jwa4378

It was a full Laskey (benson sleeved, CP pistons, pauter rods) / Port Flow 9:1 longblock (supertech / REV components).

Not sure why it blew. Bought it used off a guy in Atlanta with 25k on the clock (who knows how he drove it). Drove fine for a while, but started acting up later (probably the tune I got from a local guy before Mase could get to me). I believe the culprit was the head lifting SLIGHTLY, causing a minor leak only when in boost (car idled great, no overheating issues... could leave it idling for an hour... Also might have been my cooling mods keeping it cool (koyo, samco lines, Mugen thermostat and fan switch) at such low levels of work. Mase said he had to trash the guy's file and start completely new with his S2000 basemap (he said a lot of settings were not right, and loading his file would be faster than correcting all the settings). The tuner who did it had never done an S2000 (had done a few k20's though), but was AEM Certified. It also went through 2 TCT's before the HG failure too... I swear the motor had a hex on it (I was FI for 6-8 months on the OEM motor (100,000 miles) at 350rwhp before the swap, and had NO problems whatsoever).

I just rebuilt it and sold it (we were moving to NYC, so I decided to get rid of all our cars... my DD was broken into within 1 week of moving and my friend's ride has been broken into 4 times already).

Definitely getting one again when we move out of the city in a few years. Now I know what to do and what not to do... Should go a lot smoother the second go around. Plus, FI just gets cheaper the longer the car has been out.

John

jwa4378

And then the oil pump randomly failed on the new owner (his shop thought it might have been damaged by metal shavings from when the rod bearings spun the first time, but my shop says they cleaned / tested it, and it was working fine prior to re-installation), and he had to rebuild the bottom end again! He called me when the oil light flickered one day, and I told him to SHUT IT DOWN ASAP. He said the light was coming on and off, so we was going to drive it for a while (thought it was an electrical bug). Sure enough, his oil pump was slowly failing... And the rod bearings spun again. After that, I believe he re-tuned to around 450rwhp on a conservative tune (he kind of thought it might have been the tune... but it was just a tired / damaged oil pump on a used motor), and all has been good since.

Just a lesson to replace tired / possibly worn parts, even if they "look" OK. Especially if there has been previous problems.

S&R Performance in Tampa, FL did the repair of the motor. I had it towed down to them from Tallahassee (Mase could not fit me in quickly, so I had S&R do the work and Mase do the tune).

John

jwa4378

Laskey will build you a $3500 shortblock, but then you have to pay to have it swapped in (a good more expensive if you need to put your OEM head onto the shortblock, as opposed to having a spare head lying around).

Labor is the killer in terms of building / swapping motors. Part cost is small in comparison.

John

Spoolin

^^Since you have had the Laskey built bottom end, would you still use Laskey if you were going for 800+ whp or IP for your next build? I'm trying to figure out which way to go for my weekend street screamer, IP closed deck or Laskey open deck design, on being able to handle the power with no problem and reliability.

jwa4378

I would go IP, just for the O-ringed shortblock / head. Should absolutely seal the cylinders from any fluid/compression leaks. Shipping to IP from Indiana is also probably a good bit cheaper than shipping to/from Laskey in CA. Also, IP has a helluva reputation/presence on this site (Laskey has the reputation, but not the presence... issues might get settled with IP faster than Laskey, if they come up).

If you want STUPID power / torque, stroke the IP motor to 2.4L with a TSX crankshaft. Should be able to handle 9000RPM with a fully balanced / cryo'd crankshaft.

Both blocks use quality components, but I like the O-rings on the block at that power level.

John