[Captain Kirk]

I have been working thru a budget build for a 2000 RS2.5. From the beginning, the goal was to do as much of the build as a DIY project, having successfully completed full EJ25 rebuilds on a few other personal vehicles.

The donor engine is a stock 2.5 that spun a crank and connecting rod bearing. That's where the journey begins. (Pics are a bit out of order)

Factory pistons: factory coating gone and some serious skirt wear

Heads fully decked and assembled, prior to porting

After assembly, I decided to dive in for some porting/polishing

crank assembly

FelPro MLS gaskets

Heads decked

pistons after cleanup, bead blasting and Cerakote Microslick bake on coating

 

[Captain Kirk]

I was under the impression the FelPro gaskets were decent. I have used them on a handful of builds w/o issues, but all have been stock low budget rebuilds. If there a better recommendation for MLS gaskets, I'm open.

 

[Captain Kirk]

If it was me I would have smoothed out the combustion chamber and had a 3 angle valve job done. I know the valve job would be a little more money but a good value as that helps flow a lot on the stock sized valves.

I dont know what transmission you have but a light weight flywheel is a must. Any time I replace a clutch I just put one in I like it so much. Makes driving more fun that is for sure.

A three angle valve grind is something I have been considering, engine is still not assembled so now is the time to do it. I pulled all the valves back out to install new OEM VVT valves, the stock springs had 165K so it seemed like a good idea with the Delta 1500 cams.

Trans is a stock 5 speed manual. I have kicked around the idea of a lightweight flywheel, still unsure how detrimental it would be in stop and go driving.

 

[Captain Kirk]

very detrimental, the people that will say it's not so bad just deal with it.

That's what I've heard as well. Looking for reasonable power gains but do not want to sacrifice driveability.

 

[Captain Kirk]

Engine partially assembled, freshly painted and a Cerakote clear applied

Donor car. All stock 2000 RS2.5. Purchased for under $1k but had a spun main and connecting rod bearing

 

[Captain Kirk]

I daily drive my wagon in stop and go traffic. If you get an organic clutch with a 12-14# FW the difference will take you one drive to get used to, however, if you opt for a <10# FW and ceramic clutch then yes that will be very detrimental.

I think this is why so many people are all over the map on this. There are different parts that make for a vastly different driving experience.


May understanding was the VVT springs are also good for a bump in redline. I would recommend OEM valves. I used aftermarket and the head broke on one and this was a 2.2 head. Not the sodium filled or hollow valved used on the turbo stuff.

That definitely gives me something to consider. Any recommendations on a LW flywheel, that does not require balancing?

I did plan on running OEM valves, currently looking for a shop that can do a three angle valve grind. I needed to purchase two new OE valves from a unfortunate belt failure incident, luckily it happened at idle and the damage was minimal. This was from running the timing belt guide gap too close, a rookie mistake

I took some advice from silverton and purchased OEM MLS head gaskets. So the current head config will be factory heads, ported (complete), decked (complete), OE valves and seats with three angle valve grind (currently sourcing the valve grind)), and OE VVT valves. Delta 1500 cams and VVT springs are already purchased.

For headers, I have been looking at the Inferno Fab ceramic coated EL headers, but I am unsure what oil pan needed for header fitment. I believe they require an STI oil pan, not sure which year and if I need to purchase a different oil pickup. I would like to figure that out prior to dropping the motor in, even if I wait a bit on purchasing the headers.

 

[Captain Kirk]

I have used Exedy, ACT and no name ebay units. All seemed better balanced then the OEM flywheel. Idle always seems smoother with a LWFW which is I dont understand why. Energy from each power stroke has less weight to store into and smooth out.

I have never had a LWFW balanced before install.

Interesting, and good input. I was searching this site and like so many topics about mods, there is a good deal of conflicting info and varying opinions. I believe it was the Fidenza LWFW I was looking at that specifically said that they recommend getting it balanced. Maybe they were referring to the entire crank.flywheel assembly?

I am learning a lot on this build, all my personal and professional experience with Subaru vehicles over the years has been limited to stock. There is a lot to learn about the aftermarket performance side of things.

 

[Captain Kirk]

I just purchased a Fidanza 12.5 lb flywheel new for $240 shipped. I have a new OE organic clutch disk and a new OE (Exedy) pressure plate. The original clutch assembly was warped and hopped quite a bit before the clutch engaged.

The Fidanza looked like a good value, the cheaper Ebay lightweight units have some mixed reviews and are only $100 less than what I paid for the Fidanza.

 

[Captain Kirk]

Wondrous!

It was my choice of font, not as much of an egregious violation as CAPS LOCK

Update: Fidanza flywheel arrived. I priced a 3 angle valve grind and decided to skip it around $350-450. I did replace all of the intake and exhaust valves with OE, exhaust valves were pitted .and valve stem heads showed a fair amount of contact wear at the rocker contact point.

I was considering allying a coat of Cerakote Microslick to the valve stems, but I don't know what benefit that would make. Finish wear is visible on the original valve stems, so the coating may help reduce friction/wear and free up the valve train a little. The high performance coating thing is a bit of voodoo and there isn't a lot of info on the benefits with the exception of piston skirt coating.

 

[Captain Kirk]

Pretty happy with the end result of the head porting. It started out by removing the casting lines and cleaning up the port to valve seat transition, at which point I decided to remove additional material to increase flow.

At this point, both heads are ported, new valves lapped and installed with new VVT valve springs. Delta 1500 will go in and heads will be installed shortly. I am currently in the process of port matching the intake manifold to the head ports, I'll post a few pics of the process.

 

[Captain Kirk]

With the intake mounted to the heads on the bench, a view thru the ports show the intake to head port alignment. It looks very good around the injector, then gets worse. Note that the head intake port opening dimensions were nearly unchanged.

Marker to outline the area on the intake that will be removed.

I

 

[Captain Kirk]

A few pics of the progress. Intake manifold ports are a much better match to the heads after the first fit check. It took only an hour to get to this stage, final fitting in process.

 

[Captain Kirk]

Blueprinting Of intake to head ports Is done

Also verified a good exhaust port alignment with heads and Inferno Fab headers

 

[Captain Kirk]

Delta 1500 cams, VVT valve springs, new valves

STI pan and oil pickup installed to allow clearance for Inferno Fab EL headers

Engine after paint and Ceracoat clear coat

 

[Captain Kirk]

I certainly hope that isn't the case, but I have not checked. Engine will get dropped in this weekend so that will be the first thing I check. The headers were supposedly fabed up on a RS2.5.

 

[Captain Kirk]

Here is a visual of the increase in lift. Left rocker is where it was set (.010) on the exhaust with the stock cam grind, rocker on the right readjusted after 1500 cam grind to .009.

 

[Captain Kirk]

Inferno Fab equal length headers pre-fitment and wrap. Header pipe is contacting the lower coolant hose so that will need to be protected.

 

[Captain Kirk]

after running the car for only 5 minutes, it was obvious that the harnesses near the headers needed some thermal protection. I ended up wrapping the harness on the core support (ABS and fans) as well as the lower radiator hose.

 

[Captain Kirk]

Update: Engine is currently sitting at 1k miles which I ran Penngrade 30W break in oil during that time. After checking the fluid levels often and following break in procedures, it didn't use ANY oil during the first 1K. I just switched to Mobile1 10w30 (and 1 quart of Penngrade 30W) for the winter months, although it won't see a lot of driving.

As far as performance, I am getting substantially more power than the stock setup, power is smooth throughout the RPM range pulling strong all the way up to 6200 (which I only did once at the 1K mark). The engine is much more responsive and feels overall more efficient producing more power with less throttle input. The Fedonza 12.5 lb flywheel took very little getting used to and it revs noticeably quicker in first and 2nd gear. With a OEM organic clutch disk, I wouldn't hesitate running this setup again. Delta 1500 cams are a little noisy but tolerable, they quiet up substantially when the engine is at operating temp. I plan on readjusting valve clearance at 3k when the oil is changed again, currently running the recommended .006 intake and .009 exhaust valve gap that Delta recommended.

The next step is upgrading the cat and mid pipe section to 2.25" piping to match front to back. Overall, the exhaust tone is very nice and deep running the Stromung axle back. The combination of the Inferno Fab EL headers and Stromung produce a nice low rumble at idle and a fairly aggressive tone at higher RPMs, the cabin is nice and quiet with zero drone. The cat section will be replaced with 2.25" stainless and a single Flowmaster cat followed by a Vibrant Ultra Quiet resonator and a stainless 2.25" mid pipe, this should free up the rest of the exhaust without increasing noise substantially.