Piston Broke – What Are My Options?

[uRaBu5]

Started the car on Thursday morning and it didn’t sound good!

Geo popped over tonight and is confident its a piston.

Looking for advice/options from people with much more knowledge than me.

Geo has suggested 1. strip and rebuild 2. a 2.5 bottom end 3. second hand low mileage engine.

Help please!

Derek

[marky.t.s]

bad news derek,sorry i cant help.

[thewelsho]

  uRaBu5 said:

Started the car on Thursday morning and it didn’t sound good!

Geo popped over tonight and is confident its a piston.

Looking for advice/options from people with much more knowledge than me.

Geo has suggested 1. strip and rebuild 2. a 2.5 bottom end 3. second hand low mileage engine.

Help please!

Derek

Oh dear. I feel your pain!

What car do you have?

EDIT: Its an RB5 right? I thought you had a Newage. I don't anything about Classics, so I'll stay out of this one.

Edited May 10, 2008 by TheWelsho

[the squiggle]

  marky.t.s said:

bad news derek,sorry i cant help.

Sorry to hear of your woes

For me it would be a 2.5 short block

Best in my opinion for cost against life expectancy of engine.

[jimser]

  The Squiggle said:

Sorry to hear of your woes

For me it would be a 2.5 short block

Best in my opinion for cost against life expectancy of engine.

bad news mate,2.5 mated to your 6 speed box would give

you a nice car to drive

[uRaBu5]

Thanks for the comments so far gents.

Regarding the 2.5 route, who would you recommend as a good supplier and any rough idea of costs.

Derek

[trackhound]

  uRaBu5 said:

Thanks for the comments so far gents.

Regarding the 2.5 route, who would you recommend as a good supplier and any rough idea of costs.

Derek

flat4online sell a 2.5 short engine delivered for £1495

[RS Grant]

Bad news about the engine.. after all the time/effort thats gone into the car too!! I would definitely go for the 2.5 short engine with some uprated internals as you've already got transmission that will cope..... the only reason I wouldnt go for a 2.5 in a Classic with a goose'd engine is the standard transmission would really struggle to take the strain but with the 6spd and 2.5, it'll be a really nice car to drive.

Think that Wuz had a 2.5 kicking about, sure that Playsatan mentioned that recently in another thread.

Cheers,

Grant

[scoobyseller555]

  Trackhound said:

flat4online sell a 2.5 short engine delivered for £1495

Pretty sure its as cheap from subaru dealer

Gav

[fai17]

Greersport has one going for £1100 m8

I didn't know you had a 6 speeder put in.

[braveheart]

Well that's not good news at all well ,go for it the 2.5 with uprated internals you know you want too ...

Hope you sort it out soon..

Chris

[colin_ross]

it's tough to advise what to do without knowing what you want from the car and what sort of budget you have. Any ideas?

[uRaBu5]

Thanks again!

Regarding budget – 2 sides to that 1 – ask the wife, just get rid of it, regards myself, have not had a lot of luck with it, 2 gearboxes and 3 clutches, but still love it!

Wasn’t planning spending a fortune until this happened but looks like i’ll have to.

Want a reliable solution and something that will last – been quoted figures from between 2 and 5k – so whatever I need to spend to get it reliable, it will have to be.

Also would like to know if I go the 2.5 route what else needs upgraded?

I wish I had the budget and experience of some of the people on here, but wife and 2 kids to support.

So in general just picking brains to find the most reliable and fun solution, from people with much more Scooby knowledge than I will ever have.

Derek

[colin_ross]

Experience is easy to find on this site, sadly budget is harder to come by (wfie and 2 kids also).

You never mentioned any power goals so I'll assume you just want to get it back to where it was a cheaply as possible. That leaves you with one option, secondhand engine. Buy local and off of people you can trust, a wanted post in the sales section can go a long way. You're other two option of rebuild or 2.5 offer a potential increase in power but at a price.

I'd be intersetdd to find out what went wrong with your old engine though as if that goes unchecked you could find yourself back at square one.

[the squiggle]

Agree with Colin that you need to find the cause of the initial failure or the replacement might go the same way no matter what route you choose

[uRaBu5]

Colin/Squiggle,

Car was running fine last Wedenesday, went golfing and brought it home, only 5 miles.

Thursday morning, started car and the engine seamed very rattly and noisey.

Phoned cusco kid and let him hear – he told me to switch it off and he would come over and check it.

He thinks that it is definitely a piston and thats wher I am now.

Yes I do want the car back up and running – not necessarily as cheaply as pos.

Worry with second hand engine, is the same thing could happen all over again.

Very tempted with the 2.5 route, extra power is always a bonus – if it breaks, upgrade and all that!

Yes but budget wise, don’t really want to start selling kids or body parts, but i’ve spent a lot so far and don’t just want to give up.

Derek

[AlanG]

Bfore you do anything, run a compression check to confirm it's a cylinder or possibly bearing issues.

[RS Grant]

Might be worth putting up the full spec list of the car as it stands just now, then would be easier to see what will/wont suit the 2.5 upgrade...... if you decide thats the way to go.

Cheers,

Grant

[fai17]

  AlanG said:

Bfore you do anything, run a compression check to confirm it's a cylinder or possibly bearing issues.

I agree to that m8

[uRaBu5]

Car spec

RB5 upgraded to full WR package

Uprated 255 Walbro fuel pump

6 speed STi Gearbox and clutch

Scoobysport snakehead 3" downpipe going to 2.5" then back to 3" Meercat Backbox

AP 330 4 pots with goodridge hosing and DS 2500 pads

Black Diamond Rear discs

Thats it at the moment.

Alan, how easy is it to get a compression test done.

As I don’t want to drive the car and Geo was pretty sure it was a piston.

Thanks again

Derek

Edited May 13, 2008 by uRaBu5

[AlanG]

Very easy to do a compression check Derek, see if you can borrow one, though they're not expensive to buy.

Not dissin Geo's diagnosis on it being a piston, it's just that you wrote *think* it's a piston, you might as well confirm it with a compression check to see if a cylinder is down and then repair the car as appropriate.

To do a check, take all the sparkplugs out, screw compression tester into one cylinder, press both clutch and accelerator pedals to the floor and turn the engine over for around half a dozen revolutions. Check the reading on the scale, press the release button on the gauge, remove and fit to next cylinder.

[AlanG]

Oh.. and i should say it does sound terminal for that engine, but it's good to know what caused the demise.

You said it ran fine on the Wednesday night and you drove it 5 miles home after golfing, but rattled it's nuts off next day. It sounds like bearings than piston, so maybe an oil level/oil pressure check is in order?

[uRaBu5]

  AlanG said:

Oh.. and i should say it does sound terminal for that engine, but it's good to know what caused the demise.

You said it ran fine on the Wednesday night and you drove it 5 miles home after golfing, but rattled it's nuts off next day. It sounds like bearings than piston, so maybe an oil level/oil pressure check is in order?

Oil pressure and level are fine, they have been checked.

Will try compression test next.

Thanks again

Derek

[higgy]

  uRaBu5 said:

Oil pressure and level are fine, they have been checked.

Will try compression test next.

Thanks again

Derek

Hey there Derek.

I have a fully forged engine (short block) forsale that would more than suit your needs, if you are interested send me your number on a pm and we can get somthing sorted.

Higgy

Edited May 13, 2008 by higgy

[the squiggle]

What turbo is on the car just now?