New year, new build...v.3.0...R?

[BrandonspecB]

Have an interesting update that's a few months in the making.

 

Put some 100 octane in and was doing some tuning at 25 psi and getting some engine position errors. Had no issues at lower boost or even free revving to 7500 in neutral. Anyways, was getting huge backfires from the ECU not knowing engine position and firing spark at the wrong time. It literally sounded like gun shots. The pic below is from the first time it happened. Notice the crazy RPM signal and spiking of coolant and crankcase pressure? I should have stopped and figured out what was going on.

 

 

 

 

But I didn't. I changed some filtering on the triggers and kept going.

 

Here we have the graph of a failed engine. It's interesting to look at TPS in this log and see the fail safes kick in. I have the coolant pressure failsafe set at 30 psi. It took the ECU 0.25 seconds to close the throttle to 30% after coolant pressure exceeded 30 psi. It took me an additional 0.5 seconds to lift my foot completely off the throttle. Either way, there was no saving this. Spark at the wrong time will smoke any engine.

 

 

 

 

The aftermath.

 

 

 

 

Cracking the cylinder was kind of sad, but I know why it happened and I know there are stronger options available. What really made me sad is when I tore it down and the bearings were wiped out again.

 

 

 

 

At this point I wasn't sure the EZ30 was a good option for making power. This engine has 5000 miles on it and wiped out a set of bearings. I started thinking about throwing in a stock NA EZ and leaving it at that.

 

I decided to give it one last try. I didn't build all this custom shit just to throw it all away. I got in touch with Outfront and told them the issues I was having. Jeremy said they haven't had any bearing issues with their engines. I told him my power goals and uses for the engine and he said it would handle it no problem.

 

Hearing that I bought a balanced and assembled closed deck EZ30 machined for 12mm head studs. I sent them my rods to reuse and purchased new pistons, a used crank, and King bearings from them. I should be seeing it in 2-3 weeks.

 

And then I can try again.

[BrandonspecB]

Now with the engine being built I needed to start figuring out the trigger issues. I contacted Haltech and told them what happened. They gave me some ideas, but there really isn't much they can help me with until the engine is running again.

 

The first thing I decided to do was to redo the engine harness. The way I set it up originally was by tapping the Haltech into the Subaru wiring harness near the factory ECU. Now it will be all brand new wires and connectors from the Haltech, using Haltech wiring, to the engine. All the factory wires to control the engine have been removed from the wiring harness. The large engine connector is still there, but is brand new. Now all my sensors I added go through that connector.

 

This has been quite the project.

 

Started by building the engine side with a new Haltech 2500 harness and all new Subaru connectors.

 

 

 

 

 

Lots of work, but I had help.

 

 

 

 

 

Engine harness is 90% done. Will finish the rest once the engine is installed. One change I'm making here is the crank sensor and left cam sensor wiring (used as home signal for sequential operation) will not go through the main engine connector. They will go right to the Haltech using the Haltech supplied shielded wire.

 

 

 

 

Now on to the car side .

 

 

 

 

 

Cleans up nicely! Now I need to run the Haltech harness through the firewall and connect to the main connector. There's also a bunch of things the Haltech controls that I will still use the factory wiring, but none of it is engine control related. Mainly starter relay, fan relays, main relay, cruise control and a few other things. Those are the wires I pulled off to the side in the next foot well pic.

 

 

 

 

 

And this is where I'm at. Oh, also bought some Evo X Recaros from the classifieds that I'm excited about!

[xt2005bonbon]

You don't give up do you. Good job man.

 

Crazy the damage it made. At 25psi level with the turbo you have, what kind of load level were you achieving? 5-6 g/rev?

 

When I see you doing this wiring spaghetti job , it reminds me of Alan from the Skid Factory!

[BrandonspecB]

I'm in too deep to quit now .

 

There is an air mass per cylinder channel I can data log, but I haven't been. Maybe once it's up and running again I'll see what it shows.

[socalsleeper]

Keep at it dude!!!

I think that because this a legacy this is not getting the eyeballs it deserves. Are you posting in the STI forums as well? The EJ is a great platform, but the EZ is underrated in my opinion. Unfortunately, it takes a few brave souls to blaze the path for the rest of us to follow, you are a pioneer buddy.

 

My project is on the back burner for now but I am itching to make a similar build... Might not go so extreme, but knowing that this kind of swap requires a new harness is great to know if it saves a piston/rod from looking for daylight.

[tysparks81]

I've been trying to show the Canadian guys up here your car, but all of the YouTube videos are down. Keep at it, we are all rooting for you.

[xt2005bonbon]

OP, one day, you should share your work with Alan from the Skid Factory show on YouTube. I am sure he would appreciate to see the good work you have done with this H6.

[BrandonspecB]

Definitely appreciate the kind words and motivation.

 

I really haven't posted about this car any where else. I figured I would just document everything I did here if someone else wanted to go down this path.

 

I took my YouTube channel down because I was getting a little nervous with what is happening with the aftermarket industry and a certain federal agency. I'm not interested in drawing any attention. I started posting some videos to Rumble since it's pretty low key for car stuff and easy to use, but eventually decided to take those vids down too. I just feel like it's not a good time to be drawing attention to yourself with modded car stuff.

[tysparks81]

I can definitely understand that.

 

Happy to host them for you privately up here in Canada, and you can choose to share them with anyone you would like. E P A has no jurisdiction up here, just need to blur your plate.

[BrandonspecB]

I can definitely understand that.

 

Happy to host them for you privately up here in Canada, and you can choose to share them with anyone you would like. E P A has no jurisdiction up here, just need to blur your plate.

 

Appreciate the offer, but I'm going to keep things to a minimum. I doubt I have anything to worry about, but, as the saying goes, the nail that sticks out gets hammered. It really wouldn't surprise me if they try to make an example out of some of the individuals with bigger names and followings. I see all these cars at Drag Week and Race Week and TX2K that run 6s, 7s, and 8s and they have plates on them. It's a slap in the face to an enforcement agency. I hope they don't go after individuals, but it wouldn't surprise me.

 

Now to something a little less depressing...wiring! Or maybe that's just as depressing

 

Got all the OE wiring squared away. As you can see there isn't much going to the factory ECU anymore. Just the bare minimum to keep it in there and on the CAN bus.

 

Got a lot of the Haltech wiring done. Just need a couple new harnesses for the I/O expansion boxes and I can get it all squared away.

 

Hopefully will have an engine next week.

 

Oh, and Evo X Recaros!

[CEVENN]

Had the car out today. I don't drive it much and when I do it usually goes from a garage to another garage. I parked it on the street for a bit and honestly haven't really ever seen it from a distance. Snapped a few pics because why not.

 

Also took a pic of the engine bay in its final form. Welded in some bungs for the turbo inlet temperature and pressure sensors. Can't really do much else in there.

 

:wub:

Your work is simply amazing!!!

I really love it.

I'm reading again your whole post to try to understand everything (I'm french... ) and to find videos to hear this amazing engine.

[BrandonspecB]

About those videos...

 

I have quite a few, but have taken them down for reasons previously discussed. Maybe I'll reconsider tysparks81's offer to host them.

 

Appreciate the kind words about my car! It's a lot of fun to drive when it's running.

[CEVENN]

I love the Legacy, and yours is a dream for me...

[tysparks81]

I love the Legacy, and yours is a dream for me...

 

Your not the only one, I keep talking about doing a similar setup into a forester or a LGT wagon, one day.

[BrandonspecB]

Here's a handful of videos I put back up. They're all unlisted. I figure that's a good compromise.

 

Cold Start

 

Cruising and WOT Exhaust Sound

 

 

1000-7500 RPM Knock Sweep

 

Turbo EZ30 Low Boost dragy

 

1st - 4th Gear Flyby

[Matt3ez]

Love your work man, keep it up!

[CEVENN]

:wub:

Thanks!

[BrandonspecB]

Been making a little progress here and there. Everything on the engine side of the firewall is done. Now I need to make all the connections in the car.

 

Outfront informed me that my engine should be done on Monday, so I need to start pushing hard on the wiring.

 

Oh and got one Recaro installed!

[BrandonspecB]

Wiring is getting so close. Everything needed to run the engine is connected. If I stay motivated I can get everything finished up tomorrow.

 

I made a new switch panel and added some LEDs to the gauge cluster, so I can use the OE cruise indicators.

 

Engine has shipped and should have been here Thursday, but the local Fedex Ground facility has been having some issues.

[xt2005bonbon]

What did you exactly do to the gauge cluster? You added LEDs to blank slots?

[BrandonspecB]

I removed the factory LEDs for the "cruise" and "set" indicators and added my own. The Haltech runs the cruise control. Now it can illuminate the factory cruise indicators in the gauge cluster.

 

I also need to add that if you value your sanity only remove the gauge needles unless you absolutely have no other choice. Getting those stepper motors working properly is a massive pain in the ass. I spent 4 hours working on it tonight and finally got all of them working properly.

 

This video is a life saver:

[xt2005bonbon]

wow. I can't believe. You may be able to give some pointers to this member then: https://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php/spotty-electroluminescent-gauges-286517.html?p=6038772#post6038772

[BrandonspecB]

I'll have to poke my head in there and share some links.

 

Engine showed up. Almost a week late, but that gave me time to get the wiring finished up. Still have to connect the power steering relay and add some more loom, but it's pretty much done. Interior is starting to look like a car again.

 

I'll have some more detailed engine pics tomorrow.

[BrandonspecB]

Wiring project is finished! That was a lot of work, but worth it.

 

Now I get to start on assembling the engine. It really looks great. Outfront built it with all new hardware. They included new dowels for the trans and heads as well as a key for the crank.

[Matt3ez]

Been making a little progress here and there. Everything on the engine side of the firewall is done. Now I need to make all the connections in the car.

 

Outfront informed me that my engine should be done on Monday, so I need to start pushing hard on the wiring.

 

Oh and got one Recaro installed!

 

Have you got a wiring diagram for the engine harness by any chance? I'm going to start wiring a custom loom to mine too a Link ECU and a wiring diagram would be very helpful.

Cheers.