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Finally popped the motor, ugh...


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Why water temp? Isn't that already built into the thermostat?

 

Water temp is, however, if you were going to lift data more into your eye scan range, that's a better gauge than boost.

 

I've instructed in cars with boost gauges. The driver will accelerate watching the gauge instead of the road. On track, its useless for telling you about engine condition or shift points.

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Hmmm, strange. I rarely glance at my boost gauge on track. I'm choosing oil pressure because I can monitor everything else thru as much as a six up display on the V3 Accessprt
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Hmmm, strange. I rarely glance at my boost gauge on track. I'm choosing oil pressure because I can monitor everything else thru as much as a six up display on the V3 Accessprt

 

I suggest oil pressure and water temp alarms, and possibly an oil temp alarm too. Some gauges have the alarms built into them, or you can just get a sensor hooked up to a bright red light on the dash. Actually a series of lights for all three. You are much more likely to see the red light alarm than see the needle going up on a gauge while you are in the middle of hanging your rear end out at the edge of the driving envelope.

 

I didn't have one on my Acura Integra race car, I relied on occasionally glancing at the water temp gauge. At Spokane Raceway I took a rock thru the radiator in a race, didn't know anything was wrong until I noticed my lap times on my Traqmate were dropping, THEN I noticed my water temp gauge pegged. Too late, the engine was melted. Literally. The plastic timing cover melted over the cam sprockets! An alarm light would have prevented that ending.

 

In the Subaru LGT race car I now have six red light alarms. They are all set to go off before permanent damage is done.

 

As an ex ample all these Longacre racing gauges are both gauge and built-in alarm light: http://www.longacreracing.com/products.aspx?itemid=1730&pagetitle=SMi%E2%84%A2+%27Stepper+Motor%27+Gauges

 

Or Save a chunk of money and get just get the sender and alarm light:

http://www.longacreracing.com/products.aspx?itemid=1806&pagetitle=GAGELITES%E2%84%A2+%2f+Senders+%26+Acc

For $100 you can get 3 alarms. Cheap insurance.

 

And you probably know Longacre is a local PacNW company.....

Nothing like a race track to find the weak points in man and machine.

"Good Judgement comes from Experience. Experience comes from Bad Judgement"

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Quick update y'all, my Rallispec short block showed up last week so I went down to Surgeline to open up the box and take a deep whiff. Mmmm, smelled good..

 

A few pics for those that are killing time riding the couch. My new one with Cosworth pistons and some shots of my busted ass low compression in cyl. #2 short block. Did notice that I still have a nice cross hatching in my old block. Almost looks like everything is ok :) Also included a scan of my build sheet that came from Rallispec.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Update:

 

Journey continues on the rebuild. The heads are back on the block, lash has been set and Surgeline is ready to begin assembly next week. New cams, (stock) and buckets was not in the plan but needed replacement. Opted for GSC Valves and Beehive Springs as well. Getting there!

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  • 2 weeks later...

She's running! Picked up the wagon at Surgeline yesterday. Everything went well with initial start up and and it was broken in per Rallispec's requirements, currently running Amsoil break in oil. Also running a break in tune right now while I get my 1000mi in.

 

I've only got 22 mi. on it so far. No major difference in impressions compared to pre-rebuild. The group N motor mounts don't seem to add much NVH, if at all. Don't really notice any piston slap either with the Cosworth 4032 forged on cold start up which is nice.

 

We'll see how the numbers shake down once it gets tuned. One thing of note, Surgeline noticed that my car has the typical boost creep issues that many VF variant turbos can exhibit and they are suggesting that I might want to put the stock intake back on once its Pro Tuned. The car is just breathing too well and the tiny wastegate just can't keep up. Kind of a bummer to hear this as it made me wonder why I bought the Cobb intake 5 years ago in the first place :( They are going to try to tune it with the Cobb intake first and if its not handling it well I've got a stock intake standing by so they can swap it in.

 

Big thanks to Brandon and everyone at Surgeline. They were always there to answer any question during the process! Now I just gotta baby it for awhile before I can get back on track of the season!

 

Nothing really exciting to see here but this is the current state of the engine bay. I do run the engine cover on but kept it off for the picture. Surgeline did a nice job on the Crawford AOS install. Everything looks really tidy and hoses all sit at nice mellow angles. Other than that, new Koyo Radiator is noticeable.

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That's great news! Bring it up to ORP for the May 22-24 ISCC Race. Mav TV will be there filming. Hopefully Boxkita will have his running by then too. I'd love a shot of LGT Wagons lined up!

Nothing like a race track to find the weak points in man and machine.

"Good Judgement comes from Experience. Experience comes from Bad Judgement"

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Hmmm actually might do that. We are going to be spending the weekend at a friends cabin in Wamic, about 35 min away. Maybe I'll have my wife drive the Audi over with the kids and I'll do some more break in miles on the Legacy and pop over for a few hours to say hi. Need to tick off 1000 ASAP!
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Have you become a "preferred member" at Amsoil ? Both my cars run 5w-40 European oil Full SAPS and their filter. 7000 mile OCI, Blackstone run the oil to 9000 miles and send in another sample, I just change it.

305,600miles 5/2012 ej257 short block, 8/2011 installed VF52 turbo, @20.8psi, 280whp, 300ftlbs. (SOLD).  CHECK your oil, these cars use it.

 

Engine Build - Click Here

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Max, haven't done that yet but I think my days of running Mobil 1 are over. Probably run the 15-50 Amsoil that Rallispec recommends from here on out.
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If you become a member the oil is cheaper, I normally get my order the next day. I joined for 5 years. Have 3 cars that run Amsoil.

305,600miles 5/2012 ej257 short block, 8/2011 installed VF52 turbo, @20.8psi, 280whp, 300ftlbs. (SOLD).  CHECK your oil, these cars use it.

 

Engine Build - Click Here

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  • 3 months later...

Its been insanity work wise for me since mid-April so it took much longer than expected to put my 1000mi break in on the car. Finally got them ticked off and returned to Surgeline to flush out the Amsoil break in oil and replace with Amsoil Dominator 15w-50 for the dyno tune. As expected from their findings on my break in tune, they still found more boost creep than they would have liked once they started pushing the car on the dyno so it was advised to swap out my Cobb intake for the stocker with a nice panel filter. Apparently this is typical with pretty much all VF turbos once they move to maximize their potential. The car is breathing so well that the wastegate just can't keep up. Dyno finished up at 277WHP / 309WTQ at 18lbs. The 18lb map was tuned with a can of Torco as this is what I always run at the track. My 15 and 17 lb. map was on straight 92 octane. Overall, very happy with the car. Feels very similar to the way it did before as I really didn't add anything to the equation powerwise, (other than having much better compression than before I brought it in!) With my upgraded valve train, redline was bumped up to 6800 although I'll really never go there as its not producing usable power at those revs anyway.

 

So the saga is complete! Big shout out to everyone at Surgeline, I'm glad I stayed with a shop I have trusted for years. The lack of needing this car as a daily driver made this whole process pretty painless. On the wallet? Not so much :). But pay to play, I knew this day was coming. 7 track seasons on the first motor with stock internals, hope this new forged internal one gets me at least that and more, time will tell.

 

I'll get to start my season Sept. 10th with the BMW club here at PIR in Portland. Looking forward to finally getting back out there.

 

On a side note, a temporary $800 price drop on the Stop Tech Trophy Series big brake kit made it too tempting not to snag. They will be going on along with the Stop Tech rears that I snagged last year to complete the deal.

 

Dyno sheet and brake porn below...

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  • 2 months later...

Hey shralp, do you have any heat management issues?

 

On my stock block, high temperatures (90+) high RPMs, AC on, car would slowly start to overheat. Turning off the AC / turn heater on and slow down solved it.

 

Since then I have a built short block, KillerBee oil pan and a Koyo rad, same exact issues.

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Hey shralp, do you have any heat management issues?

 

On my stock block, high temperatures (90+) high RPMs, AC on, car would slowly start to overheat. Turning off the AC / turn heater on and slow down solved it.

 

Since then I have a built short block, KillerBee oil pan and a Koyo rad, same exact issues.

 

Oil Temps and Water Temps, or just one? If both, which one leads?

10mm or 11mm oil pump?

 

Old style or newer style water pump? New is on the right. Unless you intentionally ordered the old style you probably have the new one:

 

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/05%20LGT/Engine/General/Water%20Pump/CIMG0744.jpg

Nothing like a race track to find the weak points in man and machine.

"Good Judgement comes from Experience. Experience comes from Bad Judgement"

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Whoah... That's a rather large impeller difference. I'm guessing the older (looks like it's cast?) style moves more fluid?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Yes. And less cavitation at high RPMs. At least that's the theory. There's some data backing that up here and on NASIOC.

Nothing like a race track to find the weak points in man and machine.

"Good Judgement comes from Experience. Experience comes from Bad Judgement"

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Well, I have a new style Gates pump, I'll have to test that theory this summer... Although I'm sure with my stage 2 daily driver duties on the flatlands known as the Midwest I really have nothing to worry about... Haha

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

MTBwrench's Stage 3 5EAT #racewagon 266awhp/255awtq @17.5psi, Tuned By Graham of Boosted Performance

 

Everyone knows what I taste like.
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Hey OB2.5XT, nope no issues here so far. Temps around town on a typical summer day here in the hi-80's low-90's run between 185 and 205 depending on whether I'm in city traffic or not. The car is rarely street driven any more with the exception of a weekend toss in the country here and there so I'm more concerned about temps on track. Same story there so far pretty much 190 during a hard 25 min session. Temp gauge sits where it always has about half way. Did upgrade the the Koyo radiator although I'm not sure how much bigger than stock it is, if at all.
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Hey LatentWAgen,

The stop techs have been great! Two track days on them so far. I can already see that I'm going to get more out of my pads ,(Cobalt XR2) as I would only get 2.5 days out of a set with my wilwood caliper/stock rotor set up. They just laugh at me no matter how much I tromp on them, even late in the session. No fade, no balking, just stomp and stop...

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Well, I have a new style Gates pump, I'll have to test that theory this summer... Although I'm sure with my stage 2 daily driver duties on the flatlands known as the Midwest I really have nothing to worry about... Haha

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

It's VERY unlikely that it's the water pump style. I have the new style on my race car and the water temps stay very cool. I had issues last summer with the oil getting too hot first, which leads to the water temp eventually climbing. But it was an oil issue, not water pump issue.

 

But in the future I will use the old style on race cars, and it's a suggestion if your street car is having water temp issues if you have already done the radiator upgrade.

Nothing like a race track to find the weak points in man and machine.

"Good Judgement comes from Experience. Experience comes from Bad Judgement"

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