engine blown... options??
the artist formerly known as mcdrama
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From: Santa Cruz Mountains, CA.
Car Info: WRBP 2015 WRX Premium/CVT
Chicks dig me. April Fool's!
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From: Fremont, CA
Car Info: 1997 Impreza, 2014 BRZ
yeah so this afternoon i took the car out on the freeway and it died for good after about 20 miles on hwy 4... i was trying to get the car smogged before it completely crapped out!
anyhow im confident the previous owner couldnt have known about something like this happening-- and im not sure that i would blame it on vishnu either... after all the car did have 140k miles on an original, non rebuilt motor. i guess its just part of the game.
ive been asking around and ive heard some really good things about LIC, how do you guys feel about them vs GST??
anyhow im confident the previous owner couldnt have known about something like this happening-- and im not sure that i would blame it on vishnu either... after all the car did have 140k miles on an original, non rebuilt motor. i guess its just part of the game.
ive been asking around and ive heard some really good things about LIC, how do you guys feel about them vs GST??
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Posts: 3,670
From: East Bay / Pomona
Car Info: '02 PSM WRX
ehh, im pretty sure im not going to do any more engine mods then i already have on there (upgraded turbo, intercooler, exhaust). was planning on saving up for some brembos but it looks like thats going to have to wait now for sure. will the ej25 be compatible with the mods that i already have on there? do you think its any more durable than a 2.0 engine??
Thread Starter
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Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 24
From: Bay Area/510
Car Info: 02 WRX Sedan
seems like both shops are fairly legit and have quite the following on the forums... i guess i just need to call both and get quotes to see around what prices im looking at.
im located in el sobrante (east bay), but i got the car towed to a safe street location in concord after it died, since i only have 5 miles of towing through AAA. in either case i will be getting my car towed to whichever shop i end up choosing-- seems like both are about equal distance from my place.
i have a vf30 turbo, since its stock on the STi i dont see how it would be a problem on a 2.5 block, but its definitely something ill keep in mind when making my decisions.
any further advice is much appreciated!!
any further advice is much appreciated!!
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From: Salinas, CA
Car Info: 1997 Acura Integra GS Sedan
Well, LIC is great, but I heard they aren't doing conversions anymore or something...
anyway, pretty much anyone can do a swap. Hell, get a decent tool set at Sears and borrow someone's cherry picker, and with a weekend you could swap an engine yourself (we've done it a couple times).
I always recommend GST because they have always treated me right, but pretty much any shop could do an engine swap.
anyway, pretty much anyone can do a swap. Hell, get a decent tool set at Sears and borrow someone's cherry picker, and with a weekend you could swap an engine yourself (we've done it a couple times).
I always recommend GST because they have always treated me right, but pretty much any shop could do an engine swap.
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From: Arnold, CA
Car Info: 2003 PSM WRX, 80 Brat ready for Chevy 350 Swap.
Registered User
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Posts: 9,171
From: Arnold, CA
Car Info: 2003 PSM WRX, 80 Brat ready for Chevy 350 Swap.
true that.. my friend has an 02 wrx with a vishnu stage zero piggy back, and he pulls CEL's all day long, high and low input and outputs on both 02 sensors, misfires on all cylinders,he had overboost codes when he had the MBC on it, but i pulled that off. i dont think i trust vishnu with that many Check Engine Lights!
Yeah, You've Probably Never Heard Of Me.
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From: in a glass case of emotion.
Car Info: 345/30/19s
yeah so this afternoon i took the car out on the freeway and it died for good after about 20 miles on hwy 4... i was trying to get the car smogged before it completely crapped out!
anyhow im confident the previous owner couldnt have known about something like this happening-- and im not sure that i would blame it on vishnu either... after all the car did have 140k miles on an original, non rebuilt motor. i guess its just part of the game. ive been asking around and ive heard some really good things about LIC, how do you guys feel about them vs DST??
anyhow im confident the previous owner couldnt have known about something like this happening-- and im not sure that i would blame it on vishnu either... after all the car did have 140k miles on an original, non rebuilt motor. i guess its just part of the game. ive been asking around and ive heard some really good things about LIC, how do you guys feel about them vs DST??
And people can say what they want about shiv, but a wrx lasting 140K on a stage 2 before it finally let got is completely amazing. And seeing as its a VF30 with unichip(both old school) Im sure it got done pretty early in its life, you really cant ask for much more out of a car putting out nearly 100whp over stock for 140K miles, just to bad it had to happen as soon as you got it, but when you get a car with that many miles with those mods you gotta know its living on borrowed time
as far as that used 2 liter, "30psi ready", yeah lol
First off, its a used 10+ year old block that has gone through at least 3 hands, and JDM motors ALWAYS seem to have only 30K miles on them when people sell them. If it really is a JDM STI shortblock, they are a tougher than WRX blocks, but no better than the new 2.5 STI blocks except for the forged pistons. And NO subaru motor is 30PSI ready, c'mon
. You can still get brand spankin new 2.5 liter STI shortblocks straight from Subaru for around 1700, which make more usable power on pump gas than a 2 liter anything, and you dont want to go through the trouble and expense of a motorswap to put a questionable used motor in there, thats just asking for trouble, especially when the brand new shortblocks are already relatively cheap.
Other than that keep all your other mods, you dont 'need' anything else, a VF30 would work fine on a 2.5, the heads dont need to be ported, though with 140K miles you will need a new valve job, and I dont see a better clutch on the list of the last guys mods so you need that too, and then all gaskets/belts/etc, yeah dont expect to come out of this for any less than half of what you paid for the car, I know you would like to do it on the cheap but theres just not too many places to cut corners there, even if you use all your old mods. LIC and GST both do great work, Ive got 100K+ miles on tunes from Mike on 5 different turbos and all ran like stock and made great power with no hiccups, ever.
Good luck!
Last edited by Krinkov; Feb 18, 2008 at 10:24 AM.
Thread Starter
Registered User
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 24
From: Bay Area/510
Car Info: 02 WRX Sedan
yeah the car doesnt have the unichip in there anymore, i believe the ecu was replaced with a newer vishnu one some time back. i will try to give those shops a call and keep the thread updated as new information comes in. for the price of one of those shortblocks im wondering if its not just worth it to go ahead and get a whole new EJ25 longblock, and then throw all those mods back on to the new engine. after checking prices i should be able to make a better decision on that one.
krinkov-- thanks for the kind words and all the advice i will definitely keep that stuff in mind going forward here.
i dont know how reliable the vishnu stuff was and whether or not it was the cause of the engines failure-- after all it did have 140k miles on it, so i guess this was something that i could have seen coming, it was just a surprise because of how seamlessly it had been running prior to failing.
krinkov-- thanks for the kind words and all the advice i will definitely keep that stuff in mind going forward here.
i dont know how reliable the vishnu stuff was and whether or not it was the cause of the engines failure-- after all it did have 140k miles on it, so i guess this was something that i could have seen coming, it was just a surprise because of how seamlessly it had been running prior to failing.
