When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
not posted full project thread up on here so thought it was about time hahaha, post is a catch up form various other posts on other sites
Thought was about time I started a build thread hahaha
Shall start with a bit of background about the car.
It's a 1998 Version 5 WRX STI Type R. It was imported in dec 2010 by SVA imports with 63k miles on the clock.
It was sold in April 2011 and the new owner had a full 330mm AP 4 pot front kit fitted and rear new age brembo setup added.
Was sold on to Hurst performance over at Bedford in 2014 and i bought the car back end of October 2014. Was fairly cheap and was known to need a full service (inc cambelt)
After picking up the car i headed straight up to scoobyclinic for them to give it a once over and a dyno session
Few issues were found. Both rocker covers were starting to leak and the rear crank seal had developed a leak. So after coming to an agreement with hurst it was left with clinic for a couple of weeks to sort out the rocker covers, rear crank seal and do a full service.
The better news was that while the car had never been under-sealed, there was no signs of rust at all and the chassis was in near perfect condition. Arches were solid with no signs of rust.
The other disappointment was it was way down on power and down on boost, was running about 0.9 bar and about 240bhp. AFR was fine and no det was detected so was running ok in general.
When scoobyclinic dropped the gearbox to do the crank seal they also found the clutch was worn down to the botls, so it ended up having a new clutch as well.
Two weeks later i picked it up.
Hadn't planned to do much for a few months to let the bank balance recover but i got wind of a mate selling some of the bits from his car and was too good to miss. I managed to get,
Gt spec gen 2 headers
Harvey smith up pipe
Walbrough 300 fuel pump
Syvecs S6
Full race spec scr decat
spares anyone? lol
These were all fitted and car was strapped to the dyno and mapped.
As per before the power level was low, 290bhp even with the syvecs, headers and decat.
After some head scratching issue was put down as a possibly the turbo getting a bit tired after 104k miles. AFR was fine and no sign of det so was left at that. Drove allot better and sounded a whole let better.
Few weeks later was decided to try a new turbo and see what it did.
Dropped the car off sat ready for the upgrade during the week, but Monday morning comes and the dreaded phone call.
The mechanic had heard a rattle from the crank when he fired it up form cold, they gave it more of a look Monday and sure enough at 2k rpm you could hear it.
Over the next couple of weeks went through options and costs to decide best route. Was left with a few options depending on how bad the internal damage was.
Engine was stripped and report came back with mixed results,
Crank bearings worn down to copper
Crank slightly market (should polish out, if not crank scrap. never machine a subaru crank)
Valves work
Valve seats worn
3 thou Taper on cylinder 1 and 3, way outside tolerance
Block would be salvageable, but wall thickness would limit power/boost to about 350bhp so was decided to change that, new valves and then reface the valve seats will allow them to be reused with no issues.
Given the damage there were a whole heap of options,
1. machine the block, refresh the heads, fit and leave it under 350bhp.
2. supply a 2.0 block, refresh heads and rebuild for up to about 400bhp
3. supply a 2.0 block, add a 2.1 stroker kit for up to about 450bhp
4. supply a 2.0 semi closed deck block, 2.1 stroker for around 500bhp
5. supply a 2.0 closed deck block, 2.1 stroker kit for over 550-600bhp
6. supply a 2.5 block, forged pistons, uprated rods and limit it to about 450bhp
7. supply a 2.5 block, convert to closed deck and allow for 550-600bhp.
Most options were sacked off pretty quick, semi closed deck are hard to find unless you buy a full engine, don't wan't to limit power to under 400 so got rid of 1,2,4 straight away.
Originally i managed to source a 2.0cdb for decent money, but a slight mix up ment it was sold before i actualy got it.
This made me lean towards a forged 2.5. I'd had one in my old Hawk wrx and even on low boost it made a really quick car and the low down grunt of the 2.5 made it great on the road
My original goal had been 500+, but given the limits of the 2,5 i knew that wasn't going to be a safe working limit but i was happy with that. After a couple more weeks i changed my mind again (sorry kev up at clinic haha) and the final choice was made to go with a CDB 2.5.
As of saturday, popped up to see what was what (bear in mind only decided to go 2.5 cdb last wednesday) and this was sat on the bench.
Went into the soda blaster, so block has been cleaned and is ready (if not already gone off) the machiners for CDB converting, couple of others pics of bits and bobs
couple of extra pics
Last edited by Tidgy; 15 November 2015 at 09:47 PM.
And now i have it back and am left with about 200 miles to do of the remaining running in
I can't thanks kev and the boys up at scoobyclinic enough for there efforts, they even put up with me chanign my mind a few times hahaha, first 500 miles it used zero oil and done 300 of the second 500 and still not a drop, who says forged 2.5 use oil?
Last edited by Tidgy; 15 November 2015 at 09:56 PM.
That looks like it goes like a stabbed rat, I bet that shifts up to 120mph with the 2.5L, same figures I had on mine with a VF34 but on forged 2.0L what turbo is that?
It's a custom job, Garret GT2871 R that Clinic had blouche billetise to go on the rallycross car. It never made it on so was going spare. Rather pleased it was hahaha
IIRC it's only running about 1.2bar or summit like that so plenty of heard room
This is prob the slowest reply to a question ever lol. sorry not been on for a while.
Scoobyclinic did it while it was off the car, no idea on price im afraid cos it was in the total bill.
So update time, lasted about 6 months before getting bored of the power. Limitation was always the gearbox so that had to be changed.
After various discussions regarding ratios and such decided on a UK spec hawk 6 speed to match the 2.5. Given the power target (over 500) clutch was swapped out for a competition clutch twin plate. Various other parts were ordered, drive shaft converters etc which delayed it a bit (had to wait for parts from japan and only torreto seems to get them over night lol).
Also decided to have a front mounted added then mapped. Final results arnt bad
Turbo is maxed out hence the flat bhp band, but the torque it has low down is epic
15 November 2015 | 09:46 PM
1998 V5 Type r, the project thread
