Engine rebuild

[Mbyam58]

Ok guys, well I'm pretty new here. I have a 2005 LGT Sedan. I bought it with a bad turbo, I replaced the Turbo with a reman VF40 and got exactly 37.2 miles before boom went the dynomite. It lost all power and died out. I heard a knock for maybe 2 seconds before the engine died. So I am a single Father and I'm in the process of finding a new apartment for me and my Daughter so money is very much so an object to contend with. I have a local mechine shop that is pretty familiar in subarus and a friend who is a pretty good mechanic. I'm gonna tackle this as thoroughly as I can financially afford. I have the motor out and discovered it was a rod bearing that pretty much disintegration. The crank is pretty scored, the rod is scored and there is minor scoring on the cylinder wall.

 

I have in mind ... Boring, replacing pistons/rings, Rods, polished crank and pretty much reassembling with new gaskets and such. Am I way off base in making it sound that easy? Any pointers would be Very helpful,and appreciated. keep the bashing to a minimum please. I build chimneys for a living not cars. This will be the most in depth I have gone into working on a vehicle. Im not entirely stupid when it comes to Vehicles but I'm no ASE certified mechanic by any means. Thanks for reading

[Mbyam58]

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[Max Capacity]

http://legacygt.com/forums/forumdisplay.php/build-threads-142.html

 

read that.

 

read the sticky's at the top of the forums.

 

read my click here link.

 

Lot's of info here, the best thing to do is a new ej257 and gasket kit for your car. What happened to you is what happens when a turbo goes, it takes the short block with it 99% of the time.

[Mbyam58]

Are you saying a rebuild of the one I have is pretty much useless? About how long would it last the route I was originally planning. I just don't have enough money to afford a new short block. I bought the car for $2500 and the Turbo for $450 so I'm not too deep but my living situation dosnt really allow me to have an extra $2200. I don't mean to sound thick headed or cheap but it's just a tough financial situation. In hindsight I should not have bought it but it was unforseen circumstances. It's a questions I already know the answer to but is it real far fetched to think I can get it in running order for around $1000-1500? My turbo is still perfect. Block is totally apart At the moment.

[MrTris]

Are you saying a rebuild of the one I have is pretty much useless? About how long would it last the route I was originally planning. I just don't have enough money to afford a new short block. I bought the car for $2500 and the Turbo for $450 so I'm not too deep but my living situation dosnt really allow me to have an extra $2200. I don't mean to sound thick headed or cheap but it's just a tough financial situation. In hindsight I should not have bought it but it was unforseen circumstances. It's a questions I already know the answer to but is it real far fetched to think I can get it in running order for around $1000-1500? My turbo is still perfect. Block is totally apart At the moment.

 

$1000-$1500 won't even cover the machine shop costs, let alone new pistons, gasket kit and everything you'll need to replace along the way. Having the heads serviced is about $400 all by itself.

 

Sorry, dude. Not gonna happen. You need a minimum of $3500, and even then, it doesn't get you very far.

[Brian3676]

You can't polish that crank. It's trash. With your situation yiur better off getting a new short block from Subaru. By the time you buy new pistons, rings, rod, bearings, crank and machining you will be at the same as a new oem block. Cheapest you going to get out of this is around 3k, and thats if your buddy works for free and the heads only need cleaning and surfacing.

[MrTris]

You can't polish that crank. It's trash. With your situation yiur better off getting a new short block from Subaru. By the time you buy new pistons, rings, rod, bearings, crank and machining you will be at the same as a new oem block.

 

New shortblock is $1695. Gasket kit is $261, plus $175 flat-rate to ship it. That's over $2100 right there, and we both know the dollars don't stop there. Need the heads serviced, too - another $400, which brings the grand total to a little over $2500, which is a whole $1000 over what he wants to spend on this.

[boxman]

cut your losses, sell it and get a beater you can afford to operate and maintain.

[Sgt.Gator]

For $1500-$1800 you could find a junkyard USDM or eBay JDM 2.5 Naturally Aspirated or with a little more effort a 3.0 EZ30R engine. Swap it in and go. At least you can get to work.

[Brian3676]

New shortblock is $1695. Gasket kit is $261, plus $175 flat-rate to ship it. That's over $2100 right there, and we both know the dollars don't stop there. Need the heads serviced, too - another $400, which brings the grand total to a little over $2500, which is a whole $1000 over what he wants to spend on this.

 

Like I said, he will be around 3k, and thats if his buddy works for free. Specially by the time you consider things like the PCV valve, spark plugs and that stuff that you usually replace when the motor is out and apart

[Sgt.Gator]

Replace the Oil Pump, Timing Belt Kit, a bunch of old cracking hoses....

 

My $.02, either sell the car to someone who is looking for an LGT on the cheap as a project car, or get a junkyard engine to get you thru for awhile.

[keenster]

If you really Love the car, get a decent beater that is safe for you and your daughter and make this a side project. But if money is a concern and you can do without the car then maybe consider it a loss. But everyone here is willing to help on the way.

 

Check the 4th gen classifieds for replacement parts.

http://legacygt.com/forums/forumdisplay.php/member-classifieds-2005-2009-30.html

 

Good Luck dude.

[Merc6]

If you really Love the car, get a decent beater that is safe for you and your daughter and make this a side project. But if money is a concern and you can do without the car then maybe consider it a loss. But everyone here is willing to help on the way.

 

Check the 4th gen classifieds for replacement parts.

http://legacygt.com/forums/forumdisplay.php/member-classifieds-2005-2009-30.html

 

Good Luck dude.

 

Yep, having the car forever literally I took the same choice as the people on tornado ally route. "Not gonna sell, we gonna rebuild it again!"

 

I had 4 girlfriends, 2 beaters and 2 kids in the process of rebuilding this car. Not saying you shouldn't make it a DD ever again, but putting all the eggs in 1 basket will get you into trouble. One of the issues I faced was taking $200 shortcut and not believing I could fall victim to needing a short block.

 

Quickest medium to high risk is find a "RUNNING ENGINE" and drop it in after replacing at least spark plugs, water pump, oil pump, timing belt, and turbo praying that can get you a few years of easy driving until you decide to rebuild the engine you pulled. I was going this route against the forums wishes but couldn't find a person to admit seeing the engine "RUN" in front of them before sale.

[Mbyam58]

So I have been real busy being back to work and I haven't gotten a chance to do anything with the car yet. I believe the route I may go is boring to 100mm and buying new pistons and rings and rods and replace the crank. I have found parts and a local machine shop where I can get it done start to finish for around $1400 start to finish. I have found "Nippon" pistons,ring,rod kit for $525, A new crank is $309 then $100 for my core (rockauto Anyone?), gasket kit I found for $200, the timing belt kit with water pump is $200 and the machine shop quoted me $35 per Cylinder for a bore with a torque plate. Once again I'm no mechanic and all input is greatly appreciated, do you guys think I'm making a big mistake going this route? I have called several shops and they believe this route should get me a pretty solid engine as long as it's all done correctly. I'd love to drop a new STI block into it, and I'm thinking about just driving my CRV and saving this car as a project. But if I can spend $1300-1400 and drive it for a year or more then I'd be more then OK with that. I'm not looking to get it all pumped up (as of now) just make a decently reliable vehicle. My bad financial situation is kind of a new development (divorce).

[CloudSeed777]

So I have been real busy being back to work and I haven't gotten a chance to do anything with the car yet. I believe the route I may go is boring to 100mm and buying new pistons and rings and rods and replace the crank. I have found parts and a local machine shop where I can get it done start to finish for around $1400 start to finish. I have found "Nippon" pistons,ring,rod kit for $525, A new crank is $309 then $100 for my core (rockauto Anyone?), gasket kit I found for $200, the timing belt kit with water pump is $200 and the machine shop quoted me $35 per Cylinder for a bore with a torque plate. Once again I'm no mechanic and all input is greatly appreciated, do you guys think I'm making a big mistake going this route? I have called several shops and they believe this route should get me a pretty solid engine as long as it's all done correctly. I'd love to drop a new STI block into it, and I'm thinking about just driving my CRV and saving this car as a project. But if I can spend $1300-1400 and drive it for a year or more then I'd be more then OK with that. I'm not looking to get it all pumped up (as of now) just make a decently reliable vehicle. My bad financial situation is kind of a new development (divorce).

 

That path sounds a lot like the one I took, and my car runs really good. I bored .5mm over to 100mm, Nippon JDM STI Pistons, Scat Rods with ARP cap bolts. If you're going to go this route, I would have the block inspected by machine shop BEFORE you purchase your pistons. Most likely .5mm will do it, but the Machine shop will let you know after inspection if you need a bore and how much they need to take.

 

What are you doing for a turbo? I went with a JMP custom VF40. Check my build thread out since it sounds like you're doing about the same thing I did:

http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php/2005-outback-xt-rebuild-chronicles-233261.html?t=233261&highlight=chronicles

 

Also, don't forget to replace the oil-cooler. Maybe pissing in the wind here, but there's a thread on NAUSAIC that I read that states that some people opt to leave the oil cooler off completely as some either WRX or WRX-STI don't have them stock. Anyone have any opinion about this?

 

http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2221313

[rmoore5]

Another thing to look at is the camshaft journals. There are no inserts in the heads and if the metal from the rod made it to the heads or plugged the filters in the oil lines the cams and heads might need to be replaced. NAPA shows a reman motor for $4169. With a warranty this might be a safer bet over a junk yard turbo motor.

[Mbyam58]

What are you doing for a turbo? I went with a JMP custom VF40. Check my build thread out since it sounds like you're doing about the same thing I did:http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2221313

 

I had just purchased a freshly remanufactured VF40 and only put 37.2 miles before the rod bearing went. After inspection it seems to be 100% still so I believe I'm going to go with that. Can you tell me how many miles since rebuild?

 

After my local machine shop inspected my block and cylinders he said that a simple hone would suffice, that there was very minimal scaring on the cylinders. I'm almost still inclined to have the bore to be 100% sure but I know he is reputable and has rebuilt many in my area.

[Max Capacity]

Don't waste money on the boring, just do what's needed.

[08 LGT]

You can't polish that crank. It's trash. With your situation yiur better off getting a new short block from Subaru. By the time you buy new pistons, rings, rod, bearings, crank and machining you will be at the same as a new oem block. Cheapest you going to get out of this is around 3k, and thats if your buddy works for free and the heads only need cleaning and surfacing.

 

Yep, welcome to the Thunderdome, brother. I'm currently having a new Subaru OEM block put in. If the small block is toast, it's going to be $5000+ by the time all is said and done, if you're paying someone to do it for you and do it right.

[CloudSeed777]

I had just purchased a freshly remanufactured VF40 and only put 37.2 miles before the rod bearing went. After inspection it seems to be 100% still so I believe I'm going to go with that. Can you tell me how many miles since rebuild?

 

After my local machine shop inspected my block and cylinders he said that a simple hone would suffice, that there was very minimal scaring on the cylinders. I'm almost still inclined to have the bore to be 100% sure but I know he is reputable and has rebuilt many in my area.

 

Moving through 5500 miles on rebuild and JmP turbo. If the machine shop knows Subaru motors and deals with them a lot then I would trust their input on the hone.

[Mbyam58]

Dropped the heads off today to be cleaned, prepped and surfaced. The shop quoted me some great prices On parts and machining.

machine work is going to run me $275

Crank $150

New rod $45

Rings $60

Bottom end/head gaskets $140

Top end gaskets/cam seals $30

timing kit with water pump $140

Timing gear $50

Rod bearings $50

Main bearing $30

 

After the shop checked over all of my parts he decided I didn't need any boring and my pistons were still good, just recommended to rering them.I'm going to be putting it back together with a mechanic friend. I'm also going to do Plugs, etc. Is there anything else I should or should not do while I'm here? It's gonna cost about what wishing for and a lot less then what I was actually expecting.

[CloudSeed777]

Sweet! Where did you find a crank for $150? Used?

[Mbyam58]

Sweet! Where did you find a crank for $150? Used?

 

All the parts are being ordered from the same machine shop doing the machining. The only part that will be used is the crank, I saw it and it looks to be in excellent condition. I was very weary of putting ANY used parts in but I'm kinda in a pinch at the moment. I did find a new one listed on rockauto for $309 Which I'm almost tempted to go with.