First off: About 18mo ago I was reading an article by one of the Road & Track editors on the WRX's EJ20 engine. Basically it was a technical overview and some cut-away shots of the longblock. A good article, if not super-informative. One thing I distinctly remember reading though was that the WRX's latest engine is a solid-tappet engine (as oppossed to a hydraulic tappet motor), meaning the necessary valve lash (so the valves will seal on their seats and also cool) has to be adjusted. The R&T article suggested this valve lash adjustment is due at 60,000mi. Has anyone had this service performed? Is the lash set with lash caps or shims or is it a screw or adjustable rocker pivot? And what is the factory's lash setting? When I changed the plugs on my WRX I noticed how tight the body is around the cam covers, I assume the engine must come out of the car for this adjustment. In my opinion, 60K seems like alot of miles before adjustment, as valve seats can erode or recess, closing up lash and eventually causing compression loss. I never have read any mention of valve adjustment here and I'm curious why.

Secondly: (somewhat related), some time ago SCC (Sport Compact Car) built up a project WRX, I think the first stage was installing Vishnu Stage 0 and a turbo back exhaust, which added roughly 40hp. Later they changed to larger brakes and played with STi struts and springs and then at something like 50K they stepped the turbo and engine mgmt. again. I didn't see one mention of them performing a leak-down on the motor before they slapped the higher hp stuff on. This seems wrong to me, and to publish an article pushing the upped boost and rpms to WRX owners without checking out the basic condition of the motor seems a little irresponsible. I would think it would be smart to asess the engine's good health before cranking the boost and the rpms up. Or is the EJ20T THAT good? Is it THAT bulletproof that one can rack up hard miles (SCC admitted they were merciless on the car and didn't give it a proper break-in) and then turn the flame up? I am just wondering, I have about 38K on my stock WRX and have thoughts about modifying the ECU for a more aggressive timing and fuel map, but I'd sure like to know the engine is strong before I ask more from it. Has anybody performed a leak-down on their WRX after hard miles?

Thanks for any info,
Jim R.

 

Sorry for the long post, nobody has any input here?

 

most modern motors are designed to go for quite some time between valve adjustments. the WRX uses a "shim over bucket" design, and the valve lash will need to be adjusted with shims if the clearances are off. i can't tell you what the factory specs are, but i'd bet that the valves won't even need adjusting at 60k unless the engine has been beaten on quite hard.

SCC's project WRX did get quite a few upgrades without a compression test that i know of. however, when someone gives you a car to do whatever the hell you want with for a year or so, who is going to run a compression test on it before throwing a bigger turbo on it? it's not theirs, so why would they care if they nuked the motor? it may not be responsible journalism (what is?), but people doing it to their own cars should use their own judgement anyway. the EJ20 isn't bulletproof (no motor is), but its not that fragile. 30k isn't that many miles for a car, and i certainly wouldn't worry about a leakdown test until later in the car's life.

 

Personally I would've thought, since they admitted they did not "break in" the engine as advised, it would be a PERFECT candidate for a leakdown. I wouldn't pump more boost into some motor that was losing more than 5%. Not saying that the SCC engine was, but in my opinion, it was likely that some of that boost was sneaking its way into the case.

I find it somewhat frustrating that so many of the posts here are all about more and more and more hp, yet very few about longevity or increasing hp without jeopardizing longevity. I've seen a number of posts about engine problems, detonation, holed pistons, etc. I think a good percentage of these were modded engines. In the end I would hate to see the WRX get a bad rap due to "tuner death."

 

A cylinder leakdown test is a good idea for any engine about to be modded, but few people have the equipment at home. The leakdown tester isn't too expensive but I know only a few people that have a heavy-duty or commercial air-compressor at home (if your compressor can power air tools, it can pressurize a cylinder for a leakdown test).

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