Blown engine. Built time?

[Theratt1]

I'm trying to get some ideas. It's not a for sure thing yet. But my buddy decided it was a good idea not to change his oil for 10k miles and spun a rod bearing. It's sitting on my garage floor right now in pieces. What are peoples opinions and experiences with MAPerformance? I was looking over their website and found a shortblock with manley internals and was wondering if any one had any thoughts on this as well as their turbo kit. The current plan of attack is prep and pricing. I don't have a definitive budget as of yet. The frs has 79000 miles so out of warranty. He's expecting a nice check in the coming months but we're not sure what the final budget will be or if he can even afford it. But Upon checking and doing some math it's estimation is around 19-21k. He has another car so that's a non issue. No rush. It's an auto and he's hoping for around 400whp. I saw the thread about the greddy transmission stuff and if it can be done I will swap in a built manual. I'd rather not have to tear into this thing for another couple years because I know this project is going to take quite a while. I was thinking 5558 precision. Maperformance shortblock and turbo kit. Use their oil pan. XT forester oil cooler setup. 3" exhaust. Currently the budget I'm looking at is around 15-16k said and done but that's an extra chunk of change for as needed parts. I just want to get a rough final tally as well as peoples opinions and maybe share some insight into tuning with ecuflash. I don't really feel like investing into ecutek at the moment. If push comes to shove brzedit may be a choice as I already have a tactrix open port from a while back when I helped another buddy build his bugeye wrx.

[Ashikabi]

I got a radiator from MAPerformance, l customer service was fine. Can't comment past that. If this guy doesn't change his oil regularly... should he really have a built turbo anything?

[Theratt1]

I've already corrected that mistake and now he knows he needs to change it every 5k max especially with a turbo engine.

[sam69]

Go for an LS2 or 3 imo the more I learn about subie engines the less I like em .

[MAPerformance]

I would be happy to answer any questions you may have sir

[raven1231]

Maperformance is a great company and Ian is awesome. If I was looking for a block it would be purchased from them.

[Theratt1]

At sam I was considering ls2 swap or 5.3l since I have experience with those already. But then I need a racepak etc. So I'm leaning towards fa20 built. And if I do order after checking around I believe maperformance will be the place. Right now I'm still doing research and positive after positive review so map it is. Another question is what kind of power can an auto handle? I'm curious if I can make that work or if a manual swap is a must. I may look into doing a t56 if I can find a bellhousing adapter.

[cf6mech]

Just my opinion only,.....but I wouldn't waste my time or money on this engine......I would keep the drive train OEM.

[Theratt1]

Well it's not much more to get a built fa20 than it is to get an oem shortblock. So I don't even know why not to just upgrade.

[cf6mech]

Just don't think the design of this engine handles boost very well reliable.....specially in the 400whp past 10psi of boost range.....you may in a short time find yourself spinning another rod bearing and doing it all over again......that would really suck.....unless your hobby is tearing down engines on a regular basis.....this is flaming material of those who have reliable but I'm afraid it's the exception not the rule.

[weederr33]

I say build it, boost it, but don't go too crazy. Like something humble around the 300whp maybe 350whp.

[Dream20b]

UPGRADE TIME!

[Theratt1]

There's a reason I've considered maperformance. But I'd like to find out what else can be done to handle the extra pressure on the bearings when boosted. The plan so far is build and boost. But I'm still trying to sort out the transmission issue. I'm not a subaru specialist. I've built an ej205 with a vf34 and that was fun but by no means am I going to try and build an fa20. Tight tolerances and that aside. I think it's easier to just buy a built engine and go from there. I'm not exactly on a strict budget this time. That 205 I built was for under 2 grand with spare parts buddies had laying around and I built it for someone else. That transmission went out real quick to. But wrx transmissions aren't known for their strength. I'm honestly wondering whether to swap in manual or stay auto and throw a converter and valve body at it. I was looking at ssp torque converter and valvebody mods. A little expensive but compared to 4l60e's and 80's I'm not familiar with a960e's. I built my 4l60e with all the goodies for under 3 grand. But No clue on the a960e. But another problem is I keep hearing about the aisin 6 speed breaking on these. So. What are my options is really what I'm asking. I was thinking about getting a t56 my buddy has from his gto he wrecked. But I need a bellhousing adapter. I know the t56 gto version will line up with the stock shifter location so I've been told.

[Theratt1]

Ohh this is hilarious. I busted the case halves apart tonight out of boredom. 3 bearings are spun. 2 rod bearings and a main journal bearing. Crank is unusable. Of course. Case is cracked internally to an coolant passage. Odd but that would explain the little bit of coolant in the oil when I ripped it out. I think it may need a set of heads to. Haven't ripped out the cams yet but from the initial view it's absolutely nasty.