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GRB Engine Rebuild


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So my  beloved JDM GRB has done a big end bearing. Looks like time for a rebuild. This is totally way over my head so I need to find a shop to do the work. Does anyone know where in the Hawke's Bay that could take this on? I've been talking to PBMS. They have been really helpful but the distance is a problem with the rebuild. The engine is out of the car and with my mechanic so I'm thinking I could take it somewhere to be rebuilt. The last resort would be shipping to someone else in the country.  Any suggestions is appreciated.

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mhm, maybe give WRC Developments a call? I don't know much about them, but they're in Napier? 

 

Sending an engine Away is also a good choice to be fair. Taylor Automotive in auckland, @SAS  Their facebook here in christchurch, SpeedHub MotorSport in Auckland, of course theres also @PBMS as they're coming back into the scene strong recently. 

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Just for stats purposes, if you don’t mind:

 

kms?

engine mods / tune?

oil change interval / oil weight? / check oil level regularly?

 

Theres been talk on other forums of why these motors spin bearings (oil too thin, high load on motor etc)

 

No recommendations other than Subtech who are in Auckland, I second freighting the motor to a reputable mechanic / Subaru specialist 

 

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Thanks for the quick response guys.  As for the engine, it's done 127,000km. Oil changed every 7000km. Valvoline Synpower 5w-40. Genuine oil filter. Yes checked regularly. In fact I checked it the day before. It didn't use oil (I hardly ever needed to top it up before the next change). Oil always looked good when drained. 

 

I'm the first NZ owner and had it tuned for 95 when I got it. Running Ecutek fine for 3 years then decided to do fuel pump, catless PBMS downpipe and Grimmspeed EBCS recently. Did the bearing while doing a logging pull for the tuner. He's looked over the logs and can't see anything in the tune that would cause it. I have no reason to doubt him either. I think the age/ k's of the engine plus a redline run in third gear probably didn't help the health of the engine. Had another 1500k's before next oil change. 

 

I've never tracked the car, just did 1 quarter mile event at local car club. Was a total of 4 runs. I absolutely baby this thing, it's only got close to redline while doing pulls for the tuner!

 

Apparently new replacement short blocks are not available from Subaru. 

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Who was the tuner? Assume you're talking e-tuning? Even honest ones won't always tell you they pushed a bit fast to try get the tune sorted a few revisions early.

E-tunes are a bit risky for big mods but those fall into the first step kind of category that shouldn't be a problem for the tuner to get right.

It does only take one decent knock event to do the damage though.

Should be able to scroll back through the logs yourself to check on any instance where it pulled a bunch of timing.

 

Also new short locks are very definitely available new in NZ. If you have no intention of pushing things much further a new factory short block isn't a terrible idea. Chuck in some forged pistons as they're a typical weak point and you'll be away laughing.

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2 hours ago, Andy_Mac said:

Who was the tuner? Assume you're talking e-tuning? Even honest ones won't always tell you they pushed a bit fast to try get the tune sorted a few revisions early.

E-tunes are a bit risky for big mods but those fall into the first step kind of category that shouldn't be a problem for the tuner to get right.

It does only take one decent knock event to do the damage though.

Should be able to scroll back through the logs yourself to check on any instance where it pulled a bunch of timing.

 

Also new short locks are very definitely available new in NZ. If you have no intention of pushing things much further a new factory short block isn't a terrible idea. Chuck in some forged pistons as they're a typical weak point and you'll be away laughing.

I'm not going to name names here at the moment. I've used them before and was very happy with their professionalism and actual results. Yes it was an e-tune. I have the log of the last run that ended in tears.

 

I've spoken to two different places that have said the short block isn't available. Mine is the EJ207 W20C. The new short blocks I've found are the S20C version. If you are sure the W20C short block is available please tell me where to buy it! I'm not after an engine with heaps of power, I thought a downpipe and fuel pump isn't over the top.

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WRC developments I have heard good things over the years. 

PBMS is doing my current build so are an option. 

My current motor was a subtech/dodsons rebuild. 

 

Freight is cheap just find a old pallet and strap the motor down on a few wooden blocks where the mounts would go. Just need a saw and spare wood from anywhere. 

 

Being exited files can you compare them or are they protected. 

 

Did the tuner alter the wastegate duty before you did the run?

those aftermarket solenoids change the boost level and so does the downpipe. 

If you had a tune to turn up the boost already it could have gone pretty high with that combo. 

 

Was it #4 bearing?

 

 

 

Edited by Gripless
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Ahh always forget the w20c is standard on the GRB’s.

Should still be possible to get though. 

WRC developments or another race shop may be able to get one. There’s a lot of stuff they don't sell to people off the street but can be sourced other ways. 

 

Ask them if they can get this part number

10103AC510

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I'm gonna play devils advocate and say that unless you can find something else that killed it (failed injector or something) then it almost certainly was the tune, a little bit of knock will savage your big ends. Relatively low kms and power to have it run a bearing.

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1 hour ago, boon said:

I'm gonna play devils advocate and say that unless you can find something else that killed it (failed injector or something) then it almost certainly was the tune, a little bit of knock will savage your big ends. Relatively low kms and power to have it run a bearing.

I was thinking along similar lines, and that it had all the ingredients to have a long lasting engine, until I read the E-tune part.

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2 hours ago, pl0x said:

I was thinking along similar lines, and that it had all the ingredients to have a long lasting engine, until I read the E-tune part.

100% would never get an e tune. Think about it, you’re getting someone setup a file to run your car without being able to test it / see how it reacts and make more adjustments. At the very least a road tune should be done and if you’re after big changes then go all out on a dyno tune.

 

Quite often tuners will set up a base tune with the car idling / revs before putting power down and beginning the actual tune on the dyno 

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6 minutes ago, wrcfan21 said:

I've got the log to post up but having trouble inserting the images. It's hosted on Flickr

copy the image URL, paste into the box after clicking on insert image. Delete anything that isn’t “https://www.theimagehostingsite.com/nameofimage.jpg”

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Are you on a phone using an app or the usual website? A LV screenshot would be good to see too.

 

For a log uploading it to Google Drive then sharing the link is usually the easiest way.

 

You don't have to use the insert into post button, for most things you can just paste the URL straight into the post body and the site auto-embeds

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33 minutes ago, wrcfan21 said:

Yip that was the last log before the engine let go. Like I said previously the tuner looked over the log and couldn’t see anything dodgy. I have no reason to doubt his word.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

To be fair the GRB STI is a bit of a ticking time bomb, the one I had blew up on the guy I sold it to around 10,000kms later (guy looked like an idiot to be fair). I did 5 pre-purchase inspections when i was trying to find one a year or so later, but they were all junk and ended up buying a WRX instead (GVE). The last STI I checked only had 90,000kms on the clock and one cylinder was down to about 80Psi, didn't even bother with a leak down test.

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49 minutes ago, pl0x said:

When maintained and tuned correctly for the fuel they run, they shouldn't really have issues at factory power levels.

"Shouldn't" - correct, "Have" - evidence suggests (debatable - Subaru motor is quite sensitive)

 

Was a class action lawsuit in America regarding piston rings, slightly different to bearings but the conclusion was more or less "poor / inadequate design"

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