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

[BrandonspecB]

Yes, car should pass a scan. I tried hooking up our scanner to do an OBDII readiness check but it won't connect to Subarus. So, I can't say 100% it will work, but it should.

 

Also, found out Haltech does have cruise control support. Now I have one more thing to get hooked up.

[BrandonspecB]

Update.

 

First I have a new wiring spreadsheet. I had the left bank wired as bank 1, but it should be the right bank. I changed the wiring to reflect that.

 

The oil pressure issues I was having that caused the first engine to fail was caused by the pickup being about 1/8" from the bottom of the pan. This was restricting flow to the pump and causing the pump to cavitate at high RPM. I fixed this by removing the bottom of the pickup. This resulted in a pressure increase at all RPM including idle. Before, I had 18 psi of pressure at 900 RPM with 220 degree, 5w50 oil. Now I have 30 psi. If you have an EZ30 this is something you should look into.

 

I took advantage of Haltech's CAN expansion and added a wideband for each bank and EGT probes per cylinder. This immediately showed that the right bank was 1 full AFR point leaner than the left bank.

 

Now I'm feeling good about turning the power up. The meth injection is all wired up and controlled by the Haltech. I'm going to bring it up to 500whp on pump and then go for 600 whp with the meth. I'll see how the engine handles that much power and then see about going for more.

[xt2005bonbon]

Inspiring work. Clean set up.

 

 

How much torque are you achieving now (or will you achieve soon)? And at what rpm does it 'hit'?

[socalsleeper]

I am very interested in this build I am 70-30 leaning on making a clone (almost) of this build. I think I am going to have some serious questions for you in the coming weeks and months if you don't mind.

[BrandonspecB]

Inspiring work. Clean set up.

 

 

How much torque are you achieving now (or will you achieve soon)? And at what rpm does it 'hit'?

 

Thanks man!

 

Not too sure on torque numbers yet. With the previous setup it would hit hard around 4500. That was around 20 psi of boost.

 

I'm hoping to make 500 wtq between 6500 and 7000 RPM. That would put me over 600 whp.

 

It runs much better now with the Haltech. It's a lot more responsive. I never could get the AVCS to work right with the Hydra, so I had it disabled. It works perfectly now. I also could never get the EBCS to work correctly with the Hydra. Lots of issues with the Hydra that just aren't there with the Haltech.

 

The best part of this engine is between 1000 and 3000 RPM. It's way more responsive and funner to drive there than the EJ. It's a tragedy that Subaru never sold this engine and transmission combination in the US. IMO, it's their best engine and best transmission and makes for a super fun experience.

 

I am very interested in this build I am 70-30 leaning on making a clone (almost) of this build. I think I am going to have some serious questions for you in the coming weeks and months if you don't mind.

 

Ask away. In this thread or PM, no problem.

[xt2005bonbon]

Duuude, you are tempting me now to work on a new project . You're not that far from me. I'll have to come and check out your build for sure.

[BrandonspecB]

Anytime man. Cooler weather is right around the corner. I'll let you drive it. It's super crisp when it's cool out.

[socalsleeper]

My aluminum trailing arms were delivered today, but I have a long list of parts yet to order. My biggest reservation is being able to pass emissions inspection, luckily I don’t have to pass the sniffer test just the OBDII check.

I’m sure I would need to keep the stock ECU to communicate with test station scanners and run a standalone Haltech. I think I would need to source an OEM H6 Ecu only to keep the inspectors happy. I saw you mention that the GT turbo Ecu will work but my concern is some nosy inspector looking for data on cylinders 5 & 6. I know they are looking for readiness status but the cost of an ECU is a small price when you consider how much a build like this cost. At least that is what I’m thinking now.

I’m still in a “fact finding” state, so any advice is welcome.

[BrandonspecB]

Since emissions testing is a priority, I wonder if it would be easier to 6 speed swap a Legacy 3.0R? There has to be info out there on how to manual swap an auto CANbus car. I just had a TCU code with my daily and it threw a check engine light and also flashed the AT oil temp light. Once I cleared the TCU code, the AT light went off and then I still had to clear the code from the ECU to get the CEL to go off. I wonder if you could just disconnect all the plugs on the auto trans, disable any transmission related codes that show up in the ECU, and then pop the AT oil temp light bulb out? Vehicle speed goes over the CANbus from the ABS module, so you won't lose your speedo from swapping trans. I'm not sure what else it would affect. Just throwing ideas out.

 

I'm not sure a 6 cylinder ECU will work in a 4 cylinder car as far as keeping the other modules on the CANbus from freaking out. It may take some trial and error. Used Subaru ECUs are pretty cheap. I know the 6 cylinder ECUs have quite a bit more inputs and outputs, so the wires going into the plugs from the 4 cylinder cars harness may not go where they need to in the 6 cylinder ECU. Depends on how much control you will give the factory ECU.

 

It's definitely going to be a challenge to get through an emissions test with an engine swap. The tech may not even notice it has a 6 cylinder. Both engines have black plastic intake manifolds. Lots of people look at my engine with a bright red intake manifold and don't realize it's a 6 until I tell them. These are car guys and sometimes even Subaru guys!

[xt2005bonbon]

These are car guys and sometimes even Subaru guys!

 

[Sgt.Gator]

Great build BrandonSpecB! I've been following all the EZ30R and EZ36 threads for years because I'd like to put one in my 818R.

Another builder on the Factory Five 818 forum has an EZ36 in his 818R and was having oil issues at Watkins Glen. His latest solution seems to have cured it, a swing arm oil pickup. His latest track report: "In turn 6 "the carousel" at Watkins Glen I pull 1.5g for a bit more than 10 seconds".

I know the EZ30R and EZ36 have completely different oil pumps and pickups, but maybe it will inspire you!

 

See: https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showthread.php?23199-John-s-EZ36R-H6-818R-Build&p=425373&viewfull=1#post425373

 

I don't see any details in your build thread about PCV/Block/Heads venting/Catch Cans/AOS. What are you doing there?

Edited August 29, 2020 by Sgt.Gator

[BrandonspecB]

Wow that's a cool setup. I'm glad it fixed his problem. So far it looks like getting the pickup off the bottom of the pan has fixed things for the type of driving/racing that I do. Only time will tell. If not then I will be all in on building a dry sump.

 

As far as crankcase ventilation goes, it's 100% VTA, no PCV. I welded a -12 fitting to the passenger valve cover and welded two -10 fittings to the driver side in place of the factory breather and PCV ports. These three hoses go to a baffled tank in the factory battery location. I have yet to see crankcase pressure exceed atmospheric pressure.

[socalsleeper]

Since emissions testing is a priority, I wonder if it would be easier to 6 speed swap a Legacy 3.0R? There has to be info out there on how to manual swap an auto CANbus car. I just had a TCU code with my daily and it threw a check engine light and also flashed the AT oil temp light. Once I cleared the TCU code, the AT light went off and then I still had to clear the code from the ECU to get the CEL to go off. I wonder if you could just disconnect all the plugs on the auto trans, disable any transmission related codes that show up in the ECU, and then pop the AT oil temp light bulb out? Vehicle speed goes over the CANbus from the ABS module, so you won't lose your speedo from swapping trans. I'm not sure what else it would affect. Just throwing ideas out.

 

I'm not sure a 6 cylinder ECU will work in a 4 cylinder car as far as keeping the other modules on the CANbus from freaking out. It may take some trial and error. Used Subaru ECUs are pretty cheap. I know the 6 cylinder ECUs have quite a bit more inputs and outputs, so the wires going into the plugs from the 4 cylinder cars harness may not go where they need to in the 6 cylinder ECU. Depends on how much control you will give the factory ECU.

 

It's definitely going to be a challenge to get through an emissions test with an engine swap. The tech may not even notice it has a 6 cylinder. Both engines have black plastic intake manifolds. Lots of people look at my engine with a bright red intake manifold and don't realize it's a 6 until I tell them. These are car guys and sometimes even Subaru guys!

 

I am still some time away from this part of the project as I have so many parts yet to purchase and install. My biggest reservation is doing all this work and going to register it and have some yahoo give me grief. If this was a track car then I would not have to deal with this, but I want to daily this so I am very aware of my decisions.

 

I have had the itch to swap a car I was going to LS swap my Grand Cherokee but I sold it to finance some of the parts for the Legacy.

 

Just as a side note I have long been of the mentality of you don't turn your daily into a race car, which is not my goal. But my situation allows me to have a car down for days or weeks and still be able to get to work without too much drama. That was a public service announcement for our younger viewers.

 

You made some very good points in your post about the CAN network, if I do go H6 then I would try to run the 4cyl ECU as plan A only getting 6cyl ECU if I was forced into it. And as far and pinouts go that is my jam so I'm not worried about it. I would let the ECU handle gauges, evap, ABS and the rest of the ancillary functions of the vehicle.

Thanks for the response.

[BrandonspecB]

Cool man, I definitely look forward to seeing what you do with your build!

 

Today I got a solid state relay wired up so I can pulse width modulate the fuel pump. This relay can run at 3500 hz. DW said to run the 300c between 2k and 20k hertz. I set it to 2000 and seems to work great.

 

I think I know how to get the factory fuel pump control module to work with the Haltech, but I don't have enough outputs to do it. I can pulse the relay with only one output. The factory FPCM needs two.

[Nightmaresmk]

This is such a badass build.

[BrandonspecB]

This is such a badass build.

 

Thanks man, appreciate it!

 

I finally started getting some tuning done today. First thing was getting the knock control system dialed in and responding to real knock. First you need to tell the ECU at what frequency to listen for knock. By narrowing down the frequency the ECU can exclude a lot of the background noise from the engine. Haltech gives you a way to quickly induce knock and a spectrogram so you can see what frequency it is occuring at.

 

What I did was bring the engine up to 3500 RPM in 3rd gear, left foot brake, and apply throttle to put some load on the engine. Then I clicked the knock button which advances the timing to 40 degrees for 5 seconds (user adjustable.) As you can see on the spectrogram, it is very clear which frequency the knock is happening at. This is really cool shit!

 

Once you dial in the frequency, you do some pulls with a super soft tune that you know isn't knocking and then dial in the "noise" level above which the ECU will pull timing. I've got all that done and the car feels great at 4 psi.

 

I also am going to do a brake upgrade. STI 4 piston front calipers, 2006 WRX 2 piston rear calipers, EBC rotors and EBC yellowstuff pads. Nothing too crazy. I'm waiting for the calipers and rear rotors to show up and I can get everything installed.

Edited September 3, 2020 by BrandonspecB

[xt2005bonbon]

Very nice. Wow, 16KHz for the knock frequency? That's pretty high. I was imagining something much lower. This is like the 'treble' part of the EQ to adjust your tweeters on your sound system .

 

 

 

Do you think the EJ25 platform has the same frequency for knock?

[ViscousSquirrel]

That’s pretty badass.

[BrandonspecB]

Very nice. Wow, 16KHz for the knock frequency? That's pretty high. I was imagining something much lower. This is like the 'treble' part of the EQ to adjust your tweeters on your sound system .

 

 

 

Do you think the EJ25 platform has the same frequency for knock?

 

I pulled up an EJ25 base map from a 2007 STI and the knock frequency is set at 10990. From what I've read, manufacturers use knock sensors that are "tuned" for a higher frequency. This gives a better signal to noise ratio. An aftermarket Bosch knock sensor that you would buy from Haltech would see knock at a lower frequency. A lot of it just depends on the engine and how it vibrates when it knocks. Here's how Andre explains it: HP Academy

 

I did the bore calulations they talk about and doubled the frequency since these are OE sensors, but the spectrogram gave me a much higher frequency than what I calulated. I'm glad they give you a spectrgram to use, so there is no guessing.

[xt2005bonbon]

For sure. With the spectrogram, there's no guessing game. So, 11KHz then huh. That's pretty high frequency. I am surprised then when people say they can hear that, given how noisy an engine can be.. I never heard actual knock I think to this date on my EJs.

[BrandonspecB]

Ya know, I couldn't hear anything when I made the engine knock with the Haltech. I could feel it and I could hear the exhaust note change after I hit the button, but couldn't hear the pinging it's commonly described as sounding like. It would be interesting to listen to it with a set of knock ears.

[BrandonspecB]

Here's some pics of the parts accumulation. Also got some new wheels and tires. Wheels are Enkei Raijin 18x8.5 +45 with Federal 595 RS-RR 235/40. Wheels will be here next week. Front calipers will be here tomorrow.

[Scottydunno]

Are 06 WRX rear calipers direct bolt on or are adapters needed?

 

Scotty

[BrandonspecB]

Are 06 WRX rear calipers direct bolt on or are adapters needed?

 

Scotty

 

Adapters are needed. But the WRX rotor is the same as the LGT, so the parking brake works without changing shoes or rotors like you need to with the STI rears.

[BrandonspecB]

I have put thousands of hours into this car over the years and I'm not sure I could do it all again if I were to lose it. After seeing a couple videos of highly modified cars burn down I went out and got an extinguisher and a bracket that secures it in a very convenient location. The passenger loses a bit of seat movement, but...oh well.