To Rebuild or not, but with no Experience with Engine Rebuilds

[Breadman]

Kswap it. I paid for an IAG long block and have a c38 with hbp and regret not kswapping it after seeing how easy it was on the boostedboiz youtube. also if you want a shortblock i have a 17+ from a donor motor in my garage

[NoHaveMSG]

Originally Posted by jrhudson

that short block is trashed. maybe your heads are useable wont know until the teardown. i would put that on the back burner after you pull out the motor. id focus on trying to find a good longblock near you.

This is a good point. Even if the heads are not damaged the AVCS is quite sensitive. You would want to fully disassemble them, clean all the passages, replace the filters for the AVCS, pull the cam sprockets apart and clean them too.

[jrhudson]

Originally Posted by NoHaveMSG

This is a good point. Even if the heads are not damaged the AVCS is quite sensitive. You would want to fully disassemble them, clean all the passages, replace the filters for the AVCS, pull the cam sprockets apart and clean them too.

i agree 100%. man, you just listing what to do gave me ptsd. cleaning those parts took a while not to mention all other parts on the heads. cam carrier, cam caps, shims, roller rockers, oil spout things, cams.

[NoHaveMSG]

Originally Posted by jrhudson

i agree 100%. man, you just listing what to do gave me ptsd. cleaning those parts took a while not to mention all other parts on the heads. cam carrier, cam caps, shims, roller rockers, oil spout things, cams.

I forgot that you went through this all with your car.

[Ultramaroon]

It is a great project if all priority is given to getting each step just right, and no thought to schedule.

[vfrqqq]

Regarding whether to go back to FI, I appreciate the feedback and recognize that people ask these open-ended type of please-tell-me-categorically-whether-I-can-I-safely-do-this questions all the time on this forum, so I also appreciate you indulging me. I know at the end of the day I have to be comfortable with whatever I do and, even before this, I gained a healthy appreciation for the risk I was taking. So I know that, ultimately, if I don't want to worry about reliability, I shouldn't move away from OEM. At a minimum, if I even considered going back to FI, I would omit the FlexFuel capability.

[vfrqqq]

Originally Posted by Breadman

Kswap it. I paid for an IAG long block and have a c38 with hbp and regret not kswapping it after seeing how easy it was on the boostedboiz youtube. also if you want a shortblock i have a 17+ from a donor motor in my garage

I had considered potentially doing a Kswap, but it's too expensive for me. If this was a project car and I wasn't trying to get my DD back, I would definitely consider it. However, I was also under the general impression that, even with the K-Power Industries 86 Kswap kit, there are lots of important details to pay attention to that can make or break the build, versus swaping out my old engine with a used long block of the same vintage. Granted there seems to be a fairly decent sized kswap community for the BRZ on this forum and I haven't seen any of the boostedboiz youtube content, but the potential difficulty and especially the cost have generally steered me away from a Kswap.

[vfrqqq]

Originally Posted by jrhudson

i agree 100%. man, you just listing what to do gave me ptsd. cleaning those parts took a while not to mention all other parts on the heads. cam carrier, cam caps, shims, roller rockers, oil spout things, cams.

Would you also do this for a used long block from a salvage or, further still, tearing down a used engine to visually inspect it and then reassembling it? That's obviously the surest way to assess the state of the engine, but it would also seem to defeat the purpose of getting a long block in the first place so that it would stay buttoned up.

[vfrqqq]

Originally Posted by Ultramaroon

It is a great project if all priority is given to getting each step just right, and no thought to schedule.

I would personally love to take something like this on, but unfortunately I am going to be schedule-limited.

[Ultramaroon]

Originally Posted by vfrqqq

I would personally love to take something like this on, but unfortunately I am going to be schedule-limited.

Yeah. That was the main point of contention I read in your OP. Otherwise, I get the impression that you are a great candidate. I'm sure that, even with swapping long blocks, it will be a rewarding experience. Looking forward to following along if you decide to do it.

[brandonblt2]

Originally Posted by vfrqqq

Regarding whether to go back to FI, I appreciate the feedback and recognize that people ask these open-ended type of please-tell-me-categorically-whether-I-can-I-safely-do-this questions all the time on this forum, so I also appreciate you indulging me. I know at the end of the day I have to be comfortable with whatever I do and, even before this, I gained a healthy appreciation for the risk I was taking. So I know that, ultimately, if I don't want to worry about reliability, I shouldn't move away from OEM. At a minimum, if I even considered going back to FI, I would omit the FlexFuel capability.

Do you have a backup reliable DD? If not I would get one if you plan on adding FI again. My Brz was my DD until I supercharged it then I brought a cheap 07 honda civic as a reliable cheap DD for when I ran into issues. Realistically if you plan on adding FI again your car is a project car so reliability is out the window.

[vfrqqq]

Originally Posted by brandonblt2

Do you have a backup reliable DD? If not I would get one if you plan on adding FI again. My Brz was my DD until I supercharged it then I brought a cheap 07 honda civic as a reliable cheap DD for when I ran into issues. Realistically if you plan on adding FI again your car is a project car so reliability is out the window.

I'm probably just going to get a backup, reliable DD as learning to work on this car has been as fulfilling for me as driving it. Especially since this will likely be my last hoorah with an ICE vehicle.

[Breadman]

Originally Posted by vfrqqq

I had considered potentially doing a Kswap, but it's too expensive for me. If this was a project car and I wasn't trying to get my DD back, I would definitely consider it. However, I was also under the general impression that, even with the K-Power Industries 86 Kswap kit, there are lots of important details to pay attention to that can make or break the build, versus swaping out my old engine with a used long block of the same vintage. Granted there seems to be a fairly decent sized kswap community for the BRZ on this forum and I haven't seen any of the boostedboiz youtube content, but the potential difficulty and especially the cost have generally steered me away from a Kswap.

building a built long block + boost parts + supporting mods cost me what it would be to get a plug and play kswap

[vfrqqq]

Fair point if you're comparing to a built FA20 long block. I've decided to get a spare DD to relieve any time pressure, so now that my BRZ is a project car, I need to decide what my ultimate goals are relative to how much I'm willing to spend.

As far as a K-swap is concerned, I guess the other major investment I'm personally concerned about in going to a different platform is the time will take for me to educate myself to the point where I would feel relatively comfortable with potential issues, design, engineering of a different platform. Aside from familiarizing myself with the K24 platform, I would need to ensure I'm comfortable with all the steps in the 86 K-swap instruction manual or that I'm willing to take the time to learn some stuff so that I'm hopefully doing it right. $10k for the KPower 86 swap kit, plus another $2k to $3k (that seems to be reasonable for what I've found online) for a decent K24A2 is a lot of money and, while I am mechanically inclined and I'm willing to go in with an optimistic attitude, the reality is I've never torn down/built an automobile engine and it's not clear whether the the K24 a good platform to learn on? So it's a bit of leap and, while I appreciate how much of a help a sizeable community with lots of helpful knowledge and support can get you in a project like this, it's daunting to think I could be, say, $13k+ into the project and run into a problem that I have take to a professional to be sure I'm not going to screw it up. Then the question becomes how much more money am I willing to spend since I'm already committed.

Anyway, just thinking out loud to help process the decision.