Building 1.8: Oil Pump Upgrade
 

My 1.8 blew up, so I'm rebuilding with forged internals. Here's what I've got on my list currently:

Oem gaskets (oil pan, head, intake, exhaust): ~$100
Supertech 84mm 8.6:1 CR forged pistons w/ Wiseco rings: $474 (if I buy at full price)
Eagle Forged Rods w/ ARP hardware: $200 (got a deal)
Bore, Hone, Assembly: ???
BE Oil Pump: $300

I'm curious on how important that oil pump really is. It's the second most expensive thing on my list and I am on a tighter budget than expected thanks to the virus. I still have my stock 5 speed, so power will be limited to 250whp because of that, do I need to get the pump? Also is it difficult to simply buy the gears and install them in the stock housing, the gears are $100 cheaper than the full pump. As a sidenote, I'm also getting machine work done (obviously) and was planning on having the shop (anyone know a good one in Des Moines, IA???) disassemble and reassemble the short block. Is it realistic to do this myself and only leave the machine work to the shop? I've got no prior engine building experience but I do have an engine stand and plenty of time.

You can definitely save money disassembling the engine yourself. I was interested in reassembling mine but lost steam and had a mechanic friend who knows Miatas take care of it.

But disassembly is a snap...I didn't even have an engine stand, I just rolled the old boat anchor around on some carboard to get to each side, not that I recommend it.

I had a goal of 300 whp for a street only car and I skipped the BE pump after doing a bunch of research. I only run a 7k rpm limit.

If your bores are fine then there isn't much reason to run forged pistons for your goal.

Asking us how realistic it is for you to do the work yourself is pretty silly. We have no idea what your abilities are. You need to do some research on the process and make that decision yourself.

I'll be doing what your doing soon as well. From everything I watched you should be able to assemble yourself. I think the hard part is just making sure your block is bored correctly and the tolerances are correct. Do the super tech pistons and wiseco rings come with the rings already gapped correctly? Check out carpassionchannel when he was building his engine. I believe he has all the torque specs for everything on his site.

You will need to gap the Weisco rings yourself. I have done several installs of supertech/weiscos and I have never had a set with all the rings being perfect.

disassembly is cake, watch some videos and follow suit. thecarpassionchannel on youtube has a full breakdown and assembly step by step videos.

I never done an engine build, but by doing a bunch of research, and watching lots of video was able to build a budget rods only engine that is holding strong at 17psi 309whp and 2 years now. street, autox and a few track days.

BE oil pump in my opinion is not needed to an engine that is mostly street with some track. i reused the existing old pump that was on the engine. some dont recommend this, but it worked out for me just fine.

Was in your shoes about 4 years ago.
I, like yourself, had no engine building experience but plenty of wrench time. Make sure you have a clean workbench. I was less worried over disassembly than assembly. I had the machine shop do the following for me:
Hot tank block
Bore cylinder
Attach rods to pistons
Refresh cylinder head (not the scope of this discussion)
Rest of the assembly i did myself. Take your time.

I did not install a BE pump, and I regret cutting that corner. It weighs in on my mind when I think of going with a turbo bigger than my GT2560.

A good crank damper can save a OE oil pump as well. In reality a crank damper and BE oil pump setup are a "belt and suspenders" solution to the same problem. A lot of oil pump failures are due to too much power for the OE damper to cancel the vibrations out. I've seen a motor turn 8-9k @ 300-250whp in auto-x trim (also club raced later on, but with a hard limit of 8000) with a ATI damper and stock oil pump. The bearings were toast after a year, so a new set would be put in and off it went for another year. Never had an oil pump failure. So if you don't have the budget now for an oil pump, plan on adding a damper before you start to really crank everything up.

I went the other way and I got a be pump and used a good stock damper. My redline is 7400rpm. I think at the very least you should run the upgraded pump. Build it once and build it right.

Just did this myself and skipped the pump. I don't like it, but I don't have much of a choice right now. If I could have afforded it, I would. I might have a line on a discounted non-vvt pump though, send me a PM. As for your list, budget around $400-800 for the machine work, and $200 for the gaskets. Might make the pump look a little cheaper ;)

On my engine I had the machine shop I use also assemble the bottom end but with machine work alone I think it was 900, after assembly it was around 1300, I got wisecos, Manley rods and acl bearings for 1000. I had ARP main and head studs left over from the old motor but basically 2300 for a built bottom end ready for a head and spooly noises.

I can second this, IIRC my machine shop costs were ~$400

that’s a relief, $400 is definitely doable for me. First place I called said >$1000, so they are clearly whackjobs. I’ll be using this thread to chronicle the build for all those interested!

My block was $400 for a hot tank, bore, surface, ring gapping, and some measurements/sanity checks. I'm responsible for $10-20 grand of their yearly work though, so I got around a 50% break. Hence my $400-800 estimate.

TL;DR: friends and family: $400
first time walking into a machine shop: $800-1000.