Something Bent

Alan
Update by Alan Cesar to the Subaru Impreza WRX project car
May 30, 2013

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This engine bay's been empty far too long.

Not even that cylinder head was salvageable. At least we're replacing the guts with high-quality parts.

Here's our new Manley Performance H-beam connecting rod alongside our stock Subaru rod. Manley balances each set of rods to within 1.5 grams.

New crank, rods, bearings—the whole kit 'n' caboodle.

Here’s the bad news: Our crankshaft is bent. A good twenty thousandths, the shop said. There’s no grinding that away.

The good news is that a new crank isn’t exorbitantly expensive. We got one shipped from MyImportParts.com for $330. And since we’re replacing the crank, there’s no sense in resizing the rods. Our stock Subaru rods were supposedly serviceable if the shop were to resize them.

No, to accompany a new crank we figured we’d stock up on everything for the rotating assembly: Manley Performance Sport Compact H-beam connecting rods and Manley pistons, which come with Total Seal rings. We got our ACL race bearings from IPG Parts, who recently also helped us troubleshoot our yellow Miata.

In fact, the only thing that’s not getting replaced in this shortblock is the engine case itself—and even that’s getting overbored, because it’s beyond its out-of-round spec.

To seal everything up, we got a complete StreetPro gasket set from Cometic, including their multi-layer steel head gaskets. By the time we’re done with this, we should have no more reliability problems—at least from an engine internals standpoint.

Our first crankcase fill will be with Maxima Racing Oil’s break-in formulation. We’ll follow that up with their RS synthetic motor oil.

Stay tuned to see what caused all these problems in the first place.

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Comments
Jerry From LA
Jerry From LA Dork
5/30/13 9:45 a.m.

NASA Flight Director Gene Kranz after Apollo 13 suffered its catastrophic oxygen tank explosion which wiped out the fuel cells and other vital systems: "So what do we got left on the spacecraft that's good?"

Alan Cesar
Alan Cesar Dork
5/30/13 10:00 a.m.

Here's the bad news: Our crankshaft is bent. A good twenty thousandths, the shop said. There's no grinding that away.

The good news is that a new crank isn't exorbitantly expensive. We got one shipped from MyImportParts.com for $330. And since we're replacing the crank, there's no sense in resizing the rods. Our stock Subaru rods were supposedly serviceable if the shop were to resize them.

No, to accompany a new crank we figured we'd stock up on everything for the rotating assembly: Manley Performance Sport Compact H-beam connecting rods and Manley pistons, which come with Total Seal rings. We got our ACL race bearings from IPG Parts, who recently also helped us troubleshoot our yellow Miata.

In fact, the only thing that's not getting replaced in this shortblock is the engine case itself—and even that's getting overbored, because it's beyond its out-of-round spec.

To seal everything up, we got a complete StreetPro gasket set from Cometic, including their multi-layer steel head gaskets. By the time we're done with this, we should have no more reliability problems—at least from an engine internals standpoint.

Our first crankcase fill will be with Maxima Racing Oil's break-in formulation. We'll follow that up with their RS synthetic motor oil.

Stay tuned to see what caused all these problems in the first place.

Wicked awesome Scooby Rexes in your treeware mailbox. Subscribe to Grassroots Motorsports now.
ansonivan
ansonivan Dork
5/30/13 10:51 a.m.

I thought this thing was for sale? Glad to see it sticking around, will it more boost now?

Alan Cesar
Alan Cesar Dork
5/30/13 12:28 p.m.

We might add boost, but it would require a bigger turbo. 18 psi is all the stock turbo could muster. We'll cross that bridge after the car is up and running reliably. Currently, the goal is to build it and make sure everything's in good, working condition before we go any further.

Alan Cesar
Alan Cesar Dork
5/30/13 1:26 p.m.

Oh, and the Subaru that was for sale was our other, non-turbo Impreza wagon:

http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/project-cars/2000-subaru-impreza-wagon/selling-our-subaru/

noddaz
noddaz GRM+ Memberand Dork
5/30/13 1:57 p.m.

This beast is taking you guys to task... But I am glad you guys are doing it right.

Jerry From LA
Jerry From LA Dork
5/31/13 9:47 a.m.

After seeing this engine...are we sure more boost is the way to go? I mean, the crank was bent...

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