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Thread: Help me evaluate donors!! Checking them out in the next day or two!!

  1. #1
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    Help me evaluate donors!! Checking them out in the next day or two!!

    OK, I'm looking at two WRXs, 02 and 03, both the same price.
    03 claims:
    Spt intake, Vf39 Turbo,Front and rear kyb struts,Front and rear strut bars,Manley rods,Je pistons,Acl bearings,Gates racing timing belt kit,Jdm Subaru ra crank,Sti oil pump,Sti water pump,Sti intercooler,Perrin turbo ,nlet,Mishimoto hoses,Csf aluminum radiator ,Bps short shifter,Stage 2 clutch,Perrin Lightweight Crank Pulley,Turbo xs 4 inch bell mouth down pipe,Turbo xs 3 inch turbo back exhaust,06 sti muffler

    with 30,000 miles on the engine and a stack of receipts, but thinks the center diff might be on its way out (probably not an issue for me)

    02 claims 300/290 hp/tq at the wheels
    2.5 Sti shortblock with 2.0 heads,JE Pistons,Manley rods, Sti crank ,Race bearings,Rebuilt 02 5speed tranny (5kmiles, no receipts),New timing belt ,Invidia Catless downpipe, invidia Catless uppipe, Evo 20g turbo, 1d1000s, Walbro 255lph fuel pump, Sti tmic, Cobb 3port bcs ,Gfb hybrid 50/50 bov ,Flow master turbo back 3 inch, 07 Wrx wheels tires are about 70% tread, New axels 8k on them ,Has Lowering springs ,v2 Cobb ap

    8,000 miles on the engine but he claims to have found some metal flakes in the oil during his last oil change. His mechanic says bearings, but the build shop won't honor their warranty (seems weird, local company, great rep). Also, supposedly not making any noise yet. Now, I've seen bearings fail in a couple hundred miles, and after tens of thousands. Never at 8k. Unless he was racing those long sweeping turns I've been reading about, how much sense does this make, and what else might be likely on these motors?

    It seems like the 02 makes a better bargain, parts/mileage-wise, but if I need to replace anything other than bearings/crank it might not make sense.

    FWIW, I intend to build a reasonably comfortable 818, and won't be surprised if it's closer to 2200 pounds than 1800, with lots of daily driving where the 2.5 torque curve would be appreciated.

    Weigh in!!!

  2. #2
    fasterer and furiouser longislandwrx's Avatar
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    Built engines are always scary to buy used. Assume they are both bad, add up the price of the used salvageable parts, figure out what you can sell and then make your decision.

    Maybe the shop can shed some light on build number 2. I think option one has more value (how was it tuned?), but my choice would probably be to keep looking.
    Last edited by longislandwrx; 09-26-2016 at 03:27 PM.
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    Longisland, I've read a bunch of your build thread, and you certainly seem to know what you're doing. I appreciate your opinion and perspective...thank you. I'll call the shop tomorrow afternoon and see if they are willing to talk about it. I think this is about the best price I'm going to get for a turbo Subaru out here in the desert. Everything else is either trashed or requires shipping that makes it just as expensive. I might end up paying a little more, but I'll get to see if the parts look like they're worth using (not likely to be so rusty out here in the desert) first. I'll also be sure to ask if option one was tuned professionally.

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    Quote Originally Posted by turbomacncheese View Post
    Longisland, I've read a bunch of your build thread, and you certainly seem to know what you're doing. I appreciate your opinion and perspective...thank you. I'll call the shop tomorrow afternoon and see if they are willing to talk about it. I think this is about the best price I'm going to get for a turbo Subaru out here in the desert. Everything else is either trashed or requires shipping that makes it just as expensive. I might end up paying a little more, but I'll get to see if the parts look like they're worth using (not likely to be so rusty out here in the desert) first. I'll also be sure to ask if option one was tuned professionally.
    I'm not sure how much you're looking to spend, but BE PATIENT. I found a good donor from Copart that was from a salvage yard in Colorado (car was in Florida for a year, and Arizona prior to that). Mine was an 06 WRX (best year) and I got it delivered for $4k total (IIRC). Sold about $3k worth of parts. I had planned to rebuild the heads and replace the shortblock from the beginning, so no surprises. You can find a good donor for a good price. Just BE PATIENT.
    818S - #67 (SOLD IT!)
    Delivered: 18 November 2013
    Go Karted: 29 December 2013
    Titled/Registered: 28 March 2014
    Finished: NEVER!
    341 hp @ 4844 RPM / 389 tq @ 3717 RPM

  5. #5
    fasterer and furiouser longislandwrx's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by turbomacncheese View Post
    Longisland, I've read a bunch of your build thread, and you certainly seem to know what you're doing.
    the internet is funny that way.

    +1 what Jerome said, be patient and don't overspend on stuff you don't need.

    When is your kit ready?
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  6. #6
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    I contacted the shop that built the second engine today. He told me they use magnetic drain plugs. It's possible that what the guy is seeing is normal and he just freaked out. The other possibilities would be that he got eager and turned the boost way up with a manual controller or that he way over-revved it (not sure how many RPMs that would take). The guy on the phone confirmed that unless it's a stock rebuild, they have a guy they send cars to for tuning. He even offered to have his guys look it over, no charge if I end up buying it. I think it's also possible that the turbo is on it's way out, so I need to see if he bought that new recently or not. I think I'll still go check it out and see what kind of shape the rest of it is in. Whether it's worth the money is going to hinge on whether I can determine how likely this guy is to beat on it, I guess. Even if I have to rebuild it, if it isn't making noise or smoking AND it was actually built 8000 miles ago, I think it's unlikely to need major machining, if any at all, and most of the parts should be use-able so that's something.

    Every other donor I've seen in the last two months is either trashed, definitely needs a complete rebuild, which will cost me between 1500 and 2000 anyway. Seems like everything I find is between $5k and $7k once I add everything up, not counting whatever I can get for resale. It's possible I'll over-pay if I get one of these, but I don't think it will be by so much that it hurts my feelings a lot. I'd rather build than search, so that's worth something to me (not sure how much, lol). That said, I'm still prepared to walk away if I don't like what I see.

    I also took your advice and priced out what I could. It looks like the first guy probably did spend more money on the parts listed. I'm not sure whether that will translate into more resale, though.

    I was holding off on ordering it until I have a donor sorted out, thinking the lead time was a few months. Now I have absolutely no idea where I got that. Just did a search and found times closer to 10 months - 1 year. This might change some things for me.

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    Chatted with one of the guys today. Decided that a 2.5 with 2.2 heads is probably not a great fit for my application, and adds certain kinds of complexity that I don't think I want to deal with later. He was pretty stoked to hear what I thought of the metal in his pan, gave him some hope.

    I'm going to keep my eyes open for a 2.5 turbo. I want to build my engine. That's the part I miss the most, and I think my daughter will really get a kick out of it. It's going to cost me at least as much as buying that guy's 2.2, but it will be 0 miles and more project time.

    Also contacted factory five. Lead times are short right now, so I'm not burned. Nice.

    Thanks.

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    Did you check if Wayne has any donors available?

  9. #9
    fasterer and furiouser longislandwrx's Avatar
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    I don't think he has a Wayne donor budget.

    I posted this on your other thread, but see if you can buy this whole car from B&R

    http://www.ebay.com/itm/ENGINE-2-5L-...3D201606766931
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    Longislandwrx is right. I can only spend so much before the wife asks why I didn't just build her the hotrod Thanks for the heads up on B&R. Have you dealt with them before? Maybe if I tell him what I'm trying to do, he'll help me find a good one

  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by turbomacncheese View Post
    Longislandwrx is right. I can only spend so much before the wife asks why I didn't just build her the hotrod Thanks for the heads up on B&R. Have you dealt with them before? Maybe if I tell him what I'm trying to do, he'll help me find a good one
    Check your Inbox. I PM'd you my local guy at B&R. He's great to work with, his dad was race car builder/driver. I've bought lots of parts from him, he's always given me a fair price.
    "Good Judgement comes from Experience. Experience comes from Bad Judgement"
    Owner: Colonel Red Racing
    eBAy Store: http://stores.ebay.com/colonelredracing
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    Well, I sent the message, but they have a bunch of other parts listed for a total of $6500. Not looking good.

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