Engine Rebuild

The big decision is whether to spend more $ on the engine than the car is probably worth. I did, because I decided I couldn't buy something else I liked better for that amount of money, so you have to like the car and be prepared to keep it for a while.

If you are thinking about more power, the choice of turbo will dictate how far down the rabbit hole you need to go. Best bang for the buck would be VF turbo, STI intercooler and various suppporting mods, for about 280-300 whp. This can be a reliable daily driver, forged pistons not absolutely needed, but would be a good idea if doing a fresh build.

If you want to go bigger, a 20G or similar turbo will put you up to about 350 whp, but will require a bit more $. Forged pistons now pretty much required, bigger injectors required, higher chance of breaking something.

Tranny will be fine at these power levels if you are not the kind of driver that trashes and bashes everything.

frijoles said:

[/MENTION] kinda things i wana know things since running aging components would accelerate the new shortblock's life. what should and shouldnt i use?

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You want to do the entire engine the right way, which is more than just swapping the shortblock. The heads will need to be freshened up. Any hoses that show signs of getting brittle should be replaced. The turbo inlet may fall into that category. The radiator is a weak point at mileage above 80K. Good idea to replace the MAF sensor on a build that is beyond 100K. The turbo may need rebuilding or replacing. Injectors rebuilt or upgraded. A new fuel pump is a good idea, also a water pump. New timing belt. New clutch. The oil pickup is a weak point, replace with a better one. I'd replace the oil cooler as well. Probably more stuff I'm not thinking of. Ends up being a bigger job than most would think. Will you need to pay labor to to pull and install the engine? Depending on local labor rates, that can add 1 or 2 thou to the butcher bill.