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Long time wrenchers, new members with 2 new project cars.

1K views 14 replies 4 participants last post by  LucoreRacing 
#1 ·
After years of building Subaru toys for everyone else around central Ohio it finally became time to build a couple of our own as shop cars. First under the knife was Project Frankenwagen which is an 04 Forester XT we picked up with a blown motor and turbo. Motor was rebuilt over the past two weeks in down time and we are now feeding her lungs with a VF39 turbo. Full turbo back exhaust, up pipe and modified headers from an STI provide the air in/out we need to make some solid power. She's currently on just the engine break in time before a tune goes on and we see what's what.

At the end of last week we also picked up a very dead 04 WRX Sportwagon in WRB with a motor that won't start, broken front springs and front clip, clutch/pressure plate/flywheel that are all fused together after some what we would assume was some late night fun. Unloading it at the shop around 530, with a nice dinner break we had the engine removed and began the tear down during a late night wrenching session. There are several different directions this car could go in, AutoXer, parts go getter, drag car, or just something fun to cruise in on Ohio nights.

Photos soon to come!
 
#4 ·
Many updates to post, we've been quite busy on the Subaru front! Project Frankenwagen is completed as of last night other than picking out what wheels/tires we want to go with... I'll bring you all up to speed on that guy if you folks would like though its a Forester :)

As for the WRB Sportwagon... just finished the engine build late last night. Will post up some photos here shortly. A little bit of back story on the car first shall we?



At just under a 100k on the clock she was "run hard and put away wet" and is the case with many of these stories it "ran when parked". The body was pretty clean, liked the stance, figured we would take a shot on it even though the engine wouldn't turn over. So onto the back of the trailer it went for the trip back to the shop..putting her up on the lift that evening we pull the oil pan to find..
 
#5 ·




As you can see there's some serious gold black and silver metal shavings in that pan so, turn her over and inspect the damage. One of the bearings were more or less completely destroyed, several of the others were so far beyond comfortable wear... she probably made a loud bangy death rattle "when parked"
 
#6 ·


At the point when your rods won't really rotate on the crank you've got a BIT of a problem, 3 of them had to be beaten off with a hammer they were so badly warped.




As you can see, this bottom end is more than a little shot. Another example, check out these ringlands! The combination of a bad tune, driving to hard, and WAY too much boost took this things to its grave. However, with death it can just be an opportunity for a rebirth ;) In true gear head fashion she will be coming back to life bigger badder faster stronger for what is an engine failure than an excuse to upgrade? ;)
 
#7 ·


So, with that off to get some machining done goes the block and heads! Start ordering some go-fast parts and begin the rebirth! Once she's back together, go through the break in period and she'll be for sale... just in case anyone was in need of a brand new 04 Sportwagon with a "few" upgrades ;)

Also, follow us on Instagram under LucoreRacing for continual updates!

 
#9 ·
Only took the one side shot of the completely trashed ringlands. The former owner of this ride did a very good job of making sure it died a loud and terrible death. Pistons were fried, massive scoring of the cylinder walls, rods hosed, bearing ground down to nearly nothing, turbo oil starved and cooked... all in all it was a very unpleasant teardown.

Clutch was worn down so far it was past the wear grooves, past the rivet heads and into the actual rivets themselves. We literally had to pound them apart to get it to separate from the flywheel they were fused together.
 
#12 ·
Zax my guess would be: because race car/because teenager.

OP Nothing wrong with posting up a Forester build. May i also suggest making build threads under the "Builds" section. That way more members will be able to see the good work you are doing.
 
#14 ·
As for how the damage was done, stock injectors, manual boost controller, and a 20g turbo I have a feeling had something to do with it ;) There's also rumors that someone was doing some AWD donuts in the snow last winter... sooo... bang it off the limiter a bit under massive boost and eventually its going to go pop :)

I'll toss up a picture of the Forester also, just finished off the suspension the other day and very happy with her. She's quite a mean little parts go-getter :)

Build thread here we come!
 
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