Is my motor built?
 

I just bought a turbo BRZ. No papers but the price was too good to pass up. It has the SBD 500x kit and the install is super clean. I looked over every inch of this car and all the work (suspension, gauges, exhaust. etc.) is all done really well with nice brand name parts.

For my question....it has an ethanol gauge which leads me to believe it has an 85 tune (has an OFT) and it’s running about 12psi. I am pretty sure it’s been ran this way for the last 10k miles. (Car has 19k). It all seems unsafe for the stock motor but the car runs great and it’s FAST. I’m not too familiar with the FA20. Are there any key things to look for to figure if the motor has aftermarket internals? Will I see anything if I pop the valve covers?

Edit: It’s not running the 85 tune now but it is an option just to be more clear.
Any help is appreciated.

Hello DillonJay and welcome to our happy group - :clap:

Have you tried to contact the former owner for the answer to your question?

As far as I know, the only way you could tell whether or not the engine had been "built" would be to disassemble the engine.

If you got a really great deal on the car, I doubt it has a built engine.



humfrz

I bought the car from the second owner and he bought it this way. He didn’t know anything about it or much about cars in general. He said he didn’t change a thing on it since he bought it. I don’t think he really understood the money that someone put in the car so he had it priced low and he wanted it to go fast with winter around the corner. I asked about a previous owner but he didn’t know. He tossed all of the paperwork out that came with the car and couldn’t tell me much at all. He had papers for regular easy maintenance which helped me trust everything he said. Even paid a shop to change the battery...

But I guess the safest thing I can do is turn the boost down and treat it as if it is a stock motor. Perhaps try to continue to track down the first owner.

Not really a complete give-away, but see if the rear cam seal was replaced; it's a cheap to-do mod that most people won't pass up when they have the engine out. See if there's any ultra fresh looking RTV anywhere someone may have used.

I’ll check it out. Whoever did the work knew what they were doing so I have a hard time believing they’d run stupid boost on 85 and risk blowing it up. I mean the gauges are way better than they need to be. The coilovers aren’t a cheap setup and they are all in sleeves. Everywhere I look the more impressed I am with it.

Thanks for the help.

I highly doubt it will be a built motor. A lot of people slap turbos and superchargers on and hope nothing goes pop. I also wouldn't base gauges on whether the engine was built.

Certainly seems like they did some tasteful mods, but never ever assume they did the modifications with the interest of engine longevity in mind - It'd be far better to err on the side of caution and get it checked out. I'd have someone dissemble part of the engine and check the internals as has been suggested. Knowledge is power! Better to know what has/hasn't been done than to wonder. Definitely do not trust them to have done the build right though :)

Good plan!


humfrz

Pull fuel rail cover and check fuel injectors. If they have swapped those out, then it's more likely that you keep looking into the motor itself. If they have not been, then you most likely have a stock motor with a bolt on turbo kit.
Also, most built motors will be tuned via EcuTek.

I see you are in WI..... Whereabouts?

Do you hear piston slap during cold starts?

SBD? OFT? And you wonder if the motor is built?


Cheap is as cheap does. It's not built. And it probably wasn't the deal you imagine it to be...

Who knows, throw up some pics on here, someone might know the car and Google search the plates

What suspension does it have? Odds of your motor being built are 99:1.

https://i.imgur.com/QONVIyz.gif

Good idea, if the plates go with the car in Wisconsin. The look-em internet site may charge you a few bucks, but it would be worth it.


humfrz

What would that indicate? Seriously, I don't know - :iono:


humfrz

I oughtta :slap: ya for poo poo-ing the newbies deal.- :D

Hell, if he doesn't get crazy with it, and keeps it off the tracks, it could last quite a while.


humfrz

Forged builds have more piston to bore clearance because forged pistons expand more than cast pistons when hot, so during a cold start the forged motor will be slapping away.

Thank ya - I learned something today - :thumbsup:


humfrz

I have a friend with a 420whp brz on stock internals and he's selling it for $24k. I highly doubt your motor is built. Not to be rude, but it's a ticking bomb.

This is also why a "build" may (read: will if it's a loose build) oval out your bore, thus shortening the blocks lifespan.

Metallurgy has come along way with pistons, less expansion so a tighter tolerance is achievable.

i.e. 4032 vs 2618

Yeah...metallurgy rocks

https://www.google.com.au/amp/blog.j...%3fhs_amp=true

Thanks for the information - :w00t:

Oh, my, this more powerful engine stuff is getting complex - :confused0068:

Back-in-the-day it was simple - more displacement - more carburetors - higher lift cam = MORE POWER - :happyanim:

humfrz - lost in the 50s

Seems like most of the posts I see from humfrz reference carburetors...definitely stuck in the wrong century there.

From what I remember, if you were running 300hp atw in your V8 you were doing well, now, that 300hp is easily achievable with a 4 pot and a small charger.

I remember thinking how powerfull and good handling my 72 Holden LJ GTR with its built and cammed 202 with triple Stromies was.

It probably pushed out a whooping 200hp and weighed about 1000kg.

Or my old stockish ZD Ford Fairlaine 351 which was about 250hp at the crank and weighed about 1500kg

Both relatively on par now power to weight with my, what I consider slow, 2.0l 86

Ahhh, the good old days

At least the 86 doesn't try and kill me going around corners.


Hhmmmmm, now I want to buy a old classic Aussie muscle car, hhmmmm, if I can afford the fuel that is.

Nah, not wrong - just different - ;)

At least we didn't hafta to have a dang computer to tune up a 4-cycle, 4 stroke, internal combustion, gasoline engine - :D

And, we didn't have to take the engine out of the car and tear it all apart just to adjust the valves or replace the valve springs.

Now, who's stuck in the wrong century? - :D


humfrz

Now, ain't that the truth. While we are back-in-the-day, I remember the first car that I rode in that I thought was really fast was my friends older brothers 1957 Chevrolet 270. 283 cu in, 2 - 4 barreled carburetors (jest fer @Brink), and a higher lift cam, which that engine generated 270 HP at the crank.

Now, my FR-S is probably faster than that car was …. but, it sure don't seem like it - :confused0068:

Yep, I'd love to have one of those sitting in my garage - just something about the sound of 2, 4 barreled carbs sucking air and the sound of a 283 cu in V-8's exhaust, coming out of two glass packs, that is music to my ears.- :sigh:


humfrz

I agree, a big cubed cammed up monster lopping along at idle, nothing sounds as good.

My fav car was a friends Holden HQ ute, it had a cammed up 454, a 2 speed power glide and a straight through exhaust, that thing sounded like war on launch, and the car would rock on idle.

Sweet

This is more of a longevity thing, but I'd get it re tuned on Ecutek by one of the Ecutek master tuners (Delicious Tuning, HRI Tuning, Moto East, I'm sure I'm missing some, but you pick). OFT is fine for NA, but you'll want what Ecutek has to offer. (boost cut failsafes, switchable maps on the fly, flex fuel, etc.)

I'm not trying to sound like an Ecutek shill either. I genuinely have another enthusiast's best interests in mind here.

Does OFT lock the tune? If he doesn't have the license he could have a tough time changing anything.

If he got the OFT with the car he can flash back to stock, unmarry it from the car with the free software online, then put an Ecutek license on and go from there.

That is just it. By the original post it is hard to tell if he actually got the OFT or if it was just previously tuned with it. Something tells me from his wording that he didn't get the whole thing.

Depends on what he paid for it.

Are the rods visible once the pan is removed?

You have a point. Well in that case, time for a new ecu! :D

(kidding of course)

He said he got it for a good deal, low priced. So i doubt the motor is built.

It's not built, it has the cheapest turbo kit installed.

I'm going to side with others here -- I doubt the engine has been touched. SBD kit goes for $3k, while a built engine is going to run $8k-12k installed. In general, the OFT is what gives it away though -- Any serious engine builder isn't going to cut corners with an OFT.

OP -- I'd recommend you turn down boost for sure, at least until you know the in-and-outs of this platform and engine. Not trying to be condescending -- but the fact that there is no paperwork at all tells me that the original owner wasn't particularly concerned with the build.

Turn it down ASAP and hope there isn't already damage done.

Original owner had paperwork, 2nd owner tossed it all. OP is 3rd owner.

All the guy wanted to know was if there was some external way to identify a built motor. Now everyone's telling him he bought a piece of shit. Lmao