someone has a nice JDM 2.0 engine out of a JDM widetrack for sale .

[Ginola]

I'd put a prodrive 3 port in, for the sake of 50quid if your doing all the rest, I'd also throw an uprated 11mm oil pump and cambelt kit into the mix (I wouldn't replace the water pump for a pattern one though)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Scott.T]

I would forget the AVCS heads and all the extra cost for very ltitle gain it would bring. Especially if only going VF35.

Short engine only plus VF35 and pinks will keep you happy. Just ask Terry who was running it his a bug, who had it mapped locally
SMD also drove it and commented favourably IIRC.

[SpecB]

It's a difficult one - if you only go with the short engine (cheaper) and re-use your heads to avoid the AVCS 'issue' it will almost certainly end up more expensive as the block and your heads ideally need skimming/checking, add in new Head Gaskets (uprated would be the obvious choice) and the 'build' cost it will be more expensive than simply dropping an STI lump in complete.

I know you can run AVCS heads without the AVCS plumbed in but I'm not sure exactly how much you lose (I only had mine not active in the running in map) as the cam timing changes you will probably feel it most at the mid to top end as your cams will run in the low rev position constantly.

I'm sure you can drop an STI ECU into the WRX and repin the connectors using the tumbler wiring (good excuse to bin them while it's in bits) to gain the AVCS control. Shouldn't be that much more expensive.

The obvious thing would be to fit the STI lump with the tumblers deleted and run with out AVCS for a while then if you desire you can simply swap the ECU and re-pin without any disturbance of the engine etc. and get the car running to it's full potential.

Other thing to suggest - you don't need the STI inlet you can just reuse yours.

Could you find a breaker that will sell you the 'long' engine with inlet, injectors loom and turbo - may get a better deal that way, and even get the matching ecu off them (I think you need the key as well)

[Steve_PPP]

Originally Posted by Scott.T

I would forget the AVCS heads and all the extra cost for very ltitle gain it would bring. Especially if only going VF35.

Originally Posted by BlueBugEye

It's a difficult one - if you only go with the short engine (cheaper) and re-use your heads to avoid the AVCS 'issue' it will almost certainly end up more expensive as the block and your heads ideally need skimming/checking, add in new Head Gaskets (uprated would be the obvious choice) and the 'build' cost it will be more expensive than simply dropping an STI lump in complete.

That's what I was thinking. I was expecting it to be cheaper to buy the long engine rather than an STI8 short engine, gaskets, skimming of my heads etc...

Don't know if thats the case or not though.

[Rdlangy1]

Firstly - glad you are keeping the motor

I have little to no experience with engines e.t.c. but I can tell you that without AVCS my car felt totally different than with it.. After new neutral position switch was fitted, the pull after 5-6k was much more noticeable.

I hope you find a good solution - Im sure Rich had an STi lump sitting in his workshop when mine was being mapped? maybe ask if he knows of one for sale?

Also Richard at East Kent Subaru Spares often has complete STi lumps for sale as my mechanic has 2-3 sitting in his workshop that he has bought off him.

Ryan

[Steve_PPP]

I certainly need to understand more about the AVCS, don't want it holding back if thats the case. Maybe an ECU swap needed then. Will have to ask around and do some reading.

Oh, and Nick - re: inlet, I wasn't sure if i could reuse mine, but for £80 from mattybr I thought i'd include it. Needs to be red really

Anyway, off to Goodwood now

[Scott.T]

There are likely to be major loom difference's. I doubt very much you can run an STi ecu on a WRX loom. The ECU have very different internal functions and this varies dramatically from year to year.

At the BHP levels we are talking about here I'd be interested to know how much AVCS would add compared to a car with the original heads. I doubt the butommeter can feel it ands it's something you will only see on a dyno plot.

[Scott.T]

Sorry but it just annoys me, a little, when people have an original question/brief when responses drill more cost into their solution with lots of requirement creep and additional cost for very little gain.
Maybe that's because requirements capture, costing and risk management are a big part of my day job.

I think you have 2 simple options :
1. Just get the headgasket fixed. It would be done in a few days and you know exactly what you have.
2. STi short engine, pinks and VFxx. A cheap way to 330BHP. But runs the risk that the short engine has faults or latent damage. The same could be said for the turbo.

Anything more than that you will be running into the area of depreciating gains and increasing risk.

[SpecB]

Originally Posted by Scott.T

Sorry but it just annoys me, a little, when people have an original question/brief when responses drill more cost into their solution with lots of requirement creep and additional cost for very little gain.

I don't think I'd agree with that, all the suggestions have been largely in line with the OP, the only additional mentions are a 3 port solenoid, yes I know you can mess about with the pills but that's really not the best way to go about it as far as I'm aware. The only real additional suggestion has been the addition of an ECU that can run AVCS based on the fact that it appears possible to rejoin the WRX loom to take an STI ECU and therefore retain the AVCS. My suggestion was in fact to have this as a future upgrade path.

The use that Steves engine has means a simple HG replacement is likely to only be a short(ish) term solution and a replacement or rebuilt bottom end makes better long term sense to me. Replacing the short block again is a potentially expensive route as you need to factor in skimming, and gaskets (head and rocker) and again while the heads are off you may as well check/relap valves etc.

Or maybe we should all stop offering advice and opinions?

I've really done my research on engine issues on the WRX's having been through similar twice before!

[Scott.T]

In all the newage that I have mapped I have never felt the need to fit a 3-port. But hey it looks' good to some up the pub when you spout off your specification.

Infact I was handed a Prodrive 3-port once to fit and the cheap brittle plastic snapped whilst fitting, so we just cracked on with the 2-port.
The restrictor swap is only really needed on bug WRX as you cannot get any more then 1bar out of them, on a TD04, without changing the restrictor.

I have never had to swap out any others. But it is a way/means to control boost spike that's a lot cheaper then than another remap or the cost of a 3-port. But only if the problem presents itself, which I have never witnessed.

Just another few £££ wasted IMHO.

Steve's car has done very well over the years. If he has plenty of ££££ and will be content with plenty of head scratching, research and several bites at the cherry then I am sure he will fill his boots and crack on.

I have seen too many people throw £££££ at a repair using it as an excuse for an upgrade. Or even pulling a perfect engine and replacing it for an upgrade. Only to see 20BHP increase and lots of strife along the way.
I've seen people sucked into this and spend £18K only to achieve 30BHP over what the original stock setup could produce and again the road to achieve this extra 30BHP was not a smooth one.

I'm just throwing out there that when you stray from the simple you may wish you hadn't.
If done right the headgasket fix should see it right. It's just a shame that on the flat-four it's not so simple as whipping the head off on your drive.

Personally I would recommend Vince at RDS, that's where I would take mine if in the same situation. He will do it right, not cut corners and source most parts from Olly at RCM, who he knows well from his Rally background.
It may not be a quickjob as he's a touch laid back and never turns away work, from the more mundane to the exotic.
But it's where my money would go.

[Ginola]

From what I've heard from several well known Subaru mechanics with 20 + years in the trade (including RCM who won't just replace head gaskets anymore due to this problem)
Replacing head gaskets on a leggy well used engine when they fail or are on there way out, leads to bottom end failure within a week or two normally, there are countless threads about this on multiple owners forums, from SES to NASIOC,

I would not be happy with the use that Steve intends for his car to simply do a head gasket replacement in light of this.

Indeed you could at 330bhp just use a standard Sti sized restrictor pill and 2 port, better to save the money until you decide to fit a nice big Turbo and spend lots of money

[Steve_PPP]

Well well, no need for a ding dong ladies

Originally Posted by Scott.T

I think you have 2 simple options :
1. Just get the headgasket fixed. It would be done in a few days and you know exactly what you have.

This was my original plan. Especially as CJ offered to help take the engine out/in. But heads would need skimming, time and effort and i'm back with the same 97,000 mile engine thats slappy (almost bordering on knocky) when cold. I count myself lucky that its not done the bottom end already, considering its just a WRX engine and the track work its done over the last 6 or 7 years.

If the engine is coming out, i'd like to do the job right. I'm not worried about dropping £1500 on an STI long engine plus a bit more for turbo etc (already had offers from people for inlet mani and pinks) - but i don't want to get into spending thousands obviously. If I start changing ECU then obviously it adds cost and complication.

At the same time, i'd like a bit more power (as do we all). The car doesn't thrill me anymore at 280bhp. It might not at 330bhp, but it'll help. At this stage I just don't know enough about what i need though... so this conversation is all about finding answers

If i could justify the cash, then the bug would be broken and i'd have a nice jdm or uk widetrack. But i've never really spent a lot of cash on the bug, its been a great car and i've got more pressing needs for spending cash on stuff other than the scoob these days.... (house, mainly!)

[scotty]

Hope it all works out what ever you decide Steve .

[SpecB]

Give a couple of engine builders a ring and find out what they'd charge!

Couple of ideas to consider.

This will be the more expensive option but:
Have a chat to Paul Finch - see what he would charge for a forged rebuild on your engine reusing your crank if serviceable or even going for a 2.1.

Cheaper option could be to:
Give Andy Williams a ring or email (Williams motorsport) for a rebuild on your engine. My last rebuild was around £1.6k which was new bearings, gudgeon pins, Head Gaskets (Cosworth) and RCM Baffle plate. He's currently got this engine on eBay which I appreciate is higher than your original budget (based on the options you were considering) however I'm sure he will take your engine in Part Exchange and bolt your heads to the block. My original build was done on a part ex basis and he sent back the engine with all my ancillaries re-fitted.

Either way a strong build on your engine could well end up being a cost effective solution as while it may cost slightly more in the first instance you wouldn't end up with the ECU itch that non-functional AVCS would leave you!

When you do consider taking the engine out I've got an engine stand here if you want to borrow one?

If the engine is being rebuilt or replaced, I'd certainly echo Dave's comments that an uprated Oil pump would make sense - I also echo his comments that many builders won't do a simple HG replacement for fear of imminent failure afterwards, however I know that my builder (Andy Williams) does not fully subscribe to that school of thought in fact when my engine has the same symptoms as Steve's (Ok mine was a forged 2.5) he spilt the book halves (no cost) to check the bearings to prove that there was no reason to replace them by default if it was a minor HG issue (Gasses to oil with no water contamination of oil) - his findings from my engine was that the bearings were in perfect condition with only minimal signs of wear in one with milage.

[Steve_PPP]

Well.... this hasn't been updated in over a year!

Existing engine is still going, its done another Ring trip but no major head gasket/coolant issues so I guess the problem isn't getting any worse.

Did have some issues in Germany though, although not strictly engine related this time! Actuator on the turbo seized up which left me with the wastegate stuck open and no boost. Few repairs in Jackie's car park and the car ran boost again (got 2 more laps out of it!) and got home safely.

Actuator since replaced, still had a fluctuating boost issue but that had occasionally occurred before the ring trip too. Between 3-4k rpm it would just feel like the boost was dropping off before re-spooling and going again. Tried another boost solenoid but problem still there. Also had a problem with a flashing engine light on long 4th/5th gear pulls, which research suggested might be the neutral position switch on the gearbox.

Anyway, onto yesterday Huge thanks to Rob for spending the day at mine yesterday helping out, the scoob got new plugs, new oil (twice ) and filter, new neutral position switch fitted, handbrake slack adjusted etc.

Oil was a mare, some of you have heard about Millers oil and jelly like lumps etc, well I had a bottle of it. See here...
http://www.southeastscoobies.co.uk/v...ad.php?t=21462

Wasn't happy with lumps going in the engine as it could block oil ways/filter etc, so we dropped it back out and put a newer bottle of Millers 10W-60 NT+ stuff in there (I already had it, hence didn't go with a different brand). What a waste of £50 of oil, but what can you do. Miller's say there isn't a problem apparently.... thankfully the newer NT+ stuff didn't have the same problem.

Still had boost fluctations so did a MAF swap (from Rob's scoob) and it was a lot better. So going to invest in a new genuine MAF, as mine's done 100k now. Will see how things go but I expect after that it will a case of getting a certain friendly mapper to hook up a laptop and see what's going on.

I'll get there soon!!

[scooby doo]

Sounds like your getting to the bottom of it, That oil tho??? good choice to swap it over,

[Rdlangy1]

That's why I went across to Motul 300v glad mr rob worked his magic and glad ur hopefully getting to the bottom of the problem...

[Scott.T]

Can't see how MAF can impact boost unless it's throwing a permanent failure and going into limp.
Did you also look into your hot start cam position sensor issue.
Did you back off the actuator and re-log boost control ?

[Steve_PPP]

Originally Posted by Scott.T

Can't see how MAF can impact boost unless it's throwing a permanent failure and going into limp.

OK, but that's a bit strange then. It's not going into limp and the car drives fine with the current MAF both off boost and over 4.5k rpm. In the 3-4k rpm on WOT the boost spools, then stalls, then spools, then stalls. Trying to build speed quickly on the motorway in 4th/5th is pretty difficult.

All we found on Sunday was that Rob's MAF made a noticeable difference, hence the assumption that it's time for a new MAF. Could the ECU detect the different MAF and make an adjustmust whilst it re-learns??

Originally Posted by Scott.T

Did you also look into your hot start cam position sensor issue.

Yep, swapped for a replacement camshaft position sensor. Hot starting seems much better now. Don't think it was related though, as we realised the code that was thrown at the brekkie meet (or as we thought) was a historic code logged that occurs whenever the bugs hit 6.5k rpm and it throws the light. I've had that code a hundred times, and with both camshaft sensors.

Originally Posted by Scott.T

Did you back off the actuator and re-log boost control ?

Yes. On a test drive afterwards it seemed a little better, but on another drive it seemed just as bad. The symptoms aren't always consistent, but not sure what is causing the variation. The boost logging I've got is only via an OBD port reader and bluebooth link to a phone app, so not sure of its accuracy.

Other observations - the plugs looked tired, plug gap was larger than new due to wear, I thought the best course of action would be to replace MAF so we know that is good and then get you to look at it and see what's going on You could look at it now, but if MAF is dodgy it might be wasted time?

[SpecB]

Have you tried cleaning out all the pipes to and from the boost solenoid?

[Steve_PPP]

Originally Posted by SpecB

Have you tried cleaning out all the pipes to and from the boost solenoid?

No, are they susceptible to getting filled with crud then? Could be an easy fix if that's the case....

[Scott.T]

There is a restrictor in the small boost pipe that connects to the turbo outlet nipple.
This is only 1.0mm on the PPP WRX (1.2mm on the WRX) so it can clog especially if over filled with oil.
The smaller the hole gets the more boost spike or overboost you will see.
Overboost will cause oscillation especially on motorway when trying to regulate part throttle boost in 5th

[Scott.T]

MAF only controls the fuelling above approx 3000rpm or when generating positive boost. Different model years have slighlty different cross over points from lambda closed loop control to MAF open loop fuelling.
It has no impact on boost control.
Hence why a dieing MAF causing lean running can kill an engine. It will still boost but will be too lean causing detonation.

[Steve_PPP]

Originally Posted by Scott.T

There is a restrictor in the small boost pipe that connects to the turbo outlet nipple.
This is only 1.0mm on the PPP WRX (1.2mm on the WRX) so it can clog especially if over filled with oil.
The smaller the hole gets the more boost spike or overboost you will see.
Overboost will cause oscillation especially on motorway when trying to regulate part throttle boost in 5th

OK, sounds like its time to take the hoses off and check them all first then. Never knew the pill was changed as part of the PPP???

[asperformance]

the Millers oil issue was down to a specific batch and only ever related to the old style NT variant

no known issues before or since

[Steve_PPP]

Originally Posted by asperformance

the Millers oil issue was down to a specific batch and only ever related to the old style NT variant

no known issues before or since

Thanks Alyn. Does that mean Millers are offering a refund (or even replace with NT+) if they acknowledge a problem with it? I've got a nasty oil-coloured lump of jelly here that they can have for proof

[Steve_PPP]

Well.... so here we are another two months down the line. And it looks like the scoob is sorted

Huge thanks to Rob for giving up two weekends and assisting with much spannering, tea drinking and humour (of the shaft, nut and hole variety, mainly ). Plus, donating various spare bits & bobs and supplying plenty of new jubilees. But yeah, thanks mate, I'd never have got it sorted on my own

So... it looks like the turbo was the problem all along. Bought a second hand TD04 off a member on here in Hastings and Scott dropped it over as he was passing. As soon as we got my old TD04 off, we knew it wasn't right. There was a load of shaft movement, and you could see a paler area on the intake housing where the compressor wheel has been scrubbing. Add to that, it felt notchy when spinning it and a whole load heavier to turn by hand than the replacement and we thought we'd found the problem.



Twin turbo conversion?

Uppipe was removed as it needed re-wrapping and to refresh old gaskets. In the process of removing the turbo, we also found that the OEM inlet hose was split in the rubber section. It looked like the jubilee had munched it up but it was only good for scrap. So we began destroying that to remove it, as taking the intake manifold off wasn't really on our wish list! Even with all the ports cut off, what an absolute pig of a job. There really is sod all space to manoeuvre it out of there...

The list of bits coming off the car grows....





New turbo inlet, found one that was still thick ply with reinforcing wire (and not cheap ebay tat) whilst still having removable aluminium ports (to aid installation) and not costing £250+ like a Samco or Perrin. There is no way in hell that we'd have got it installed with moving the manifold without removing the aluminium bits...


And then put it all back together again. Mostly in the right order!
Took it for a test drive and it was clear that the fluctuating boost was gone, it pulled smooth all the way through. Thank fook for that. But in a last ditch attempt to annoy us, the car gave us two new gremlins... air had got in the power steering and wouldn't bleed out making the pump sound like a bag of bolts, and I randomly got a double-speed left indicator flash suggesting a bulb was out. No indicator on front morette, so whipped that out. Bulb fine... but:



Of all the random crap... so out with the soldering and a new spade connector. Job done.

Time for a power steering fluid flush. Wow, I'd no idea how bad that stuff could get. Used a vacuum pump to drain the reservoir, replace with fresh, run the pump, empty reservoir again and so on. This is what came out first time (on the left).



It stunk like a cross between burnt oil and old burnt circuit boards. And was way thicker than the fresh stuff... so time for the bin. Took about half an hour and six swaps to get it looking fresh in the system and that's resolved the problem.

Happy days. Even took it out for a nice drive in the sun last weekend:





So hopefully that's the scoob back to full health. A trackday at Bedford Autodrome is booked for 3 weeks time so that'll answer the question one way or another!