Has anyone had a 2.5 STi that hasn't crapped itself??

[Godzilla_88]

Hi all!

I was looking to see if there is anyone out there who has had a good experience with the 2.5 unit in the Hawkeye onwards? I bought a Spec D around a year ago and have had a niggling feeling since that it will spill it's guts at any moment! I love the car and appreciate what it can do and don't want to get rid but i'm leaning more towards selling up.

The car I have, had the ringland issue at 22k and was rebuilt under warranty. It's currently at 88k and has no symptoms of HG failure/ringland issues (touch wood!) but it would be nice to know there are some of you out there that haven't experienced any issues with their 2.5 STi's, either standard or modded (mine is bog standard.)

If anyone could give any information on cost of a rebuild from when they have had an issue, it would be much appreciated as i would like to have that buffer there should anything happen.

Cheers for any info you guys can give!

[Godzilla_88]

From the reading i've done on Scoobynet it does seem that Subaru just buried their head in the sand and refused to accept that their engines weren't as strong as they should have been. From what I remember, a lot of owners were accused of treating their cars poorly!

Nice to know that there are some examples of cars that are still going strong on standard internals! I've set my rev warning to 6k to avoid pre det by bouncing off the limiter and don't tend to drive like an idiot anyway, just the odd spurt here and there.
Now hopefully some snow will fall so I can really test out the AWD and have a play with DCCD

drumsterphil - would you be willing to give a ball park figure of what forging cost? I've had varying quotes from £2.5k - £6k. I reckon it would be a good idea to have something tucked away just in case.

[Godzilla_88]

Thanks for the input guys, much appreciated.

I understand the reluctance to buy but i got it at a steal and if I factor in 3.5-4k rebuild i'm looking at probably just shy of what market dictates a forged hawk would go for. The car has had it's ECU flashed with revised maps and i'm not sure of what it was rebuilt with as on all the invoices it's part numbers instead of names and no amount of googling brings up what they used. Most likely standard Subaru parts i'm presuming.

I have to agree with VXR, the torque of the 2.5 makes it a very usable daily which is what I use it as. When funds allow, I will be getting myself in to a forged hatch!

It's interesting that a custom map has been mentioned as being a possible solution/preventative measure, as i live within a stones throw of Andy Forrest. I might drop him an email and see if he suggests bringing it in for him to tinker with

[Godzilla_88]

drumsterphil said:

About 3.5 - 4k I think - I've had a number of 2.5 rebuilds over the years so costs have varied.

Whereabouts are you?

That's the sort of price I was thinking.

I'm in Edinburgh. I've done a bit of research and found there may be a company called AWD in Perth worth using but to be honest I'm not averse to travelling for a good garage so if you have any suggestions?

[Godzilla_88]

drumsterphil said:

I've heard of AWD but no experience or opinion on them.

I use a guy called Andy Kindon near Durham (even though I live near Lincoln) He's been building forged 2.5s for years and his experience is second to none IMO. Taken a while to find the right guy but he built the 2.5 we ran in the RB5 (which was a daily driver at 500hp) plus the Hatch STi build.

Edited by drumsterphil on Monday 8th February 19:39

Thanks for the info, Durham is only a couple of hours down the A1 so sounds like the perfect choice! I always prefer to go to garages/people that come recommended.

Out of interest, what's it like to drive an RB5 with 500bhp as a daily? It sounds like a monster!