After running Bertie in the workshop, I was assured that, it didn’t look like there was anything loose or hanging off that would cause any further issues / damage.
It looked just like the engine was tired and sounded lumpy. It could, in theory, go on a little longer as it was. However, it was not pulling anything like the same power as it did previously. It almost felt just like driving a genuine mark one escort 1.6. – as nature intended.
Therefore, instead of any more trailering, and before any more parts were removed, we took Bertie for a road trip to see an expert with a computer. I was keen to see if there were any more electrical faults and find out what was wrong. So I drove to RB tuning.
The first first thing was to try to find the computer port! On a Subaru is normally in the driver’s footwell, by the bonnet release. However, we had a sneaky suspicion it was probably in the hornets nest of wires under the dash. I looked up exactly what it looked like to make it easier to find. Then proceeded to locate myself in the drivers foot well searching through the wires. I finally spotted it and carefully released the cables down.
Once plugged into the laptop thousands of fault codes started to show. This was fully expected as various sensors were not connected to anything, so there would be no signal. The engine was making good boost pressure, so remarkably there was nothing wrong with the turbo. Despite the abuse it has received over the years .
However, when we took off the oil filler cap it was chuffing with steam. Further test carried out revealed that the engine was losing compression. The white smoke, that I first thought was the turbo, was, in fact, oil smoke and not quite as dense. Essentially, the rings on the piston were worn, letting oil past the pistons and into the combustion chamber. The breathers were all blocked. The expert opinion was that the engine needed replacing.
We talked about how much power the engine should make. There was talk of being able to easily create an engine to put out 600bhp. Whilst I love the idea of this, I drive Bertie most weekends during the summer. She is so light having anything too powerful – given her weight – could make her unwieldy.
Previous dyno read outs showed power of 356.5 HP. It makes no sense to me to make a ticking time bomb. I’d rather go for bulletproof. The conclusion was to build the engine to around 400 BHP using a close deck block to increase the strength of the block itself.
After the coffee (from a remarkably clean cup for a workshop) and a chat, I shoved the wiring back under the dash and drove Bertie carefully back to workshop. The last drive for a little while…