After getting into the mechanics of my car more and more over the past 6 months I have decided to go the whole hog and build up a high power engine of my own. I have no experience of this at all but have a couple of mechanic friends who have not worked on subaru's but have agreed to lend a hand on the project.
I am not going to start untill june but want to learn as much as possible before deciding what to buy. I currently have a 1993 WRX so I dont think any of the current engine is usable and I also just want to swap it in with a new gearbox so the car doesnt spend months off the road.

I am looking for a reliable 450-500 bhp/torque much like the scoobyclinic sc450. My question is what would I need to get together for this?
I understand I am going to need a block, pistons, crank, conrods, and all associated bearings. I'm also aware that a fairly large turbo will be needed but I'll can find out whats best for me by searching on here as its all well documented. I'm not really up to speed with heads/cams/valves ect. If I build up a short motor then whats needed on top of this? Is it best to canabalise the bits and bobs from a good sti or is there aftermarket kit thats better when building for this power? Obviously an appropriate set of injectors will also be needed as well as oil pump, water pump ect and programmable ECU. Have I missed anything really obvious here?What about all of the engine sensors, can I take them from my 1993 WRX?
Although I want a very powerful engine the key factor must be reliability. I am willing to do all work myself (or mates help for free) and have a budget of £5000 which I must stick to strictly. Is this a realistic aim, and also will the car be pleasant to drive at this power level - ie not a rediculous turbo lag?

Any help much appreciated. As I said I am setting aside 3 months now to spec the engine so that I dont end up paying lots of money and finding out I bought things that I did not initially want/need.
Finally, and I know this is putting the cat amongst the pidgeons, whats the concensus on displacement,2l, 2.2, 2.3 or 2.5? Is a 2.5l closed deck block available?

Cheers,
Will

 

look on crawford site , probaly get one cheaper than building but if you want to have a go make sure your very particular .. 257 good for 350 - 400 with supporting turbo strap to your heads 1400 ish . but hike in torque means gearbox strain too . gt 30r with rotated would get you maybe 500bhp ish but also injectors fuel rails ,pump,pistons, rods, ecu , exhaust, pipework to be done . think 5000 will not do it as gt30 r is grand straight away then bottom end 1400 ish ,pistons 550 ish , rods more or same again then ecu 850 power fc, up pipe down pipe rotated if you want room for later mods dont know price on these at mo but bet 400 or more injectors 740s 350 ish , gearbox to take this ppg 2800 ish or 6 speed about 1500 . maybe push for something with a lot more response using roller bearing turbo and try to get 3 to 350 horse out of a 2 litre would rev better plus torque would not hassle gearbox as much gazza.

 

Best advice I can offer is if you have never built a motor before you probably shouldn’t start with one like this.

You can find a ready built motor for around 3k to support your power goals if you research it enough, building your self will possibly cost you more in the long run.

With that said you are left with 2k, your budget is far too small given you have no mods already you can use. I would scale down your plans a little to say 380-400 this would then be more achievable and is perfectly fine for a road car whilst retaining reliability. There are many threads on here detailing people’s projects and the costs involved. Here is a quick run down on how it soon adds up and this is doing all the work for your self.

Motor 2000
FMIC 350
Injectors 350
Fuel reg 160
Fuel pump 80
Ecu 500
Mapping 250
6 speed 1500
Clutch 300
Heads 300
Turbo 800

=6590

 

mapping £250 I wish try £500 to £700

 

thats witout the needed piping etc for the fuel and induction , if you keep std placement you still have to but a samco and i believe they are 250 pounds too ... the exhaust also needed to get 500 will have to be a good one , like un lnk and i said earlier scale it down a bit , 400 bhp is a very fast car , and this would also take some getting used to

 

borat you are in the same position as me , i am building a 400bhp engine and have never done it before, dont let anyone put you off building one if thats what you want to do.Yes it is easy to go and buy one but anyone can do that, i actually wanted to build it myself just to get the satifaction at the end after first starting it up or running at the pod. As long as you have good proffesional friendly advice and assistance there will be no problem in building it yourself, good luck and let me know what turbo you decide.

 

I'm doing it now, not keeping tabs on costs, dont forget the brakes and suspension when you do it

rough costs
Block 1500
gaskets etc 300
exhaust 500
Pistons/rods 1000
ecu and map 1000
Suspension 1000
Brakes 1200
Gearbox 3000
Head work 500
Intercooler 600
turbo etc 2500
injectors 800
oil pump 150
Water pump 120
hoses 300
cambelt kit 200


there will prob be more costs to add too

 

why not go for 600bhp

here 600HP Setup

 

Thanks for the advice so far chaps - really do find it most helpfull. Already got some very nice suspension on the car with all the whiteline kit as well as 6 pot fronts and 4 pot rears so thats taken care of. Budget was 5k just for the engine - gearbox extra, was really hoping a 6 speeder would do the job.
Essentially I'm at the stage where I have got my current engine putting out about 300-320bhp which is very quick but I really fancy building an engine of my own and if I'm going to be doing it I want to do it right.

I understand 5k is not an excessive budget so I really am wondering if something like the scoobyclinic sc450 (in terms of power) would be a possible DIY project on my budget.

 

Definatly shopping at the wrong place

 

borat

I can advise you on a 2 litre build, as I have just done one and with an MD321T turbo made 455bhp and just shy of 420lbft torque. So I could recommend a similar setup to what I have - namely:

I used my standard STI5 block, bored out to 1mm oversize, and specced up with STI 9 crank, ACL race bearings, H-section forged rods, Mahle Powerpak pistons, ARP head bolts, modified RCM oil pump.

That's the list of uprated engine internals. I reckon the cost for that lot is about £1800 - £2000 or thereabouts. Speak to Mark at Lateral Performance and Alyn at AS Performance for great service and keen prices.

I can't comment on 2.5 l builds, as I don't know

But I can say that mine is amazing - turbo runs a healthy 1.9 bar and it is ballistic - although it is coupled to the standard RA gearbox (STI 5 RA Ltd), which equals manic acceleration.

 

Terry, a couple of questions as I find your setup very interesting indeed as my goal before I finish with subaru's is to get a sti 6 wagon and transfer all of the good bits of my current wagono it.
How is the low down response with that set up? at what sort of rpm does boost kick in?
are you using standard heads to achieve this power?

thanks
will