Our engines are a german design.

[Cedars]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boxe...e#Boxer_engine

[Cedars]

http://www.revvolution.com/blog/2014...he-fa20-4u-gse

This is for the people questioning the quality of the engine. Very interesting read. They take it down piece by piece (18,000 miles on it) and inspect every single part. First class workmanship.

[NOHOME]

Subaru has transitioned to a roller rocker-style, cam lifter design, which helps reduce a friction point in the valve train. Since it’s still a solid lifter design, it’s something that, over time, will need adjustment to keep within spec. Unfortunately, the cam bridges rear their ugly heads again as you have to remove them if you want to adjust the valve clearances.

Looking forward to that dealer visit. Bet it will be cheaper to source a lower mileage engine than pay a dealer to pull the car apart for this adjustment. I am going to cross my fingers and hope that both the timing chains and this valve adjustment can be delayed to over 150,000km so they are not my problem.

What I get out of the article is that it is a neat little engine that is well built to a power and price point. Overall low weight was not a design requirement. Leave it alone and it should be fine, ask it for much more and you need to do a lot of work if you want it to survive. The open deck and thin crank present limits to pumping a lot of power out of this engine while expecting reliability.

Did anyone else notice the back end of the crank where the seal rides? That does not look good to me for what amounts to a almost new engine.



I rather enjoyed that article. It was well written and informative. I learned something that I did not know: The engine has two separate fuel injection systems.

Thanks for posting.

[Cedars]

"Leave it alone and it should be fine, ask it for much more and you need to do a lot of work if you want it to survive."

So true. Once you start playing around with the HP and the way the engine is designed to work you may get all sort of problems. I dont think its underpowered personally, I think its perfect.

[Defuser]

Yep, I am keeping mine stock for sure. My wife currently has a turbo Mazda CX-7...and let's just say it will be our last turbo powered vehicle.


If and when I want a vehicle with more power, it will have more cylinders rather than a turbo or supercharger.

[Cedars]

http://www.revvolution.com/blog/Plat...on-FRS/popular

This is where they've gone and built it I think. Didn't really read through properly.

[nikitopo]

Originally Posted by Defuser

Yep, I am keeping mine stock for sure. My wife currently has a turbo Mazda CX-7...and let's just say it will be our last turbo powered vehicle.


If and when I want a vehicle with more power, it will have more cylinders rather than a turbo or supercharger.

If you can find in future an NA engine ...

[Spartarus]

Originally Posted by Cedars

http://www.revvolution.com/blog/2014...he-fa20-4u-gse

This is for the people questioning the quality of the engine. Very interesting read. They take it down piece by piece (18,000 miles on it) and inspect every single part. First class workmanship.

It's a lot of good information, but they overlooked a HUGE amount of detail and made a TON of unsubstantiated and untested assumptions, based on experience with older, better-built cars.

Their most glaring oversight in the engine is the massively insufficient oil system. Their chosen oil cooling solution is seriously inadequate for the power they are trying to make, and the stock oil system doesn't make the volume or pressure necessary to support that power. The assumption that the oil pump is large enough simply because it supports VVT is unsuitable. It can do street pulls, and nothing else. No drag racing, and certainly not track duty.

Their worst oversight in the overall car was the transmission. Ever wonder why that revvproject BRZ series doesn't have an article about the finished car? Wonder why it ends with specifying and designing a turbo kit?

The transmission won't hold the power, it shredded the gears immediately, and 2 years later they're still working on a solution to that problem. 1 company makes a set of gears, so far nobody has installed and tested it. Fullblown a kit to adapt the Getrag v160 to the fa20, but that's rather like lashing the chariot of the gods to a donkey.

On a related note, they spend plenty of time praising the direct injection system, even though a turbo FA20 will make more power with DI deleted entirely

The closest they came to addressing some of the many quality control issues was mentioning the Subaru used "a ton" of sealant in the engine, neglecting to add that "a ton" usually means there is a healthy amount of detached sealant partially blocking the oil pump pickup strainer, and obstructing oil galleries.

I could continue for pages.

[FirestormFRS]

Originally Posted by Spartarus

It's a lot of good information, but they overlooked a HUGE amount of detail and made a TON of unsubstantiated and untested assumptions, based on experience with older, better-built cars.

Their most glaring oversight in the engine is the massively insufficient oil system. Their chosen oil cooling solution is seriously inadequate for the power they are trying to make, and the stock oil system doesn't make the volume or pressure necessary to support that power. The assumption that the oil pump is large enough simply because it supports VVT is unsuitable. It can do street pulls, and nothing else. No drag racing, and certainly not track duty.

Their worst oversight in the overall car was the transmission. Ever wonder why that revvproject BRZ series doesn't have an article about the finished car? Wonder why it ends with specifying and designing a turbo kit?

The transmission won't hold the power, it shredded the gears immediately, and 2 years later they're still working on a solution to that problem. 1 company makes a set of gears, so far nobody has installed and tested it. Fullblown a kit to adapt the Getrag v160 to the fa20, but that's rather like lashing the chariot of the gods to a donkey.

On a related note, they spend plenty of time praising the direct injection system, even though a turbo FA20 will make more power with DI deleted entirely

The closest they came to addressing some of the many quality control issues was mentioning the Subaru used "a ton" of sealant in the engine, neglecting to add that "a ton" usually means there is a healthy amount of detached sealant partially blocking the oil pump pickup strainer, and obstructing oil galleries.

I could continue for pages.

I think they know what they are doing. A small car company that has one of the most loyal customer groups in the world. The car will last for a very long time if used as intended.

[continuecrushing]

Originally Posted by Defuser

Yep, I am keeping mine stock for sure. My wife currently has a turbo Mazda CX-7...and let's just say it will be our last turbo powered vehicle.


If and when I want a vehicle with more power, it will have more cylinders AND a turbo or supercharger.

fixed that for you

[VTEC]

Originally Posted by Cedars

"Leave it alone and it should be fine, ask it for much more and you need to do a lot of work if you want it to survive."

So true. Once you start playing around with the HP and the way the engine is designed to work you may get all sort of problems. I dont think its underpowered personally, I think its perfect.

Yea everyone bitches that this engine is underpowered. But if you want the fuel economy and lighter front end of 4 cylinders, and the long term reliability of a naturally aspirated engine you rev the shit out of and not give a fuck, the FR-S and the Civic SI is as powerful as you can get. There's also the Miata which is technically less powerful but faster due to its lighter weight.

And keep in mind there's a few turbocharged sporty cars don't generate as much power. Fiesta ST, Mini Cooper S (without JCW package), Fiat Abarth, (although the Abarth sounds bad ass), BMW 320i, Audi A3 1.8T

Do I wish the FR-S had more power? Sure. You can never have enough power. I would love to hit 60mph in 5 seconds like a WRX or Gencoupe V6. But when most people drive commuter cars that take between 7.5 to 9.5 seconds to reach 60 mph, a low 6 second run in a FR-S is not that bad. Especially when you can make the engine sing up to 7400 rpm