2013 Subaru BRZ - the "salaryman" build

captainawesome said:

In reply to BoxheadTim :

If you are just putting a used engine back in, I would send it on down the road. I have zero faith in the fa20 anymore when it comes to track work,

as it's just a matter of time before bad luck starts knocking.

I see what you did there...

The plan was to make some reliability mods to any used engine before dropping it in. Basically, baffled pan, Killer B oil pickup and possibly coils. And of course a new oil cooler.

That said, I am still worried that even after making those mods on a lower mileage engine, my legendary luck will, err, knock again.

In reply to BoxheadTim :

I believe you can run an newer engine with some cam gear and sensor swapping. If you can find one with low enough miles it will probably be your best option.

In reply to captainawesome :

The 15/16s are direct drop ins and supposedly have the main issues on the 13&14s fixed (valve springs and cam followers). As you said, the 17+ can be made to work, but basically all sensors and cam gear actuators have to be swapped over. Most people seem to think it's not worth the effort.

I'm hoping to find an engine with 60k or less on it, which should be an OK balance between price and remaining lifespan. Hopefully.

In reply to BoxheadTim :

Having also grenaded an engine due to oil starvation this weekend, i feel your pain. 

Luckily. Mine is just as fragile but way cheaper than yours.

I think tge plan of pan baffles and added capacity is about the best we can do to prevent repeating it. 

I've had bad luck buying used motors.  Before you put it in, do a leakdown and compression test on it.  That way if it's bad you've figured that out before spending the time and expense to drop it in the car.

The saga so far, condensed into a video. Let's hope I didn't break the starter motor when I shot the intro sequence:

Waiting to hear back from my local shop if they're having any luck finding a good used engine. I have a lead via car-part.com on two used ones at a specialist yard near Allentown PA, but they're closed today. I'll try to call them tomorrow and see what they have to say about shipping, or if I have to drive to Allentown to pick one up if I decide to go with one of theirs.

Also, it's amazing that every thread on Frisbie-specific Reddits, FB groups and forums turns into an oil thread as soon as one mentions an engine problem. 

Something that's been bugging me for a while - when I drove the car after I put it back together and stepped on it a bit, I had noticed a noise that I thought was the airbox hitting the oil cooler fittings as the airbox had a couple of damaged mounting lugs.

With hindsight and noodling this over a bit, I'm beginning to think that this probably was the rods clearing their throats, or rather clearancing their bearings.

Oh well, that makes me wonder if there was more to the urgency of the PO trying to sell the car. Although to be fair, the oil I drained didn't look like it contained a lot of shiny metal and there was no other indication, so I'm still chalking this up to another unexplained mystery of the universe.

Engine, we haz it. Or to be more precise, the credit card bill for an engine.

Managed to find a couple of engines at a specialist yard not too far from here - one 2015 with 60k on it, one 2016 with 27k on it. While I was waiting for my mechanic to get back to me with info about what engines they were able to find, the higher mileage engine sold. Which was fine by me, I was willing to pay a few hundred more to halve the mileage. In the end, the offers my mechanic got from their suppliers were too far off what I could find, so this afternoon I pulled the trigger on the new used engine.

Now all I need to get are all the other parts that we need to replace...

The pain in the wallet deepens - ordered another set of Grimmspeed exhaust gaskets, a Verus clutch fork, a Verus clutch fork pivot and while we're in there and have the engine out, a HKS overpipe. I'm holding off on buying a clutch until we know if the engine comes with the clutch still attached or not, and what its condition is.

Just got a text from the shop that the engine has arrived. Going down there tomorrow in my lunch break to see what those four grand bought me.

Went to visit the engine at the shop and they pointed out that it didn't have a flywheel. Everything else was there, and that was on me because I didn't bother asking if they engine did come with a flywheel or not.

Other than that it looks like it's in good shape and it does look like it's a low mileage engine.

I don't necessarily want to re-use the flywheel from the existing engine as it does already have 150k on it, so I'm currently looking for a clutch and flywheel combo. Unfortunately I'm waiting for one of the vendors to get back to me regarding some parts - not only the clutch kit - and for some reason their normally very responsive salespeople don't seem to be that much in a hurry, even when you're threatening to spend several grand with them.

Today I put in what I think is going to be the last major parts order to clean up the mess.

I also made the mistake of mentally totaling up what this little escapade has cost me - just with the engine, the replacement parts and the "while we're in there" parts to hopefully improve longevity to more than ten track minutes the next time around, we're pretty close to approaching what I paid for the car. Yes, some of the parts aren't strictly necessary to get the car back on the road, but it makes sense to change out coil packs - the ones on the 2016 engine aren't compatible with the wiring harness on the 2013 car IIRC - and wear parts like engine mounts.

Oh, and that's before I even take into account the labour bill from the shop. Fortunately it's pretty simple and doesn't take that long to pull the engine and drop the new one in. One wonders why...

In reply to BoxheadTim :

For what it's worth, when I put the '16 in place of the '13 in mine, I just left everything on the engine alone including the coils and engine harness and DI computer thing on the side, plugged it all into the car, and it worked.

In reply to ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ :

Did your '16 coils/coil harness connect to your existing wiring? I was under the impression that they don't, and I didn't want to transfer the old coils over at 150k. DI drivers etc will have to be transferred over anyway as the new used engine came without one.

The coils aren't making up the bulk of the cost , it's stuff like new radiator and oil cooler and other little bits that add up. Trying to get this engine as bullet proof as I can without going overboard to avoid a repeat performance.

In reply to BoxheadTim :

The '16 engine had the full '16 engine harness on it.  The big connector on the passenger side of the engine plugged right in with no changes.

In reply to ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ :

Ah, fair enough. As does mine AFAIK. So I just bought the wrong coils. Oops.

In reply to BoxheadTim :

To be completely fair, it was pretty confusing trying to read up on it on the FT86 forums so I just decided to try it and see- I had no idea whether it would work but I'm a couple thousand miles in at this point so I'd say it seems fine.

In reply to ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ :

That's good to know - fortunately the Subaru dealer I'm getting the OEM parts from (Balise) let me remove the coils from the order I put in earlier today, just need to reorder the correct coils or see if I can survive on the coils that are on the engine. After all, they only have 30k on them.

Just don't look at the total number and than look at what other (better) cars that could've bought you instead...

In reply to docwyte :

I'm very much trying to avoid that. At the end of the day, that's the added "fun" of tracking cars, sometimes something expensive breaks.

Not only can the trunk hold four tires when the rear seat is folded down, it can also hold all the parts you may want to replace when then engine goes kaboom.

Still waiting on shipping confirmation for the OEM parts unfortunately. Guess I'll have to call them later today to see what's going on as I specifically asked them to let me know if any of the parts weren't in stock, and the order confirmation said something about the parts supposedly arriving today or tomorrow after I paid extra for two day shipping. I hate doing that, but those are the last batch of parts that we now really need.

Between the F250 having to go back to the shop a couple of days after I picked it up and the parts saga on this pile o' junk, my inverse Midas touch appears to be in full swing again.

Original ETA on the OEM parts was last week Wednesday/Thursday. I also put a note on the order asking to let me know if any of the parts were out of stock or on backorder. When I hadn't heard anything from them by last Thursday I called the dealer to find out that one of the parts was - you guessed it - out of stock with no delivery date from Subaru themselves. I didn't get an answer to the obvious question about the note on the order, but they agreed to send out the parts they had.

I did subsequently get a shipping confirmation on that Thursday and the parts were supposed to arrive today. Which seemed a bit slow given that I paid for expedited shipping, but whatever. I need those berkeleying parts because with all the delays, the shop that is doing the work can't really confirm a slot on their work schedule until they're all here.

The parcel was last seen by USPS in Jersey City, NJ last Saturday and has been marked as "in transit to the destination" since. Which switched to "It's running late" with no updated delivery date or time, which is still showing today as the delivery date. Yeah, right.

Those parts are coming from Rhode Island, and honestly I probably would've been able to get the upgraded STI versions of some of those parts from Japan without having to overnight those.

We'll gloss over the bit where I'm still waiting to hear back from several parts vendors on questions for optional/additional tuning parts. You'd think they'd be able to answer a couple of simple questions - even if the answer is "don't currently know, sorry" - when somebody threatens to drop $1500+ with them for parts and services.

And yes, I know there are issues with supply and logistics. The part I don't get is why nobody bothered to send me a quick note that I asked for, even if it was what they told me on the phone, namely that Subaru USA couldn't/wouldn't tell them when the part is supposed to arrive.

*sigh*

Tracking information has gone from showing an unrealistic date to just "running late". I don't have a really good feeling about this.

In reply to BoxheadTim :

What are you missing?  Anything I might have on hand or be able to grab from the local BRZ salvage place for you?