I met with a rep at the dealership Friday when I brought it in for what I knew would be a useless exercise in trying to get them to figure out why it's running so hot and why it's stumbling.
No joy on either. The fan's working, and it's just not possible to run it hard enough on public roads to get it very hot. And the technician and rep couldn't tell it was stumbling. I told the rep that it really is a subtle stumble and maybe I'm only noticing it because of the level of "connectedness" I have with a car from all of my track driving and motorcycling. He said his has been reflashed and doesn't stumble and offered to let me drive it to see if I thought it was stumbling.
It was. Right at about 3700 rpm but not at the higher revs mine does it. It took several times through the stumble before he noticed it was there too. His had 850 miles on it and had been reflashed at zero miles.
Though I'm not thrilled with Subaru (and haven't seen my check yet), the rep did at least dispel some of my hatred of the brand and this model in particular. I thought they'd decided to cover me because of the goodwill thing or (and this may still be the case) because I'd made no bones about my willingness and ability to duke it out in court, but he apologized for it having taken so long and said that as soon as he saw my letter he knew I wasn't some kid doing full-throttle first gear launches and that he wasn't as convinced as the lower-echelon folks that the camshaft sprocket problem wasn't an assembly error at the factory. In fact, I've spoken with a tuner who said he found a similarly incorrectly installed sprocket on an 06 he rebuilt for a customer (also broken ring lands -- it's a common problem).
I told him that I'm interested in the 09 because of its stiffer springs and stouter anti-sway bars, though I'd prefer the compliant ride of my car along with extra-beefy anti-sways and if they'd just replace the fragile cast pistons with forged ones, or even cast ones with more generous ringlands, I'd jump all over it.
He didn't know much about the next STi but suspects that since the 09 WRX will make another 40 horses over the 08, the STi would get a similar boost in output. Which is the wrong thing to do on the standard pistons unless they really richen up the AFR to keep it further away from the detonation they're getting from running too lean under certain conditions. The common prevailing wisdom is that the pistons are weak in that even brief detonation destroys them, but that if the ECU is tuned appropriately (especially keeping the mixture rich under full throttle/full boost at all times), you can tune these things to 450 horses at the wheels and the pistons will take it, though I'm sure longevity of the whole engine goes right out the window. And suspect the EPA would give bovine birth when testing one.
After the rep had left (he drove down from Chicago to see me and my car), the service manager opined that there's no way they'd put forged pistons in the car because it'd add thousands to the cost because the difference in weight and expansion characteristics would involve a lot of other work.
Dunno about that one, either. Prevailing internet wisdom (which so far is batting 1000) is that forged pistons are a plug-n-play replacement and make for a nearly bulletproof engine.
I told the service manager (though I doubt the info will get further up the chain -- wish I would've remembered to tell the rep) that if Subaru offered a stouter version of the engine as an option for a few thousand more, I and many others would be checking that box on the order form. After all, the higher price of the new model and its looks and interior options have aimed it at a new demographic that isn't going to balk at that kind of addition.
I also got the feeling even from the higher-up rep that the company is really very iffy about the STi being used on racetracks, even for non-racing "track days", though they've run ads showing such use and a previous brochure (since abandoned) for the 08 says "Thou shalt always seek the REDLINE" (capitalization theirs) and I'm being asked to participate in a Subaru-sponsored event in which people will race their cars (looks like it's timed solo rather than wheel to wheel) on a dirt track and an asphalt one and my participation would be as a competitor, involvement with timing/scoring in any events I'm not competing in, and giving instruction (especially asphalt) to any who want it.
They really do need to collectively make up their minds whether it's a uselessly over-powered and over-priced grocery getter, or if it's really a high performance track car that can stand up to being used at 100% capacity.
Oh, and don't know if I mentioned previously that the recall cites tuning problems causing broken ringlands if the car is driven a lot past redline, which is an impossible condition. The rev limiter kicks in AT redline, not above it.
Got the Mustang's engine out yesterday. What an ordeal! Lots of bolts that are difficult to reach, haven't been touched for 18 years, and were subjected to the heat of 27,000 track miles. And now I'm not so sure what caused its failure. Two freeze plugs are missing and another is partially pushed out. I'm not so sure that a money-shift and the resulting quick introduction of combustion pressures into the cooling system would be enough to blow out freeze plugs. Would think there are paths of less resistance.
Though it's possible the freeze plugs went this past winter. When the car croaked at the track a year ago, I filled up the radiator and it was when I noticed the flowing water that I realized a heater hose had been blown off. Would think if the freeze plugs were already gone, it couldn't have taken on enough water to have gotten up to the heater hose outlet. And I very easily could've forgotten that the cooling system had nothing but water in it when I parked it in my unheated workshop.
Anyway, I won't have the car ready for next weekend. Noticed the motor mounts are just barely intact and this would be a good time to replace the clutch, which was starting to get just a tad slippery, and am also considering throwing in a camshaft and headers while it's comparatively easy to do so since the new long-block doesn't even have a timing cover on it. And it's going to take a long time to take the necessary pieces off the old engine, clean them up, and put them on the new one. And I need to check my spare racing trannies to see if they've got different 5th gears in them (though I don't think the SCCA allowed that) since at RA and BIR I have to use 5th and it's utterly useless because it's so tall. But is better than bouncing off the rev limiter in 4th for long periods of time.
So the Mustang is looking likely to become a Winter project. Way too many items that need to be moved to the new engine that could easily take an hour each to clean up enough for the move. And I should throw one of the race-prepped trannies into the car anyway (again, while it's comparatively easy to do so) and change the 5th gear ratio if it's not different since it's not prohibitively expensive or difficult to do so. It really does suck to hit the shift point in 4th and go to 5th and the engine is practically lugging and the car is only barely accelerating.
Edit: I need to check my posting history because now I don't remember if I started dismantling the Mustang before or after Winter. I know it was a long time ago. Though I suppose even with the radiator drained and removed from the car it *might* be possible the block had enough water in it to freeze. Dunno. |
