2005 Legacy GT wagon: a bone stock rebuild

[birkhoff]

Ok, here goes, now that we have a brand spanking new forum for just this sort of thing.

 

INTRODUCTION:

 

For background, I got introduced to Subaru in New Zealand while on a long-term work trip. I owned two of them there and discovered they are really great cars, despite the quirky styling. They are also amazingly cheap and easy to own in NZ -- quite possibly a green JDM wagon is the most common vehicle down there. My second one was a 2.0 GT twin turbo. What a fun car!

 

My home is in Victoria BC, Canada. I bought this US car from another member in 2009 and imported it to Canada. It had 150,000 miles on it when I got it; the original owner used it for his business and put on huge annual highway miles. Always serviced at the dealer, on schedule. Driven, but driven sensibly. Everything stock. What's not to like? When I picked the car up south of Seattle and drove it across the border, a distance of about 200 miles, I knew this was going to be a great car. I think it is appropriate to acknowledge early on in this story what a knowledgable PO and good maintenance can do. This car was on its original clutch; I finally replaced it at about 170,000 miles due to a failing TOB -- the clutch itself had lots of life left but I replaced it anyway. It is on its original stock turbo. I pulled it recently, at 185,000 miles, for reasons that I will explain in a subsequent post, but it is fine. A smidgen of radial shaft play and no axial play whatsoever.

 

Anyway, back to the plot.

 

Looking back, it was on the second day of ownership that I messed things up. Importing a US car to Canada requires an extensive vehicle inspection within xx hours of crossing the border. Only certain mechanics are authorized to do this. I had set up an appointment for the morning after bringing the car up to Victoria. When I went out to start her up, the battery was flat. What I did not know was that the alternator had failed, so even though I did a quick charge and jump I had a massive low voltage situation. The first stop sign I hit I had major problems with bucking, backfiring and a heavy knock. Not wanting (or able) to miss my appointment I pressed on some, until finally giving up in horror and calling for a flatdeck. The rest of the day went fine: the car passed with flying colours and the previous owner, aware of the impending alternator problem, had left me a new one in the back as part of the deal. The mechanic put that in and charged the battery.

 

What followed was about 6 months of intermittent CEL events and various attempts to figure out what was going on. And, she started to consume oil -- lots of oil. Still, it drove well, if a little rough at idle. No blue smoke whatsoever. Vitals all within spec. Over time, the CEL events settled down as, I guess, engine management figured out what to do with the mess I had made of things.

 

But, it was clear to me a rebuild was pending.

 

I kept putting this off since she was basically a driveable daily driver if you could ignore the shocking appetite for 10W30. The original plan was to pull the engine, tear it down and then put it back in one go. I've rebuilt a couple of engines, and done lots of weekend mechanical work, mostly on mercedes, so I knew that a plan like that would see the car out of commission for months, not days and would cost much more than budgeted; even more if done under time pressure. Biding my time, I picked up a used short block with good cylinders, and a couple of used heads to try and get a jump on the swap by pre-building what I could.

 

Things are going to have to move forward now. At this point, the situation has degenerated to the point that it sounds like a steel ball bearing is loose inside one or more of the cylinders (a VERY hard sound to pin down, by the way). I assume this is a piece of ringland that is bouncing around but not yet spit out. Time and teardown will tell.

 

In the next post I'll review the short block rebuild. I know (and concur) that faced with this situation, one should seriously consider a new factory short block and just move on to the rest of the project. There is still plenty to do! But for those who can't resist the temptation, I'll cover the rebuild in the next post.

 

I wish I had more pictures to share -- I used to be better about this, but I have so little time now and projects move in fits and starts. Photojournalism is not high on my priority list these days. Just so you know.

[MrTris]

Why a used block over a new one?

[keenster]

In for the fun.

[magnusonsubie]

In to see where this goes.

[birkhoff]

Why a used block over a new one?

 

Three answers, really. In order of importance (or my thinking at the time)

 

1. COST. Since the vitals on my engine (including compression and leak-down test) showed a healthy engine, I figured there was a good chance this would amount to replacement of pistons and pins, rings, bearing inserts three o-rings and a rear seal. Since I already had a line on a set of brand new STI pistons of the right grade for about $100, plus an estimate of another $100 for bearing shells, and an allowance of $200 for machine shop work, including a light hone, this looked attractive. But, see my post on the actual rebuild to see a more realistic reckoning before starting something like this.

 

2. THE INTANGIBLE. Some people just like this fiddly sort of work. I happen to be one of them and the challenge appealed to me. I've built engines before and it is not rocket science! Some day maybe I'll build a rocket just to get it out of my system. But see my posts below . . .

 

3. THE CANADA THING. Living in Canada, on an island, means my local sources for parts are rather restricted compared to, say, the middle of a cornfield in the midwest USA. Getting a short block from Heuberger to your doorstep on overnight delivery is not really an option. You have to order it, wait, then make a trip across the border (full day for me) to pick it up in the US, or suffer endle$$ delays through the customs and brokerage process. There is a reason they call it BROKErage. Sometimes, just doing it beats all the other options. But see my posts below. . .

 

If you are only reading the thread this far, I concur with Mr. Tris' implication. Given that you will probably need more than a 'refresh' of your block, including a new crank and some more exotic machine work than just a cleanup and a light hone, the $2000 short block option should be the first option considered, all things being equal.

 

But aren't you glad someone is going to try this, just to prove your point!

[MrTris]

I don't want you to fail. I prefer it more when people prove my "point" by following the formula -- buying a new block, installing, suffering, learning, growing, and then boosting off into the twisty hillsides. I really don't want you to have spent all this time and money only to end up with subpar performance, or worse -- be right back where you started and have oil consumption issues, etc, all because you wanted to do it yourself.

 

No, you're right, building engines isn't rocket science. But, the similarity between these motors and any other is that they have pistons, and rings, and that's about it. If you are not experienced in building Subaru motors, I highly suggest you don't take this on yourself, not unless you feel like you can afford to redo that particular part of the process.

 

Overnight shipping from Heuberger doesn't happen unless you ask for it, and, for something of that size and weight, you'd be paying almost double to get it to your door in 24hrs or less. However, I do understand that being in Canada has shipping disadvantages, and, I feel for you.

 

I'm looking forward to your progress, and wait with bated breath . .

[magnusonsubie]

There's plenty of us in WA that I'm sure we could organize something that a new block could be shipped to us and we could meet you in Bellingham. I know a lot of us are willing to help and want to see success. If I could guarantee when I am going to be at home in WA I'd even offer to meet you in Vancouver as I'm always down for a weekend up there mountain biking.

[MrTris]

There's plenty of us in WA that I'm sure we could organize something that a new block could be shipped to us and we could meet you in Bellingham. I know a lot of us are willing to help and want to see success. If I could guarantee when I am going to be at home in WA I'd even offer to meet you in Vancouver as I'm always down for a weekend up there mountain biking.

 

I was also going to offer this.

 

But then again, how comfortable do YOU feel, sending a $2k package to a guy you've never met, with the promise that he'll meet you close to the border to do the exchange?

[magnusonsubie]

I was also going to offer this.

 

 

 

But then again, how comfortable do YOU feel, sending a $2k package to a guy you've never met, with the promise that he'll meet you close to the border to do the exchange?

 

 

Yeah that is the thing. You have to have trust and I'd even throw together a contract just to be safe. There's ways to do it if it is truly an issue.

[birkhoff]

I was also going to offer this.

 

But then again, how comfortable do YOU feel, sending a $2k package to a guy you've never met, with the promise that he'll meet you close to the border to do the exchange?

 

And one with baited breath no less!

 

I should be clear. The SB is done. My fate is sealed. I have a little money and some time into this, more of the latter than the former, so I can back up if need be. If a new stock SB is required, I'm already ahead by having a volunteer or two to help out on the shipping. That's cool.

 

Thanks.

[MrTris]

If you've had the block bored out to 100, I believe you'll need a custom gasket, as the HGs that come in the kit won't work. Reach out to Cometic or another gasket maker, for your application.

 

Also, know your shake-ass-spear: http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/baited-versus-bated

[birkhoff]

Also, know your shake-ass-spear: http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/baited-versus-bated

 

Well I'll be darned. I did not know this! The things you can learn in an engine rebuilding thread!

 

Thanks Mr. Shylock; I mean Tris.

[CloudSeed777]

If you've had the block bored out to 100, I believe you'll need a custom gasket, as the HGs that come in the kit won't work. Reach out to Cometic or another gasket maker, for your application.

 

I used the stock gasket kit - worked fine. .5mm is mice-nuts.

[birkhoff]

TEARDOWN OF EJ255 SHORTBLOCK

 

DISCLAIMER: I’ve never done this before. Maybe the engine is going to blow up in the first 100 km. I have rebuilt other engines, so I am not going to do something completely stupid, but a Subaru is unlike any other engine I’ve encountered. You may want to skip to the last post to see if there is any reason beyond entertainment value to follow this thread.

 

RECAP:

 

The original plan to pull my engine and rebuild my existing short block all in one go changed when I had a chance to purchase a low mile (50K miles) used short block that appeared to be rebuildable. It had been pulled for a failed ring land on #2, but once out, the mechanic said bores looked fine. However the owner didn’t want the hassle and delay of a rebuild so he went with a new short block. Since my block was at 160K, this seemed like a sensible detour on the original plan. Of course there are some who say the road to hell is paved with sensible detours.

 

That is how I came to own TWO short blocks with broken ring lands.

 

Before teardown pics:

 

 

 

 

After assembly pics:

 

 

Not much to see here, admittedly.

 

 

 

TEARDOWN:

 

Step 1. Remove oil pump and bag it (with fasteners), if it is still there. Hint: for fragile items, especially those with machined surfaces like this, put fasteners in a separate bag, or wrap them in some kind of packing to keep them from damaging the part while you root around in your box ‘o parts during the project. Same applies, only doubly-so when shipping parts.

 

Step 2. Open up the inspection ports with your 14 mm allen and pull the pistons. The pins align with the inspection holes at BDC. I found it helpful to have a number of options in the way of needle nose and snap ring pliers to grab the keepers. I also made up a long rod with a hook on the end to catch the end of the piston pin, used like a slide hammer. This turned out to be way overkill as the pins came out like butter — almost as if they were brand new. Pistons can then be pushed out part way by letting the rods contact the underside of the piston, then the rest of the way by turning the piston 90 degrees and pushing on the piston pin boss. Number the pistons as they come out for the forensics later.

 

Step 3. Break free the case bolts. I anticipated these would be really tight, so I modified a heavy 1/2 inch drive 12pt, 12 mm socket to fit down the holes. Once again, this turned out to be overkill — a high quality 3/8 inch drive should be fine, but you will need a good sized breaker bar to get them started. I followed standard practice of slightly breaking each bolt in the reverse-to-torque pattern from the FSM before removing them altogether. I left a couple of main case bolts in loosely so the case wouldn’t fall apart at the next step (you should be so lucky!). Don’t forget the 3 smaller bolts on the bottom end of the block! I put the bolts, in order, through a cardboard template so I wouldn’t mix them up.

 

Step 4. Split the case. I adopted a well-known method from the web. Get a piece of strong wood dowel. A chunk of old broom handle is about right; just small enough to fit through the piston pin bore in the rod. Cut it long enough to pass through and contact both inspection ports on a cylinder. Mine was 7/8 inch diameter and 5 1/2 inches in length. Drop a front rod to BDC and insert the wood dowel. Rotate the crank gently and watch for case separation at the front. As soon as you see the slightest movement, switch to the rear. Iterate. If nothing moves, check that you have all the bolts out. If you left a couple of big case bolts in for safety, you will run up against those at some point. This is a slick trick that made what was a puzzling step (for me) absolutely painless. Plus, is seems unworkmanlike to go wailing on the case with a hammer, no matter how careful you are. The only downside I can see with this method is that it is probably hard on the main bearing shells — but you won’t be reusing those anyway and they are soft, compared to the crank journals, so no permanent harm will be done.

 

Teardown toolkit:

 

Front, left to right: 14 mm allen socket; 12 mm 12pt; special subaru case splitting tool (aka broom handle); retaining ring tools, notebook (or camera, or better yet, notebook AND camera)

Back rows: LONG breaker bar; slide hammer.

 

Business end of pin puller -- some engines may need this:

 

 

When the case is partly open, but with the dowel pins still holding, the crank will be quite sloppy and you are probably best to finish the break-out with soft faced hammer at the bench. I hardly need to say this, but do not, under any circumstances, pry on the separating faces to open up the case. Your machinist will not like this.

 

Step 5. Remove the crank/rod assembly from the case half and separate the rods. It is probably best to leave the main bearing shells undisturbed (for forensics) and the same for the rod bearings. Pay attention to the markings on the rods: the crank pin it comes from and which side of the rod faces front.

 

That’s it. Having done this once and fabricated a couple of tools/fixtures, I’m confident I could do a teardown in about 1 hour, start to finish. Not a big or technically demanding job!

 

 

NOW WHAT?

 

You should have: two case halves, a crankshaft, case bolts, pistons and pins, rods, plus a set of bearing shells sitting in their original bores, all laid out. This is a kind of crossroads in the process since the next steps start to cost money.

 

Option A: You could box all this up and take it to your machinist for evaluation. They will take some critical measurements and get back to you regarding the feasibility of reconditioning. If you are going this route, you may want to consider having the machine shop do the teardown — might be good to check with them first. The added cost may be negligible and the forensics are then the responsibility of the guy/gal who has to put it back together.

 

Option B: (my option) You could inspect and measure everything yourself so you know where you stand, do a little cleaning and then take whatever needs to be looked at to your machinist. This has the advantage that if something really bad comes up during your inspection, you save a bit of machinist time and you can bail at essentially zero cost, save what you paid for the used short block. However, there are some specialized tools you need to measure tolerances and it helps to have some experience using said tools. Also, you will be handing your machinist a ‘basket case’ as they like to call it.

 

Even if you choose Option A, it is worth inspecting the parts as they come out and taking some notes. EG: 3 black and one red o-ring between the case halves. Big end bearing shell on rod 3 looks more worn the others. Start a shopping list — I find it much easier to do this as I go along than to try to remember all the little things I need for assembly by staring at a pile of boxes and bags of parts!

 

 

Next up: inspecting all your bits.

[keenster]

Hell yeah! +1 for Option B!

[birkhoff]

Hell yeah! +1 for Option B!

 

+2 for unmitigated though possibly reckless enthusiasm by the Keenister . . . Time will tell, but thanks for the moral support no matter how it works out!

[AMileHighLGT]

If you've wrenched Mercedes, a Subaru is a walk in the park.

[Max Capacity]

Take the block, crank and rods to the machine shop. Have them insp and measure. Than go from there.

 

They will tell you if the cylinders need boring or just a hone, and new pistons. They will tell you if the rods and crank are re-usable.

 

Also bring the heads and have them rebuilt.

 

You do plan to buy use ARP head studs, right ?

[birkhoff]

Resurrecting this old thread/project to report on progress.

 

This was always going to be a rather long term affair. Instead than rebuilding my existing 180K engine, I bought a 50K short block with known ring land issues and rebuilt that. Did the same thing with a set of B25 heads. This way I was able to continue driving the car all of last year while I got things ready for the swap.

 

Then, life got in the way and the project stalled, starting last spring. In January this year, my luck ran out when something let loose on this old motor. I was running on the highway during a long ski trip. Immediate CEL and some bad rod-knock sounding noises but amazingly, the car continued to drive and completed the weekend.

 

In case you are curious, here is a link to a short video of the sound. Experts here will probably recognize it right away. More on that shortly.

 

http://vid404.photobucket.com/albums/pp121/cbose/Subaru-05/engine_noise1_zps276cq9gz.mp4

 

Another short video with the hood open. A bit confusing because of all the related engine sounds. I find it very difficult to isolate the source, making me think it is deep in the block.

 

http://vid404.photobucket.com/albums/pp121/cbose/Subaru-05/engine_noise2_zpspgrod67j.mp4

 

Anyhow, this engine has to come out, for sure. After about 4 hours of prep, everything is cleared out and ready for the pull. I've had this engine out once before for a clutch, so this won't be quite as bad as one might expect for a 180K scenario.

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=229623&stc=1&d=1462377771

[Max Capacity]

Good luck, thanks for the update.

[birkhoff]

Ok, now the engine is out, on the stand and the swap-over begins.

 

Taking a few pictures as you go will certainly be helpful, and not just for the forum! For example, I was able to avoid a bunch of trial and error fitting of the intercooler to TB hose using this early picture from the teardown. Note the position of the tabs.

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=229624&stc=1&d=1462378045

 

Slowly but surely it all comes off and gets organized on the worktable.

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=229625&stc=1&d=1462378045

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=229626&stc=1&d=1462378045

 

Down to a bare short block now. I've left most of the bolts in the block as I go so I don't have to bag the stuff.

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=229628&stc=1&d=1462378890

 

While I think about it, I suggest you plan to replace all the hoses buried under the intake. The gooseneck vacuum hose, for example, was really cooked. I went cheap and didn't order some of the easy-to-get-at hoses outside the intake. Some leaked and needed double clamping. That would be a major pain with any of these hoses, and hard to diagnose.

[birkhoff]

To be honest, a little ahead of myself in that last post. Not quite a bare short block. First, we need to flip it over and deal with the exhaust, up pipe etc. This is a good time to savour the luxury of having the engine on a stand so you can do this all in a comfortably vertical position!

 

I had pre-ordered all new fasteners for the exhaust since we are looking at a 185K engine from the northeast US here. Manifolds to heads came off without a fuss. A cutoff wheel made short work of the open exhaust flange bolts. Heat shields were wasp-nest-paper thin. Mostly just pulled them off by hand; only a couple of bolts remained intact. The heat shield bolts into the m'fold casting looked really dicey, but heating the casting to cherry red, they came right out. Much easier than breaking them off and re-cutting the threads, or helicoil.

 

Pan off and internals cleared out.

 

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=229663&stc=1&d=1462429874

 

 

Confession time. The heavy deposits are my fault. When you pour more than 1 litre of fresh oil in an engine every couple of weeks, you kind of get lazy on the OCI. When I first got the car and pulled the banjo screens to have a look, everything was clean as a whistle. Remember your OCI or this can happen to you!

 

Next, heads come off. Bores are in remarkable shape, especially considering this is an engine that has run for 6 years with broken ring lands (to be confirmed, but almost certain).

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=229664&stc=1&d=1462429902

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=229665&stc=1&d=1462429902

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=229666&stc=1&d=1462429902

 

 

Some polishing from the skirts to be sure. A hone would be essential, but overall, the condition of these bores after such high mileage and dodgy pistons is really amazing.

[StkmltS]

I can't wait to see the ringlands

[birkhoff]

I can't wait to see the ringlands

 

Me too! Just that the priority now is to get the new block built up and get back on the road. I will do the forensics shortly.

[birkhoff]

This is getting interesting.

 

I don't mean this. These look like pretty healthy heads on the RHS. Maybe a little rich. Honestly, I expected more oil fouled.

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=229719&stc=1&d=1462518500

 

But THIS was not expected

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=229720&stc=1&d=1462518500

 

 

Closeup

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=229721&stc=1&d=1462518500

 

 

That's a lot of valve to lose. No wonder the CEL, but then, if this happened all of a sudden, where is the metal? Top of piston on #2 has no damage. Exhaust had no chunks in it.

 

Mystery?