silvershakenbake Posted February 29, 2016 Share Posted February 29, 2016 So after buying this vehicle 3k ago I am now going to attempt at losing my engine rebuild virginity. The car was eating oil right off the bat so I went ahead and compression tested and leakdown tested and all was okay. Then, Went on to replace a bunch of oil lines that had small leaks, rebuild the turbo, pcv valve, some other small things and also added and up pipe, down pipe. About a week later the head gasket went..... So I did a bunch of research and figured I would dedicate my hard earned 3k to rebuilding this son of a bitch. So because this is my first rebuild I'm going to need as much help as possible and would greatly appreciate some words of advice. I've been doing some research and have found some helpful stuff but still feel pretty uneasy about the rebuild at this point. Im wondering if a hanes would help or maybe if there is something else out there that does a pretty good step by step of taking the engine apart? Wish me luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmoore5 Posted February 29, 2016 Share Posted February 29, 2016 You have come to the right place. Rebuilding an engine requires some specific skills, the ej25 turbo motor is an expensive one to learn on, be careful and utilize experts when you don't have the needed skill. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silvershakenbake Posted February 29, 2016 Author Share Posted February 29, 2016 You have come to the right place. Rebuilding an engine requires some specific skills, the ej25 turbo motor is an expensive one to learn on, be careful and utilize experts when you don't have the needed skill. Yah I'm not very excited, but I think this is the best way to go about it. I have a few friends that know the engine very well and I will be using them when needed. Do you know of any kind of step by step guides or something like that? I'm not too worried about the tear down as I am about putting it all back together. Seems like you can't really mess anything up on tear down, however I'm sure you can surely make the process take a bit longer. I will also get a parts list out in the next few days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmoore5 Posted February 29, 2016 Share Posted February 29, 2016 I only know of the factory service manual, this forum, and the internet. Sometimes you can find the instructions by searching vacation pix on legacygt.com. A factory short block is the way a lot of people go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
birkhoff Posted March 1, 2016 Share Posted March 1, 2016 Yup, you are on the right track. You need to tear down far enough to decide between the three options: new (or used) engine, a new short block, or rebuilding what you have and you need to keep your options open as you go. It doesn't require a detailed parts list at this point, you just have to go far enough to pull the timing gear and heads, pull the pistons out the fire deck and make a thorough inspection of everything. Take pictures, obviously. Keeping a parts list is helpful, but not nearly as important as documenting how things go back together. The FSM is good, but can be confusing when you have a pile of hoses and pipes laying on the bench 3 months from now! Once you have the block on a table, and pistons out, members here will be lining up to give you some hard-earned and helpful advice about the best next steps. First thing is to find the FSM, somewhere. There are many sources. Even taking the engine apart is covered in detail in the FSM, such as how to release the heads, split the case inspect parts etc. Dang, even which way to lay the beast on the table before surgery is in there! Invaluable. Forget Haynes. Good luck with this. Yah I'm not very excited, but I think this is the best way to go about it. I have a few friends that know the engine very well and I will be using them when needed. Do you know of any kind of step by step guides or something like that? I'm not too worried about the tear down as I am about putting it all back together. Seems like you can't really mess anything up on tear down, however I'm sure you can surely make the process take a bit longer. I will also get a parts list out in the next few days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Capacity Posted March 1, 2016 Share Posted March 1, 2016 http://people.csail.mit.edu/ilh/vacation/ read the sticky's up top too. read covertrussians thread, BMB's thread and a few others, Take notes. PM Underdog for prices as well as Mike or Rey at www.AZPinstalls.com, or "m sprank" at www.infamousperformance.net Learn who to trust and do it right the first time. Oh yea, ARP head studs, hint hint. 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silvershakenbake Posted March 3, 2016 Author Share Posted March 3, 2016 Yup, you are on the right track. You need to tear down far enough to decide between the three options: new (or used) engine, a new short block, or rebuilding what you have and you need to keep your options open as you go. It doesn't require a detailed parts list at this point, you just have to go far enough to pull the timing gear and heads, pull the pistons out the fire deck and make a thorough inspection of everything. Take pictures, obviously. Keeping a parts list is helpful, but not nearly as important as documenting how things go back together. The FSM is good, but can be confusing when you have a pile of hoses and pipes laying on the bench 3 months from now! Once you have the block on a table, and pistons out, members here will be lining up to give you some hard-earned and helpful advice about the best next steps. First thing is to find the FSM, somewhere. There are many sources. Even taking the engine apart is covered in detail in the FSM, such as how to release the heads, split the case inspect parts etc. Dang, even which way to lay the beast on the table before surgery is in there! Invaluable. Forget Haynes. Good luck with this. Are you saying I should pull the heads off with the motor still in?.. Or pull the whole thing? Is there anything I need to watch out for when pulling the motor or can i pretty much just go ahead and unplug, un bolt and pull? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmoore5 Posted March 3, 2016 Share Posted March 3, 2016 I pulled mine whole. The radiator is easy to remove and it will save damaging it. The engine is usually stuck to the trans pretty tight. The FSM do a good job of explaining the procedure. Pull the turbo if it's a manual for clearance to the trans. Leave the exhaust manifolds on until on the engine stand. The sprocket to cam bolts are very tight, don't use an impact on them they will round out. Use an allen wrench and a cheater bar. Just tie the closed systems out of the way, leave them closed. That's all I can think of right now. If you would fill out your profile as to what car you it would help those responding as to your year and trans etc. Again good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Capacity Posted March 3, 2016 Share Posted March 3, 2016 Oh Yea, see pictures on my click here link. 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silvershakenbake Posted March 4, 2016 Author Share Posted March 4, 2016 So maybe this won't be and engine rebuild thread after all.... at least at this point. After various shops saying that I had a blown head gasket and myself seeing tell tale signs, I decided to dig into it a little more. Did some testing to ultimately find that the radiator was leaking badly. I was only able to figure this out after first re-testing the cyl compression (came back the same)then, replacing the thermostat, then the upper and lower hoses and then finally both caps. When I was test driving it oveheated at about the same amount of drive time as before and I expected that the coolant all shot out of the reservoir again. When I checked it I was surprised to see that It was spraying out of the seam at the top of the radiator like crazy. Im not going to completely rule out possible head gasket leaking right now because I have had a little bit of misfireing after driving for long periods, but at this point I am pretty certain that I have just had a combo of bad caps on the radiator and a bad radiator. I will be replacing this week with either a mishimoto or a koyo and should have some definitive results. Moral of the story, start small. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StkmltS Posted March 11, 2016 Share Posted March 11, 2016 Glad to see a rebuild avoided... sad to see no build thread My DiySB rebuild Got Misfires? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thinking out side box Posted March 30, 2016 Share Posted March 30, 2016 if its a blown head gasket, there are additives you can add to stop the leak, works real well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silvershakenbake Posted August 24, 2016 Author Share Posted August 24, 2016 So I've come to find out that it was actually the head gaskets!!!!! I've been working on getting it apart the last couple months as I've had very little time. I decided to try and do it with the engine in the car. At this point, I have everything off but the heads and I'm about to pull the cams. When pulling the cams do the valves come out? I've never been in an engine this deep and dont really know what all goes on in there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StkmltS Posted August 24, 2016 Share Posted August 24, 2016 When you pull the cams off, the buckets will fall out (probably literally) so you'll want to put something there to keep them in place, or at the very least keep them from bouncing on the ground. IT MATTERS which bucket goes where, so keep track of where each bucket came from (bags, an egg carton, a sharpie...) and make sure you put them all back in the right spots when you put it all back together. I may have a pic of my cardboad-bucket-holder-inner-contraption in my rebuild thread somewhere. Nothing else will accidentally come out after the cams are off. The springs are held on by little retaining clip thingies, and the valves come out from the other side only after the springs are off. You won't need to take the springs off so your only worry is keeping track of the buckets. Sent from inner space. My DiySB rebuild Got Misfires? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Capacity Posted August 24, 2016 Share Posted August 24, 2016 Use the service manual I linked on post #6. that should help you out. Just make sure your in the right engine section, GT's start around page 1610... 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silvershakenbake Posted September 8, 2016 Author Share Posted September 8, 2016 So I was able to get the heads off today. Once pulled I noticed how dirty and gritty everything looks and am not sure if this is normal wear or something else. Ive also noticed grittyness from what seems to be the head gasket sealer. After taking a look at the headgaskets I dont really notice anything that resembles a leaking or blown headgasket, however im not really sure what im supposed to look for. I was going to clean everythig, but im curious to know any tricks or certain ways to do it. Pictures to come tomorrow.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Capacity Posted September 8, 2016 Share Posted September 8, 2016 The machine shop will clean all the parts after they machine the cylinders and rebuild the heads. You should be able to see pictures of my engine in my click here link. 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StkmltS Posted September 8, 2016 Share Posted September 8, 2016 ... and DIY versions are in my click here link My DiySB rebuild Got Misfires? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
birkhoff Posted September 8, 2016 Share Posted September 8, 2016 The machine shop will clean all the parts after they machine the cylinders and rebuild the heads. You should be able to see pictures of my engine in my click here link. Your machine shop of choice will appreciate you NOT dropping off an unrecognizable lump of oil goo for them, but you don't have to be too fussy. The first thing they will do after breaking things down is to dump everything in their dishwasher thingy and clean them up prior to any machine work. A thoughtful gesture is to sit the parts on some newspaper, spray everything down with a bit of engine degreaser, let it sit a bit, rinse and then wipe down to get the worst of the mess off. Heads up: if they are not responsible for reassembly, most machine shops will not hand you parts clean enough to assemble. Reconditioned crankshaft, rods and newly honed cylinders need thorough cleaning by you if you are doing reassembly. At the other extreme, if they reassemble the heads, then they should be clean, wrapped and ready to bolt on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silvershakenbake Posted September 10, 2016 Author Share Posted September 10, 2016 So I was only planning on taking the heads in to have them machined in case of any warpage or anything. I did all of this with the motor still in the car. Im doing this on a pretty tight budget and therefore dont really have the money to have them rebuild the heads...... Is that a mistake on my part? Really I would prefer a solid cleaning and for them to re-surface the heads and get away with just doing that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
birkhoff Posted September 10, 2016 Share Posted September 10, 2016 So I was only planning on taking the heads in to have them machined in case of any warpage or anything. I did all of this with the motor still in the car. Im doing this on a pretty tight budget and therefore dont really have the money to have them rebuild the heads...... Is that a mistake on my part? Really I would prefer a solid cleaning and for them to re-surface the heads and get away with just doing that. Cleaning and resurfacing means you have to take the heads apart. That is where the money goes if you pay labour to tear them down, reassemble and set up. If you do the breakdown and assembly yourself, it shouldn't cost much to have the shop run the heads through the cleaning machine and take a light cut off the surface. This, assuming the cams, journals and cam bores are in good shape. Look at StkmltS' thread. There are lots of creative ideas there for ways you can do things yourself to keep the cost down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silvershakenbake Posted September 11, 2016 Author Share Posted September 11, 2016 So Im really not comfortable with diving into the heads and would rather have someone else do it. I guess this means more moola no matter what. Now if the machine shop takes them down, cleans them and then puts them back together is that technically considered rebuilding them? Is it possible to just take the assembled head to a machine shop and have them measure and see if there is any warpage? And then if there is no warpage would it be bad to just go ahead and self clean what I can without taking the heads apart, then go ahead and put the whole motor back together? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
birkhoff Posted September 12, 2016 Share Posted September 12, 2016 If a machine shop inspects the heads, takes them apart, cleans and reassembles, that is a rebuild. Along the way they will inspect (and replace or refinish) any parts that need it. When you get it back they should be set up for valve clearance and wrapped up ready to go back on the block. If any parts cannot be re-used you will have to pay for replacements. Any decent shop experienced with Subaru heads should be able to give you a pretty solid estimate up front. Keep in mind that surfacing the heads is only part of the job. You also need to make sure the block mating surface (the fire deck) is also flat and clean. If you are having your block honed by the machine shop as well, they will lightly cut the fire deck as part of the job. In choosing a machine shop, ask around. If someone on the forum is in the same city, they may have some advice on who to use (or avoid). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StkmltS Posted September 13, 2016 Share Posted September 13, 2016 You could always buy a reasonably priced machinist's straight-edge and some shim gauges from Amazon and check the flatness yourself. If they're flat you're golden, if they're warped you're only out $50ish and you get a couple new cool things for your toolbox. My DiySB rebuild Got Misfires? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Capacity Posted September 13, 2016 Share Posted September 13, 2016 So Im really not comfortable with diving into the heads and would rather have someone else do it. I guess this means more moola no matter what. Now if the machine shop takes them down, cleans them and then puts them back together is that technically considered rebuilding them? Is it possible to just take the assembled head to a machine shop and have them measure and see if there is any warpage? And then if there is no warpage would it be bad to just go ahead and self clean what I can without taking the heads apart, then go ahead and put the whole motor back together? Seeing where you live, you need to contact Dave of Cryotuning you can find him in the tuning forum. Ask him who to have do your heads. http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php/cryotune-performance-carz-performance-now-cobb-atp-certified-255816.html 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.