Max Capacity Posted May 12, 2018 Share Posted May 12, 2018 When you put the vacuum line on the compressor housing of the turbo, make sure the boost pill is on the right place. Towards the compressor. The hose should have a white line around where the pill is. Looks like you have a plan now. 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...
Takotruckin Posted May 12, 2018 Share Posted May 12, 2018 I have seen lots of problems from ATK Engines. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lune Posted May 14, 2018 Author Share Posted May 14, 2018 Wasted Potential: What fueling stuff? The only thing I have bought so far is the turbo. RWebb: That is one option we are considering. Jegs has an ATK engine but I don't know if ATK is any good. Looks like from what Takotruckin is saying they have had issues, though I suppose any individual experience is only anecdotal. If I hear the same from others though then I probably want to avoid that. What I really don't understand is the difference between getting used heads and having them machined and getting remanufactured heads. Isn't that the same thing that they do to them? So it comes down to a difference between who you trust to do the machining work? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lune Posted May 14, 2018 Author Share Posted May 14, 2018 As I'm sitting here thinking about this I'm fairly uneasy about putting used heads on my engine if the only thing that is done to them is decking them (like just milling them smooth). If there is nothing done to check the cams, valves, channels, etc, then I'm basically putting heads in my engine that could easily be the point of failure. On the other hand I'm not sure what is typically done when you get used heads. My mechanic just said he would send them off to be "machined" but that is fairly vague. I don't want them ported and polished or anything so involved but I also don't want some random used part just milled cleaned and slapped on the engine. So... I guess I better determine what his intentions are with used heads? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RWebb Posted May 14, 2018 Share Posted May 14, 2018 Whats the cost savings? My vote is to do things once and right the first time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Capacity Posted May 14, 2018 Share Posted May 14, 2018 The heads you get from the junkyard should be rebuilt by a good machine shop, if you plan to keep the car. If your getting it running to sell it, don't bother getting them machined. The machine shop will disassemble the heads completely, inspect everything, pressure test the heads, replace what is needed and reassemble them. Any shop that doesn't do that is not worth being in business. Heads that are re-manufactured have had all that done to them. If the junkyards come with a warranty, you still should have them checked out by a machine shop. That's why they are cheaper. 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...
Max Capacity Posted May 14, 2018 Share Posted May 14, 2018 Whats the cost savings? My vote is to do things once and right the first time. Even after what you said earlier, I will agree with you. 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...
Lune Posted May 14, 2018 Author Share Posted May 14, 2018 Spoke to my mechanic again. Max is right, that is his and the machine shop's intention. He said he would never just deck it and put it on. As long as the used heads are workable they will send them over to the shop, disassemble, inspect, replace at least the bearings, clean and polish the cams and valves and send them back. They will be as good as new. Talked to the salvage yard. They would do their own inspection before they even considered sending the part to me. But if our machine shop looks at them and says they aren't worth machining I can send them back and get reimbursed for the full cost but have to pay for the shipping myself. So at most I would be out $80 for nothing, at best I get like new heads for just over $500. While I didn't want to have to replace my heads this still seems like the best option. If my heads were repairable then I'd still have to go through the same process. This way I just have to buy used heads. As far as new heads are concerned I think they basically just cannot be found new assembled. I found new heads for $500 apeice through Heuberger (where I'm getting my short block from) but that doesn't include valves or cams. They aren't assembled. Getting new cams and valves for both would be another $1300 and then I'd have to find someone willing, able and good at assembling them and pay labor costs. My mechanic isn't too hot on the idea and doesn't really want to have to assemble heads. Even so that option would be about $2300 + labor for heads. If I'm getting a short block for $1800 ($1700 +$100 shipping) that brings the total to around $4100. With a crate engine being $4400, I think I'd be further ahead at just getting the crate engine at that point as it is all assembled and comes with many of the parts I would need to replace anyway (like the oil pump, timing belt kit, etc.). So, I agree, RWebb. It isn't even worth doing if it isn't done right the first time. It is a matter of finding what is "right" for us. New (unassembled) heads isn't an option. Crate engine has remanufactured parts in it anyway and comes with it's own downfalls. Right now I think the best most "right" option is buying used heads and having them machined. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lune Posted May 14, 2018 Author Share Posted May 14, 2018 That said, I'm moving forward with the used heads option. The salvage yard said they would take the heads off the engine they are on if I give them my credit card info with the intent to buy. They could send me pictures of them on the engine before giving my card info but that wouldn't be very revealing of any potential issue anyway so it isn't really worth waiting for that. They will do their own inspection of the head and if they are not worth machining they wouldn't send them to me anyway. If they determine them to be good they can send them over. I might as well just give them my card info and move forward. So long as I receive them and my mechanic thinks they look good they get sent over the the machine shop. So long as he thinks they are good he starts the work. If they aren't, they get sent back to the salvage yard and I'm out $80 and am back to finding used heads. I need to wait to find them before moving forward. Once I know I have a good set of heads for machining I will be moving forward with buying the rest of the parts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RWebb Posted May 14, 2018 Share Posted May 14, 2018 Even after what you said earlier, I will agree with you. We dont always have to hate each other Now is the point when we say all of the is stupid and an LS is the answer :lol: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RWebb Posted May 14, 2018 Share Posted May 14, 2018 https://ls1tech.com/forums/conversions-hybrids/1776844-rowdy-burnouts-loud-noises-lsx-subaru-swap-project-7.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Capacity Posted May 14, 2018 Share Posted May 14, 2018 I can feel the 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...
Lune Posted May 14, 2018 Author Share Posted May 14, 2018 Damnit! I didn't know LS swap was an option. Is it too late to go back? ...hang on, lemme call my mechanic. I bet he is down for this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poormansupra Posted May 18, 2018 Share Posted May 18, 2018 LS swaps are not really that bad and you can get them for cheap or you could do a 2J Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickCawks Posted May 20, 2018 Share Posted May 20, 2018 lol... come on guys we dont drive 240's with welded diffs. lets have a little more class than ls swaps 2j im all in, but lets not muddy the waters too much here. Edit: nothing wrong with a 1j either . crazy what you can do these days with a little metal plate attached to your transmission. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lune Posted May 23, 2018 Author Share Posted May 23, 2018 Got the new (used) heads from the salvage yard. They are nearly as bad as mine. Not usable. Unable to be machined. *sigh* Back to square one. I'm looking at either getting a low mileage (<30k miles) used engine for around $3200 or buying a new (re-manufactured) crate engine through Jegs made by ATK for $4400. Neither of these were options we wanted to pursue. We could keep looking for a good pair of used heads but then we are burning more time and likely to end up in the same situation. My mechanic doesn't trust ATK any more than a low mileage used engine. In fact, he trusts a low mileage used engine MORE. He is recommending that as my best option. I'm still not so sure but lack better options. This is really going poorly for us. At this point I'm hoping the salvage yard I bought the heads from was honest on their return policy and I can get reimbursed for these heads. Right now we have just enough money to get the used engine. I guess that is what we are going to do and scrape together what we can for the rest of the parts we will need. ...anyone want to buy a low mileage used turbo off this engine? I'm sure it will be the stock one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Takotruckin Posted May 23, 2018 Share Posted May 23, 2018 What is wrong with the used heads you got? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Capacity Posted May 23, 2018 Share Posted May 23, 2018 I'm sure the junkyard can find you another set of heads. If they don't have them, they can call around and get them for you. Some yard out there has a good set. 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...
Lune Posted May 23, 2018 Author Share Posted May 23, 2018 My mechanic offered another solution. Jegs has remanufactured heads from ATK. Kinda steep price at $560 (with a $105 core charge) but they come with a warranty. Still no clue if ATK is any good but I think it is our best solution right now from the "do it once, do it right" perspective. Right now it is kinda rough because we have to return the crap heads we got from the salvage yard and wait for the return to hit our credit card. So $400 is tied up there. And when we buy the reman heads from Jegs we will have $210 tied up in core return that normally takes about 3 weeks to get a check. Oh well, its only money right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gabo Posted May 23, 2018 Share Posted May 23, 2018 Got the new (used) heads from the salvage yard. They are nearly as bad as mine. Not usable. Unable to be machined. *sigh* Back to square one. I'm looking at either getting a low mileage (<30k miles) used engine for around $3200 or buying a new (re-manufactured) crate engine through Jegs made by ATK for $4400. Neither of these were options we wanted to pursue. We could keep looking for a good pair of used heads but then we are burning more time and likely to end up in the same situation. My mechanic doesn't trust ATK any more than a low mileage used engine. In fact, he trusts a low mileage used engine MORE. He is recommending that as my best option. I'm still not so sure but lack better options. This is really going poorly for us. At this point I'm hoping the salvage yard I bought the heads from was honest on their return policy and I can get reimbursed for these heads. Right now we have just enough money to get the used engine. I guess that is what we are going to do and scrape together what we can for the rest of the parts we will need. ...anyone want to buy a low mileage used turbo off this engine? I'm sure it will be the stock one. I have a set of V25B (07 STI) heads I will be posting for sale later this week. First and foremost I'll give you some background. I bough these heads from forum member SlammedSix (NASIOC) a year and a half ago were they sat in storage pending my Spec B build. I only bought them in case I needed a set of new heads. My Spec B had a shady history and considering it is my daily driver I wanted to minimize downtime as much as possible. I also purchased a spare EJ207 bare shortblock which I turned out to need. In any case here is a little info regarding the heads as provided by SlammedSix. 1) The heads were rebuilt by a local shop here in Ventura that does head work for the Subaru dealership. Called Main machine shop. No cam journal work was done, the journals are as they were when it came off the block. 2) Springs and retainers are original, they were not changed to my knowledge. Valves are the originals from the heads. So if they came sodium filled it should still be, I was not told by my machine shop that the valves were replaced. There is some surface rust as you'll see but nothing to be concerned about. Mike from Infamous Performance did a visual inspection of these upon the start of my build and saw no issues with them. The only reason these weren't use was simply cost effectiveness. Re-using my existing heads would allow me to resell these and make some of my money back. You will need valve covers and cam gears since the heads didn't come with any. I bought cam gears separately that I also ended up not using if you are interested. Let me know if you need me to clarify anything else. One of the OCV valve plugs broke during shipping so it will need to be replaced. I paid $900 for them and ended up not needing them, lucky for you I am looking to get $750 plus shipping. Let me know if this is of interest to you. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Capacity Posted May 23, 2018 Share Posted May 23, 2018 http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php/idea-web-links-saved-various-parts-219238p5.html See post 168. Oh make that post 186...tough getting old. See what they offer. 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...
RWebb Posted May 23, 2018 Share Posted May 23, 2018 is it running yet? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lune Posted May 24, 2018 Author Share Posted May 24, 2018 Gabo, thank you so much for posting. Had you caught me a couple of weeks ago I probably would have jumped at that opportunity. Unfortunately, I have been burnt very badly by buying used parts. I understand that yours are basically remanufactured and like new but we are just not willing to do it again. I do appreciate you trying to help though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lune Posted May 24, 2018 Author Share Posted May 24, 2018 Max: The link in that thread post 186 is a dead link. RWebb: Going to start ordering parts by this weekend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Capacity Posted May 24, 2018 Share Posted May 24, 2018 The idea is to do a web search for what your looking for. Back in 2010, I needed a r160 rear diff, I googled Subaru used r160 and found one in FL with 35,000 miles on it for $225 shipped. 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.