Subaru engine issues

Okay b/o/ys. I need some help and advice.

Here's my situation. I'm a college student that's far from home with no access to a garage with a lift or engine lift living in an apartment.
I have a 2003 WRX and 1985 AW11. My WRX just threw a rod bearing (pretty sure) as it's making a loud clanking in time with rpm, I know all four cylinders are firing, I have good compression in all cylinders, I have no check engine lights, and all my timing tensioners are in good condition. It seems to me that rod knock is the only thing it can be. So with that out of the way, I want advice on some options going forward. I could do any of the following:

>1. Scrap/part out the car
This is hard because it's at my girlfriend's father's house about an hour away from campus so it would be very hard to meet buyers, and there isn't much demand for WRX parts down south.
>2. Rebuild the engine to stock
As long as the block isn't shot from the knock anyways.
>3. Rebuild the block with sleeves, and forged pistons and rods.
Another $1000 in parts but I end up with a much stronger bottom end. I'm leaning towards this. I could also do this even if the cylinder walls had some damage.
>4. Swap in EJ207
I want to do this but an EJ207 is around $3000 if not more. Doesn't seem like the best bang for buck.
>5. Swap in EJ257
Seems almost as pricey as an EJ207 and takes away from the cool factor as I'd like to stay 2.0l.

The person performing the swap is a family friend who has a lot of experience swapping engines and can do it with my help in a weekend while charging me very little for his labor because he's a really good guy. Obviously it will be two weekends if I am rebuilding my block because the machine shop will need some time.
People are telling me to take the cheapest route but I feel like if the engine is apart I should at least take the time to upgrade the internals because I will want more power in the future. I mean I just bought a set of Prodrive springs for it last weekend...

What city do you live in?
If you’ve got time most makerspaces have a shitload of car people and tools who are more than happy to let you borrow shit and to boss you around and give you shit over your choice of car while helping you.

Would be a shame to part out a car like that if the engine were the only thing that had an issue.

Op again,

If anyone has any other ideas to the fact that it could be something other than rod knock besides what I listed, please let me know. I'd love to find out that the issue isn't inside the engine.
For reference, the engine started having troubles coming back from a 3 hour highway trip. I was cruising around 90mph with bursts at 110mph maximum. I run Valvoline Full Synthetic 5W-30. I think I must have ran into an oil starvation issue caused by a failing oil pump or something else. I was on the lower side of the oil range but still within an acceptable range.

The closest large city is Birmingham. About an hour from me and about 20 minutes from where my car currently is. I don't believe Birmingham has anything of the sort but I could be wrong.
Also I don't have a ton of time to do this because I am a college student and I'm studying Aerospace Engineering.

Exactly my thought. And I love it to death.

OP again,

I have yet to drain the oil to see if there are metal bits or not. This seems like the next logical step to diagnosing a bad rod bearing.

i'd upgrade internals if I were you and had the time and money for it.

i will kick your fucking ass now and five years later if you scrap that car.

>Exactly my thought. And I love it to death.
Yea, definitely don't part it out then.

What I would do personally is bite the bullet and spend whatever is needed to get the stock block and internals up to scratch.

I suspect it may be more than $1000 though. I mean, depending on how long you drive it for after it started knocking, you could have damaged the crank beyond repair. At the very least you would need to get it ground and run oversized bearings assuming you're going to reuse the crank and rods.

And put it this way... building it properly now will save you money down the road, compared to a dodgy half build thing.

And when I say "stock block and internals" I actually meant, current block reconditioned, honed, etc, with aftermarket forged rods and pistons. That way you should be able to crank up the boost for a bit more power down the road if you so desire.

Don't scrap it if you can avoid it.
I like your idea of rebuilding the engine, so that gets my vote.
Good luck negr/o/

Should've bought a civic dumbass.

Just replace the short block, might last another 15 years.

3000 In parts

Could you please explain what a makerspace is and how to find one?

>Sleeve engine

Why would you sleeve a stock or near stock engine. Is the WRX open deck? In which case its trash throw it in the bin

>Swapping EJ207/257 not the best bang for the buck

A swap of a complete V8/V9 engine will be the same price as rebuilding with forged parts and honing the engine quite easily. Shop time isn't cheap.

I think I'm leaning towards a rebuild. I can get the machine shop to look at the crank and if it needs a shave that's not too expensive and oversized bearings aren't too expensive either.
Here's what I'm looking at, roughly $1300 in parts, and I'd assume another $700 maximum (probably much less) for machine shop work. That would run me $2000 for what's basically a built short block that would otherwise cost me more.

I was looking at an Si at the same time I was looking to buy this car. But this car is just more what I wanted. Plus I wanted a turbo because I already have a high reving 4cyl.

I'm already running a stage 2 and want to push for for power. The EJ205 is open deck but is known for being pretty strong. Sleeves are relatively cheap and ensure the block won't crack at 500whp.

Also the EJ207 goes for hefty price here in the states and it will be more expensive than rebuilding with forged parts, I'm sure of that now. A rebuilt engine with forged parts will cost me under $2500. And EJ207 is well over that and the internals aren't as strong as what mine will be. The only advantage to the 207 is the higher flowing head. Which isn't a huge deal under boost and I don't NEED an 8k redline.

Open deck is trash and sleeves don't fix the actual issues with the block. Basically no one sleeeves big power builds here they just use block inserts to close the deck since the big issue is flex.

the EJ205 heads are trash, the JDM 207 heads are amazing and if you're going to 500whp you're well within the range where headwork starts to matter.

If you've span a rod what makes you think your crank is going to be in a salvageable state.

500whp isn't reliable on pump gas so no matter what engine you go do it on corn or with meth.

Can block inserts be had for a similar price to the sleeves? Perhaps that's the better bet then.
I also don't immediately plan to go for 500whp and if I did it would definitely include meth injection.
Does the 207 contain forged internals like rods and pistons? I don't know what that engine is capable of stock. From what I've heard, built 205 > stock 207.
The 207 is still open deck btw. Some of the later versions just have a couple of additional ribs.

the 207 isn't open deck its semi closed and you can get thick walled versions. The 207 is stronger than the 257.

Some of the 207 pistons are """forged""", I wouldn't tune any of them must past 380hp crank for daily use.

Sleeving is pointless its not even a matter of effectiveness, it doesn't fix the issues, for the same price you could get a semi-closed deck EJ207 thick walled shortblock brand new and have a much stronger base.

if you want 500whp you'll need the 6speed drivetrain out of an STi anyway

Meth isn't as easy as it sounds

a 500whp WRX isn't as easy as it sounds

This, my buddy had a 450-500whp 9000rpm 2.0 built WRX. He couldn't launch the car because it would grenade the 5 speed. He had to rebuild it once after not too many miles since even in the higher gears under boost it would tear the gears up. The car was a fucking rocket though, sounded like a jet engine while it was spooling that big turbo.

He ran E85, but he always checked the exact amount of alcohol since it could vary from 65-85%. He had different tunes depending on the percentage. That makes a big difference with the octane level, especially when running on the edge like he was. Blew the engine up twice, then swapped in a stock JDM WRX engine. He was at the point that the stock block will not handle that power, you need one of the uber expensive billet blocks. Also with cams and boost making around 500whp the car is a bear to daily, idles funny and there is a delay in power till the higher RPMs. If you aren't racing the car you don't want that shit. 300whp is more than enough for a daily car.

I'm not worried about the drivetrain as I don't launch it and I'm going to get Moore Blast plates installed which are rated for over 500whp on the stock 5 speed.
I'm looking to go 300whp for the next couple of years. The point is that if the block is coming out and apart I might as well upgrade it or make the change.
The point is that I want to build the engine for big power if possible while I have it apart anyways.
If that's the case, should I just find a closed deck 205 block, buy that, and call it a day?

I may have a friend with a Legacy GT motor sitting around that he could swap in. It is the EJ255 but it has the same short block as the STI EJ257. That might be a fairly cheap swap to do that would be pretty much plug and play. He might also have an EJ22t which would be SICK.

Lol the plates won't do shit, if you're makin 500whp the torque curve is insane, it comes on hard and fast, you'll shift into 2nd and just strip the gears. Seen it so much and so often (The amount of people that say the exact same thing you're saying now then after weekly gearbox repairs they get fed up)

The secured build for big power is closed deck block whether 257 or 207 both are proven at big power numbers. Can you have a big power subaru, yes its easily done hell people ran 580whp on a stock 257 longblock - on race gas. It's not possible as a daily driver.

What you're saying doesn't mesh, a 6 speed gearbox is a minor expense in a fucking 500whp build. For such a small cost compared to what you'll spend to make anything remotely reliable on the roads at that power level anyone with half a brain would just get a 6 speed transmission and have absolutely no issues.

This, just fork out the cash for the 6 speed. Remember buy once cry once. No point in doing it again after you blow the transmission into a million pieces.

Also why would you want 300-500whp and not be able to launch the car?!

Not to mention with the STI drivetrain you get LSD's front & rear + much stronger driveshafts.

The STI 6-speed swap is well over another $2500 just in parts because it needs different axles and it's a hell of a job to install. I literally can't afford that right now.
The blast plates have great reviews and there are multiple people running 400-500+whp with no issues on the 5speed. The issue is the housing twists under torque and the blast plates eliminate almost all of that. Plus they are only $400 compared to the STI 6 speed which is much more expensive. Again, I don't plan to go for big power for another few years.
Plus you can find WRX 5speed transmissions for around $200 so even if you do blow one a couple of years later, it's not a huge deal. So I'm not doing the 6 speed swap, my concern is just the engine.

I'm not building a 500whp car right now. I'm building a 500whp engine and putting it into a 300whp car. I could care less about anything outside the engine right now. I want to overbuild the engine right now only because the engine needs to come out anyways.

I'm waiting to hear from my guy on the EJ22t and the EJ255 he has. If he can do the swap for very low price then that's what I'm going with.

its easier to install a 6 speed than it is to install an engine

>a couple of years at 500whp on a 5speed
lol

>im building a 500whp engine and putting it into a 300whp car

So you are building a 500whp car then? What does 500whp engine mean? as I've told you people have ran entirely stock subaru longblocks in the 9 seconds on the strip at nearly 600whp

A 500whp engine isn't a thing, it's entirely in the tune, fuelling, ECU etc which unfortunately are also expensive and highly in depth things to do right which is why proper tuners can earn a lot of money.

If you want 300whp then buy an EJ257 shortblock, put forged pistons it in and there you go.

Let me be more clear with what I want.

I eventually (5-10 years down the road) want to build a high horsepower Subaru. Right now, I need an engine rebuild. I'm looking in the 300-400whp range while I drive this car for the next couple of years.
I'm not hard on my transmission and I don't launch the car unless I'm on a low traction surface.

My thought process was, if the engine is coming out, why not build it for high horsepower instead of just building it for 300whp or keeping it stock. Overbuild the engine right?
So I'm looking for a 350whp ish car with potential for more power and a 6 speed swap years down the road. I want an engine with the most potential for my dollar. If I need to settle for something that can only handle 350whp then that's fine.

Get any jdm replacement engine to keep it running while you save up for sti swap/build

It seems like an EJ255/257 is the best bet for 300-400whp reliably. Especially since my friend has one and it should be pretty damn easy to swap in.
The EJ22t sounds pretty cool too with it's closed block, but the pistons are known to shit the bed around 300whp. I could go with new pistons but at that point why bother when I could just do the EJ255 instead.

I'm thinking stock EJ255/257 along with the Moore Blast Plates for around 350whp. Seems like it should be fairly cheap and fairly reliable. The other option is the 255 crank and rods into my 205 and buy some stroker pistons for a 2.12l EJ205. It all just depends on what my guy prices stuff at.
In the future I can go built EJ22t or built EJ207 and then do the 6 speed swap.