SageAbkatsor

Looks like that sold. I talked with Midwest Turbo Connection again. I think am going to have them rebuild the VF40. Perhaps I am wrong, but I feel this company can rebuild a turbo that will last longer than the 30k the tuner advised me most rebuilds get, and with a strict maintenance schedule I hope to get much more. I am at 150k running a VF40, and the turbo is not failed. While I have no idea if it has ever been replaced or rebuilt, I also have every suspicion that it has not been touched. My new job may have me driving a lot more so I guess I will just keep you all posted with my anecdotes of success or failure in the next few years. At the very least I will add some more data points for the VF40. EDIT: I sent JMP a message. I think I have been far too worried about warranties... No matter what the car should be tuned, which will void the warranty on the Sunwest block and many other options as well. A 1 year warranty does me next to no good anyway, so I need to stop thinking about warranty and meeting those requirements and making sure I do what is best... While I do still think this Midwest Turbo Connection seems like a great service, if I am going to have the car tuned I may as well have JMP build it... If I can find a VF52 for the right price I would maybe even go that route and have JMP build that, but I am not necessarily looking to add all of the additional items something like that requires. But... its all apart right now.

Couldn't it be that your valves need to be adjusted? Just a thought. Maybe I am way off base. Don't jump to the worst conclusion immediately... though it is a turbo Subaru lol, so you might want to plan for the worst case. EDIT: Also I do not mean to laugh at your plight, but I am in a similar boat. I had my valves adjusted, engine resealed, all new timing, clutch components, and a few aftermarket items added for reliability. I was not looking to make power just wanted it to go another 50k. Now, about 5k later, my motor just popped. I blame only myself for not having done more research, not picking a better tech to do the work the first time around, and not addressing the issues that arose sooner. Even then, I was just one misfire/detonation event away from catastrophe... Live and learn I guess. An expensive lesson. EDIT 2: Somehow I missed page 2... Just disregard me completely. EDIT 3: Looks like a great build!

I have at least one aftermarket axle in my vehicle. I know because the cups are different side to side. It is very possible if not likely that they are both aftermarket. I do not have any issues with my axles except that my RF boot is cracking so it flings a little bit of grease. Would definitely be interested to see if anyone else has luck with aftermarket axles as I would like to replace both of my fronts at some point.

Exactly. I wonder how much they charge for their PCI timing kit. I don’t know anything about PCI but it is again another place where I don't think Subaru parts have an issues. The pistons and bearings are the primary weak points as far as I am concerned. Even the bearings I think is probably more just maintenance than anything. But, everyone seems to run ACL or king race bearings so I’ll just defer judgement on that one. EDIT: $250 on sale - PCI-TS26328B NEW TIMING BELT SET COMES WITH ALL IDLERS BELT AND ASIAN TENSIONER You can have your “Asian” tensioner, whatever that means. I’ll stick with the OEM

“We do not do turbo rebuilds here. I would not rebuild a VF40 since it is not worth the money. A VF40 is a small turbo and a very unreliable turbo. Also, rebuilding it will not be OEM so it will fail at a higher rate and not handle boost levels as well. I would suggest getting a VF52 even if it is a used OEM VF52. Most OEM turbo's last 100-150k miles. But most non OEM rebuilt turbo's we see last around 30k miles.” A ‘reputable’ tuning shop in the area sent me this. While I get that maybe the VF40 is not necessarily the most reliable turbo, and it is a small turbo of course, rebuilt turbos only last 30k? And they would recommend a used turbo over a rebuilt one...? This seems like madness to me. If properly balanced and rebuilt with the right tools and the right parts, I cannot see why it cannot last as long as a new OEM one. https://www.midwestturboconnection.com/product-p/20014.htm “Our compressor wheels and turbine shaft/wheels are balanced individually by the manufacturer, however, we assemble the turbo components and balance them as a unit, which ensures years of trouble-free operation . This sets us apart from other turbo rebuilding shops, who save time on additional balancing. At Midwest Turbo Connection we feel that spending the extra time to have all the components balanced together is worthwhile, as you will get a better performing and longer lasting turbo.” Seems like a solid company

Partly because they want to use their aftermarket headgaskets and timing components and partly because they want to silicone an oil passage on the headgasket... I don’t trust like that. But I may ask them how much to do that if I send them my gasket set and timing components and not silicone that passage. I would hope they can cut it down from their 3k price if they are not selling me a full timing kit or gaskets. But yes I had that thought. Otherwise I am still looking for a machine shop around here who would machine and assemble my short block locally, kinda like your build.

It is an aftermarket which is why I mentioned it. A Perrin unit. I had the same thoughts. I’d be more comfortable with it being tuned properly as well

He is a certified Subaru tech, but I am paying him and not the shop and he is doing it off the clock. So yeah I had that concern. But he is doing it at the shop so I will have a repair order written that describes all work performed. There will just be no labor charge on the invoice. I’ll ask them how that works. I think I am also going to have Sunwest do the cyl head work so it takes even more variability out of the repair. Would be hard for them to say we did something wrong when a certified Subaru tech just has to slap a prebuilt block and heads back together and time it. That’s a cakewalk. I talked to Nick, I believe it was, at Sunwest and he said the engine must also be stock and cannot be tuned. He said my Perrin Turbo inlet, catted downpipe and catback exhaust were fine but the tune must be returned to stock which I have no issue with. I forgot to ask about my aftermarket oil pan and pickup, intercooler, and recirc valve. Even self installed engines carry a 90 day 4K warranty but like you said it leaves a lot of grey area for them to say this or that was not installed correctly. I’m pretty sure I should be able to avoid that being he is a certified Subaru tech, but I’ll ask next time I speak to them. https://sunwestautoinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/long-block-warranty.pdf Nick also said they use these HGs, and that they put a really light layer of silicone on a hole for one of the oil drain back passageway, not sure which one. Six Star Headgasket: https://sunwestautoinc.com/product/656/ Call me crazy but the OEM turbo MLS gaskets are not known for leaking anyway and adding silicone to block an oil passageway, even if it is just a drain back... no thanks. I’ll stick with my OE gaskets and keep the silicone off of them, even if that does invalidate the warranty (which Nick did not say anything about when I mentioned this wasn’t a weak point on the turbo engines). I am definitely interested in learning more about this if anyone else has heard of this modification. I mean, an MLS gasket on the SOHC engines (which are of course known for HG failure) I have heard of but we always just use an OE turbo gasket in these cases. Anyone heard of these six star gaskets? I think I am skipping these

Well the machine shop I use here in town can do the work on the block and crank but would not assemble or balance it, which is what I would be looking for. They would machine and assemble the cyl heads for 500-800, depending on the condition, which seems like a fairly standard rate. The lack of warranty on the built motor would make me nervous too. I have not confirmed that but that is what their warranty classification document seems to imply. I emailed them for clarification. I would call but I have learned that sometimes it is best to have a document that can prove what was said in a correspondence. With that said, I am an ultra low mileage driver (9k per year split between 3 vehicles), so I don't anticipate a warranty would do me a lot of good unless something happens in the first 3k, which is obviously possible... but the 12/12 warranty on the non-forged one is next to useless for me for this reason.

Yep, but we could not determine why this happened. It ran fine with a new plug, even with the damaged ringland. What could have damaged the spark plug except pieces of piston/ring? What but detonation could have cause the ringland to fail? Why is it not detonating with the new plug if something else was the issue? It is like an episode of Dark... The cycle repeats itself ad nauseum At this point we wont know until we put it back together. But if anyone has any ideas that we should look into I am all ears. The only thing we haven't tested is injectors and the fuel itself, but again it rans fine (minus the knock of course) once that cyl 3 plug had been replaced. The tune is also a variable, but it ran fine for the last 5k and ran fine for the previous owner before that. It was the owner before him that had it tuned.

https://sunwestautoinc.com/ No options per se, but I do think they will do a custom build if you call them. Otherwise they sell a blueprinted reman short block with forged internals and ARP head studs for $2500 For the standard OE+ short block it looks like a $500 core charge up front, plus $260 shipping, customer pays return shipping. The forged block includes free round trip shipping though. That actually makes the forged one look pretty damn appealing. $520 in shipping means you're gonna be at about $1720+ anyway... Add ARP studs and you're at $1900. Even more if they do not give you the full core back, which depends on the condition of your core. So $500-600 gets you Manley rods and pistons and a block rated for 500-550 whp (plus some cool red wrist pins lol). The OE+ block comes with a 12mo/12k warranty. Not sure about the forged one. I am going to call them tomorrow to try to get more information. EDIT:No warranty on the built motor.

First off, you’re kinda hijacking this thread... I feel like there was a better place to post that question. Second, a 2009 with a push button? I could most certainly be wrong but I don’t think that was a factory option. If you had a VIN I could give you better info as I do still have access to Subaru’s EPC for another day or two... The EPC doesn’t even list the special edition as having push button start, nor the limited. Third, why do you need an ECM part number/why do you need an ECM? What gremlins are you chasing? Maybe it has to do with your aftermarket push button start? Finally, 22611AN00C, 22611AN00D, 22611AN02C, and 22611AN02D are all listed for the automatic (4EAT) vehicles and 22611AM99B, 22611AM99C, 22611AN01B, and 22611AN01C are all listed for the manual (5MT) vehicles. Subaru calls this part the Unit Assembly - E.G.I. Control. Part numbers 22611AN00C and 22611AN00D are superseded by 22611AN00E and there are 12 left in the country. Part numbers 22611AN02C and 22611AN02D are superseded by 22611BC05A and there are 24 left in the country. Part numbers 22611AM99B and 22611AM99C are superseded by 22611AM99D and there are 5 left in the country. Part numbers 22611AN01B and 22611AN01C are superseded by 22611BC04A and there are 3 left in the country. There are a few other part numbers that were in the supersession list but I only included the ones listed in the EPC and the latest supersessions for the sake of simplicity. If you are looking for a used one you may find other part numbers that could work if they were in between the original part number and the final supersession. The primary difference between any of the superseded parts and the latest supersession will be the software loaded onto it. A dealer scan tool’s flashwrite program should be able to take an old ECM and update it to the current software version which will actually tell the computer it has the new part number. Usually these updates provide some level of improvement to vehicle performance (not go fast performance but reliability or quality of life improvements) or emission control updates. Good luck...

$1200 Deck plate honed, hyper eutectic pistons, king bearing, OEM crank We do have a machine shop we use. They do good work, but I may look for someone who more-so specializes in Subaru to do the head work. Worst case I know this shop can do it and they’ve always done good work before. End goals are just stock+ with reliability as the primary focus. The other goal is to get the car back on the road. I can’t let it sit for 2 years at a shop I no longer work for. In regards to your build, what about the oil cooler, OSVs, and turbo? What started you down the rabbit hole? Were you preemptive in your build or did you start because the last one failed?

employees don’t get parts at cost. With my employee discount, which is just a small mark up, a shortblock is just over $1800. I talked to my Parts manager and he was not sure how Heuberger Subaru is able to offer such discounted prices. I do know that the more parts a dealer’s parts department sells in a year the larger the break they get on those parts (but only up to a point as far as I am aware), so my guess is Heuberger is a much larger dealer than we are but may also have very small mark ups and bank on high sales volume. Regardless my being at the dealership doesn’t do a ton for me in the way of getting a shortblock. If I went OEM I would just get one online. With that said, I also just had my last day yesterday so... there’s that. I have scrapped the idea of putting a used one in. Doesn’t make sense. As far as what happened I only sort of know. Last night we stuck a borescope in and didn’t find much in the way of damage, but the gap on the plug had been reduced to almost nothing even though there was no evidence or witness marks that something had impacted it. Swapped in a new plug just out of curiosity and my misfire was gone, obviously still knocked though. Cylinder heads came off today and the ringland failed on cyl 3 so I am assuming a piece of the piston impacted the plug and then exited via exhaust valve. There is no scoring on the cyl wall, but the head got a little roughed up. It still doesn’t answer all my questions but it does confirm that I need to build it all fresh. Hoping my cyl head can be saved. Ordered OSVs, oil cooler, oil pump, engine gasket kit, oil pressure switch, and new banjo bolts and my parts manager said he would honor my employee discount. Planning on a Sunwest short block. A place not too far from me will do the turbo rebuild. Need to find a place for the cyl head machine work...

Has anyone had one of these short or long blocks in their vehicles for any extended period of time (50k+ miles)? Seems like a pretty decent short block options for the price, but cannot find anyone with a real world review at least not for a Subaru.

So if you hold the throttle pedal wide open on start up it will crank but not fire. I believe this tells the computer to cut fuel. Pretty sure this is what you would find in the factor service manua for engine priming proceduresl. This will circulate oil without the load created during combustion. Definitely make sure you are WOT though if you go this route. Wouldn’t want to be partial throttle and rev the hell out of a brand new engine on first start up. But yes, make sure you have used a good bearing lube if you were down to the main or rod bearings, and a good assembly lube otherwise. Probably too late for that if you didn’t already though

Cannot provide any real world experience, but I would personally trust anything that IAG touches. They are some of the best. Looking right now at the sunwest automotive blocks. One thing I have seen from them is the deck plate honing that I am not sure if anyone else is doing (would imagine that IAG and cosworth and the likes would though, just haven't seen that). The price is a bit easier to swallow at around 1200 (plus 800 core up front plus 260 shipping). Otherwise an OEM block is about 17-1800

Shouldn't be any issue dropping an engine from an auto in there, right? A friend may have found a part out, but we don't know the details yet... I much prefer to put something fresh in there but maybe drop this in while we build the other over time...

Go Fast Bits Mach 2 TMS Recirculating Diverter Valve GFB T9101 Now, granted, I dont think I am the guy to ask for any advice considering my car is knocking right now. With that said, I don't think it has anything to do with this diverter valve, and this is a very nice unit. I also paired it with a Samco sport BPV hose that took months for RSD to get in because I already had a perrin intercooler coupler and so I didn't want to spend the extra $60 on the kit they had in stock that included both. If you do not have an intercooler coupler already though, this kit is nice to replace some of the factory rubber with silicone. Hats off to RSD though for contacting their samco rep and special ordering this for me.

So f’in jealous! I wish I had the funds to do this right, all at once. Doing it piece by piece just means it is a constant battle, never really finished. This is exactly the build I want too. I want those KW coils. Instead I am a sad man sitting on a knocking engine. Need to scrape what I can together to get my engine back in ship shape and then I can think about some rust repair. Then one day maybe some coils and wheels.

All timing components were replaced 5k miles ago, with factory parts. That’s a good thought though too, you mean the cogged pulley(crank sprocket) under the harmonic balancer or the harmonic balancer itself? I feel like I’d have more than one cyl off if that was the case though

Have not checked injectors. Not a bad thought. So we thought maybe the coil connector could be an issue because we made a repair to that connector during the intake swap. It was broken and had to be zip tied to the coil from the original repair, so we swapped a connector (just the plastic piece, pulled the pins from the original so it’s not a splice or anything) from an old harness in the back and my technician thought he swapped the wires to the wrong pin but wiring diagrams showed that everything looked right. We swapped coil packs on the passenger side and the dead cyl was still #3. I don’t know that we ruled out 100% the connector that was repaired, but I think we safely ruled out the coil itself. The part that doesn’t add up with it being a coil or connector issue though, is that I drove the car home and back. No missing, no noise. Butter smooth, just not full boost. Vacuum lines are all tight. Also another datapoint for consideration. When I prime the engine (crank w/ WOT) I can hear a clack noise. Not every turn of the engine produces the noise though. I hate to give myself any false hope, but you’re right that more testing must be done. I have pretty much just assumed the worst based on the noise. I don’t see how something is not terribly damaged internally. Sounds like either a rod knocking or a piece of piston slamming around in the cyl.

A lot of the people saying that it is bad have misperceptions about what is causing it, and say it is the turbine being driven in the reverse direction. While that’s not entirely untrue as my understanding is that the noise is from a reverse impulse being applied, the turbine is spinning incredibly fast and most definitely is not reversing direction. It is just a differential in the exhaust gas pressure and the intake air under boost. I have seen videos of professional high end performance tunes with a lot of flutter after lifting off the throttle and I can’t image these people would allow for that if it was damaging. With that said I also took those videos with a grain of salt because they were people that could afford to fix things when they blew up and were building for performance as opposed to reliability. I prefer a philosophy that says to run an adjustable 100% recirculating valve to keep all metered air within the system to avoid fuel trim spikes, and make adjustments to make the release tight to the point of flutter, and then back it off just a touch. Obviously a blow off can be properly tuned for. I’m sure there are others who could shed more light on the physics of what causes the noise and if it is good or bad. From a performance standpoint I believe some flutter is good as it means you are not opening your recirc/blowoff too early so that you stay in boost more often

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Scary. Would definitely give the shop a call before doing anything just to see what they say, and get the ball rolling, just in case anything is damaged. Doesn't sound like it should be damaged though