I dont believe in luck but if I did, I would be the unluckiest guy on earth when it comes to modding my own cars. I have built so many engines for Subie friends and more and they are still working today, but every engine I built for myself doesnt last longer that a few months. I blew 2 Cosworth modded engines in my 06 STI and just ended up getting rid of it. I then moved on to my Evo 9. Oh yeah, bullet proof bottom end they say, 10 times stronger they say, but guess what..... 1 day at the track and BOOM...... Mod list is:

FP Black (ball bearing)
Kelford 272 cams
Beehive valve springs w/titanium ret
ARP head studs
1000cc Injectors
Walbro 255lph pump
Full HKS cat less exhaust
Megan O2 housing
Grimspeed 3 port
Custom intake
4 bar Omni sensor
ACT flywheel
ACT 6 puck clutch
AMS upper and lower clutch lines
Clutch slave cylinder pill removal
Upper and Lower AMS I.C. pipes
Large front mount intercooler
and a clutch fork stop


It made 405whp on 91. It felt great for 2 weeks then I was old about open test day at Button Willow. Knowing that my Evo was "so strong" I jumped to the idea. The first 9 laps were great, I even drifted a few times with my less than sticky street tires. Then a coupler from my upper intercooler got a hole in it. It took a while to find that it had a hole in it but we found it. Spent about 45min fixing it since I had to check shops for couplers. Well we got it back together and tightened it up. We headed out for 3 fast laps. It felt great but at the end of the 3rd lap I noticed that it felt like it was holding back so I headed to the pits. rolling in at 35mph it suddenly died. I cranked it over but it wouldnt start. We waited for it to cool but noticed that the clamp from the coupler somehow moved in front of the rad fan. The fan couldnt spin at all. I put the key back in and sure enough the temp was almost to the H. My heart sank. After it cooled I started it up and it was ticking really bad. I towed it home and ordered the zero tick lifters. 2 days later they arrived and were installed. No help at all, I started it and got underneath to hear it even louder in the oil pan. F'n figures. Now I get to buy a new engine and hope that they dont fail like my Cosworth STI engines from Out Front Motorsport did. Sorry for the long story but I'm *****in. Now do I go with a Buschur stage 3 or a MAP short block? FML.....

 

Buschur!

 

Those are the consequences of modding a stock motor. At least now you have a reason to upgrade.

And I would got with MAP. Cheaper, they stand behind their products and great customer service.

 

One other major question..... The balance shaft, if I decide to keep it, will it hold me back in power? Is there anyone out there that running their 600hp plus Evo with the balance shafts still in? Going to have to run another thread on it.

 

Either company will do the trick. Ditch the balance shafts as they're another thing that can trash the motor if the belt fails.

 

i think you should be making a little bit more power with those mods, even on 91. correct me if im wrong

 

but go Buschur they're tanks

 

you could go with ams race balance shaft for safety to support the back of the oil pump gear. i just had a oil pump fail on me and im leaning toward because it had a stubby balance shaft on the oil pump so there was no support to the oil pump gears

 

Oil pumps fail from oil starvation not from a stub shaft. Look at a better oil pan and some mods to keep the oil from sloshing around and letting air in the pickup.

 

To the OP overheating any engine can kill it. Sorry about your luck.

 

+1 not to mention Mitsubishi had that as a OEM solution for the turbo Colt.

 

man that sucks, sorry about your luck! every race car has a hiccup here and there. yours just came early. hope the new motor runs better!

 

I used a machined balance shaft just like the AMS one, had mine done for $60 and bought the bearings and plug to cover the rear balance shaft hole separate. If you go with the stub shaft, just be sure the timing belt tension isn't too tight and you should be okay.

 

Well good luck with your new engine. Sucks to hear about any motor going like that :[

 

Thanks for all the input guys, the plan is to go with Map and have both my engine and trans built. However I also plan on sticking with the balance shaft too. I already have all new Gates belts and I will just have to change them every 30k/40k. Being my hp was so low, hopefully the new 9.3:1 compression ratio will give me some more power for my 91 Ca tune setup. Meth is also soon to come. Please feel free to comment with any input on my new plan.