I in no way told jay to go fuck himself, he called me one day upset and said he feels he is “paying a premium price to have us learn how to build motors”. After that discussion we decided that Jay should have someone else assemble the motor if thats how he feels. I told him in person that we would be more than happy to install the engine and his turbo setup, but after the phone conversation I didn’t feel he/nor I would ever be happy with the situation. I love how 100 people think they know whats happening, but only Jay and myself do. If you ask a customer I have bent over backwards for them time and time again.
Anyways I have said what I needed to, because this heir say bullshit is getting way out of control.
anyways… comming from someone who payed OUT THE FUCKING ASS for his motor build… theres no substitute for doing it right the first time… ive been lucky enough with my boost whoring lately that everything is staying in one piece and i have an awesome tune on the car. im not placing blame with anyone at the moment, i just wanna see the kid get his car fixed, and fixed RIGHT.
Nope, I like the truth as much as the next person and wouldn’t want anyone to bury it either. Post might have been misleading/confusing as to my standing.
Morgan, I had no malice in mind when posting that quote from Jay. You just have to understand that this is the second time I have been contacted by him in a similar tone regarding “problems” with this project as a whole. Just a little dis-heartening I guess to read such words. If in fact the statements sent to me via PM were a bit on the far-fetched side then I extend any apology to you in regards to that. It’s just that for the majority of customers, most are not speaking as such unless provoked. Your shop puts out quality work and quite honestly, I’d like to see ya stick around for some time. But the truth must be told in any manner regardless of who or what is at fault. Simply sweeping it under the carpet and walking away is never a good idea for customer and most certainly bad for a shop owner.
There is no dirt getting hidden or being swept under a carpet. There is a difference of opinions. There are too many details and events to discuss here, its just not that simple to explain over the internet. Like I said before, if anyone would like to discuss this in person or see things to form their own opinion on the situation i’d be more then happy to arrange it.
ok so how about you get me an appointment so i can come get my catch can installed, before my car blows up and i dont have to blame you for it. It’d never been so hard for me to spend money before. I’ve called 3 times now, and talked to 3 different people… and still no one has called me back in the last month. Is it really that hard to even get an appointment? So i can come spend money? Since Jay got an almost instant response by posting on a public forum about you guys, i thought maybe i would take a stab at getting something done for me. Just an idea.
This was not going to be kept on the downlow no matter what, people talk, upset people talk even more.
A large number of people already knew about this and without the other party having a say or a chance to defend itself the grapevine effect would have been much more damaging to the reputation than anything that was discussed here in a civil manner.
Like I said before, there are two sides to every story and the truth is somewhere in between. By letting this surface, tension gets relieved and concerns get addressed.
From what I have read, the ARP head studs on that car need to be done a bit differently and there’s a lot of resources supporting this. Not sure what was done but I hope any shop doing that work knew that to avoid any issues.
Just to clear up any confusion on how the heads were torqued, I followed ARP’s directions like I always do. It is not generic instructions, it is specific to each fastener. They say to use factory torque sequence with arp’s torque number. I can post a picture if anyone wants to see. Since the sti uses angles as final torque instead of ft lbs you have to make up your own increments until you reach the final torque number. I have always been fussy about how this procedure is done, it has never failed me and I will still stand firm in my belief that this was not a problem. At 6k when the cam broke I checked the head studs and found that there was no loss of torque on the fasteners. I told Jay what I had found, and we were satisfied.
There is no special torque procedure for sti’s widely recognized as “proper”. If you look around, most everyone has different opinions on which way to install them and torque them. Some people do not like oem headgaskets, some people swear by stock bolts. I like to use the method that has worked great on every engine I have ever built and tuned.
We really did try our best to take care of the situation, but as many know you cannot satisfy everyone. Bottom line is that we are not trusted and do not feel the engine should be assembled here if he feels that way. Nobody is wrong for their reasons…its what makes us who we are.
Just for reference if anyone wants to know more about the engine:
Engine: OEM STI EJ257
Cause of first failure: Blown ringlands due to massive powar! and maybe some det. 10k with the 35r and 38k total miles.
Engine: Locally built EJ257 @ synapseturbo.com
Cause of first failure: Cosworth Intake cam broke in half @ 6k miles
Cause of later failures: Blown head gasket @ 8k miles
Pistons: CP 100mm off the shelf
Rods: Pauter
Bearings: OEM
Porting: PnP valve bowls, stock ports
Valvetrain: Supertech dual springs, TI retainers, +0.5mm stainless valves
Oil pump: Cosworth 10mm
MAX RPM: 7800
EMS: AP/ST+UTEC SD
Oil: Rotella-T 15w40 for break-in and 5w40 synt after ~3k miles.
I really expected this motor to die from oil starvation. I blame aliens
there is alot wrong with this statement,
arps instructions are not generic, they are specific to the fastener used. there is a very specific torque sequence for the studs on ANY engine. any engine i have put together has used at least 2 steps on the head bolts, also not only a subaru thing. you retorque after the head gasket settles not after bolts settle. if the bolts settled you would have major problems. you could see some damage from detonation as the piston expanded and scraped the wall. just because a car held together for a little while, im sure 100+ passes is exaggerating, doesnt mean it wasnt detonating. without a dyno and timing maps as aggressive as his your bound to do some damage. expecting the knock board to tell you what is going on is retarded.
Spending that much money on a build and then not paying for a professional tune or even dyno time is just plain foolish. Blaming the engine builder when you break your setup is even more so. Advance timing until heads lift then back it down 3 degrees.