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Delphi's Garage Built 2011 WRX half an STi Hatch

GR Hatch: 
7K views 34 replies 6 participants last post by  bigBADbenny 
#1 ·
Well I figured I should start logging my build since I am kind of going balls to the wall now. And who knows maybe other would like to see what I am doing.


So info on the car

Engine:
- Catless FMS Downpipe (don't buy it, I got it for 100 dollars and it fit like fat man in an airplane seat) Grimmspeed Downpipe now
- CNT Catback (fitment was great actually, I was quite surprised)
- AEM Cold Air Intake
- FMS Top Mount Intercooler
- DW65c fuel pump
- ID 1000cc Injectors
- Grimmspeed 3 Port EBCS
- Custom AOS Grimmspeed Style IAG AOS
- Custom Lightweight Crank Pulley
- Cobb Double Adjustable Short Shifter Stock STI Shifter
- Cobb shifter bushings front and rear
- Cobb Accessport V3, Torqued Performance Custom Tune
- Steamspeed STX67


Interior:
- SMY Cluster
- AEM UEGO Wideband
- AEM Boost Gauge

Suspension:
- Whiteline 22mm rear swaybar

And this is what I hope to have planed.

Engine (built by me not a shop):

Reusing my current block
Reusing my current Crank
Manley 99.75mm Pistons
Manley H "Tuff" rods
King Bearings
ARP Head Studs
GSC Intake and exhaust valves
Felpro MLS
KillerB Oil Pickup
Some sort of Equal Length Header
Injector Dynamics 1000cc Injectors
TGV deletes


Driveline:

STI 6 speed transmission swap
Some flavour of Clutch
Stock STI Flywheel


So this is what the car looked like when I parked it in the garage last month. Was burning oil, compression was surprisingly even at 125 psi on all 4 cylinders but I knew something was wrong as the amount of oil I was burning was getting quite bad. I figured I had just worn the engine out and It has 107k km on it and had a downpipe on it since 10k km. I did it in really good when I pulled it apart.



I quickly dove into it, these cars are pretty quick work for me as I have pulled these motors over a dozen times on various subarus and all the engine bays with the EJ platform are basically the same with locations for mounts and what not. Only took me 2 hrs just putsing along listening to music and texting.



Oh and I really needed a new clutch seeing as this was stock and I had an upgraded turbo...

Also damn... Never had that happen and this is the newest Subaru I have worked on...


So I kind of got to into it and forgot to take a bunch of pictures but I found my problem. One thing this is with almost zero cleaning of the piston. I literally washed the oil off with some dawn dish soap. This is what good maintenance looks like!


So I was going to build the engine anyways but still sucked. There was no detonation marks on the piston tops, spark plugs, valves on head quench area. I am going to chalk this failure up unlucky or tight ring gap, drove it too hard or something along those lines. Rarely saw knock and I monitored it all the time. Most would be -1.4°
 

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#2 ·
But moving on from that I did a big thing... Also I don't own a truck but it fit in my trunk of my Impreza! It is an STI 6 speed with 10k kms on it from a 2013 STI. It is a direct swap for my car and will go in with no issue. I just need the clutch, flywheel, and a DCCD Controller for the center differential.





So I got the rest of the motor cracked apart. Crank was mint, the main bearings actually look brand new. The rod bearings wear is meh. I would guess that the bearing clearance was just too tight for the power I was running. The compression side of the bearing is just wearing through the protective coating while the other side looks brand new as well. This right here shows that putting a good oil that fits to how you drive (oil weight wise) will go a long way. I beat the **** out of this car the day I took it off the lot with 7km on it. I did a hard break in and it treated me very well with cross country treks all the way through the desert of Arizona, Nevada, and Central Valley California.

Main Bearing


Rod Bearing

 
#3 ·
Got the drive train swap complete. Literally just need my custom ordered shift knob and shift boot. I also got a sub panel put in my garage as well! So starting with that.




After that was done I could use my new air compressor I got for Christmas. Having an air impact really made short work of stuff. I pulled the exhaust out in no time and then was able to get at the drive shaft. After that it was tackling the transmission.








 
#4 ·
Looks like its ready to go in. Had my friend help me put in the trans because it would have been a nightmare by myself. Look at that size difference!




http://i.imgur.com/bjCejcol.jpg[img]

The next day I got the old R160 diff out and the bigger R180 diff in. By myself. It was brutal.
[img]http://i.imgur.com/AUVb4BLl.jpg

Worst part... And bad pictures.


Finishing touches, clutch cylinder, oil and the rest of the shifter stuff inside.


 
#5 ·
Manley Pistons


ARP Headstuds

A Pitch Stop Mount made in Canada. Supporting local business where I can.



As for the Clutch has anyone here used Bully Clutches? They're made in Ontario so I wouldn't mind going with them.

I got my shift boot from JPM Coachworks. This stuff is extremely high quality, I can see why people love Alcantara and their products. The wife loves when I do car stuff on the counter tops... I actually had her help me put it on though because the fabric was so tight to get on.



I have been slowly plugging away on this. Made pretty good progress though. Still have to refresh the heads with some GSC valves I have.

I got the short block assembled though.

I got the Block bored at The Block Shop here in Edmonton. They have torque plates which is awesome. Piston to wall clearance specified by me was 2.7 thou to 3.0 thou.

So being that it is a used block STD bearing can sometimes not be enough. My engine had 100k km (60k miles) so I had to so a lot of mix and matching. My crank was used but all the mains were literally bang on 60mm (2.3625" -2.3624) and same goes for the rods being bang on 52mm (2.0472-2.0471)


Main 1 used 2 std bearings - 0.0010"

Main 2 used 1 std & 1 0.026 bearing - 0.0014

Main 3 used 2 0.026 bearings - 0.0014

Main 4 used 2 0.026 bearings - 0.0014

Main 5 (thrust) 2 std bearings - 0.0009

I set my ring end gaps to 0.020 for the top ring and 0.023 for the 2nd ring.






Had to set it aside while I waited to borrow my dads small vice that I like using to hold files while I set ring gaps.






So a couple things. Firstly I finally got my custom ordered Anarchy Motive shift knob. This is well worth the wait as it is literally perfect. It is probably one of my favorite things about the build as odd as it seems. I got the H pattern etched in so it wont wear off from use. Also you can kind of see the JPM Coachworks shift boot in there as well.


For the next bit I am curious if any of you have ran into this problem. When i was installing my Killer B Oil Pickup the one side didn't feel like it was getting snug. I thought I was stretching the bolt actually so I took it out to see the threads condition. They were fine so I inspected the oil pickup to see this. The head of the hex bolt was interfering with the weld and crushing it. I took a small diamond file to clean it up. I know it is minor but I feel like the Hardware should be changed to some Socket Head Cap screws for the smaller head size. The Tigwerks pick up uses them and I can see why. I know it is minor but I would like to bring it to attention so other people can see it if they run into issues.




So all I need now is Clutch, Flywheel, Turbo Inlet, and fluids along with the odds and ends.

Then it is ready to be back in the car. Have to do the heads yet but that's a weekend. job.
 
#12 ·
So I hit a snag because I am a bone head. I noticed last night the bore had a nice vertical scratch in it. Nothing serious but it sill bothered me a lot. It was from the ring ends or anything like that but rather the rod pin ends clanking against the bore. I could just barely catch it on a dental pick. I tore down the entire block down the the halves put my torque plate on a used my stone hone until they were gone. Didn't take too long but still a kick in the pants to have to take it all apart and re clean everything. Cleaning fresh RTV that hasn't been heat cycled sucks a lot.

Learn from my mistakes and take extra car in wrapping the rod ends up.
 
#14 ·
That is a good tip! Never thought of that. I usually wrap duct tape around the end but being that the rod is always so oily from Manley it must have slipped off. :p

Oh well. Just have to put it all back together now but hey everything is blueprinted and laid out in order. Should go quickly.
 
#19 ·
Another snag. Dohhh!

So I go to put the shortblock back together. I was inspecting each piston before I put them back in, making sure the ring gaps are where they should be. All of them looked great... Except for number 2.

The Napier Cut on the Iron second ring broke off on a small portion! I don't know how it happened but now I had to order a set of new rings for one piston. The piece was stuck to the ringland between the 1st and 2nd so I am glad I found the chunk. :( Not to happy about it but the flip side would have been worse. I am going to guess it happened when I originally put it in! So if I didn't take it all apart it would have been an oil burner for sure.

I still have lots to do at least.

Have to do the heads still but I did get my interior back together with my oil pressure gauge in my SMY Cluster. I pulled the boost gauge out because of my Accessport V3.

Hopefully have a meaningful update soon. Like the heads getting setup.
 
#21 ·
Got the car running this weekend and have 400km on it already! I did the first heat cycle and drained the oil right after. Replaced it and currently plan on changing it to Castrol GTX 10w-40 at around 500-600km

Running very well! I've stepped on it a couple times and it is making a lot more power than when it had 2 cracked pistons haha :D

For reference at factory idle when hot oil pressure is 18-20 psi with 15w-40 oil. This is with my clearances listed and with a 10mm oil pump.

It has piston slap when cold but I figured it would. Most do when cold. Quietens down when the engine is hot like most do as well. Don't think it is burning oil at all which is awesome :) Lastly the 6 speed is awesome! 2nd gear feels a little clunky notchy when cold but once all the fluid is warm it is super smooth.
 
#23 · (Edited)
I found the 5 speed more whiny but not as grumbly :rofl: but way more notchy, the great north performance pitch stop mount was an awesome buy even though I can feel more vibration (really not bad though). For $127 CAD it is a steal for a solid billet mount made in the good ol north. The shifts feel really crisp with my solid shifter bushings and the throws are pretty much perfect. At this point I don't want a short shifter. Need a DCCD controller yet but as it is it is amazing. I have a plan for the MAPDCCD Controller getting built into an STI Center Console where the OEM DCCD Controller is.

One thing I will say is that my machine shop maybe machined the the pistons a bit more loose than I would have liked but as long as the slap isn't hurting anything (which it really doesn't in the grand scheme of things) I don't mind and when its warm is it basically gone. Also I have heard (from the guys with IAG blocks that apparently are pretty loud) that it gets a bit quieter as you put on the miles :)


Also the 4th - 5th shift change in RPM and noise makes me very giddy :lol:
 
#25 ·
Oh my god I was so excited and so stressed at the same time. The panic was real. :scurred:

They are manley 2618 pistons. Sound almost more slappy than the drop in A-B pistons I have done. Will have to check with my friend on that but his is still running super strong with 20k kms on them.

Make sure your common ground is tight so you don't take 10 years of your life in stress.

Got the car running and road ready, drove it 100 km without a muffler on it. Put the muffler on it started it up and started backing it out of the garage. Died right in the driveway. ECU relay was buzzing like a mofo, tried everything and would not start at all. Acted like trying to start it without the clutch pushed in.

Spent 2 hrs trying to figure it out. Thought the immobilizer kicked on or something. Finally got it started and went to giggling wires in the engine bay, got to the common ground that was relocated to my tgv housings and it was loose :p

I felt so dumb I pulled up the carpet to the ecu and everything. Inspected all the relays and all of that. Was worried it was the main harness plug and at that point I would burn the flippen car down if that was pooched :rofl:
 
#26 ·
Got 500km on the car now.

Going to do an oil change tonight taking out this junk 15 dollar oil I have in there now. Motomaster 15w-40 haha.

Going to switch to non synthetic 20w-50 Valvoline VR1 Racing Oil. Heard lots of good stuff and I am curious as to how my idle oil pressure will react. I am a bit disappointed in all "stick with a 10mm oil pump if your car came with one you wont need the flow" argument people say. I mean 18-20 psi hot idle isn't horrible by any means but I would like it a bit higher if I could.

Ill see how this 20w-50 is and if it reacts as expected then I know I could buy Castrol Edge 5w-50 synthetic for the car or swap to an 11mm and probably run 0w-30 german castrol if I wanted.

But as it stands any future engines I build will get an 11mm oil pump as seen fit by clearances like the ones I got which are only a bit above the factory upper limit.

I hope with all this information I have posted someone can benefit from it so they can get an idea of what to expect.
 
#27 ·
Oil is changed. Began driving the car hard too. I have to say flat foot shift + 6 speed + decently heavy clutch (Exedy Stage 1 HD pressure plate) is like heaven on earth. I used FFS on my 5 speed but it usually felt like crap and I was constantly worried about ripping the gears to pieces.

With the Valvoline VR1 20w-50 it bumped my hot idle oil pressure up from around 18 psi to 25-27 psi. Much more comfortable with that and it is pointing me in the direction for Castrol Edge 5w-50 for when I run synthetic.

 
#29 ·
I talked with torqued performance and he said no retune should be needed. I was literally wondering the same thing yesterday.

When I get an ELH I plan on getting it dyno tuned by Airboy in Calgary. As it stands I get no knock running 20-21 psi.

I am going to Mexico in Novemeber so ELH may only happen next winter. I have to build my yard this summer :( Fence, dirt, grass and all of that unfortunately. That is part of the reason why I never got an ELH while it was all apart.
 
#30 ·
Update:

Car is running great and not burning oil! Turned up the boost to around 21lbs on this small turbo heh. One thing I am planning on doing is upgrading to an 11mm oil pump. Even with 20w-50 oil after driving the hell out of the car the oil pressures will dip down to 18psi-20psi. I may check it over with a mechanical gauge to rule it out.

But with an 11mm I could flow more oil (better for cooling) and maintain a higher pressure at idle and run a thinner oil like a 5w-40 comfortably or even German Castrol 0w-30.

I've always heard the rhetoric "Use the oil pump size that came with your car unless you greatly increase the main clearances." Now My clearances are 0.0002 over stock IIRC. Not a great amount by any means and I am having oil pressures lower than I would like.

So later in the summer I will do the swap because my rebuilt 2.5rs definitely has low oil pressure with the stock 7mm and a zillion kms on the block prior to the rebuild. My wrx 10mm will go on that one so really I need to buy 1 oil pump to do 2 cars.:banana:
 
#31 ·
So I have something worth Updating.

I swapped over to an 11mm oil pump and also got to test a Great North Performance Timing Belt guide. The 11mm oil pump bumped pressures up perfectly. I will feel more comfortable running even a 5-30 oil with but will stick with a 5-40 like rotella or Amsoil.

Here is the fitment of the Great North Performance timing belt guide. I cannot say enough good things about Michael and GNP. Fantastic Made in Canada parts! I look forward to what other parts he creates.







 
#32 ·
So I got something that all you pre 2011 GR guys will like.

So I got rid of the stupid stretch belt setup and went to the old style a/c belt tensioner.

So because I have the standoffs for that tensioner on my a/c pump bracket I bolted on an OEM tensioner and then went looking for a belt.

I got a 33.5" long belt to fit perfectly with no squeaks or anything of the sort. Just make sure you get a 4v-micro belt.

I have a couple part numbers you can use.

4pk0850 or 4040335
 
#33 ·
Long time no update.

So car is parked all winter.

I wasted the clutch over the summer, it was used and I got it dirt cheap. I knew this was going to happen. I did purchase a Comp Stage 4 6 Puck clutch though. Will be getting some Tomei Equal Lengths soon. Just need to order them :) Maybe around tax time.

I have also been working on a brembo swap!

But I have been working on this. Got some rotors coming in, have legit brembo pads for them and all the pins. Honestly the most expensive part for the swap is the damn adapter brackets.


 
#34 ·
Big update, and by big, I mean big turbo time (I also forgot to update this thread :p ). Upgrading to a rotated setup now, going with a Borgwarner S257 SXE, so basically it is a journal bearing EFR 7670. Same wheels, just journal bearing. Exhaust side is a single scroll T3 0.63 housing.



Turbo fit up.








Downpipe creation
Tacked up


Bracket added to bolt to the trans. I do not have the factory trans bracket as my 6 speed never had one installed.


Welded up and installed. Probably going to heat wrap it.


Oil drain setup





Methanol Kit Setup with a "Flex-a-Meth"










So for the wiring I am going to set it up that when I turn on meth, the ECU will map switch automatically to the meth map thanks to Cobbs flex fuel add on. The ecu will see 5v when the meth is turned on, making it think there is 100% ethanol in the fuel. With this functionality I can also incorporate AEM's failsafe so that if there is any issue it will map switch to the straight pump gas map. All you need is 2 relays to accomplish this with AEM's Boost Safe wire. 5v will be coming from the TGV power connector.

Wiring Diagram




Changed out to IAG Fuel Rails and an Aeromotive FPR.

Also got the car tuned.
Event: Dyno
Location: Airboy Tuning
Temperature: 70.00 F
Elevation: 3600 feet


Car: 2011 WRX Hatch
Tuner: Sunny @ Airboy Tunning
Dyno: Dyno Dynamics
Peak HP: 415 AWHP on 94+Meth / 365 AWHP on 94
Peak Tq: 415 ftlbs on 94+Meth / 360 ftlbs on 94
Target AFR: 11.4
Stock STI: 220 AWHP / 220 ftlbs
Target Boost: 26psi 94+Meth/21psi 94oct


Notable Mods:
Turbo - Borg Warner s257SX-E with a T3 single scroll 0.63 Hotside
Built Motor
40mm Turbosmart Wastegate
IAG Fuel Rails
DW65c Pump
ID1000's
Tomei ELH
Turbo Kit.com Rotated Turbo Pedestal
FMIC
Catless 3in Exhaust
Aeromotive FPR
Speed Density Tune

Dyno reads very low, and as all of you know it is just a tool. We stopped at 26psi because my crappy tires were deflecting a lot under load (it was seen under wheel speed on the dyno and it was not even close to linear) so we weren't seeing much more gains as we turned it up, it also could be the reason why the numbers appear low.





And for the Datalog guys.

Here is the Log, pull was slightly up hill
datazap.me | D E L P H I | 4th Gear Poor Mans 7670 With Meth

Here is the VD


Here is a 2,3,4 Log
datazap.me | D E L P H I | 2,3,4 Pull

Gotta say Airboy is the man, maybe I will bug Airboy to turn up the wick slightly next year since it hasn't rolled over yet.
 
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