BrandonspecB

I really like the 2.0 stroker idea. Get the thicker cylinders of the 2.0 and pickup a bit of low end power from the longer stroke. If I build an EJ again this is what it will be.

So beautiful! Be super careful with the powder coating on the mounting surface of the wheel. A friend of mine worked for Lyfe Motorsports and they had some powder coating come apart on one of their Sierra cars at Pike's Peak. It caused the fastener to lose tension and the nut spun itself off. Could have been fatal. Start watching around 17:20. I would hate to have anything happen to you or your amazing car.

This 100%.

I think what you said is exactly what happens. Detonation itself can cause ring lands to break. It also causes overheating of pistons and rings. Knock disrupts the boundary layer of gases that insulates the piston from the full heat of combustion. A knocking engine's pistons and rings will soak up more heat than a non knocking engine. Open up the ring gap and you give yourself a lot more headroom. Source: Allen Cline, developed GM Northstar engine. http://www.contactmagazine.com/Issue54/EngineBasics.html I look at the LS engines that people pull from junkyards and all they do is open the ring gap and make 1000 WHP. They're not doing that with a .008" ring gap. They're also not doing it on pump gas with a shitty tune. 100% right. The ideal situation would be a variable ring gap that maintains the same gap under all conditions. This isn't possible as of yet, so there has to be a compromise. The gap must be set for the harshest conditions. There are rules of thumb for ring gap based on inches of bore, power level, etc. The data sheet that comes with new pistons and rings gives you some guidelines. Ultimately it comes down to what your engine builder believes will work best for how you're using the engine.

Thanks! Definitely appreciate it. Lots of hard work, but this is what I love doing.

The other thing I got done over the weekend was repaint the bumper and hood. The first time I sprayed them I made some mistakes and the paint I got was a horrible match. It was more of a blue gray. This time I did a much better job painting. Zero striping in the metallic and the paint matches much, much better. I also painted my EDM fog light delete covers and installed them! Super excited about that!

Got a couple things done over the weekend. Relocated and permanently mounted the oil cooler. I had it temporarily mounted behind the intercooler for a bit. I wanted to see if it would adversely affect oil pressure before I properly mounted it. Turns out any pressure loss from the cooler is negated by the cooler temp. Oil pressure was quite a bit lower without the cooler in place because oil temps were significantly higher. I made some little brackets out of angle iron and riv nutted them to the car. Works perfect. I've been using a Mishimoto thermostatic sandwich plate to send oil to the cooler. It has a 185F thermostat and oil temp has been staying around 195-200 while cruising.

I decided to take the easy way out with the power steering pump. Once I got the bumper off I realized it was going to require quite a bit of fabrication to make a mount for it in the location I want it. If I didn't have interooler tubing in the way it would be easy. I have a friend who owes me a favor and he just so happens to be an amazing fabricator, so I called it in. The pump with the Volvo mounting bracket weighs 13 lbs. To get this pump to work with a Legacy rack you need a handful of fittings. I adapted everything to -6 AN, which makes it easy for me to build the hose. The threads into the pressure side of the pump are 16mmx1.5 with an O-ring. I used Earl's part number 961955ERL to adapt that to -6. To adapt the rack fittings to AN you need two metric to AN adapter fittings. 14mmx1.5 for the pressure side and 16mmx1.5 for the return. These fittings require O-rings that are attached to the steering rack lines. Part numbers AT9894DBHERL and AT9894DBJERL. There are some pics of the O-rings and the adapters on the rack lines. Once you've got those you can build hose with AN fittings. The pressure side requires special high pressure fittings and hose. It should be rated to 1800 psi. I used Earl's power steering hose and fittings, so I could build the hose myself. I tried to get all the pressure side fittings made from steel, but I couldn't find the 14mmx1.5 adapter in anything but aluminum. It should be ok, but steel would be ideal. Just gives more headroom. For the return line I bought some oil resistant 3/8" hose and a -6 x 3/8" barb fitting to connect to the rack. The pump has a plastic 3/8" barb for the return. For power I bought some connectors off eBay, some 8ga fine strand wire and an 80 amp fuse holder. There are two connectors. One takes two big terminals you attach the 8ga power and ground wires to. The other takes 3 small terminals. You only use one. When you supply 12v to this one it will activate the pump. I'm using a relay controlled by the Haltech to supply this 12 volts. I grabbed a pic from the internet showing the wiring. And that's it!

Yeah you're right. Same bolt pattern. Found some how tos about swapping STI 6 speeds into FA WRXs. Seems like you could do it from the link. http://https://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2892641 If it's doable it could be a fun upgrade over a 5 speed. Need to figure out final drives and driveshaft length I guess.

Pretty much. A few wires as well. Not that hard. I'll get some pics and make a list of all the fittings needed. It's smaller and lighter than you'd think. I'm going to install it tomorrow.

That trans is bolted to an FA20. Is the bolt pattern even the same? That's where I'd start investigating. If there isn't a lot of info than that means it's probably not worth the hassle.

One thing that is cool about Haltech is seeing extremely fast cars compete using them and win. A Haltech powered car set the drag radial record at 3.502@211 MPH! in the 1/8th mile! haltech-sets-records-at-lights-out-12 And then to see all the cars using them at TX2k. tx2k-2021-haltech-heroes-on-top It brings a tear to my eye.

Alright, got the fuel pump back from DW. They said everything worked fine on their bench. The only thing they could find was a slight nick in the one of the wires. I'm sure that happened during install because they give you a really long wiring harness that you have to wrap and tuck to get to fit. We discussed that and the tech sent me a shorter harness with some serious shrink wrap around the wires. So far so good. Got the 200 amp alternator installed. A note for potential H6 swappers. The EZ30 has 6 rib crank and accessory pulleys. The EJ25 has 5 rib pulleys for the crank, alt and power steering. I was using the 5 rib alternator from my EJ with a 5 rib belt. I got the new alternator with a 6 rib pulley and a 6 rib belt to match the 6 rib EZ30 crank pulley. I'm going to get the power steering pump installed this weekend. Still waiting for a hose to show up and then I can install the rack. I'm really, really excited to see how this works. It could be great or it could be a cluster. I've driven a few cars with electric pumps and they worked fine, so things should be ok. I'm going to control when the pump turns on with an output from the Haltech. This way I can keep it off during cranking and initial startup and keep it on during a stall.

It is. What turbo and how much power do you want? 300 hp worth of air probably not that big of difference. 600 hp you'd probably notice it. This is assuming same quality of core just different thickness.

I have the ETS core and built my own tubing. I didn't do anything as far as ducting. I cut the front bumper as close to the intercooler as I could. Don't have much as far as airflow stuff, but I do have temp data. First pic is a third gear pull, 16 psi. Inlet temp is the air going into the turbo. EGT 7 is air coming out of the turbo. Intake air temp is air going into the throttle body. It manages to pull all the heat out. Second pic is 1st through 4th gear, 16 psi. I didn't have the other sensors installed so I only have one temp sensor. Only had about a 30 degree increase throughout the pull. I've really likes this intercooler. ETS makes quality stuff.

I live in Layton. My parents and some friends live in Sandy area, so I'm usually down there on weekends for a bit. I'd have no problem meeting up. My car probably won't be driveable this coming weekend, but should be next weekend.

Here's what broken engine data looks like. I was using Accesstuner to tune. This engine had 40k miles. Cylinder two cracked and bent a rod. Piston came out just fine surprisingly. I had made some changes to my meth injection nozzles hoping to lean out the meth injection just a hair. Trying to figure out meth nozzle sizes can be a pain because different manufacturers rate them at different pressures. I miscalculated and got the wrong ones. What I found is that my meth injection system was covering up a lean out from the primary fuel system and once I put smaller nozzles in the problem revealed itself. 34 psi of boost. As soon as the turbo came on I felt the engine shudder. You can see from the feedback knock the ECU was pulling timing, but couldn't do it fast enough. Damage was done from the massive lean out. A fuel pressure or lean out protection would have saved this engine. Knock sensors can't save an engine from massive detonation. Once I got a new engine together I wired in a fuel pressure sensor to one of the TGV inputs I wasn't using. At lower boost levels there wasn't a problem, but once I started turning the boost up it was clear fuel pressure couldn't keep up. Huge lean out at high RPM in the second graph from fuel pressure dropping. The factory FPCM and wiring weren't allowing enough voltage to the pump. I bought an older STI FPCM and rewired it from the battery with 12g wire and problem solved.

Lots of good info here. To OP: I had to sort of make a shift in how I see an engine when I started trying to squeeze them for all their worth. I had to start seeing the engine as a wear item. I see the Outback isn't your daily. That's the first step. Having a dedicated daily takes away a lot of the stress of building a power dense engine. 400 whp EJ is ~500 crank hp. 125 hp per cylinder. In a tiny aluminum engine. EJ short blocks are little. They move all over the place when you torque the mains and heads down. This is probably their biggest weakness for big power. Is there even a stock 500 hp 4 cylinder from any major automaker? I googled it and couldn't find one. That says a lot. I'm not trying to talk you out of this. Just trying to make sure you have realistic expectations. 400 in an Outback would be fun. I know how fun it is to put the hurt on an M4 as he tries to come around on a freeway on ramp. Not today buddy. Not just a little hurt either. Lots and lots of it. So much I think he thought his car was broken. I think some people don't believe their eyes when they see a Legacy accelerate like that. And then doing it in an Outback...damn. Just make sure you whoop ass on Beemers responsibly. So about what boxkita said...I've had my engines built at Metric Motors in Centerville. They've been doing Subaru engines for a long time. If a dealership around here is having a Subaru engine or heads rebuilt Metric is probably doing it. If I remember right, when Cobb was located here they had Metric build their engines. They've got EJ torque plates all over. But they're really busy right now. They're main engine builder got seriously hurt in a dirt bike accident last year and is just starting to get back working. He's friends with my friends and is well known in the drift community around here. You can call and talk to Chris about a build. He's the owner and is very knowledgeable. They can build an engine to whatever spec you want. You'll probably be waiting at least 2 months from the day you drop your stuff off. Tuners around here...I honestly can't say. I don't do social media so I'm not in any of the local Subaru circles. When people ask me to tune a Subaru I send them to Simple Performance. I met their tuner when I had my car dynoed at Ziptie Dynowerks. Ziptie is shut down and now he works at Simple. Haven't heard anything bad about them, but I'm not the best to ask. Some advice. Pick a tuner and ask them what setup they know will work for 400 whp. Injectors, fuel pump, turbo, intercooler, intake, etc. Tuners don't like trying to work around shitty mechanical parts choices. Ask them what works and buy it. I would also recommend installing an oil pressure and fuel pressure sensor that can be data logged. You won't need your TGV inputs or your rear o2. So that's 3 inputs for your wideband, oil pressure and fuel pressure. Trust me on this. Making sure fuel pressure does what it's supposed to is so very important. I'll post up some graphs of a lean out that broke an engine and then some graphs of fuel pressure when I got a new engine and started figuring out what happened. Look up the how to on this forum about rewiring your fuel pump control module. This is so important.

I would think this is the right answer. It applies to any engine, even a factory assembled RA short block. My friends say Subarus are shitty cars because they're the only ones that require a new short block as part of regular maintenance. They're right though. Go look on ksl.com at used WRXs and it's hard to find one that hasn't had the engine replaced. I tell them though that it isn't the EJs fault. I made 450 whp on a stock, unopened 110k mile EJ. It did eventually break. It wasn't the rings or pistons that failed. It started pushing coolant under power. Head bolts failed. There's is a certain type of person attracted to turbo Subarus and they don't drive their cars easy nor leave them stock. Combine that with the emissions/economy centric factory tune and you have piles and piles of broken pistons. The only way to find the info you want is to build an EJ with forged pistons and drive it like grandma to see how long it lasts. All other instances are going to be diluted with high horsepower, high rpm, and racing. Those contribute far more to engine wear than the material they're made from. I've had a few forged pistons engines, but they always break before the pistons wear out. These engines weren't in my daily, so they don't accumulate a lot of mileage. The longest I made it was 40k and the pistons and cylinder walls looked amazing. I was honestly shocked. 500+ whp 7500-8000 RPM it's entire life. That engine actually was daily driven for a few years and went to the track often. If it wasn't dailied it probably would have had only 10k miles on it before it popped. That really was my fault though. I pushed that engine further than it was built for. I think you should look into some 4032 forged pistons. When OE manufacturers use forged pistons that is the alloy they use. They have more silicon than the usual 2618 piston you see and expand/contract less. You can get away with tighter clearances and still have more durability than stock. In fact, a 2618 is really only needed for lots of power and heat. A car that is daily driven 95% of the time probably doesn't need one.

Looks good!

Honestly, the best answer isn't going to come from anybody here or any forum. Get in contact with both IAG and Outfront Motorsports and ask them. I'd have to guess together they build hundreds of forged EJs every year. They'll have a pool of data and experience big enough to give you what I would call true information.

Awesome!

I was hoping OP would return and sort of clarify what he is talking about. What I gather: Has modded car, uses OTS Cobb map, overboosts, mad, buys tactrix cable and wideband, makes a few changes, happy, mad Cobb charges so much for AP. I really hope this doesn't turn into a brain vomit as I type this. I had the same experience with OTS Cobb maps years ago. This is why they give you high/low wastegate maps to dial in boost better. I also have the same issue with stock Subaru maps in my daily. Overboosting piece of shit, so I stuck an MBC on it. Don't have time to dick with that car. I totally agree that if you have a few things you want to tweak and the desire to learn, open source is the way to go. Cheap and easy. But you can't shit on Cobb for doing what they do for the price they do it at. You also can't shit on people that have the proficiancy to throw a downpipe and intake on their car and want to enjoy their car without risking an over boost and their engine. Get an AP, get a Protune, then you have someone you can go to if you have issues. I'm sure some tuners are better than others, but when you tune the same cars over and over using the same software you become really proficient at it. A pro can knock out a tune in a few hours on a simple setup where it might take some one months to figure everything out on their own from scratch. Just cause you change some PID settings and rescaled your MAF doesn't mean you can tune. Wipe all your boost control settings, slap on a big ass turbo, external gate and 3 port and get to work. If you really want to learn a PID controller, start from scratch. And then dial in your idle PID, cruise control PID, closed loop fuel control PID, AVCS PID and probably some others I'm forgetting. Oh and then I have to dick around with PID controllers at work. It wears me out. That thousand dollars Cobb charges for an Accessport and the class that gets you Accesstuner gives you damn near stand alone capability for a fraction of the cost and zero wiring harness issues. What they have done with the factory ECU is amazing. I mean, live tuning, speed density, hybrid MAF/SD, flex fuel for hell's sake. Go look through their custom features. Try doing a spark hook test on a dyno without live tuning. I used AP for many years. When the software was called Accesstuner Race and you didn't have to take a class. I used open source for many years. I actually started tuning in 2006 with open source, just like you. My 2004 Evo, Evoscan, Ecuflash and a Tactrix cable. A Tactrix cable cost like $30 back then. Didn't have a damn clue what I was doing, but got me started data logging, analyzing the data, making changes and seeing what happens from those changes. Just enjoy the ride. No need to shit on cool stuff. The sun is setting on mass produced combustion engines. They've never been better. Be glad there are so many options from so many companies to control your horsepower. The EPA may shut them all down. What's happening right now is dire. Enjoy it while it lasts.

If only this guy knew what I spent on my stand alone.

You need to let your tuner know.