Have you seen any unusual wear patterns on the bottoms of the skirts on the thrust side?
And Why do you feel these are eating rod bearings? Bad crank prep like on the WRX fiasco over a decade ago?
Thanks Trav
Only on the manual transmission ones but its not like I do these everyday either. I was using short blocks but decided to do them myself when the cost of brand new H beam rods, nitride crank and good pistons cost about the same or less but the parts are much better and more reliable than stock.
Poor rod/bearing build quality (they have been improved and are fine for a stock rebuild), clearances too great, running low on oil (it doesn't have to run out just low) and 5w30 engine oil are the main culprits. Use a xw40 in these engines.
Still the WRX factor is there, there has been numerous reports of bad cranks in all the EJ 25 engines.
Other possibilities are the oil pump screws coming loose on the rear, bad pickup and over application of RTV. Do not use RTV on a Subi pump use an anaerobic sealer instead, if you do then be extremely careful not to get anywhere near where it could get into an oil passage ditto assembling the case halves, do not get any in the main bearing area.