I bought Save the Wagons Blue s402 wagon right before the pandemic hit. About 2k miles later, I was accelerating onto an on ramp when it felt like I hit the rev limiter at 6700 RPM and it sounded like the engine backfired out of the intake. (the engine deaccelerated so hard my arm hit the wheel with such force I thought I broke it)
At idle, the VTA Crawford Race AOS smokes like a witches pot on Halloween and if I pull the dipstick, it will splatter small amounts of oil out at idle like a cut carotid artery. At first I thought it skipped a tooth on the cam gear or something of that nature but after seeing the other two things I'm guessing good old ringlands?
I haven't had the time to do a compression, leakdown or borescope check yet but judging by the blowby from the AOS, I think the writing is on the wall. It was a IAG stg1 block and was doing 324HP (@5546) and 349TQ (@4458) (tuned by Perry/The Subaru Shop) and should have been well within the power limits. (AFR was high 10's low 11's at WOT so no lean conditions, A bit too rich but I guess safe) Engine was install by AWJ in NH so all the work was done by reputable shops I believe.
I was hoping to get at least 50K out of the engine as 5k is a huge disappointment. Is everyone investing in RA blocks now or is there something better as I'm very hesitant to go the IAG route again. I would love to do a high revving destroker but I don't hear much about those and I personally hate the piston slap sound on cold days of the forged pucks. (hence thinking RA) Can anyone recommend someone in the tri state area that knows how to properly build a Subaru engine with some longevity in mind?