Senseless1

Valve cover gaskets ready for new sealant, turbo and engine mounts off. Had to vacate for dinner and to let it air out from brake clean in the back corner of the unit. Feels really good to start seeing progress again. Looks like the donor engine had a bad leak at the oil drain. I didn't think of this until now, but I sure hope the tdo4 and my 18g have the same diameter inlet lol I'm also coming to terms that I have a long way to go on the harness to so it correctly. I really wanted to avoid integrating the two harnesses outside of the car, but I think thatlly be creating risk and potentially more time in double checking afterwards. Hoping to be on track to have the valve cover gaskets done and reseal oil pan now that the engine is getting more empty of fluids. Good Lord some nasty stuff came out of the valve cover breathers. I'll be sure to put my aos on the donor engine. Idk if the VF39 chra needs an oil restrictor or if I can just full send. My NA-T setup had new coolant pipes but we're never connected, so I just ran that setup no oil restrictor. I guess if it was going to fail it would've done so back then?

Also yes I stepped on the anti seize tube by accident. Twice. Things got a little dicey with my harbor freight torque wrench not liking being as low as 20ft/lbs either but thank God I know what too tight is and stopped and reset the tool on a larger fastener to check the tool and find the appropriate torque feel. Lots of little stuff fighting the whole way. I'm running ugly fasteners through a die to clean up their threads as well to avoid any issues with going back together smoothly. Also yes that is the space I have the do the valve cover gaskets and moroso oil pickup and pan reseal. I might bring the pan home and soak it in a bucket since the valve covers look like crap. I have a new oem ej25d oil pan and new dip stick in storage for a 2.2L Nat build (keeping the heads from the old engine to swap something else ) If the shape and baffling are similar I may just swap them idk that's a 20+ min drive away just to get the old pan. Ugh I wanted to be swapping and transporting engines today.

New timing kit and covers cleaned up and back on. Pulled a valve cover to do gaskets and spark plugs, but there is so much build up I'm aborting this mission for more brake clean and some simple green from home. Luckily I had two dead batteries to trade in so I got 4 cans of brake cleaner, pack of towels, and a nail brush. I'll rotate this nail brush out with my old one and use the old one to scrub the valve covers with simple green and use the brake cleaner on the inside of the head with the engine rotated downwards.

I think as long as you reset your valve lash it'll be fine, but this isn't my area of expertise. Iirc the 95 and 97 might have the same ecu plugs, so if you wanted to you could just swap the ecus out and the engine won't know the difference. Just make sure you get your lash adjusted with new shims.

Glad to have you back. I've been using imgur.com for photos for a couple years now. Seems somewhat efficient. Yeah I'm gonna need some photos of the lifted one big ugly lol I'm just getting back in the swing of modding my project after keeping it on the back burner for a year or so myself.

Man I was looking at that picture before reading your post thinking now I see why it's zero rust that oem oil leak anti corrosion protection lol Wagons definitely have a rear washer pump. I have a spare pump and reservoir I was thinking would make either a poor intercooler sprayer or a wicked fruit punch dispenser...

There's always a way. You might want to look up you local junkyard and see if you can source the part there or you can use any number of liquid adhesive sealants as a last resort. I would use something like rtv silicone for waterproofing that needed some adhesion strength. I would switch to epoxy for a permanent bond if it were a structural part that needed more strength than rtv will give. I broke my own sideview mirror, so I guess I'm in the same boat as you. Do you need one or both and do you have a photo of the part Google images isn't that helpful

I stopped buying on Amazon now that eBay shipping times are faster.

If you're not comfortable prying at the actuator I've seen a jaguar trunk get pryed open with two 5 foot pry bars because the body was sealed off and the actuator died. If you're really that worried you could consider going to a junk yard and destroying one there to learn how it works before trying on your own car.

BMW X5 SUV owners be like

Works alright. ~$15 home depot +tap and dye set, hammer, spare parts and hardware I think I tapped the sprocket to m8x1.25 and used some bolts I had laying around. Drilled some holes in some flat metal for 1/4" all thread and used a random part I could hit with a hammer.

Crank sprocket is swapped out finally. I couldn't afford a slide hammer so I made do with some 1/4" all thread, two flat peices of steel, hardware, tap and dye set, hammer, and the dampener bracket that goes on the front subframe lol While hobbling this together I had my car heat running full blast through a single vent to heat up the new crank sprocket. I'm pretty much glueing the crank pulley back on, but the crank sprocket has full key engagement with an interference fit even being too hot to hold vs 40-50* shaft temp, so I will only be using the loctite 660 to fill in the gap from the wiped key and full diameter of the shaft.

It will change the dynamic stability you're used to slightly, and depending on where you live might be against the safety inspection laws. I would look at getting the front alignment adjusted as well. It's just a lot of effort for a small change. You might want to compare the investment of time and money against other mods you might be interested in. You might be surprised to learn you could save a little more and potentially upgrade all the way around or do an exhaust system instead. There are so many better ways to spend money on a car besides only changing half the suspension.

This not being able to work thing coupled with my state's incompetence at administering unemployment programs is starting to get to me. Struggling to find motivation to do anything. Could someone possibly share something uplifting that's covid related?

This loctite 660 looks pretty legit for gap filling up to .02" and has about 150% of the 609 shear strength so I guess we are getting closer to the right track. https://www.henkel-adhesives.com/us/en/product/retaining-compounds/loctite_660.html

Nice progress man! I can't wait for my last round of parts to be delivered Wednesday so I can finish prepping my donor engine.

Yeah the keyway channel is only wiped where the crank pulley went, if I can get an undamaged crank sprocket I think it'll be fine. At least worth trying. Again, I only need a year or two out of this setup. Guess I better change the crank seal before I do all this lol

If you're looking for an actual tool deal check out the Irwin Industrial stuff. Specifically https://www.ebay.com/itm/153869196558 is a great automotive tap and die set. Bluepoint rebrands and sells it for so much the used bluepoint kits are going for new Irwin pricing.

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Anybody looking to buy the cheap kmotor cam lock tool that is a knockoff of company23's design prepare to finish machining it yourself. I normally prefer my Company23 tools, of which I have 4 variations, but due to my engine swap project I am out of money and time like yesterday. Time and time again I try to save money buying cheap parts or tools. Usually you have a functional tool or part with a vastly reduced lifespan. Seeing the camlock tool not having moving parts I wondered how a Chinese factory could screw it up? Well, lol, looks like they're just not finish machining them to the correct precision size. I had to grind down each face with a bench grinder and then hand file touch up the tool to make it useable. For the ej255 the camshaft pulley fasteners are a 10mm hex. My cheap 10mm hex measured 9.95mm +/- .05mm The China Special from Kmotor came in from 10.1-10.2mm Just stick with the original.

Hold on for one quality image...

New water pump is in, but holy crap this half wiped keyway is kicking my ass. The crank sprocket does not want to come out due to the half friction welded woodruff key. After a nice little panic attack realizing I don't have tools for this not the budget to pay a machine shop I realized the sprocket has two round holes in it. I'm going to run a tap through them and threadlock some fasteners bolted to a plate bolted to a slide hammer and just hope for the best. I may wait for a colder morning and use an upside down can of air duster inside where the crank bolt goes and use a torch of the sprocket before giving her some wavjs with the slide hammer. If I'm lucky the woodruff key comes out with it. The crank snout is def a little wobbled. After some research the half assed repair for this typically involves loctite 660 a liquid steel adhesive. I'll be using red loctite on the crank bolt with all new stuff. Hopefully I don't end up shredding ac and alternator belts. Oh well beggers can't be choosers and I'm about 2 weeks out from deadline. Waiting on parts and tools now

Today's update: My cheap kmotor cam lock tool wasn't machined all the way so I need to grind down the tool to use it. Lower front timing cover bolt was seized and the head was rusted off. My extractor set skipped 9mm so I had to break the timing cover to get it apart there. Looks like the crankshaft might be salvageable from the wiped keyway. Thinking about doing a full carbon wrap now maybe: https://www.metrorestyling.com/3M-Printed-Gloss-Real-D-Metallic-Carbon-Fiber-3-0-p/3mmetallic-reald3.htm

Wrap color idea. Yes I've given up on pretending I want a mild build LOL After the hood exit exhaust on the BRZ why not this color on the wagon: https://www.metrorestyling.com/Avery-SW900-Color-Flow-Series-Gloss-Rising-Sun-p/sw900-447-s.htm I'm thinking sand car back down to primer and body work everything smooth again then send it off to get wrapped. Would be great to have a wrap shop sponsor it if I can build a car worthy of it. Even a discount would be cool.

NA-T ready to come out tomorrow.