How many miles FA20 engines can survive with track use?

[WNDSRFR]

It will last 100,002 miles.
That's it.

[NoHaveMSG]

Originally Posted by WNDSRFR

It will last 100,002 miles.
That's it.

[WNDSRFR]

Or
160,937.619 kilometers. Depending on where you are.

[Takumi788]

I have 50k miles on my supposedly cursed, recall ridden model year 2013. 15-20k of those are very hard track miles.

Like others said, maintenance is key. Limiting your tire selection to 200tw tires doesn't hurt either.

My maintenance schedule on my track only car is oil change every 6ish track days (averaged about 25-30 track days/year in 2017-2019), brake fluid once at the beginning of the season and again somewhere around June/July. Diff and trans fluid at the beginning of every year. Seems to be working good.

After seeing blown up subies and reading all the FA horror stories I have started to think that I am on borrowed time. But she just keeps going.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by Takumi788

I have 50k miles on my supposedly cursed, recall ridden model year 2013. 15-20k of those are very hard track miles.

Like others said, maintenance is key. Limiting your tire selection to 200tw tires doesn't hurt either.

My maintenance schedule on my track only car is oil change every 6ish track days (averaged about 25-30 track days/year in 2017-2019), brake fluid once at the beginning of the season and again somewhere around June/July. Diff and trans fluid at the beginning of every year. Seems to be working good.

After seeing blown up subies and reading all the FA horror stories I have started to think that I am on borrowed time. But she just keeps going.

When you look really really close at these stories you see that there are maybe a couple of hundred actual individual issues resulting form the cars themselves. They just get told so loudly and repeated so often it looks like far more. Even the recall failures are a drop in the bucket compared to how many must have been done.
The reality is we are probably looking at well under 1% that had failure due to actual defects in parts or design. This is in line with any other car ever made, even the mythically "bullet proof" ones of fanboi lore.
The number due to driver abuse/screwups, poor maintenance, bad modifications (tunes, overboost, etc) and other issues not related to the actual cars will be the vast majority.

[NoHaveMSG]

Originally Posted by Takumi788

I have 50k miles on my supposedly cursed, recall ridden model year 2013. 15-20k of those are very hard track miles.

Like others said, maintenance is key. Limiting your tire selection to 200tw tires doesn't hurt either.

My maintenance schedule on my track only car is oil change every 6ish track days (averaged about 25-30 track days/year in 2017-2019), brake fluid once at the beginning of the season and again somewhere around June/July. Diff and trans fluid at the beginning of every year. Seems to be working good.

After seeing blown up subies and reading all the FA horror stories I have started to think that I am on borrowed time. But she just keeps going.

That is why I am plasti gauging my rod bearings this winter along with doing a leakdown and compression test. I've seen enough oil starvation on track that I am considering that maintenance with this engine being over 100K. That being said, I have seen oil pressure dropout into the teens and single digits a lot and it is still going.

[Takumi788]

People have such a negative opinion on the FA that running engines go for relatively cheap. I refuse to rebuild one of these. I will just swap in a running one (prob a 2017+ engine) when the time inevitably comes.

Side note: I met a guy at a track that had an IAG engine and I could not believe how much he paid for it. I can swap in used engines 3 times before I got to that amount!

[NoHaveMSG]

Originally Posted by Takumi788

People have such a negative opinion on the FA that running engines go for relatively cheap. I refuse to rebuild one of these. I will just swap in a running one (prob a 2017+ engine) when the time inevitably comes.

I'd prefer not to risk losing another engine on track. If the rod bearings look slightly worn and on the looser side of spec, I will swap another set in and call it a day. If they look bad I will likely just get a new short block. Checking the rods should be doable with just pulling the upper pan assembly off.

[TommyW]

Originally Posted by Takumi788

I have 50k miles on my supposedly cursed, recall ridden model year 2013. 15-20k of those are very hard track miles.



After seeing blown up subies and reading all the FA horror stories I have started to think that I am on borrowed time. But she just keeps going.

You should be in the clear after the recall.

Clean, properly filled oil= longevity.

The recall issues were a roll of the dice. Either the tech knew what he was doing or he didn't. Mine didn't. 3K miles in and that was all she wrote. To add insult to injury he didn't tighten the clutch fork so in the middle of the freeway with a rod knocking, the clutch went out in the middle of stopped traffic.

[Chuckls]

Originally Posted by jflogerzi

You are pretty lucky. Boost is a crap shoot with these motors and at near 400WHP guessing your in the 15-18PSI range

Yeah I know I have been damn lucky. 14.5 PSI. Full send through Road Atlanta / AMP. Hitting up Barber at the end of the month.

Money shifted it to what appeared to be 9k once. That was a scary event.

[x808drifter]

PSI means nothing.
14.5PSI out of a 13G is not the same as a a GT286 or a GT3582.
That number also changes with mods.
PSI is just a measure of restriction.

The actual power output is what really maters in this case.

[jflogerzi]

If I ever boost my FA20 its going to be a baby turbo with boost by gear and a damn good tune targeting around 300WHP and 230-250WTQ on e85

[blsfrs]

Originally Posted by NoHaveMSG

That is why I am plasti gauging my rod bearings this winter along with doing a leakdown and compression test. I've seen enough oil starvation on track that I am considering that maintenance with this engine being over 100K. That being said, I have seen oil pressure dropout into the teens and single digits a lot and it is still going.

Have you thought anymore about an Accusump? I'd be curious to see if it would keep you out of the single digits.

[Sasquachulator]

Originally Posted by WNDSRFR

It will last 100,002 miles.
That's it.

It'll completely fall apart into a mess of liquids and shredded metals the EXACT MOMENT you hit that mileage.

So be prepared for that inevitablity.