J richard

Kent does top of the line work, there is no doubt. As far as subies being race capable they are consistent top finishers/winners in one of the toughest, WRC...

It's way too common to see these motors pushed to the limit because they can make affordable power with boost, but built right will put out gobs of power...a Porsche putting out the same hp/liter will be high strung and big $$$ by comparison.

kcpaz

This is absolutely true. The engine in that green car is completely stock. The only modifications are a larger turbo, and larger fuel injectors. At 16.5psi of boost (that's only 2 psi higher than a stock WRX) the engine made 390 wheel horsepower. It's been two events now (Chuckwalla and CalSpeed) and so far, leakdown numbers are still well below 8% on all four cylinders. This may be the limit of what I would consider "reliable" on the stock pistons, but throw in some forged pistons and that number could easily be increased by another 40hp reliably. The best part is, at 390hp, a new shortblock from the dealership is only $1800 retail.

Just remember, we wouldn't even be having this conversation if the M96 engine wasn't so problematic...

4WHLDRFTN

EGG-ZAKLEE

Cory M

What kind of laptimes at those tracks? I know all of the variables involved, I'm just curious since I've run both in a few different cars...

Do you have a kit to do the engine swap or was it a one-off?

kcpaz

I'm not sure my lap times will tell you much. I still have a lot to learn as you can see in the videos on the OP's link and I had never been on either tracks before. What the car is capable of and what I managed are two different things. The best I could muster at CalSpeed was 1:52 but with an experienced driver that should have been a 1:48 even on the Nitto's.

This was never intended to be a one-off. The whole reason for that car's existence was to test the kit. The "basic kit" is available now (adapter plate, aluminum flywheel, starter, engine cradle and hardware) and the other components to make up a street version of the kit (no roof scoop obviously) are in the works.

spare tire

390 wheel horsepower is huge for a four cylinder. The reliability issue has to do with the 500 and up wheel horsepower cars for drag racing and dyno queens. Mine is only tuned to 325 at the wheels because I want it to last forever.

Eifeler

How's the transition to boost? My cousins WRX hits pretty hard.

kcpaz

With the turbo that's on it (GT3076R) it does "hit" pretty hard when it spools. You definitely have to drive it a bit differently than you would something with a more linear torque curve but at a certain point, that's just the nature of turbo cars. Fortunately, the long gearing in the stock G86/20 works well with the power of the turbo four.

SeanR

That is damned impressive.