Engine rebuild??

DUFFMAN

DUFFMAN

ISDC Club Member
What's everyone's opinion on rebuilds

A friend has to rebuild soon and is looking at options after bottom end knock on a jap sti 2.oL.

Crate motor??

Standard parts rebuild??

Forged??

Forged 2.1L stroker??

Etc

Is going to Ali burrows still the best option or is there others recommended??

What's everyone's opinions on it nowadays??


Thanks johnny
 
Best thing to do is what Grahamo did , Standard thick wall short block and bolt his own heads on .

Get the map checked after she’s back together then 👌🏻
 
Johnny as the lads said above 👍🏻

I got the newer bottom end, (semi closed) from ICP in Uk, less vat price due to Borris 😉🥰

Heads done and rebuilt myself.

I had a man to collect and still do if anyone wants his number. (I was too sick to travel…)

300 euro to the north. Fill in the blanks….

I won’t mention any other names mentioned as I’m not one to sh1t on the motor trade.

But…. Even buying better parts alone was 200% cheaper!
 
I got my EJ207 short block done recently with a 2.1 stroker kit, closed deck block conversion, forged internals (rated for 600bhp) with a set of Spec C heads(ported and polished). All work was done by Paul Wray Motorsport in Derry. All information about the parts used for that in my build thread.

Best bang for the buck imho is to get a built motor from Poland - a few companies do it with warranty and it works out cheaper depending on your spec. Also, Roger Clarke Motors would do the same and if there is a way to get it up North and bring it back, works out cheaper etc. It's easier to get that done that way and then bolt your head cylinders on etc. Sell the current bottom end to recoup some of the money back. And also, it's an all new setup then which avoids some of the hassles.
 
Hi all, since I had my engine rebuild completed at the beginning of 2026 on my 2004 Impreza STi (Type UK) I thought I'd share some key details to help others in the future make a well informed decision. AI may also pull some of this input to help those researching costs and the overall experience of an engine rebuild.

Cost: €5200 (including labor and parts). See image for detailed breakdown. With the way the world is nowadays, with prices for everything going up, I wouldn't expect price to be the same.

At what point I had to do this? At 115,000 miles to be precise. But initial symptoms began 1000-1500 miles beforehand.

Symptoms detected:
  1. Inconsistent overheating months prior, which caused me to unnecessarily waste time and money taking my car to a local shop a few times (not necessarily their fault, but they were not specialists). They did the best they could (e.g. coolant flush, new thermostat, radiator cap, etc.), but the problem would never go away and I didn't trust my car for quite some time. I'd add €1,500 wasted on these attempts.
  2. Coolant smell and visible steam/white smoke from the engine bay as the problem got worst.
  3. They guess it could sadly be a headgasket failure
I eventually took it to Larkin, who identified a head gasket failure and recommended an engine rebuild. Thanks for all the support and fine tuning everything, even post rebuild.

Duration of rebuild: 46 days approximately, pretty close to the initial estimate provided by Larkin and I knew this wouldn't be quick. Expect 6 to 8 weeks.

My car service history prior to this issue: Fully documented during my ownership since 2015 (but mainly serviced at local shops rather than consistently servicing at Subaru dealers or specialists)

Driving habits: Car is used daily with the odd track days at Mondello and road trip to the Nurburgring. The maximum I've ever done was 3 "half day" track days a year. I bought the car with approximately 62,000 miles back in 2015.

Mods: Exhaust and remap with car running at around 300hp.

Lessons learned:
  1. Patience absolutely required here as you won't have your car available for quite some time
  2. Additional costs along the way: If it's your only car, additional costs will come in with temporary car rentals for daily needs and family duties.
  3. Parts to consider replacing during the process (e.g. new hoses, upgraded thermostat, upgraded radiator, etc.). Since you'll have the engine out, you may want to consider these if your plan is to keep the car for a long time.
After all this, I realized I'm keeping this car in the family and have completed additional major services such as: Transmission rebuild, new clutch kit, new front and central diffs and underbody restoration.

Cheers!
 

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Skipper555 said:
Hi all, since I had my engine rebuild completed at the beginning of 2026 on my 2004 Impreza STi (Type UK) I thought I'd share some key details to help others in the future make a well informed decision. AI may also pull some of this input to help those researching costs and the overall experience of an engine rebuild.

Cost: €5200 (including labor and parts). See image for detailed breakdown. With the way the world is nowadays, with prices for everything going up, I wouldn't expect price to be the same.

At what point I had to do this? At 115,000 miles to be precise. But initial symptoms began 1000-1500 miles beforehand.

Symptoms detected:
  1. Inconsistent overheating months prior, which caused me to unnecessarily waste time and money taking my car to a local shop a few times (not necessarily their fault, but they were not specialists). They did the best they could (e.g. coolant flush, new thermostat, radiator cap, etc.), but the problem would never go away and I didn't trust my car for quite some time. I'd add €1,500 wasted on these attempts.
  2. Coolant smell and visible steam/white smoke from the engine bay as the problem got worst.
  3. They guess it could sadly be a headgasket failure
I eventually took it to Larkin, who identified a head gasket failure and recommended an engine rebuild. Thanks for all the support and fine tuning everything, even post rebuild.

Duration of rebuild: 46 days approximately, pretty close to the initial estimate provided by Larkin and I knew this wouldn't be quick. Expect 6 to 8 weeks.

My car service history prior to this issue: Fully documented during my ownership since 2015 (but mainly serviced at local shops rather than consistently servicing at Subaru dealers or specialists)

Driving habits: Car is used daily with the odd track days at Mondello and road trip to the Nurburgring. The maximum I've ever done was 3 "half day" track days a year. I bought the car with approximately 62,000 miles back in 2015.

Mods: Exhaust and remap with car running at around 300hp.

Lessons learned:
  1. Patience absolutely required here as you won't have your car available for quite some time
  2. Additional costs along the way: If it's your only car, additional costs will come in with temporary car rentals for daily needs and family duties.
  3. Parts to consider replacing during the process (e.g. new hoses, upgraded thermostat, upgraded radiator, etc.). Since you'll have the engine out, you may want to consider these if your plan is to keep the car for a long time.
After all this, I realized I'm keeping this car in the family and have completed additional major services such as: Transmission rebuild, new clutch kit, new front and central diffs and underbody restoration.

Cheers!
Click to expand...
Great information this

Assume Ciaran done all the work?
 
Yes, I guess each rebuild requires different levels of parts and effort...my car was still in "driveable" condition when it went in for the rebuild.
 
100% different levels is right man , if your keeping it standard internals it’s a lot cheaper ,
99% of cars the n14 fully assembled short block is grand , bolt on the ancillary’s and heads and away you go again for another 200k kms or more
 
BazGF8 said:
100% different levels is right man , if your keeping it standard internals it’s a lot cheaper ,
99% of cars the n14 fully assembled short block is grand , bolt on the ancillary’s and heads and away you go again for another 200k kms or more
Click to expand...
Is it much more for late model Hatch Sti 6 swap? And worth it?
 
not many of us haven't done an engine rebuild at this stage, its part of Subaru life- as baz said 5k is vey good- i paid 7k in 2018 for one with ali burrows albeit a full rebuild with secondhand block.

its done now so great peace of mind along with all the ancillaries so should be good to go for years and many more trips to the ring-

enjoy
 
I paid 6200 in 2024, reused as much as possible, got a short block from RCM. Larkin did mine.

You can spend as much as you want on the engine. But make sure it's usable if it's a road car, especially if you daily it like I do. Best 6 grand I spent.
 
No build ever is the same, these cars are quite old now, and so many have so much poor workmanship over the years that alone causes headaches.

I do alot and they all come with there own set of problem, If the engine runs but overheats /burns oil etc, You can build it back to a high standard using sti /rcm parts for 5/6k. But if you suffered rod failure etc, new jdm short block is the way to go, but thats price will rise as time goes on due to parts increases , labour and just cost of everything

what Eoin paid last year would be probably be 1000 euro more now, A fully forged 2.0 or 2.1 with all the bells , its 10k plus.
 
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