Hey everyone, I sent my engine to a very good machine shop through lachute subaru www.lachutesubaru.com to have every part of it built up for as much N/A power as possible. I sent it in after damaging my engine with a nitrous dry kit when i had ported and polished heads and intake manifold and cobb's spicy cams along with all the other bolt ons. I broke a valve the first time and residual damage fromt the nitrous after it was fixed made me throw a connecting rod bearing so that was what made me decide to do this. Heres the mods:

Stromung cat back
Random tech hi flow cat
Borla headers
Cobb CAI
UD pulley
Ported and polished cylinder heads
Ported and polished intake manifold
Cobb Spicy cams
Cobb valve springs
Cobb titanium retainers
Custom stainless steel valves
Closed deck bock
11:1 compression pistons nitrous coated
custom connecting rods (length increased by 4mm)
knife edged crank shaft
balanced
blueprinted
Sleeved
ACT street clutch
9lb or 9.5lb flywheel
STi engine mounts
STi tranny mounts
Unichip engine management
NX 4 fogger nitrous kit 50 shot (used to have a zex dry)
Redline set at 8,000 rpm

I would like any input you guys have for me! The engine comes back to me before the end of the month. Im also working on a custom intake manifold with my brother which uses two throttle bodies. and I need to extrude hone my throttle body in the mean time. Thanks for any input guys!

Dan :)

crap mang, I'd estimate maybe 240+hp without the squeeze. Good luck with your tranny, if you haven't swapped in a 6MT! ;)

I bet that set you back a pretty penny.

Yeah, it was pretty expensive, but I really prefer this route, its pretty uncommon with our cars, i have no idea how its gonna drive at all or what kind of low end torque Ill have. no one has any suggestions for the list? Anyone with experience on what to expect from most of this?

Yeah, my tranny is stock, and Im getting the popping out f reverse fixed on it also, I can barely parellel park without it comming out of gear!

Dan

Well, you could get a Link EMS

Eurathane exhaust hangars, forgot those :p

Hmm, with that good of an engine, I think the borlas might be too restrictive...

So you think thr borlas might not be right for the engine, do you think equal length headers might be better? All i can think of is syms...thanks for the info, ill look into that!
Dan

I hear the best things about Brullen headers, and MRT gets a lot of props here too.

Yeah i hear good things about both companies, do you have any links or peoplw who sell their products?

Ive been a member on the old i-club for a long time, i just never posted here when it split, i stayed over a nasioc for some reason...anyway ill look into those, a link would be great! I just want to be sure that I will actually have gains from this.

Could soemone fill me in on the link EMS also? Thanks for all the replies guys!

Dan :)

dcoty,

Your engine called me today and asked for a turbo. ;)

- Alex

Originally posted by Imprezer
dcoty,

Your engine called me today and asked for a turbo. ;)

- Alex
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Oh wait, mine did too......

No turbo for me! I wanted to be a little unique, the curiosity got to me, the only problem was that we really dont know what to expect when doing this, theres no one to ask for help or trouble shooting.

You wouldnt believe how often I get that "who dont you turbo it?" comment, I have my reasons :). If I were at a meet, wouldnt you be curious to see how it drove ;)?? I really like my plan, i would love to have a turbo charged car (my brother has some fun ones), but this has more appeal to me for some reason, i really can t explain (which is obvious by this rambling post, Im going to bed now!)

Dan:D

Hello Dan and other fellow I-clubbers. As Dan already knows, he is not alone in this build. I am building the exact same thing, minus the nitrous. The only question that I had was how much difference am I going to get without the 11:1 comp. pistons. I was thinking about leaving the bottom half intact and porting the heads, cobb spicy cams, valve springs, 3 angle valve job in the head and 2 on the valves, extrude honed/port matched intake manifold, fidanza flywheel, vitek 4 puck carbon clutch, sti engine/tranny/pitch mounts, MRT Full Exhaust and some kind of intake. Am I going to need bigger injectors? What kind of engine management will I need? Any ideas, anyone?

Oh, by the way, this is a 98 2.5 RS.

How quick was your car when you have street cams? I wonder if I'll be happy with my Ganz and K&N, PROECM, Stromung Catback, plus Borla Headers, Cobb Cat, Cobb street cams, Fidenza 9 lb flywheel, N1 pulleys, ACT or Clutchmasters clutch, and STI mounts?

Originally posted by dcoty
So you think thr borlas might not be right for the engine, do you think equal length headers might be better? All i can think of is syms...thanks for the info, ill look into that!
Dan
MRT if you want to go cheap (I recomend just the MRT headers/cat with a custom catback with a free flowing muffler like a magnaflow or something)

If you want to spend serious $$$$ look for the TWE exhaust...

Hey Nathan!
Yeah, we both are headed for the same goal!
I would definitly get 11:1 compression pistons, there is no real fown side and while the engine is apart, why not chip in and get them? Unless you plan to turbo in the future (ill be VERY dissapointed ;))

I should be more specific with the list i posted, there is a 3 angle valve job and a port matched as well as ported/polished intake manifold, thanks nathan, Im losing track of all of it!

I would say you *should* be ok with stock injectors (ill tell you at the end of the month, i cant wait), just a larger fuel pump, but not too large as I had serious tuning problem from being too rich and actually had to put in an SVX fuel pressure regulator to lower the fuel pressure in the rails.

N/A beast: witht he street cams and all of the bolt on power mods listed except nitrous, i was able to pull a 15.1, i wasnt thrilled with it, but it was my first time at the track, my first was a 15.6, then on my 4th or 5th run I got a 15.1. My clutch was slippng during gear changes and so badly with the nitrous i had a .1 second improvement in my time giving me a whopping 15.0 with nitrous. Oh well, I have the ACT now, my old one was definitly shot!

Is the MRT the best choice?? Nathan, I see you have it on your mod list, can you give me a link so I can soo what it looks like/info on it? Thanks in advance and keep me updated on your twil throttle bady design. i working oon mine, but all i have now is an extra throttle body, the gaskets and the perfect sized for the velocity stacks, but they have to be custom. Later everyone!
Dan:)

MRT header photos:

http://us.f1.yahoofs.com/users/b432d156/bc/25RS/MRT+Header.jpg?bcOH8G.AZifaTrrO

http://www.jetlink.net/~okayfine/MRTsystem.jpg

Kostamojen,
Thanks fore the link! The first one dosent seem to work for me though. These would be my best bet without spending too much? Do you guys think i will have good benefits from this exhaust/header system? Does it have to bolt to the mrt exhaust system, or can I use my strommung? How is the performance of the mrt full exhaust, any #s? Thanks to anyone who answers a few of there questions.
Dan:)

From what I've heard, the MRT dynoed very well. It is supposedly one of the best on the market because it is made to work as one flowing unit, instead of having a bunch of pieced together exhausts. I have heard they throw a CEL but it is easily fixed with that $15 wiring fix. It looks like a perfect system if you ask me. Very straight, very smooth, very simple, not too flashy; Just the way it should be to make good power.

It would be nice it were stainless

It would also be more expensive if it were stainless. If it ever gets rusty, just get some naval jelly to remove the rust and repaint it. Cleans up nice.

The MRT system showed a 15hp gain on a stock car. Theres a dyno of it floating around on the old club...

And you can fit the stromung muffler on the exhaust, but not the midpipe. The midpipe length is different. Good thing is that you can order the exhaust with everything BUT the muffler and save some money.

Really? I can use the strommung exhaust on it? Thas really amazing, i diddnt want to get rid or it, its a nice stainless one and its only 4 months old, my other non stainless rusted out in a year and a half. If I get the MRT I would do some kind or rust protectant on it, like a spray protectant. Will this work?

Anyway, I really appreciate all the help guys, i think I may get it and sell my header, high flow/mid pipe for a good deal to someone, im keeping the strommung! What kind of sond do they produce? Id imagine they are more tame than what I had before with the borlas. I hope it is cuz my car is loud!

Dan:)

Yes, the MRT is quieter than the borla's due to lack of bends. I like the sound alot myself, since thats the same set up that MMMPREZA has on his car which I have heard in person.

Dan, I sent you a PM in I-club. Check it out.

You have one too...im a little nervous about who is going to come out on top after this is over!
Dan

Even if I don't come out on top, I think I have you beat since I am doing all of the work myself without any real prior knowledge. So, theoretically, if my car runs at all I'll be 1 up. Haha. I am not real concerned with hp numbers. I am most concerned with butt dyno results and at the track. That's where these mods are really going to matter.
Later....

I really respect the fact that you are doing all the work yourself, its really impressive! I would love to learn it, but in a city (where I live) there is no real opportunity to learn about this stuff, let alone actually finding a place with the kind of equipment you have to learn on. One day though Id like too....

If anyone is faster than you (which is damn near impossible) you can always shut em up by saying..."yeah...but I did it myself":D. That is where good experience comes from and I really think thats cool.

Dan

Yeah Dan, I guess that is a pretty good point you have there. When the engine is completely done (like next year with the high comp block and 4 throttle bodies), if there is anyone faster than me, (which would obviously mean they were crazy turbo'd with nitrous) I will have the comeback that, "yeah, you may be faster than me, but if you'll look at my engine, you'll clearly see that I'm insane and that's a pretty good accomplishment for an insane person!" hahaha. Well Dan, thanks for the words of encouragement. It's too bad that you don't live down here near me. I would definitely like to have someone to share my insanity with. There is plenty of room and garages available for rent. I have a big 2 car garage for $75 a month and I am only 1&1/2 hours from New York City or Philadelphia. Plus where I live I have like 10 mountains anywhere between 15 minutes and 1 hour to snowboard at! Not to bad. Well, I think that I've babbled enough. I'll talk to you soon. Keep in touch and get that damn car done so I can see how your chip tuning works out.
Later.

I can't wait to hear about how this buildup goes. If one of you guys finish soon, I'll probably change my plans of just getting Cobb Street Cams and Stage 1 Heads to doing a full build at income tax time. Or I may just put the same amount of money into Templars SC kit :)

Looks like a killer build, good luck! Let us know how it goes.

One word of CAUTION. Be careful with lightening up too much weight off the ends of the crank. Lightweight underdrive pulleys AND a really light flywheel might stretch the engineered limits of crank balance......you don't want to introduce too much possibility for imbalance and thus, bearing problems, crank "walking", etc.

Not knowing specific engineering parameters for the EJ25, this is only theory. I do know that other engines, like some BMW 6s, start to get unruly with too much 'off-crank' lightening. The EJ25 does have a fairly sizable bore, which theoretically introduces the possibility for more side loading problems.......especially with the narrow rod journals of the EJ25.

Just verify that others are running such a combo with no problem. Nothing to freak out about.

-Mirror

I definitely have thought about taking off too much weight. It could be a problem, but only because the stock computer starts to get all screwy. I am running a lightweight flywheel but not a lightweight pulley set. If you balance the pistons, rod ends and crank when you lighten everything, you shouldn't have a problem, but most people aren't lucky enough to have access to the machines do that.(unlike me, hahahaha) I am working with one of my professors who holds over 20 world titles for the engines he builds and he and I were discussing the pros and cons to doing all that. I am not doing it right this moment, but I will be doing it come next fall when I build my crazy higher compression balanced/blueprinted/lightened block. At that point I'll be at a fully driver controlled stand alone engine management system.

Anyway, before I got off on my tangent (again), you are right. Lightening everything is definitely going to have adverse effects on overall engine balance, as well as completely screwing with the stock ECU.

Boxer engines are inherantly ballanced. They dont need "ballancers" and other devices that Inline and V-series engines require. You can lighten the pulleys and flywheel at will, although I wouldnt go much under 13lbs for a flywheel anyway.

Tttoocollector, id would love to take a look around the machine shop where you are doing the work, but Im pretty far away! M

My block is at lachute subaru for a few picture for their website and they said it shuld be done by the end of the month, the only think Im scared about is tuning and making sure the 8,000 redline wont be too much for the engine.

Im found domeone who can do individual throttle bodies, just like you were talking about, but its a n expensive job to do, you know how much it costs when they finish it. But I do have two throttle bodies andd the correct sizes for the velocity stacks for the custom intake mnaifold my brother and I are making, but that will be a bit longet to finish.

I asked about crank walk, and lightening it too much, and I wasnt cautioned too much about it. Could someone elaborate on crank walk for me? Id like to know a little more about it. Thaks everyone for the replies.
Dan:)

Hi Dan. The shop that I am working in is not that impressive at all. You would be more than welcome to come down and sit in on a class of mine. The professors would not mind at all. I have them on Thursday nights. As far as the other shop, I am not really doing much there. If I run into any problems at the school, I will be doing the other stuff down at the other shop. The other shop that my professor owns (where he builds the Panos, Trans-Am, etc engines) is not all that impressive right now because he has been busy and working a lot. However, when I went down there the last time, there was a few Winston Cup motors, an experimental fuel injected Ford 460, a few Cobra R motors for some race team, an crazy engine dyno, etc, etc. So, even though it was messy, it was still quite impressive.

To address crank walk, i think they're talking about how much end play the crank has. The thrust bearing controls that. I forget which one it is but one of the main bearings has a part on it that keeps the crank from moving forward and backward. So, basically, crank walk is how much the crank moves towards the front and back of the car in the block. As far as lightening up the crank gear, the stock one is a harmonic balancer. It provides balance to the bottom half. On an V style engine, if you lighten that up too much, you can throw off the balance of the engine, whereas a horizontally opposed engine is naturally balanced provided that the piston and rod weights are relatively close.

I think that I've addressed everything.

As far as the throttle bodies, I can't do it yet. I have to wait until I go to a full stand alone system.

Oh, I also called Ben yesterday and talked to him for a little while. I am going to get a Unichip from him. Those guys are super cool and they really know what they're talking about. I'll pay the extra it costs just to buy it through them.

Gotta run.

nathan

Cool man, but I have a bunch of courses this term (university psychology) and I will only be free around april when we finish.

Im in no rush for the itb's, Im making the one with my brother for now, so that'll keep me busy.

Thanks for clueing me in on crank walk, it make sense now! I guess i woun have any problems, they have a few cars with 9lb flywheels onema nd no problems.

Yeah, Ben is who I do everything through at Lachute, he is really cool and easy going and a master with the Unichip. I buy everything through them, and ill never go anywhere else for sure, they dont jerk you around and they get your parts quickly.

By the way, they are taking pictures of my car and its engine and putting it on the website (actually its already on there, its now being updated with more pics and my mods). They are taking pics of the block right now, im not sre when they will be up. But heres the older one's. if the link dosent bring you there: From the main page, click "products" at the top then in smaller print "out of our shop" which is in the bottom left corner. Im the last car down, black 01 RS.

http://lachutesubaru.com/
Later!
Dan:)

hey man i give u crazy respect for this, i'm all about N/A, nothing against turbos but i wana try to squeeze as much power out of it before i turbo. i love the idea of a Naturally Aspirated street monster. i've been planning on getting an rs and rebuilding the engine with COBB block, cyl heads and power package. i like the cobb route cuz they make sure not to lose that o so loved low end but your set up sounds sick. you should start a naturally aspirated thread, get ppl to post hp/torque, 1/4's, etc.... good luck with the car man!

RSEnigma,

Thanks, theres very few people who really like the idea of fully n/a out there, so I love getting support instead of all the reasons I should have turbocharged it. I will post 1/4 mile times as soon as the trackes up here open, then we will see if it was worth all my time and effort to do this!

Dan:)

Dan, you should lighten you car up a few hundred pounds too :)

My prayers were answered for a lighter hood! A block of snow/ice fell off the top of the roof of my g/f's college when i was picking her up and landed right on my hood (I was in the car, big bang!) and it made a small dent in my hood and one on the fender (really small). I am asking them to pay 561$ (dealer quote) to fix the damages, but ill use the money for a new c/f or aluminum hood.

Are there any well priced ones out there/ I was considering a lancer style hood as I hear they are great for venting out hot engine bay air in either aluminum or c/f, but I dont want to spend more than the money the college is giving me for the damages. Im not sure whet other lightening mods to look into, maybe lightend beams (front rear) but Im not sure whgat else for mow, i need a little reserve $ for tuning incase it takes extra long to do. I will look nto it though. Thanks!

Dan:)

dude u should check out http://www.aerosim-research.com they hav a cf hood with some really sweet vents where the stock ones should b, ask them for a quote. their cf stuff as far as i've heard from stever is well priced. good luck with the hood!

Buy an aluminum one, theyre just as light as Carbon Fiber. Buya Hawker 13.5 Lb battery, remove every unfunctional hunk of metal, Eventually get a lighter trunk, lighter seats, get rid of sound deadening, and possibly make your car a two seater :)

Note: I just read that the AVCS for the STI is tunable... This makes me wonder how much power the AVCS N/A EJ25's would make when the Variable valve timing is tuned, combined with all the other good engine mods (minus cams/heads of course, since that is what makes the AVCS is part of)