Engine buy or build?

[cornish6544]

Wanting either a engine rebuild or to just buy a new engine. Ideally 400-500 bhp. What is the best way to go about doing this? Should i buy one of these ready built forged engines or do i pay to get my own rebuilt? 

 

 

[aucky]

Guess that depends on a few things.are you good with spanner,do you no how to build a engine,do you want to spend the time building a engine or have it straight their.ready built i would guess have a warranty build your self anything goes wrong its start again.

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[savage bulldogs]

If you need to have the scoob on the road asap ,then buying a built engine would mean that it would be off the road for less time.

You could then sell your cdb (assuming your current engine is a cdb) to recoup some funds afterwards .

Otherwise I'd expect it to be off the road for at least a fortnight, even if the engine builder you use does the machine work "in house" . Cos if they rebuild your current block , they've gotta remove ,strip ,clean ,machine ,build and refit .

If your fairly good with a spanner you could save a bit by removing the current engine and fitting a built engine . You'd probably save another grand + if you build it yourself but (as aucky said) if it does go bang you've got no warranty to fall back on .Although I did enjoy building mine and will probably be doing another one at some point [emoji4]

You probably already know that You'll need box and clutch and brake upgrades , as well as bigger turbo and injectors too (extra £4k in parts) but just thought I'd mention it [emoji6]

Have you thought of what budget and route you'll set just for the engine ?

Best of luck whichever route you take [emoji106]

[aucky]

I have plans to build my own engine in the summer,but for me I wont have the car off the road,unless my current engine gives in, as mine engine does fairly good power am going buy another engine and just build it at my own speed in my spare time.

[cornish6544]

Bulldogs- The car is my daily driver and the aim is to stay a high powered road car but still able to have a go on a track if that makes sense. The actually buying or building a engine i cant see happening for another year or two yet so i am just planning way into the future here to make sure I'm going down the right path. My car has done just over 100,000 miles now so i feel i rebuild will be necessary in the future anyway and figured while its all out i may swell upgrade as you say ;) .

My knowledge of building a engine is very little at the moment so i would be paying a professional to do the job weather that be fitting a newly built engine or rebuilding what i already have. I do understand i need to upgrade various other components along with the engine as you mentioned i would hopefully want to get a 6 speed sti gearbox.

In terms of pricing i have no idea where to start to budget this till I've settled on buying or rebuilding :S in your personal opinion what would you do? I think the rebuilding would feel like the car isn't dying because the originally engine would be saved and keep it genuine.

 

aucky- I would be paying professionals for this i don't think i would have the time to attempt it myself wouldn't know where to start at the moment haha!

[savage bulldogs]

Unfortunately , I'd already built my engine with another v1sti long engine before I decided to save my brvs clean Shell from the scrappies . Although the engine I used was from another v1sti of the same year , it's not original.

I kept the block 2ltr and I didn't thrust convert the cdb ,which most do to take the later phase 2 onwards or 2.5ltr crank . I did have a 0.5 mm over bore done just to make sure there was no bore taper .

It depends how original you keep it but the pistons ,rods and crank would have to be "aftermarket " possibly different cams /later better flowing heads at mid 400's .

I couldn't tell you what a 400hp + safe engine would cost built but as a guide, you'd be looking at a min of 2k in engine parts /machine costs + labour and block (if your not using yours ) .

As for when I build another one, I'll probably take my engine out ,chuck a cheap engine in and turn the boost down (a lot ).

But I've pulled the motor on mine a few times now [emoji15] As i pushed a crank seal in to far when I first built mine and it chucked oil out behind the flywheel [emoji30] [emoji35] [emoji36].

From sat morning till Sunday lunchtime I'd had the engine out , back in and running up to temp 4 times till I spotted my school boy error and fixed the leak lol .

Once you've set a budget id suggest to email a few reputable engine builders , to get a idea what sort of route /spec you can afford .

[Tidgy]

The real question is how deep are your pockets?

your prob looking at 15k as a minimum to get it high 400's. people will say that's silly money, you can get it cheaper etc etc, but you find cheap tends to mean compromising and then reliability becomes an issue. List of parts soon adds up,

Block (closed deck 2,5 would be my choice), Crank, Pistons, rods, heads, turbo, ECU, injectors, fuel pump, map sensor, boost solenoid, Gearbox, Diffs, cooling (oil cooler), induction, intercooler, brakes etc etc etc 

You need to look at everything