| It has been to long...

Everyone, I have been slacking on the blogging side of things.  I think its time for an update. Let me fill you all in on what has been going on recently.  

First, I found out what happened to my engine.  The rod bolt came loose causing the rod to come off the crank and completely screwed over my engine.

  

Now you all can image what happened to the internals of a motor after a rod comes off. Here are some pictures of the damage it caused.

This is the coolant crossover pipe.  Completely broken in half.

This is the damage done to one of the heads.  The valves on the right side are all mashed up.

Look closely at the bottom of the block.  You can see one massive hole. That was from the piston smashing into the block.

Here is the inside of the block.  Its all chewed up from the rod/piston coming off.

Now that we know what happened I need a whole new engine.  So I did a little searching on the NASIOC forums and found me a nice motor.  It was an 03 2.0L that had a engine knock.  Perfect for my hybrid setup (just needed the heads). So I set off and headed to PA to get me this engine. It was about a 3 hour road trip.

Some pics of the views on the way there.  

After getting the engine, we headed back to AndrewTech and dropped off the engine 

Awaiting the arrival of Andrew to unload the Engine.

The man himself helping unload the engine.

Ok, so now the engine has been disassembled and looks like we can use the heads from the 2.0 for the hybrid setup. 

As of last week, 5/6/2009, I have ordered an 05 STI block for the other half of the hybrid setup, some forged pistons and a gasket kit. Everything is in AndrewTech's hands and I will update as soon as I get more info from Andrew/machine shop.

All posts and comments are welcome!

-Frank

| Starting the Plan

Today I went and got a trailer and loaded up the Subie. I then headed up to Andrewtech and dropped her off so they could get the ball rolling with finding out exactly what happened.



So I wont be posting much after this until I hear back from Andrewtech about what happened.

| The Plan and some Pics

Lets see, so far the plan is to:

1. Take my Subie up to Andrewtech for engine removal/diagnostics.
2. Have Lance at Brown's Mazda in Alexandria give her a nice paintjob.
3. Bring her back to Andrewtech for a engine swap/upgrade
4. Then who knows...

I know this is a small plan of action but it will defently take along time and lost of mula.

Leave me some comments on what you think of my plan and/or Donate some of your change to help me get this done faster :-]  (Links on the right called  "Donate")

I took some pictures today of my Subie as she sat in my driveway all covered with oil.  

 

Look closly and you can see the leftover Rockstar from putting out the fire.

Big oil mark from the oil spraying from the turbo?

Turbo was one of the fire points and still has oil/rockstar all over it

Good shot from underside the engine 

Nice view of my toasted engine

Looking right down at the belts and such.  Fire was coming up this side also

Thats all for now

-Frank

| The Story

I think I will start this off with a small story of what happend on January 15, 2009. It was around 8:30 at night and about 15 degrees outside. I was traveling down 295 outside richmond to see a friend that evening, which I should add was about 100 miles from home (Alexandria VA). I had the music blasting and I was cruising along just enjoying my Subie, like I always do :-)

I then noticed, out of the corner of my eye, that the trees has a bright orange glow a top them and I couldnt figure out where that light was coming from... My car then begain to bog down and the RPM's stoped.. I WAS ON FIRE!!!! I slammed the brakes, turned the engine off, and pulled over to the shoulder. I then popped the hood and jumped out of the car. While flames were licking up from the hood scoop I managed to lift the hood and see where the fire was coming from. At this point my friend Bryce, grabbed his halfway finished rockstar energy drink and started dousing the fire... Before he knew it the Rockstar was out but the fire wasnt. So I then grabbed my unopened drink and finished putting out the fire.

So Im sitting on the side of 295 right outside richmond VA, freezing my ass off, watching my wrx smolder. The police arive and so does the firetruck. They examine under the hood and look for anymore possible sources of fire. After they give the clear and say its safe, I had them shine there lights under so I could see what was the cause of the fire. I had no idea what caused the fire but all i could see was my poor engine covered in oil, smoking.. :-/


With this said, I have started this blog so you all can see the steps I go through to get my Subie back on the road and in a much better condition.

Till next time!

-Frank


Thanks Kerri for the editing help.

| Intro

Well, lets start this off with an introduction...

My name is Frank and I'm going to be writing this blog as a reference for anyone who wants to learn from my experience with building up my 2002 Subaru Impreza WRX.

My plan for upcoming posts will include lots of pictures and possibly videos. This will allow you all to see what steps I am taking as this project slowly progresses, as I know it will. I think that's all I have for today. Feel free to comment on any of my postings and let me know what you guys think; good or bad.

-Frank