Hi all,

I'm from the SF Bay Area but my 2005 STi seized while I've been living in Irvine for the summer. I don't know of any competent shops in the socal area, so I thought I would ask here in addition to the socal forums if anyone knows of a good shop in the area. Please list any shops that I may find useful. Thanks.

 

Yeah the socal guys would know better.

 

AQ motorsports in torrance

Cobb tuning near long beach i think

 

check the scic section on nasioc, they have a thread on all the shops in that area

 

Aq. Would be good
Also. Socalsubies.com

 

I found a place called RallySport Engineering in Costa Mesa, we'll see how it goes...

 

Garage tuning does subies, I think its about 20 mins from irvine

http://www.garagetuning.com/

 

If you like your Suby, please stay away from there. I used to take my business there, but the work has been on the decline and there's been some drama in shop where a lot of the good employees have left.

Probably closest to you, would be Forman Performance. They're in Costa Mesa and specialize in Subies. While I haven't personally been there, I've heard great things about this shop. Great reviews on Nabisco.

I personally take my car to Project Import in Orange. While they don't specialize specifically in Subies, their main clientele is Hondas and Subies so they do extensive work on them. They've fixed quite a few problems that were causes of Garage Tuning.

 

So after talking with the mechanic from rallysport eng., my options are: try to source a complete used engine from a salvage yard w/ comparable miles to my seized engine (~90k) which would cost around $5500 otd, buy a rebuilt engine (longblock) w/ a warrenty which costs around $6500 alone w/o labor, or buy a new shortblock from subaru and rebuild the heads, etc. from the old engine which would also be pricey. Any ideas/input would be appreciated. Also, if you have any other ideas for a route to take please let me know, thanks.

 

Paul is the bomb. Tell him Ryan C that used to work at Irvine said hello.

 

A few weeks ago, Import Image Racing had a deal of a EJ25 shortblock for $1895 shipped in continental US (not sure if they still have this special going on). Labor for a shortblock swap would be somewhere in the $1700s and throw in the head cleaning/valve job/etc. Should be closer to the mid 4k range, I'd think?

Checkout SoCalSubies.com or nabisco for used parts. Obviously SoCalSubies is just for SoCal and nabisco has a lot more SoCal traffic. Also, call around and ask shops for pricing on a EJ25 shortblock swap (probably the cheapest option) or ask them for recommendations.

 

Here's a shortblock for $1,929.99: http://www.importimageracing.com/p/s...hortblock.html

Maybe that w/ a head/valve job I could save some money? I would also need a new turbo as well.

 

I'd trailer it to Suby Specialties in Monrovia (up the 57) to get my car worked on. One of his techs spent years working for Subaru R & D, and he knows his motors. Steve is also one of the most honest techs/owners I've ever had the pleasure of doing business with. Think if LIC Motorsports got cloned and placed in SoCal. One of two shops I'd hand the keys to, and NEVER have to question the work, the price, or the quality.

 

http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/show....php?t=2208046 They still have the 1895 shipped advertised on nabisco.

Do you have any mods already? Want to use a new turbo as an excuse to upgrade? Look on the aforementioned forums for used turbos.

 

You'd be looking at:

• Around $2000 for a brand new short block
• $1000+ for all the accessories seeing that your engine seized and had a lot of miles on it
  1. Oil Cooler
  2. Oil Pump
  3. Timing Belt
  4. Tensioner
  5. Master Gasket Kit
  6. Possibly new pulleys
  7. Head studs
  8. etc
• $1000+ for headwork depending on the shop
  1. Inspection and testing
  2. Surface and clean
  3. 5 angle grind job
  4. Possibly new guides
  5. Setting valve lash
  6. (Hopefully your valves and springs are fine)

Along with all of this you have labor, as well as possibly having to deal with getting a new clutch if yours is worn, cleaning and testing your injectors if you really want to, and then spending even more money for more power. It's definitely not cheap when the engine goes on these cars.