Captainlvsac Posted February 15, 2018 Share Posted February 15, 2018 I just bought a 05 Wagon MT. The history is a bit long First owner bought it new, wrecked in in 2011, replaced the whole front clip with a 2009. Owns it for 4 more years. First owner dies, the car sits around for awhile before being sold at a estate sale. 2nd owner gets car with 86,000 miles, the (stock) engine completely grenades at 88,000 miles. He rebuilds it with NPR pistons, Manly Rods, ARP head studs, a 12 MM oil pump, and a Twisted motion VF52. He has gently broken it in for 3k miles, then decided he needed a pickup, and he sold it to me. So here we are. A decently built block, with a crappy Chinese Turbo. It has a SPT WRX CBE, Stock up/down pipes and some no-name short ram intake thing. All running on a stock tune. I am thinking BNR 16G, catless up-pipe, catted downpipe, COBB ECBS, stock air box. Tune for 290-ish WHP on stock fueling. Once I upgrade fueling, I can push the 16G up to 350 or so (hopefully). Am I Missing anything? What would you guys do differently? The way I understand it, I need a 6MT and a R180 before I can really take advantage of this built block. So a stage 2+ going into a stage 3 with upgraded fueling sounds good to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xtea Posted February 15, 2018 Share Posted February 15, 2018 What you are missing is why did the guy spend money on a built block, slap a chinabay turbo on it, and then sell it after 3k miles. The intake + stock tune + chinabay turbo + 3000 mile built engine sale all are red flags to me. I don't know why an engine builder who knows enough about subarus to properly build an engine would slap a junk turbo on unless they actually don't know what they are doing. That would explain the intake with only a stock tune. I would put an oem turbo on, stage 1 tune pro tune with out without the intake, 6000 miles of driving, oil analysis, and a pressure/leak down test, and after all that then consider bolt ons. This car could have the original oil cooler on it in which case a new engine is likely because there isnt a way to get all the metal out of those when a turbo explodes. People with little subaru experience try to clean them all the time and reuse them when rebuilding. Leads to another borked engine soon after. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boxkita Posted February 15, 2018 Share Posted February 15, 2018 ^^ this. You have a hand grenade and the pins already been pulled. Build my car Boxkita Track days Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captainlvsac Posted February 15, 2018 Author Share Posted February 15, 2018 What you are missing is why did the guy spend money on a built block, slap a chinabay turbo on it, and then sell it after 3k miles. The intake + stock tune + chinabay turbo + 3000 mile built engine sale all are red flags to me. I don't know why an engine builder who knows enough about subarus to properly build an engine would slap a junk turbo on unless they actually don't know what they are doing. That would explain the intake with only a stock tune. I would put an oem turbo on, stage 1 tune pro tune with out without the intake, 6000 miles of driving, oil analysis, and a pressure/leak down test, and after all that then consider bolt ons. This car could have the original oil cooler on it in which case a new engine is likely because there isnt a way to get all the metal out of those when a turbo explodes. People with little subaru experience try to clean them all the time and reuse them when rebuilding. Leads to another borked engine soon after. I agree that the setup is odd. A little more of the story is that his buddy is a experienced Subaru builder, who built the motor for him. I still can't explain why he has that turbo, he really seems to think it's a good one. As for the stock tune, he had Dave from Cryotech's number on a sticky on the dash, he just said that he'd been keeping the boost under 10 pounds while the motor breaks in. I really think he fell in love with the car before it blew up, then once he finally got it back together he realized it wasn't a great fit for him. I guess his wife can't drive stick and didn't like the car. I was highly skeptical when I went to look at the car, I didn't like the story, but once I met the guy, and heard it all from him, everything made more sense. He seems super on the level. I brought my friend with, we're both pretty experienced shade tree mechanics and he liked the car too. As far as the oil cooler/intercooler, the original turbo didn't blow, I have it (it does have shaft play). His guess was that a rod cap bolt backed out. I saw what was left of the engine, one of the worst failures I've seen. He said he replaced everything that oil touched, including the oil cooler. I should add in that the new engine was a brand new subaru short block, not a reman. He really had all the right answers to any questions we could throw at him. I like the idea of a stock turbo/tune for now, keep it cautious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captainlvsac Posted February 15, 2018 Author Share Posted February 15, 2018 What if I go with the build list I had mentioned above, then tune super conservative? If I'm digging into it far enough to do a turbo/up pipe, I'd rather do it once. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Capacity Posted February 15, 2018 Share Posted February 15, 2018 Contact Dave at cryotuning, ask for his help, buy your parts from him. He will take good care of you. It really is that simple. 305,600miles 5/2012 ej257 short block, 8/2011 installed VF52 turbo, @20.8psi, 280whp, 300ftlbs. (SOLD). CHECK your oil, these cars use it. Engine Build - Click Here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gkinslow Posted February 15, 2018 Share Posted February 15, 2018 Also your dreams of 350whp on a normal 16g can be thrown out the window. You'd need some major modifications and E85 to get near that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boxkita Posted February 15, 2018 Share Posted February 15, 2018 Also your dreams of 350whp on a normal 16g can be thrown out the window. You'd need some major modifications and E85 to get near that. Or a really good short block, turbo, and a excellent tune. Build my car Boxkita Track days Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gkinslow Posted February 15, 2018 Share Posted February 15, 2018 I meant modification to the 16g, not mods overall. I worded it poorly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captainlvsac Posted February 16, 2018 Author Share Posted February 16, 2018 I talked to Dave at Cryotech. He does not recomend the BNR turbos, He has had several instances of premature failures on his customers cars. He talked me back into a stock VF52, said it will do everything I need it to do until I get serious with a 6MT and big fueling. I am in the market for a low miles VF52 takeoff, if anyone has one I'll take it. As far as the engine, he said it's broken in by now, so we might as well get the tune underway once I get the parts on it. I am going to put another thousand miles on it, then send out the oil for analysis and dissect the filter. I think I am just going to pull the motor when I do the exhaust/turbo upgrades, I have the hoist and space. Anything else I should mess with while I have the engine out? I am going to check out the clutch, not sure what else I should mess with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xtea Posted February 16, 2018 Share Posted February 16, 2018 Sounds like you are on a good track! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captainlvsac Posted March 5, 2018 Author Share Posted March 5, 2018 Update: I pulled the motor this weekend. The timing belt, all tensioners and pulleys looked almost brand new. The belt still had the marks, but they were pretty faded. I had a OEM belt and tensioner in hand, so I installed them. I believe the belt and tensioner I took out was a gates. I cut open the oil filter, which had about 2k miles on it. I couldn't find any metal in the filter. I put a inspection camera in the oil pan, and was able to see a welded oil pickup. It passed leak-down and compression tests with flying colors, so everything looks great. It also had a new looking exedy stage 1 clutch. I put it back together with a cat-less OEM up-pipe, Perrin catted downpipe, Grimmspeed ECBS, and a low mile IHI vf52 takeoff. I have a Dyno session scheduled with Dave for next week. The car is now waaay too loud, so I need to address that. I am very pleased to see that it starts building boost at 2300 RPM now, 700 rpm better than it was in it's previous configuration. I can't wait to get this thing tuned so I can play. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gkinslow Posted March 5, 2018 Share Posted March 5, 2018 That's the exact setup my car had when I bought it. Second gear was a blast. I'm sure after Dave works his magic you will have a quick DD you can enjoy for quite a while. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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