How reliable is a boosted FRS/BRZ?

[xxscaxx]

Originally Posted by King Tut

I have had my Full Blown kit for about 8 months now and 15,000+ miles. In that time I have not blown my motor, had any CELs, or any other major issues. I am fully confident in the reliability of my boosted BRZ.

I think a lot of people fail to realize besides having a solid/safe tune, it goes a LONG way into how you treat and maintain your car.

I have about 7k on my Innovate supercharge IIRC. Problem free for me. I also do not beat the living hell out of my car, and am ridiculously tedious with it, which is something many people need to be when applying boost to a car thats not meant to have it.

[King Tut]

Originally Posted by xxscaxx

I think a lot of people fail to realize besides having a solid/safe tune, it goes a LONG way into how you treat and maintain your car.

I have about 7k on my Innovate supercharge IIRC. Problem free for me. I also do not beat the living hell out of my car, and am ridiculously tedious with it, which is something many people need to be when applying boost to a car thats not meant to have it.

I agree. I wouldn't say I beat the living hell out of mine, but I get into boost almost every chance I get on my hour long commute to work each day. I don't want to make it sound like it was a set it and forget it affair though. I am not running on a basemap and have spent the time and money to ensure my tune is running properly. I have all the tools to monitor my car and ensure it continues to perform properly. I have had small issues like a coupler blowing off and have added parts like the FBM radiator and oil cooler to make sure the car runs properly. I still generally believe this motor is very forgiving and can take a proper amount of boost, fuel, and timing for a long time and many miles.

[RedAlert]

There are a couple local cars who have popped a hole in their blocks, one was Turbo'd and the other was Supercharged. I can't speak for the particulars of the two cars, but I believe they both had stock internals and both were on upgraded kits. I myself spun a bearing, but to no fault of the Vortech, I missed a shift and over revved the car, spinning a bearing, rod knock followed. Shortly my car will be back together, and my next purchase/investment will be a built motor and a backup motor. When I bought this car, I knew the platform was there to build a fun car. And it has been a great car, the reason I am not giving up on it. I was tempted to get another car. Depending on your situation, if you plan on keeping the car, and keeping it in a boosted state, then the insurance/ease of mind that a built motor provides is worth the investment, IMO. So now I am doing my research for local machine/engine shops in the Mid-Atlantic that have Subaru/Boxer motor experience. Any suggestions?

[xxscaxx]

Originally Posted by King Tut

I agree. I wouldn't say I beat the living hell out of mine, but I get into boost almost every chance I get on my hour long commute to work each day. I don't want to make it sound like it was a set it and forget it affair though. I am not running on a basemap and have spent the time and money to ensure my tune is running properly. I have all the tools to monitor my car and ensure it continues to perform properly. I have had small issues like a coupler blowing off and have added parts like the FBM radiator and oil cooler to make sure the car runs properly. I still generally believe this motor is very forgiving and can take a proper amount of boost, fuel, and timing for a long time and many miles.

I probably baby my car, but I do open it up every once and a while. Just can't help it at times

Well put though. Thats basically the point I was trying to make.

I think too many people get into the F/I scene without properly educating themselves first. Nothing wrong with learning as you go (which is what I did many years ago), but you need to be a step ahead even if only by a little.

[xxscaxx]

Originally Posted by RedAlert

There are a couple local cars who have popped a hole in their blocks, one was Turbo'd and the other was Supercharged. I can't speak for the particulars of the two cars, but I believe they both had stock internals. I myself spun a bearing, but to no fault of the Vortech, I missed a shift and over revved the car, spinning a bearing, rod knock. Shortly my car will be back together, and my next purchase/investment will be a built motor. When I bought this car, I knew the platform was there to build a fun car. And it has been a great car, the reason I am not giving up on it. I was tempted to get another car. Depending on your situation, if you plan on keeping the car, and keeping it in a boosted state, then the insurance/ease of mind that a built motor provides is worth the investment, IMO. So now I am doing my research for local machine/engine shops in the Mid-Atlantic that have Subaru/Boxer motor experience. Any suggestions?

I know many will argue with me here, and I realize its a different motor, but coming from a built EJ25, I will never touch a motor again unless pushed upon me to do so.

Nothing like spending over 10k to only realize you need to build it again. Not only that, there are not many EJ motors running around on a lot of mileage.

Too early to tell with the FA20, but I rather gamble on the stock block. Subaru put this motor together better than any engine builder can.

Curious, how much power were all three of you running? I still am a firm believer that the tune is the end all be all to keeping a motor together.

[RedAlert]

Turbo car over 400whp, Vortech stage 1+ kit guessing a little over 300whp, mine 263whp. And I agree with you about the tune, I watched my car go from 217 to 263whp on a dyno tune. Others have their opinions about Ecutech, I myself haven't had any problems and can't complain. Some might get scared when they see a motor with a hole in it. I take it as a learning experience. What was the point of failure? I've seen the OEM connecting rods, flimsy. I've seen the OEM pistons, cheap. If you wanna play you gotta pay.

Originally Posted by xxscaxx

I know many will argue with me here, and I realize its a different motor, but coming from a built EJ25, I will never touch a motor again unless pushed upon me to do so.

Nothing like spending over 10k to only realize you need to build it again. Not only that, there are not many EJ motors running around on a lot of mileage.

Too early to tell with the FA20, but I rather gamble on the stock block. Subaru put this motor together better than any engine builder can.

Curious, how much power were all three of you running? I still am a firm believer that the tune is the end all be all to keeping a motor together.

[ftc~brz]

just to clarify, the turbo car that "popped" around here was over 451whp on e85. when it shit the bed

I had cel issues, valves and cams replaced under warranty before they decided to flash the ecu. I had some hesitations about FI because of the initial issues my car gave me start day 1 but we have come a long way since then.
I supercharged then turboed. When I took the leap into FI I knew that if something breaks it's my fault and my responsibility to fix it. I agree with RedAlert you have to pay to play. But what happened to his car could have happened without FI.

Am I concerned with catastrophic failure at any given point? Yes. Every time I turn the key but that feeling is no different now than it was the first day I got it. I'm more secure now knowing I trust the hands that touch my car now than when I was stock letting the dealer babysit and having faith in a tech I knew nothing about.

If I break my car I will make it stronger than before.

[RedAlert]

Wow, I didn't know it was that much. BTW I still have your muffler. Will be returning it soon, thanks for the hook-up, much appreciated.

Originally Posted by ftc~brz

just to clarify, the turbo car that "popped" around here was over 451whp on e85. when it shit the bed

[ftc~brz]

Originally Posted by RedAlert

Wow, I didn't know it was that much. BTW I still have your muffler. Will be returning it soon, thanks for the hook-up, much appreciated.

no prob. Best thing to do is just let Brady hang on to it. I borrowed it from another red one Glad to have helped though.

[ftc~brz]

I will always be on pump gas, and I won't go over 400hp at the crank unless my internals are stronger….that's how I convince myself that everything will be okay. Only time will tell.

[Whitigir]

Actually, what I learned from my modded car is that.

1/ If you are about to Mods it, you better have some mechanical skills
2/ You are willing to pay a lot into it, for fun. What kinda fun, i don't know
3/ Absolutely will not be as reliable as stock. Because, if it comes stock, you can bring it into dealer for services, and dealer most of the time stand for their works.

Performance shops are different, and 3rd party mechanic is another off the line topic.

To sum it all up ? If you have no mechanical skills, or no time to work on your car ? don't FI it.

Principal of FI = FI is safe to use, and reliable, that is why Ford have ECOboost engines. Again, it is depend on what components and materials they are using.

One example of how horrible FI system can bring to you is when it Failed to come to a result. Somewhere on this forum, there is a topic about a guy who bought a brand-new GTR, and failed to Modify the Engine, and the Turbos and ....etc....and spent almost 750,000 on it because it kept on failing.

Last time I check, there is no insurance for that kind of spending, neither any type of warranty

In my opinion, if you are going to make money/Fun out of the FI (Mods) that you put in your car, it will be worth it, otherwise, it is a complete waste. Reliability = not as reliable as Stock

[jamesm]

i think it depends entirely on your abilities and/or those of your tuner. my car was 'professionally tuned' to run 13.5:1 afr @ 8psi WOT (at times even worse, holding in closed loop while it was at full boost). even with a tune that horrific it didn't blow up. so, at least they're not a ticking time bomb waiting for a chance to explode at low boost.

if you tune it right it won't blow up, and at least in my case it can apparently be tuned very, very, very wrong and still not blow up lol.

[Cal3000]

Originally Posted by RedAlert

There are a couple local cars who have popped a hole in their blocks, one was Turbo'd and the other was Supercharged. I can't speak for the particulars of the two cars, but I believe they both had stock internals and both were on upgraded kits. I myself spun a bearing, but to no fault of the Vortech, I missed a shift and over revved the car, spinning a bearing, rod knock followed. Shortly my car will be back together, and my next purchase/investment will be a built motor and a backup motor. When I bought this car, I knew the platform was there to build a fun car. And it has been a great car, the reason I am not giving up on it. I was tempted to get another car. Depending on your situation, if you plan on keeping the car, and keeping it in a boosted state, then the insurance/ease of mind that a built motor provides is worth the investment, IMO. So now I am doing my research for local machine/engine shops in the Mid-Atlantic that have Subaru/Boxer motor experience. Any suggestions?

Wait, I don't get it. You spun what bearing? Bearings are suppose to spin. If you miss shift, fuel cuts. You down shifted from 5th to 2nd at high speeds? I'm trying to figure out what happened. lol

[King Tut]

Originally Posted by jamesm

i think it depends entirely on your abilities and/or those of your tuner. my car was 'professionally tuned' to run 13.5:1 afr @ 8psi WOT (at times even worse, holding in closed loop while it was at full boost). even with a tune that horrific it didn't blow up. so, at least they're not a ticking time bomb waiting for a chance to explode at low boost.

if you tune it right it won't blow up, and at least in my case it can apparently be tuned very, very, very wrong and still not blow up lol.

I concur. I have found these motors to be very forgiving of mistakes in AFR or boost for short periods of time.