How I Blew Up an 800HP Subaru STI (What’s the Damage?) 

“Hey can fix my car!” “Sir your pistons go sideways.” “Like a Porsche right?” 😅

Mechanic: It just needs spark, fuel air and compression to run. Subaru: Yes, but no.

I have owned a 02' WRX since new. I have driven it like I stole it everyday of its life. Warped the front brake rotors at 20K miles and put on a big brake kit. Transmission carnage at 68K miles under stock hp. Subaru rebuilt trans for $1800. 60K miles spit the gears out the side of the r160 rear diff. 80K miles carrier bearings in center diff need replacing. Did a 6-speed STi swap. Car was fine until at 178K miles I decided to install a Accessport and turbo back exhaust probably should have updated fuel pump but didn't. Raced a Mercedes on the freeway and was winning until car stopped making power. Looked in rear view mirror and saw white smoke coming from rear. Got off freeway, stopped at red light and car was knocking like a diesel. That was December 2012 and car was parked in garage. Bought a house, got married, got divorced and in 2019 I finally bought a JDM replacement engine just to get it running then built engine later. Pulled motor out but haven't put replacement in yet cause I bought a Forester and now modifying that. Yes I have a addiction.

“And the pistons goes like this👈🏽👉🏽”😂😂

Don’t worry man. I put a new engine in mine and drive it like a grandma for months, got on it one time and it blew up hard

I was a person who has built his 02 wrx imma be 100% real do what I did and send the block out to make sure everything is aligned and in spec and don't be hesitant to buy parts that are overbuilt for your horsepower goals I have parts rated for 700-800hp on a wrx that only makes 320 to the wheels. would I suggest building your boxer motor no...god no especially if you live in a small town because the places you need to go to get your block done are probably not there and shipping is expensive thankfully I had a local Subaru shop to ask questions about my build. Like it was stated in the video these aren't LS or K series that we've all hear hero stories about making 1'000hp so don't feel bad that you didn't build your motor at home because it's built not bought to build the right Subaru for your needs doesn't just take one person it takes a community because its what makes a Subaru a Subaru thank you for coming to my Ted talk PS: love your videos

10/10 on outfront Jeremy knows his stuff over there 🔥

This really pisses me off. Those OTL guys consistently pass along sheep info. I guarantee Grayson has never built an EJ by himself and had machine work done by any decent local machine shop. I have torque plates and have built multiple Subaru engines with absolutely no issues. Check your main tolerances and you'll be totally fine. And I'm nowhere near the only one. They think they're making people want to give them business since only the "pros" can build EJ's and charge you an absurd amount to do so. It only hurts the community and makes Subaru's look bad. Timing is simple on a Subaru. They should be embarrassed by this video.

Wow great video young man!! My interests in cars have been renewed ever since I found out about your channel .Thank you for sharing!! - Gary.

“It’s what makes a Subaru, a Subaru “

maybe I got lucky, but when I split my 240k mile EJ255 block and threw new bearings at it, the plastigauge claimed the clearances were fine....still running good 2 years and many redline pulls later

Subaru spark plugs are genuinely easy and if you use double platinum or iridium plugs like you are supposed to you only need to change them every 60K+ miles. But really they can be done in under 30 minutes and there are only 4 unlike packed V8s or transverse V6s which are much more painful haha.

Can't wait for you to review my buddy's Rav4! I'm jealous they got to meet you last week!

I really want a Subaru but my Honda is just too reliable.

“How I blew up an 800hp Subaru STI.” …….I drove it. You didn’t blow it up, you just happened to be behind the steering wheel when it blew up.

The knowledge from this guy is right on off the line performance is probably one of the best if not the best subaru shops out there right now

living in des moines iowa and never seeing this place is sad. wanna come see these crazy cars so bad. someday. someday.

Hey OTL is a great shop. To bad that smaller businesses don't get the spotlight. Especially when you're in a place like Des Moines. I guess it comes down to the content and a shiny beautiful shop like OTL is easy to make content on. Theres a few really good underdogs in our state btw. Wish there wasn't so much of a divide.

I put a V7 EJ207 in my WRX. 20g turbo on E85 at 400whp, with an STi 6 speed and I've been dailying it for the past 60k miles and it's been great. Been thinking about building the motor for 800+hp but seeing this kind of stuff makes me wonder why I don't just sell it and buy something with an LS.

"And yes I know, your buddy's make 1200hp and drives it every day."🤣🤣

Man this car is breaking up really bad!!! Me being a car guy I would probably would have STOPPED bashing on it and limped it back to the shop and told them we can film this video later. I don’t feel comfortable doing it because it’s not running right. But not David having a 1.14 million subscriber Car RU-vid channel just keeps bashing on the car even when it’s obviously breaking up BAD!!!! Then proceeds to keep cranking it when there obviously something wrong with it! these two video don’t make you look very good and for the shop it’s not a good video for them either. Mistake were made I get that but with David and the shop owner having experience with car should have known better!! Makes me upset and it’s not even my car.

Also I'm having the exact same problem as in this video with my 04 WRX and I think it's clogged injectors. Checked everything else just like they did. Compression, spark, fuel, plenty of voltage. Would make sense too since they had old E85 in there!

So it didnt even blow up. Noice. Lucked out there considering it leaned out under boost multiple times

Just found out my spec B has catastrophic engine failure :) 12k engine build inbound :(

I bought a 300 hp Subie from someone who owned it since 2004! still runs fine after 200k miles! just to mention i’m 36 and no longer abuse cars like i did in my 20s!

THAT SHOP IS SWEET!!!

Moral of story. just go get a K series Honda LOL

Bader built would argue some of the talking points about Subi's motor

if there was fuel in cyl, wouldn't that skew the psi numbers?

"I blew up some guys Subaru and let me explain how it's all his fault"

So basically, just align everything in the engine and build from there, how you’re supposed to do high hop engines. Then again this channel may have many diy guys and such so can’t expect much either. Much to learn.

Example: " The high pressure cast aluminum alloy engine block had Metal Matrix Composite (MMC) reinforced cylinder walls. MMC is a reinforcement material composed of ceramic parts and fibers. " My celica ts with 192 hp @7800. 1.8 l 4 cyl na engine (2zz)

Funny how this car is getting a head gasket job among other things I was doing a gasket job on mine and my head studs snap, but my car has 176k on it. 😅

Yep. "After 700 the engine becomes a wear item." Lol

"I don wan a tunin shop where cars break!" DUDE THIS THING HAS AN EJ25 MAKING OVER 800 AT THE *WHEEL!* I'm used to EJs being considered ticking time bombs when pushing anything over 350! The fact they trusted their work strung THAT tightly tells me they know what the hell they're doing.

Ngl gives me more pride knowing I built it at home even though I had iag handle the bottom end

Crazy, I see guys building them all the time.....

Why are the most awesome of cars the biggest of headaches...

"LET ME FILM YOU!" -David, 2021

Curious to know who's paying for the repairs, David, the owner, or the shop?

Crank sensor maybe? Losing sync?

"you can't have a kink in your line like this" Proceeds to show an AN fitting with less than a 30* bend.

I own a stock 1999 sti and wouldn't ever bother building a subaru over 400 hp. Unless you have tons of money its just not worth it

You didn't blow it up, it's an EJ, it blew itself up.

I was blown away when I tested the compression on my car with a b16 in it and it tested 220 psi across the board

It's what makes a subaru a subaru

Was probably tuned with injector times to correct the crushed fuel hose and flogged pump. Now you have fixed those things it has way to much fuel for start up.

Awesome video!

Thanks for the spark plug change tip

The engine becomes a wear item!? That’s racing

I’m still gonna just eBay build a 2.5 block for a hybrid build in a garage. If it blows up I’ll swap in another eBay built block lol

yeah so i just spun a bearing in my WRX. definitely just gotta get a new short block. no point in re-honing the old block again. its basically the same cost unless you have a good relationship with, as you mentioned, one of the like, 4 shops in the country that could do it RIGHT. you CAN do the rest of the work at home though if you know the platform. but yeah, Subaru motors are expensive to fix. oh well.

I built my Ej and Im still running strong with 450 whp Rotated!

Why don’t u guys use a aem FAILSAFE, should’ve seen the lean condition

I am a bit surprised they didn't mention or recommend prebuilt engines, or closed deck.

Best Nissan ad I've ever seen lol

I know many builders who habe never line honed a subaru wngine and those cars are still running to this day. Maybe if your going for high hp, but i dont believe thats always the case. Just my opinion

Let's get some saqb action

It was the right exemple about people saying "hey subaru haha again..." BUT finally they found a kink hose and a bad fuel situation 🤦 loll how you can think it will goes well. I mean for EVERY car !!! The brand was always pointed out in general but most of the time people doesn't know the real stories about these situations. When you really start trying to check the real story about it, generaly it broke because of an essential reason that is even bad for every car. Yes there is some specific things on Subaru that you have to care about more than other brand, but most of the time there is a reason about failure. There are many many nice builds about like 600whp that least for many years and it was especially good for (we have to admit) a streched power on a 4 cylinders. But that, for the haters, they don't focus on that, sure, they just focus on bad things that I will say can happen on many modified cars other than Subaru. Compare apple with apple. This is a 4 cylinders aluminium block, don't forget that.

At least it’s got a new motor in it already bet it’s fired up and driving by next video!

So I noticed he said that the block has to be machined when you take the crank casing apart. Why is that? and is that for all Subaru engines or just EJs?

I had a stock Blobeyes for 2 years! i never had any problem until i started to mod it! Japanese cars are reliable within their own engineering spec!!

Also, David have you driven a VW Jetta TDI Manual yet?

So does this warning regarding DIY rebuilds only apply to USDM EJs? Or EJs from all markets? Or is there no difference? Sorry I don't know.

These motors aren't meant for this kinda power period. Sure, a 1.6 na motor could be upgraded to make 1000hp but will it last long enough to matter? No.

PLEASE DO A LEXUS ISF REVIEW

Is it just me or was there one guy in that shop that didn't seem to fit in with the rest?

Subarus and Mazdas be competing for who's less reliable

Blowing up. It’s what subie motors do

Subarus are finicky, touchy and complex beasts. But if you know what you're getting into, build them right, be aware of these details, man.... they're a JOY to run. And they will RUN. Can confirm, 500whp 2018 Varis WRX STI owner here. Going strong. Edit: The engine was built by IAG and the internals were worked by a authorized shop, I ain't doing anything at home with that rofl.

they have a hako just chillin in the back

I was just in Des Moine, originally from Illinois!

He’s screaming the entire time 😫 everybody else politely tolerating it 🙄

Forgive my ignorance but is there a reason you continued to let the motor run after blowing up? Wouldn’t it of been better to cut the ignition vs letting it idle to death?

Have a goddamn EJ20 that will crank but won't fire. The so-called Subie pro says he can't figure it out. Similar to what this doing. Any suggestions on what's a common issue that causes this or that could POSSIBLY fix this???🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏

Modified cars can be a pain in the butt. No such thing as a warranty on a modified car. You pay to play.

I can't believe this guy is saying there is more places in Aus who can machine these motors than there is in the US. More than a handful down here building in house engines ranging from the standard drive in drive out 400hp all the way to 1000+ HP cars with and without billet blocks.

My head gasket repair on the EJ25 cost $3k

07 sti 78k on the car about 18 k on motor 422hp it loves it .

My 2015 STI with 100,400 miles got rod knock. Wasnt stock either.

It's been absolute ages since I have been this early and I love it!!

Called it. You can't keep E85 in a car for too long.

No matter how many subies explode, people will defend them as being as reliable as toyota

Man, I want to love Subarus but jesus christ.

Well so far no engine issues with my Terminator

It’s what makes a Subaru, a Subaru.

I still don’t know why you didn’t watch the afr gauge when it was breaking up? You would have seen it going lean...

Wonder why a built Subaru is so involved to time? Stock Subaru engines are super easy to time maybe ots because the case split? I'm interested to know as I do timing on Subaru and heads from time to time but they are stock cars

This is why I take my wrx to a specialty shop because honestly I don’t want to mess it up. Love my Subaru but damn they are complicated

Ah a Subaru in its natural habitat, a garage.

Driving a subaru is like playing russian rullet with your wallet 🤣🤣🤣🤣

Add those suspected causes to most cars and watch the rebuild bill come in, not exclusive to EJs.

If I buy a pos subie I’m just gonna do a catback. Or is that too much ?

Video should be named 14 minutes of a Subaru being a Subaru

So splitting the block isn't a great DIY idea. But what about swapping in a stage 2 block from IAG and getting the OEM heads re-machined? Are the tolerances on that as tricky if the short block is left untouched from IAG?

The car had performance anxiety 🌚😂

Who are the other 2 shops in the country other than outfront that can align-hone(?) ej blocks?

Damn my block was literally built on a kitchen table......now i’m scared but it’s been running fine aside from needing another set of spark plugs to throw at it to get the misfire codes dealt with. The block should be fine it’s built with a laundry list of supporting parts

Man, how did I not know about this shop, not that far from me.

ThatDudeInBlue is a Subaru killer !