new motor!

[Faultline]

Hey guys, I havent been around much , but I though that it might be good for those who are force feeding their motor, to hear how I blew mine, and what I did about it I am around 55k on my Vibe and 50k of those have been turboed.Last year, I started loosing oil, and had to add a quart every few weeks.I had some leaks in the oil line that went to the oil pan from the turbo, but it did not look bad enough to warrant the amount of oil I was loosing. I was having some spooling issues with the turbo,and I figured that maybe the seals on the bearings were bad too, and I might be loosing oil that way.After rebuilding the turbo, I could spool up fine, but I was still loosing oil, and I just had to check thelevel a lot. Ironicly , I was going to check my oil one morning for the 1st time in a few weeks, but didnt. I flipped the dual stage boost controller to 10 psi, and that is when I started to hear a knock!!Waw! Wah! I turned into the auto zone that I happen to be down the street from, and found that I was 3 quartz low on oil. I did not register on the did stick I tried buying one of thos super thick oil treatment to see if I could quiet the knock down as I nursed my Vibe home. The knock sounded from what seemed to be the lower realms of the motor, and with the oil starvation, it seem obvious to me that I threw a rod! I contacted Stafford, and he informed me that he was busy getting some cars ready for SEMA, but that he could get to me afterwards.We talked about perhaps getting forged rods and pistons , and that would run be around $1200 in parts.He also said that he had some 2zz rods around he would just give me, and that they were stronger than the 1zz ones. Then I could have some custome pistons made to compensate the stroke difference of the 2zz rods, and that would cost me around $500 bucks for the piston set. It would take about 6 weeks to make the custom pistons. Hmmm ...very intriging idea..After thinking about it a week, I decided not to go with either plan. I really liked the idea of making more power, but I did not want to spend the time waiting.(not the 6 weeeks idea.)Also, I have heard from those who have rebuilt their motor over the past few years, either from forums, or other customers at Staffords.It does not always go well. Even those who have gotten their engine built by racing outfits very familar with the 1zz. Sometimes the forged pistons slap to much, or there is too much slop along the crank shaft for some reason...I have seen some guys have to take their rebuilt out to figure out was wrong.Everything is a gamble on some level, but I think I mostly did not want to wait.That is why I decided to replace my motor with a salvage yard motor .I found a 2005 corrolla 1zz motor with 7k miles on it for 800 bucks, no core charge.I even found some older motors for $550, but I went with the low mileage. I drove 90 miles to go get it, the intake manifold was damaged from it's accident, but my current one is fine. I picked the motor up and drove it to a local shop around the corner from me, where I took my Vibe in, and a few days later, they replaced the new motor.The guys at the shop fixed the leak along the oil return line and said the I was also leaking oil from the rear main seal of my older motor. These guys quoted me 800 bucks to do the R&R of the motor ( Remove and Replacement)My fidanza flywheel was worn out , and so was my clutch. I replaced the flywheel with my stock one (I like the stock better as I dont ever stall in 1st gear. would not reccomend lighter flywheel), and bough a beefy clutch for a little over $200 . I am happy to say, that I am back on the road whith a new motor, and new clutch, no oil leaks and boosting again! all for around 1900 bucks. The oil looks sooo clear and clean. I stlill need to go to Staffords to have things retuned, but it has a rough tune now and is doing fine. I regret not making a 300hp+ motor, but I am happy to be back in boost. What is the moral of the story???I dunno, but the whole ordeal was not so bad They always say "you gotta pay to play"...I guess I know that a little better now.

[Mrizzle05]

WOW! Long time no see and long story!Glad to see you boosting again a hope you post some videos or new pics!hope you get some good numbers again

[BlueCrush]

Welcome back. Sorry to hear about your motor. You got 50,000 miles out of it being turboed. That's not bad. Other people's 1zz tranny's have gone out before their motor has. Looks like you are good for another 50,000+ miles. Awesome!

[CAN-AWD-VIBE]

Quote, originally posted by Faultline »They always say "you gotta pay to play"...I guess I know that a little better now. tough lesson to learn but it sure is the truth... engines and trannys are always big ticket items that often break and are definitely on the "con" side to modding any vehicle.but where is the fun in staying stock glad you're back up and running... enjoy some more miles but get that bank account ready for the next time.

[joatmon]

well, there goes the "Faultline has been running a turbo 1ZZ for years and had no problems" glad you are back on the road again :thumbup"

[Mavrik]

sweet deal. You got back on the road at a good price. Now go have some turbo'd fun

[AKLGT]

not bad at all. 50K on an engine not made for boost is pretty damn good imo. glad you got back on the road for a decent price too.

[Faultline]

Quote, originally posted by joatmon »well, there goes the "Faultline has been running a turbo 1ZZ for years and had no problems" glad you are back on the road again :thumbup"Indeed it has gone and went!I was feeling smug when some the SC guys had blown their motor messin with different engine management to get more hp from the factory SC, and i was still going strong with my aftermarket turbo creation. In all honesty , I really thought I was going to pull off getting more miles out of the stock motor w/o problem. I thought I would be getting more guff from you guys for not going with the stronger engine internals!! and the higher hp.!!

[damronjr]

I blew my motor and all I added was water injection and a CAI! lol The S/C was OEM all the way down to the ECM!

[Faultline]

Quote, originally posted by damronjr »I blew my motor and all I added was water injection and a CAI! lol The S/C was OEM all the way down to the ECM!Thats kinda amazing...It goes to show how delicate this stuff is. I guess the cai leaned out the tune too much. sheese!I dont know what you did to replace you motor, but I like being able to find 2005 and 2006's out there, when my car is a 2003 Another thing thing that I found funny about looking for salvage yard 1zz motors was the price difference between different car models for the same motor. The food chain went like this, from the most expensive to cheapest 1zz motor :mr2 spydercelica vibe/matrixcorrollaThe spyder motors were often 2k and the celica's were 1500...all for the same 1zz. The corollas were cheapest...for the same motor. Go figure. ???

[Faultline]

Quote, originally posted by AKLGT »not bad at all. 50K on an engine not made for boost is pretty damn good imo. glad you got back on the road for a decent price too. Thanks, I thinks I did ok on the price too...I can live with it ok. I do lament not building the motor sort of. I wont be chasing you down for a race any time soon.

[AKLGT]

well... at least you are on the road again and still taut you were the first! he he... besides, rumor mill says subie of america will be bringing the Legacy STI to NA in the near future.... guess my spec B will wait! ha ha!

[tcam]

that's a great story bummer that it costed so much, but sounds like ur in a better situation now than before

[damronjr]

Quote, originally posted by Faultline »Thats kinda amazing...It goes to show how delicate this stuff is. I guess the cai leaned out the tune too much. sheese!I dont know what you did to replace you motor, but I like being able to find 2005 and 2006's out there, when my car is a 2003 Another thing thing that I found funny about looking for salvage yard 1zz motors was the price difference between different car models for the same motor. The food chain went like this, from the most expensive to cheapest 1zz motor :mr2 spydercelica vibe/matrixcorrollaThe spyder motors were often 2k and the celica's were 1500...all for the same 1zz. The corollas were cheapest...for the same motor. Go figure. ??? I found many engines in the yards out here. I actually found a motor from a CorollaS that had less miles than mine (mine had like 22k and this one was like 20k), and the guy was actually getting ready to fix the car to resell it, but I paid him $900 for it and he pulled it for me. I don't think it leaned out, a rod snapped in half somehow, but both ends were moving freely. Dealer wouldn't look at it let alone touch it, so I pulled and replaced it myself! Sux to hear yours went as well. Glad back you're back up and running though!

[Lancer]

Alright, I'll say it. Ya should have at least gotten a stroker kit to make it a 2 liter. There, I said it. Been thinking a lot about beefing up the engine or how I want the next one to be. Cause I've been experimenting with NOT using the fi(L)th injector for a week now. Been running way to rich for a long time now. So far it stays just in the rich area on the a/f guage at wot. Before it would peg the second to last led on the rich side and blow a ton of black smoke out the tail pipe. Getting a more power at a smoother rate now. Thanks for the info and doing the research, just incase i might need it. (knock wood!!)

[Mrizzle05]

lancer your cars SEXY you better not break it!!!

[savedbyzero]

Tell me that feeling in your stomach didn't abosolutely suck when you heard it! Mine happened right as I was replacing the clutch in my '79 Z28 that just went BOOM! Not a good week!Sounds like your 1zz went better than the rebuild of my 2zz....3 months. I had to walk them through everything!All in all, it went well. Motor preforms better than stock. I did a few upgrades, but minor. Spec stage 1 clutch, MWR HD bearings, new stock bottom end, rods, and pistons. Head was pretty gummed up for some reason. It was completley cleaned and such. I'm gladded an OG genviber is back on the road like me. Good to hear everything is going well eith the ride. I was SSSOOOO tempted to go with the Wiseco pistons and such, but something told me to hold off....that something was the wife! At leastI got the clutch in there!