Hey all,

Ok after 2 years of scrmping, saving and setbacks (new plumbing on house, car wreck, etc...) I am finaly in the place to get a new motor for the Forester!

Now, that said, I am going to going bone stock, new short block, rebuild my heads, new stock turbo (unless I can get a used VF for a good price), new clutch (stage 1, might as well), all fluids changed bumper to bumper.



The problem, I have a budget to stay in, I can't get TOO nuts, and I want quality Vs. speed of turn around. So... of all the shops in the bay area, who do you use, what do you recomend I am missing, and if you feel the need tell me to FO noob.

 

Sweet!

 

Based on what I am hearing from people lately, Mert @ RBMS is who you want to talk to about your build. Quality and quick.

 

welcome back. was wondering where you had been

 

+1 for mert and RBMS

or you could buy a **** ton of bam raffle tickets and try and win the short block FW giving away

 

Definitely feel Adam at LIC is the best for building an engine. Mert is just as good though if local is necessary.

 

For what you're looking for I'd make a couple small upgrades right now. just get them done now.

Get yourself a VF turbo, STI intercooler and some STI injectors. It's a small price difference in the long run and it makes a lot of difference in your car.

I'd have LIC do the work. Those guys are no joke when it comes to perfect motor installs. Then I'd take it to Mike at GST to get tuned.

Mert is quick as hell and he's worked on my car a few times when he was at GST. He's a really good mechanic. so that's an option too.

And there's always FW and they have Snail in house tuning now. I don't think anyone can flip a motor install as quick as FW's crew.

 

I will say LIC is my first choice but not sure yet how busy they are and if they can work inside my budget, so I want to get second and 3rd choices lined up. I am the type of person who has to have the whole project planed out, in MS Project, with times and reliable promises in place before it starts (its a LEAN thing)

 

Go to BAM
Buy raffle ticket
Win built shortblock from FW
Profit

 

Try....... Pshhhh save that money and throw it into small bits.





Yayyy The Bear has come out of his cave of hibernation.

 

**** off, n00b.

I mean, welcome back.

 

Long shot, but the best engine builder I know has his own shop in SoCal. Probably too far, but just want to throw this out there as an option. My car, 40k miles after he built it, has a 0 psi compression difference across all 4 pistons. This is on a hybrid build too.

There's no point to waste money on a new stock turbo (stealership pricing) when there are quality aftermarket ones in a similar price range.

Off the top of my head, other items that are "cheap" and I'd consider doing since the motor is out..

- If you can source an APS hard turbo inlet, I'd get one of those. No longer produced, so you have to find one used. Either spray it black and make it look stock or wrap it in heat repellent tape/foil. If not APS, get a quality aftermarket one, the stock one is prone to cracking/ripping.

- TGV deletes. Never have to worry about any TGV motors going bad or getting stuck. TGV codes are easily turned off with RomRaider or any other ECU software. AFAIK, does not require a tune, other than shutting off codes.

- KillerB oil pick up. Never have to worry about the stock oil pickup cracking and blowing your motor. I'd do this only because the motor is out and it'll be easy to do.

 

If you want the job done right the first time...LIC.

 

Wait what? You left and I missed that? Must be Mid-Life creeping on me.

I still don't see you saying it'll be another Forester or what. Now as far as recco's I can't directly refer b/c of work but I'll say that list above pretty much covers my top 5 list.

We stayed in U.C. so if ya need a hand wrenching or someone to play Lawn Chair Supervisor/CoolerKing let me/us know.

p.s. No crying about expenses, some of us are right there with you.