Heuberger's current price on a EJ 255 Shortblock

Hi all,

 

My DD '08 Outback XT 5MT stg. 2 went into Cobb Surgeline here in Portland for a timing belt change, (its almost 10yrs old / 63K mi.) and GT caliper / rotor / pad upgrade, front sway / end link swap. I've been stg. 2 for about a year now and drive the car much more conservatively than my GT wagon track car, (duh...). The car isn't routinely flogged. It had a flawless and routine maintenance record from the seller, I bought it 10K mi ago with 53K on it. While it was in for the work, I planned to move off the OTS stg. 2 tune and go ahead for a dyno tune. Work was done and then it was loaded on the dyno. Spun a main bearing on pull #2 Bummed, kinda shocked, just sour about the whole thing.

 

I'm having trouble finding a proper price for a short block shipped from Heubergers. Anyone have a current link and part #? Its $2100 and change here in Portland and I remember seeing their prices a fair bit less, with $100 flat rate shipping.

 

Thanks guys,

Broke away from an insanely busy day to squeak out a quick call to Heubergers. $300 less than buying it here in Portland, (and they just put in their massive West Coast Distribution Center). Its on its way to Cobb Surgeline. Ugh...

Good luck.

 

You know what your doing.

 

FWIW, most any dealership can get you a ej255 or ej257 at the same price when to you to that dealership online ordering page now day's. I found a price of $1875 today.

I'm losing sleep trying to figure out why I spun a bearing guys anyone want to throw out a theory? (A dumb question to be sure it could be a million things...). I just don't get it. I mean sure the i'll take the car to redline once in awhile but jeez, I'm not pushing big power, my OCI are right on point (as was the previous owners, have the paperwork on that). It just scares me now and I feel like I'm going to hold my breath every time I run to the corner store. I drove the crap out of my GT wagon on track for 8 years with no problems on an OEM shortblock before finally popping the motor and now this to my lightly modded stg2 daily diver that I don't drive hard??

I'm losing sleep trying to figure out why I spun a bearing guys anyone want to throw out a theory? (A dumb question to be sure it could be a million things...)...

Usually it is low oil pressure or detonation over a period of time damaging the bearing.

 

Even though OCIs were good, possibly there was something partially obstructing an oil galley. Metal shavings, a blob of sealant, etc. You had enough oil pressure on that bearing for normal daily driving until the engine was totally stressed on the dyno.

 

Oil pump getting weak? Crack in oil pickup tube? Once again, you had enough pressure until the engine was totally stressed. The Subaru oil pressure warning light is practically worthless. It would be nice to have an actual oil pressure gauge and oil temperature gauge.

Yup, looking at these for possible reasons for failure. I put an 11mm oil pump and Moroso pick up in the track car when the forged motor was done. I'll put both these in this DD build since I'll want to swap out the pump anyway and deal with the potential crappy braze weld on the OEM pick up.

Detonation is my thought.

 

Could have been damaged before you bought the car.

Will be interesting to see what they find on the tear down. We're having the heads gone thru as well and a valve job while its out, it would be foolish not to. Either way I'm just gutted

 

Good thing this is such good cosmetic shape, this and the low 53K mi is really the only reason I bought it and now I guess I'll end up with a zero mile motor in a clean '08. Suppose I'll just drive it into oblivion now for the long term. I figured I'd never find another all wheel drive wagon in a manual with 225+ HP, (in any make or model) since everything would be so high mileage by this point. Seeing this last year with such low miles, a spotless maintenance record and in such good shape, it was a natural choice. The interior is 9.5 out of 10. The exterior has a few typical warts of a 10 yr old car but overall its in great shape. It was a one owner car from a Forum member that basically drove it 8 miles a day to work and back and used his other cars for transportation.

'08 MY had the stop sale on all turbo Subarus. A lot of them spun bearings at different mileage. Some prominent Subaru guys here in PDX suffered some failures. I might be able to hook you up with a lower price on a shortblock or other parts. Just browsing this forum and saw this.

Thanks 4S, I've got a short block from Heubergers for $1797 shipped already in route to Surgeline.

 

Update on the failure: Looks like it was a rod bearing not a main, that makes more sense to me, (I guess??) but I'm still shocked. Surgeline suggested a plan B with going to to an IAG stage 1 forged short block instead of OEM but I opted out of that as I'm never going past stage 2 on this car. The repeated flogging is reserved for the GT wagon on track so I'm going to stick with OEM internals for my DD.

No prob. Anything else OE, lmk. IAG is so tempting. What do the guys at Surgeline charge for it?

List price from the dealer Surgline uses (Carr Subaru) was $2100 for OEM and whatever IAG has on their site for pricing is what I'd pay for a stg1 block. Hopped on last night and it was something around $2500 if I remember correctly. More than I want to pay. Not really good with running 2618 forged Pistons in a DD either. Lots of opinions about that but...

If your HP goals are around what you have listed in your info to the left under your avartar, you will be fine with a OEM ej257.

Yup Max, power goals aren't even that high, those are the specs on my track car I'm totally fine staying a conservative stg.2 levels for my DD. My original intent was to just go stg. 1 but the UP / and DP were pretty hagged from being an Ohio car for the first 9 years so once those are both swapped out with Cobb pieces there was no reason not to just go stg.2.

Excessive oil pressure/oil volume spins rod bearings if they aren't pinned. Could have a failed pressure relief valve in the oil pump.

If one has an oil pressure gauge, it would be pretty easy to tell what excessive oil pressure is, right? Like, idle should be around x psi, under load should be >x psi, but over x+y psi and you're FUBAR?

If one has an oil pressure gauge, it would be pretty easy to tell what excessive oil pressure is, right? Like, idle should be around x psi, under load should be >x psi, but over x+y psi and you're FUBAR?

 

Oil pressure will normally be high at startup (~40+ psi @idle) since the oil is cold, then it will come down as the engine warms up. When warm, pressure will be lower at idle (~20+ psi) and increase with RPM (~70+ psi @3500 RPM). You would like to see a steady needle at constant RPM. Abnormally high oil pressure would be a very rare thing, since the oil pump has a pressure relief valve to prevent that. If that relief valve malfunctioned, you would be more likely to see the car could not maintain enough oil pressure. I guess anything's possible, though.

send you a PM JmP about possible turbo rebuild options

Yup Max, power goals aren't even that high, those are the specs on my track car I'm totally fine staying a conservative stg.2 levels for my DD. My original intent was to just go stg. 1 but the UP / and DP were pretty hagged from being an Ohio car for the first 9 years so once those are both swapped out with Cobb pieces there was no reason not to just go stg.2.

 

Mine still is an Ohio car

 

send you a PM JmP about possible turbo rebuild options

 

Get R Dun! Spring for custom if you can.