Noname 08 OBXT Rebuild Thread

[Nonamedude]

Good call on the oil filler neck. I'll make sure that gets a new gasket. Valve cover will get taken care of in the rebuild.

 

The issue isn't holding the crank pulley still now. I think the bolts just corroded badly. My breaker bar is only 18" and I'm watching it flex quite a bit. I either need more strength or a cheater pipe.

 

 

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[Tehnation]

bust out the cheater pipe!

[Max Capacity]

X2 for the pipe. If you need rent a bigger bar.

[Tehnation]

i have a 5 ft pipe for situations like these.... torque is force times distance so the longer the better. And use a 6 sided socket if possible, the ones with more sides tend to slip when you really get on it.

[xt2005bonbon]

yeah I almost never use 12-point sockets.

[Nonamedude]

Yea figured out the 12 point problem lol. I've gone out and bought a number of 6 sided ones since I've started. All my stuff is 3/8 drive so I bought the longest breaker bar Amazon had. I'll likely go buy a cheater pipe since I don't have one.

 

All this is making me want to buy a house so I have some place to store my tools haha.

 

 

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[Tehnation]

if your using a 3/8 breaker bar then be careful, with that kind of leverage and torque your entering the red zone and things can snap and break! For that bolt I would definitely go 1/2" breaker bar at least.

 

Harbor freight! 3470 State St, Salt Lake City, UT 84115. Might be close to you! They have good tools for good pricing.

 

https://www.harborfreight.com/12-in-drive-18-in-breaker-bar-60818.html

 

You can get socket sets from 12-20 bucks

[Max Capacity]

May be try making a home made impact gun/hammer. As you pushing on the pipe in the off direction hit the head of the breaker bar with a 3 to 5lbs hammer a few times.

 

We use that trick at work lot.

[Nonamedude]

Well I had tried the hammer but I think the 3/8 is just flexing too much. I took tehnations advice and just went and bought a 1/2" breaker bar 2ft long at harbor freight. I have the grimmspeed tool (because I got frustrated) and a good jump up onto both of those got it off.

 

Also got my headers off. The heat shields are pretty terrible and it looks like the heat shield on the up pipe isn't removable. A couple of the bolt threads broke off. I'm thinking I'll buy new heat shields and heat paint them. I'd like to clean up the headers and paint them as well. Any advice for cleaning up rust like this?

 

I'm going to get the timing cover off and a few more oil lines and coolant lines and reach out to my mechanic friend and see if he wants to trade final tear down and inspection for the short block. Taking a break now due to rain. Joys of having no where to work.

 

 

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[awfulwaffle]

I wouldn't bother cleaning them, they'll look the same in short order.

[Nonamedude]

Really? I was hoping to prevent any rust through. I don't plan to ever change the headers and I doubt I'd change out the up pipe either. Was hoping to make them last another ten years.

 

 

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[awfulwaffle]

I guess maybe in Utah they won't corrode as fast, but generally non-stainless parts that get that hot will corrode pretty quickly. I cleaned up a set with a wire wheel once and couldn't tell the difference a year later, but that was after a Michigan winter.

 

If I were doing it, I'd try naval jelly and a wire wheel. Glop on the naval jelly to help loosen up the rust for a day, and then blast it with the wheel. That, or just hit it with the wheel and call it a day.

 

That said, I think once the surface is rusted, the process of corrosion to the point of rust-through is considerably slowed, since much less iron on an area-basis is exposed to the environment.

[Nonamedude]

Yea I'd say we don't get that much snow, and in the valley we don't, but I'm a skier and the cottonwoods get 500 plus inches a year. So it'll def see snow and salt and cold. Yea there are a bunch of brackets and stuff in that area as well that I was thinking I'd try to clean up and I'm not sure what Max ever did with his coolant crossover pipe in the front and if it lasted at all.

[Tehnation]

Is that a catted up pipe i see?

 

stock up pipe is catted and when pieces of the cat break off shit will fly into your turbo and destroy that which in turn can destroy your motor....

 

I think most people remove the catted up pipe as their first mod.

Edited September 9, 2019 by Tehnation

[Nonamedude]

Shouldn't be... I think that's just the heat shield shape for whatever reason. It's an 08 and has the secondary air pump so it should be catless. If it's catted it's definitely coming off, which would solve some of the rusty heat shield.

 

 

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[Tehnation]

your probably right! I'm not sure about how they went about the uppipes. I have an 05 which has its pros and cons compared to the other 4th gens... more cons the more i think about it...

[Max Capacity]

I painted the new coolant crossover pipe before I put it on. I'll have to check it and see what it looks like.

 

As others have said, there's not much you can do for the rusty exhaust manifold. I have most of the heat shields removed, Did put some DEI heat wrap around them...but after years...most of that has become about useless.

Edited September 9, 2019 by Max Capacity

[Nonamedude]

Yea I can't find anything anywhere that says anything but it'll just rust again. Heat shields from the dealer are crazy expensive. Like 200+ for both sides and the center pipe and up pipe are crazy expensive too. I'm thinking I'll just put it back together as is and put the rusty heat shields on until they break. Maybe down the road look at crossover and up pipe replacement. My civic has a ton of exhaust leaks and missing part of the muffler and it's just so obnoxious.

 

Mechanic friend can't take any side work for a while so I asked him for machine shop recommendations. He's rebuilt a number of these engines so I'm hoping to get a good quote from one of the shops he likes. Might end up buying the cam tools and removing the heads myself though depending on what the shop wants.

 

 

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[Max Capacity]

If you had trouble with the crank bolt...wait until you get to those PITA cam bolts.

 

Forget the heat shields unless you spend a ton of time idling in hot weather.

[Nonamedude]

Lol well that's exciting. Maybe I'll go get an impact driver then. Doing all this by hand has made me wonder if one would have helped early on.

 

The terrible thing about utah, at least in this case, is that if you go south in the summer it's over 100f. Heck even in the slc valley it breaks 100f a few times a year. And then in the winter go up the cottonwoods and deal with piles of snow, granted the snow is no good if it's too cold. But that's also why I like living here.

[Max Capacity]

I checked my painted cross over pipe just now. its been since May 20 2012, the silver paint is all gone, the black paint Subaru put on is somewhat still there, with a little rust on the corner that sticks out a little.

 

What's wrong with cold snow ? I have skied when the temp was -29F. Every Winter we get a few day's where it doesn't get above the mid teens. As long as the wind is not to strong, the snow can be fun. My ideal temp is 23F for a great ski day. If it's teens or lower I wear my cold weather gear, (insulated pants and jacket) above that I wear shells for the outer layer.

 

BTW friends and I have booked a house at Park City for a week in March.

 

As for impact guns, I prefer a decent air compressor and gun. It's an investment I made about 17 years ago when we started building the race car. This one worked great on the FW Torx's. Oh, I have a butter fly 3/8" impact I paid $21.00 for about 10 years ago, from one of those off brand named stores like Big Lot's or Lot's and More, its works great too.

 

Edited September 9, 2019 by Max Capacity

[xt2005bonbon]

Lol well that's exciting. Maybe I'll go get an impact driver then. Doing all this by hand has made me wonder if one would have helped early on.

 

The terrible thing about utah, at least in this case, is that if you go south in the summer it's over 100f. Heck even in the slc valley it breaks 100f a few times a year. And then in the winter go up the cottonwoods and deal with piles of snow, granted the snow is no good if it's too cold. But that's also why I like living here.

 

 

Yeah. But when it's hot, you can always 'escape' in one of these canyons to enjoy cooler temps. I did that when I lived there. In MD, when it's hot (and humid), you're stuck . Plus you are almost guaranteed cooler nights in Utah too.

[Tehnation]

i love my impact gun and air compressor... best investment i ever made. There are sooo many different types of air attachments , air hammer, impact gun, impact wrench, air gun, cut off wheel, die grinder... list goes on... most expensive thing is the compressor then all the other stuff are like 10-20 dollar attachments, except the impact gun, i paid like 120 bucks for it with coupons and sales.

 

https://www.harborfreight.com/12-in-composite-xtreme-torque-air-impact-wrench-62891.html

 

This thing eats bolts for breakfast, rusty exhaust bolts.... no problem! I haven't seen a bolt this guy couldn't get out eventually!

[Nonamedude]

I grew up in Florida so I mostly skied in NC. Was used to ice not snow. My first day in Utah a guy on the lift was complaining it was icy, that was the best day I'd ever had up until that point. Now I don't really like going out if it's sub 20f. I mean if there's good snow the crowds will be light but we get spoiled quickly.

[Nonamedude]

As for impact guns, it would have to be battery powered. And I already own some ryobi one plus stuff so I had looked at those. Unfortunately I live in an apartment and have dedicated all my free space to bike storage. Never planned to work on cars. The outback is at a friends place in the uncovered driveway. All the work and tools are there and the house was built in 1900 so I don't have any proper access to power. Engine and lift are covered by a tarp and all my parts are in the back of the car on a tarp. Nice thing about a wagon I guess.

 

I'd love to get a compressor. Would have at the start had I the space. I'm hoping to move and get a place with a garage or something in March. I kinda want to build a rally car after this. Maybe an e36. Gotta do something with all these tools.