Built Spec B Rebuild 3rd Time

[Sgt.Gator]

Every once in a while we debate here on the forum about whether we really have to replace the oil cooler if your engine blew and you are rebuilding. Here's the answer from OutFront Motorsports, along with more good info:

 

"Thank you for purchasing a Short block from Outfront Motorsports, if your engine is equipped with an oil cooler and the short block was replaced because of rod, main or turbo bearing failure, the oil cooler must be replaced, as there may be debris trapped in the cooler that won’t release until it is subjected to both high oil pressure and heat. These coolers cost around $260 new. If a warrantee arises due to bearing failure, we will request a copy of the cooler purchase.

 

If your engine is equipped with a turbo: a bad/blown turbo can send debris into the crankcase and oiling system. Make sure to clean the turbo drain/feed hoses and nipples before installation.

 

If the short block was replaced because of piston failure, cracking or melting, the intake manifold, exhaust manifolds and cylinder ports must be cleaned and free of debris. Remove the throttle body from the intake to access and clean the plenum of the intake. We have seen particles that have blown from one side of the engine through the intake and lodge itself in the plenum or opposite side intake runners, only to be consumed by the new engine upon start up.

 

We recommend an oil pump of at least a #10 found in the upper left corner of the pump when looking at it. Do not use #7 or #9 pumps. The number refers to the millimeter thickness of the gears inside. On high performance engines, oil pressure will generally be lower at idle than stock engines as we have enlarged the bearing clearances for sustained higher engine RPM operation. If your engine is supplied with high performance pistons, oil consumption can possibly be higher than normal due to a larger piston to cylinder wall clearance used, this consumption could be up to 1 quart per 800 miles. As a standard our motors do not see this type of oil consumption but this is the Subaru spec. If your engine was rebuilt with stock style pistons, oil consumption of up to one quart per 1200 miles is considered within spec, per Subaru’s’ warranty policy 8.4.29.

 

There are many reasons that a rebuilt short block can appear to be defective, among them are overheating, oil contamination, over boosting, poor engine tune and abuse, inadequate fuel supply (especially under boost).

We have a limited warranty which covers workmanship and parts used under normal use for 6 months from time of purchase; we do not consider mileage to be a factor as there is no proof either way of how many miles have been driven or what the mileage was upon installation. We do not cover parts or labor to remove a defective short block, or to reinstall the same if we did not perform the original installation. We do not cover shipping to or from us. We must have the short block (or long block) returned to us in the same manner it was sold for disassembling and inspection. We would prefer to have the oil pan and oil pump left installed.

 

No warranty will be covered if you disassemble the short block. We will deny a warranty if the rods or wrist pins are bent, pistons are melted or ring lands are cracked or opened up due to detonation. We will deny a warranty if the pistons and rings show signs of dirt or foreign debris or if the cylinder(s) show excessive cylinder wear/taper (commonly caused by excessive fueling and/or inadequate air filtration). The purpose of this warranty is to cover proper and competent workmanship and any failure of parts that are used in a manner of normal operating conditions, our warranty does not cover this short block if used in race, competition, or an abusive manner.

 

Recommended break in should be 3000 miles driven under normal conditions, do not use synthetic oils during break-in, use good quality multigrade oils such as Motul 10/40 break-in oil, Valvoline or Castrol. We recommend an oil change with filter at 100, 500 and 1000, 2000, and 3000 miles. At 3000 miles you can switch to synthetic oils if you choose to. For the first 500 – 1000 miles try to avoid long periods of time at the same RPM such as freeway driving at 3500 RPM for 30 minutes. You should vary through the RPM range. Stock boost is fine but you should stay away from high boost/high load situations.

 

If a warranty issue is suspect, please call us before removing the engine or sending back to us. There are certain steps that must be taken to process a claim. Any unauthorized work performed will void any claim. "

[Max Capacity]

That's pretty much the warranty I'd expect, and pretty much what I did with my ej257. I did use the old oil cooler, I know I had no metal issues going on.

[Sgt.Gator]

My break in is complete so I headed up to Cobb Surgeline for a tune. FAIL. My AVCS cams were stuck at 10 degrees on one side and 22 degrees on the other.

 

When I rebuilt the engine I replaced the AVCS oil control solenoids, but did not replace the AVCS cam sprockets. Mistake. I should have either sent them to Outfront motors for a rebuild, see: http://www.outfrontmotorsports.com/avcs-cam-gear-services/avcs-cam-gear-servicing

 

Or replaced them with new.

Strangely they set off no CELs.

The car actually drove ok. I couldn't tell the AVCS was not working right because I thought it was just the break in tune I was running and no CELs.

 

Since I'm busy re-building my STI race car I took the SpecB to Subaru of Bend. They replaced the AVCS cam sprockets and now the cam timing works per factory spec. They are going to take the stuck cam sprockets apart later to diagnose the issue, which is no doubt bits of metal jammed in them. They will take pics and I'll post them here.

 

So now on my checklist for engines that have failed with metal bits in the oil: Replace or Service the AVCS Cam Sprockets. If I had done it when I rebuilt the engine I would have saved in total about $1,000. ($400 wasted Cobb tuning session, 400 mile round trip, day off from work, and AVCS sprocket replacement labor).

 

Edit: Here's the pic. The tech described it as Nasty-Gooey stuff in there!

[Max Capacity]

Kind of the old...pay now or pay me later thing.

 

Hind sight is 20/20.

 

Glad you got it figured out.

[Sgt.Gator]

Colonel Red Racing is now an official vendor here at LGT Forum. Please see my announcement in the Vendor News Forum:

http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php/colonel-red-racing-joins-legacy-vendor-program-254750.html

[Sgt.Gator]

On the Dyno at Cobb - Surgeline. So far so good! Only had to replace a worn MAF sensor.

 

They are doing a very cool trick, using the SI-Drive rotary switch as a turbo boost map selector.

 

Dyno chart tonight.

[Chris GTO TT]

On the Dyno at Cobb - Surgeline. So far so good! Only had to replace a worn MAF sensor.

 

They are doing a very cool trick, using the SI-Drive rotary switch as a turbo boost map selector.

 

Dyno chart tonight.

 

Yup my tuner did the same thing on my old car. I pretty much never used the high boost setting for fear of cracking a ring land lol

[rebourne]

Good thread! Read the whole thing tonight.

 

In for dyno sheet!

[Sgt.Gator]

Here's the dyno graph.

Run 1 is the WG which is on the SI Drive Intelligent setting.

Run 2 is the Sport setting

Run 3 is the Sport # setting.

 

I told them to tune it conservatively for long life and reliability at 92 Octane, which they did.

 

Plenty of TQ and HP for a street car. Using the NASA ST rules to correct for a Mustang to Dynojet reading it comes in at 328 TQ and 277 HP.

 

Driving back over the Cascade mountains was a blast. Passing vacation traffic in the short straight sections between mountain curves was no problem! The character of the car is completely changed from a bear to drive on the street or highway because of the lag to a nice responsive GT car suitable for long trips in the mountains. Just the engine tune I wanted.

 

 

 

There is a slight hesitation in the 2400 to 2700 rpm range they couldn't completely tune out. I'm going to try replacing the fuel line dampers to see if that corrects the problem.

 

The last mod will be to replace the coilovers/tophats with oem Spec B springs/Bilstein HD struts/oem tophats. Then it should ride like a nice GT car too, instead of a track rat.

[Sgt.Gator]

Here's what's in the car today engine wise:

 

Build #3 and what is in the Spec B today:

Electronics/Tuning

Cobb Tuning AccessPort v2 (AP-SUB-003)

Cobb - Surgeline Tune

GrimmSpeed EBCS

 

Turbo/Induction/Exhaust

JMP6889928 Rebuilt VF-46 Turbo

OEM TMIC

Tomioka EL Header + Up pipe (DEI Titanium Heat Wrapped)

Turbo XS Catted DP (DEI Titanium Heat Wrapped)

Perrin, Mid-Ypipe

OEM Mufflers

OEM Snorkel and Airbox/Filter

OEM BPV

GrimmSpeed 8mm Phenolic Spacers

Perrin Performance Turbo Inlet Hose (Black)

 

 

Engine/Fueling

OEM Shortblock

ARP Head Studs

OEM 10mm oil pump

Gates Racing Timing Kit

Cosworth “like” Heads – 2007 STI V25B modified and purchased from BallPeenHamr (a Cosworth employee whose job is to build all Cosworth heads) on NASIOC.com.

5 angle valve job

Ported/Polished/Seat/Bowl blend/Ferrea dual valve springs hardened spring seats and locks, titanium retainers, Stock STI cams.

Supertech Inconel Exhaust Valves

OEM WRX Water Pump

OEM STI Head Gasket

STI Oil pan

Moroso Pickup

Fumoto Oil Drain Plug/Valve

NGK Iridium plugs

Custom DW 65c fuel pump assembly – With IP&T Pump Housing Bracket

Cobb 1000cc Fuel Injectors

Infamous Performance Filtered Turbo/AVCS Oil Supply Line v2

OEM PCV

Secondary Air Pump Delete

TGV Delete

[rebourne]

Here's the dyno graph.

Run 1 is the WG which is on the SI Drive Intelligent setting.

Run 2 is the Sport setting

Run 3 is the Sport # setting.

 

I told them to tune it conservatively for long life and reliability at 92 Octane, which they did.

 

Plenty of TQ and HP for a street car. Using the NASA ST rules to correct for a Mustang to Dynojet reading it comes in at 328 TQ and 277 HP.

 

Driving back over the Cascade mountains was a blast. Passing vacation traffic in the short straight sections between mountain curves was no problem! The character of the car is completely changed from a bear to drive on the street or highway because of the lag to a nice responsive GT car suitable for long trips in the mountains. Just the engine tune I wanted.

 

 

 

There is a slight hesitation in the 2400 to 2700 rpm range they couldn't completely tune out. I'm going to try replacing the fuel line dampers to see if that corrects the problem.

 

The last mod will be to replace the coilovers/tophats with oem Spec B springs/Bilstein HD struts/oem tophats. Then it should ride like a nice GT car too, instead of a track rat.

 

Dyno numbers look great! love the idea of the 3 maps, although I am not sure what is the point of the first WG map? Fuel economy? I'd want a fuel economy or a maybe a bad gas, 87 octane map.

 

Or 15psi for the first map, 17psi for Sport and E85 for Sport #, lol!

[Chris GTO TT]

Dyno numbers look great! love the idea of the 3 maps, although I am not sure what is the point of the first WG map? Fuel economy? I'd want a fuel economy or a maybe a bad gas, 87 octane map.

 

Or 15psi for the first map, 17psi for Sport and E85 for Sport #, lol!

 

The SI-Drive doesn't actually change the maps it just changes the requested torque targets. So a full different tune for E85 wouldn't work.

[Rhitter]

The SI-Drive doesn't actually change the maps it just changes the requested torque targets. So a full different tune for E85 wouldn't work.

 

I think tuners can modify that, so that it does actually change boost targets. I know cryo mentioned he sets the boost targets slightly higher for S#.

[Chris GTO TT]

I think tuners can modify that, so that it does actually change boost targets. I know cryo mentioned he sets the boost targets slightly higher for S#.

 

Yes that is possible given the way the SI-Drive tables work, but typically for E85 you alter the entire tune, fuel, timing etc., not just the boost.

[Sgt.Gator]

Ya'll are correct, it's not actually three maps. It's one map that is divided so that the turbo hits three different peak values.

There are other maps in the AP like Valet mode and anti-Theft mode.

One thing the tuner explained, even if I'm in Intelligent (WG pressure), if I go WOT for 30 seconds the SI drive will auto reset to Sport #. Or maybe it was 20 seconds, I can't remember the exact time.

[rebourne]

The SI-Drive doesn't actually change the maps it just changes the requested torque targets. So a full different tune for E85 wouldn't work.

 

Later on I thought about how dumb it would be to have such a drastic tune change be so easy to dial in. Your kid, your elbow, your clown co-worker could switch it to sport# = e85 and kablowee with no harm intended.

 

So, good to know it's not that easy to dial in your doom!

[bigBADbenny]

My tuner, ThrottleHappy, has been doing SI controller as max boost selector for a few years and also has "throttle as boost controller" on top of that, meaning I can't hit max boost per SI setting till 100% throttle angle. Great for babying a flogged clutch!

Additionally he's managed to even out the SI throttle angles so each mode is more consistent than the stock application and the car feels great in any mode with less of a need to adjust for the differences. Currently I have 7, 12 and 15 psi and enjoy all levels for different driving situations

[Sgt.Gator]

Bumping this thread for two reasons:

The engine is running great.

I'm going to sell the car to pay for my racing!

There will be a For Sale thread up late tonight.

[boxkita]

Bumping this thread for two reasons:

The engine is running great.

I'm going to sell the car to pay for my racing!

There will be a For Sale thread up late tonight.

 

LOL! I've never sold a car to pay for my racing. Or my office furniture. Or my bikes, snowboards, stocks, etc.

 

If racing was anymore addictive, it'd be illegal.

[Sgt.Gator]

LOL! I've never sold a car to pay for my racing. Or my office furniture. Or my bikes, snowboards, stocks, etc.

 

If racing was anymore addictive, it'd be illegal.

 

The for sale thread is up!

 

Buy it and support a racing career. I'll even put your name on the STI as a sponsor (for two years) if you pay full asking price!

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php/bend-2008-spec-b-261972.html?p=5626094#post5626094