EB's Subaru journal - 2005 LegacyGT wagon & 2014 Forester FB25 (08 specB - RIP)

[Pleides]

22 hours ago, Infosecdad said:

I have 2011 STI seats in my 2005 and they still use the same bolt pattern (plugs are a little different due to airbag and such).

If I remember correctly, 2012 or 2015, the bolt pattern changed, at least for the front seats.

I was looking at 2018-2019 seats, but learned they wouldn't directly bolt in, so that's why I went with 2011 (by far my favorite mod, so comfortable).

Did you figure out a way to wire up the airbag harness? I'd love some seats with proper bolstering but don't want to create a safety issue swapping seats.

[BoozeRS05]

Well I have a 10 WRX driver seat in my wagon now and it was direct bolt in with some simple changes, but I was thinking I could take the frame off my old LGT driver seat and see if it bolts up to the 15+ seats. I was pretty certain the frames wouldn’t bolt down on the LGT with the 15+ WRX/STi seats too.

There are good YT videos for the previous WRX/STi seat install into a LGT. Passenger seat requires more wiring, but easily doable.

[BoozeRS05]

Added a Perrin top mount intercooler the other day and very happy with it, I should say the car is very happy.

Also finally took a quick pic with my spats. I polished the rear bumper and got the paints to match again. I’ll install the front spats with some nicer weather.

[SoobyDoobyDoo]

Hey Booze how do you find fitment? I’ve been thinking about an aftermarket inter cooler and looking at the AVO.  Would prefer to keep the engine cover, how’s it fit with the Perrin? Also like those side mirrors. Kinda wish I had bought those instead of the 05 style folding mirrors now…oh well. Lol. Car looks good with the updates! Super clean, makes me wish mine was cleaner…. 

[BoozeRS05]

I had some trouble fitting the Perrin TMIC particularly at the turbo flange, but I got it in there. I’ve read mixed reviews, some people report it’s difficult and for others it drops right in. I may have cross threaded one of the bolts, but I used a Mr Gasket 739G to help with a good seal.

I had to trim/smooth the top and bottom edges of the cover, probably 3/4 of an inch. Then I added a strip of sound deadening material to both those edges to soften the impact against the TMIC, but it definitely folded some of the fins already. Not bad though. I also used 3m reflective tape on the intercooler end tanks hoping to keep intake charge temps down. It was cold to the touch on the TB side last week when I was out for a drive, but it was also 50* outside.

I’m not familiar with the AVO, but I’d assume it’s the same or maybe a little better for fit.

And thank you much! I’m on the hunt for a JDM rear bumper next!

[SoobyDoobyDoo]

That’s the AVO. I’d rather keep it more oem. Grimmspeed is nice and big but probably too much for me. Lol@ using the mr gasket gasket…I’ve bought so many Mr gasket prts over the years working on my 350. Never thought they’d be used on Subarus…

that’s pretty good if you were driving and it’s cold. I’m sure a track day would be very different but I think that’d be enough for the street. 
Can’t wait to see what a JDM bumper would look like on yours…I like seeing updates on your car cause then it helps me imagine what mine could look like . That’s one thing I’d like to do, with a small rear diffuser integrated into the bumper. I’ve seen one on japan auctions but I cringe at the thought of hacking up a JDM bumper…

[BoozeRS05]

 

Well my wagon was smoking pretty good the other night, so I got more aggressive into my spare specB motor tear down yesterday.

I recently discovered an interesting mistake I made when having this motor assembled - I matched up an OEM EJ257 with D25 heads...  My reading one day enlightened me that the EJ257 has a shallow piston dish and the D25 heads also have a shallow dish, so I was running a different Compression Ratio that wasn't accounted for with tuning.  I had no idea when picking out the parts this was incorrectly done and I had a friend assemble everything, but he didn't catch it either.

So assuming I'd still like to put this motor into my wagon.  Would I just buy drop-in pistons with an offsetting dish? Also air pump delete kit? Anything else needed to plug this long block back into an 05 LGT?

[BoozeRS05]

Another questions:

Before pulling the motor I was chasing a bad misfire that was traced to the internal driver head.  During diagnosis I had the compression tested and it was dead even at 150psi per cylinder.  Probably drove it another 200 miles before shutting it down for good.

I also pulled the last oil sample from the pan before draining, which I sent to Blackstone.  It came back with extremely low wear metals, they said metals were very low even considering the motor had about 14k miles on it.

Should I worry about reusing the short block?  Think I can reuse the oil cooler, cam gears, etc..?

[Underdog]

So the engine was pulled due to misfire traced back to a burnt valve? If the current oil filter element looks clean (and the banjo bolt filters if you still have them) then I don't see any reason not to keep on trucking with this shortblock, oil cooler, cam gears, etc. If it's peace of mind you're after then it's gonna cost you, but I think you're fine as long as the valve didn't break up and mess up your cylinder.

I have a spreadsheet for calculating the CR with different head/piston combos. Used to measure out the actual volume of new pistons and new heads as they came in the shop. Would just need to confirm which pistons you have and plug in the relevant data to let you know your actual CR. You could put in a piston with more dish, but is it really necessary? What type of tuning did you have done on the car?

 

I love the organization on the cardboard "workbench"...

[BoozeRS05]

I had CryoTune e-tuning it and I was data logging every mile, which it looked ok, but it never really felt quite right (under powered) until one day it started misfiring like crazy on cylinder #4.  So I sent it to my trusted local shop and they looked everywhere for the misfire, but couldn't find a solution and said it was likely internal.

I don't know much of anything about CR and the internal components of these motors.  If the EJ257/D25 CR can be compensated for in a tune and not make the motor any less reliable long term that's great..  I've only ever wanted a relatively stock powerband, torquey 280-300whp would be my end goal with this motor.  I'd like to keep the costs down as much as possible, so it's music to my ears if this is just a tuning thing.

 

And the timing ordering a new king headboard last week was pretty good if you ask me.  I didn't have a great solution for making my minimal space work, but it was the best I could come up with.

 

Again, I'm a complete noob when looking inside a motor.  Anything worth noting in here?

 

[seanyb505]

I've got that 257/d25 setup with 50k+ miles. I don't think I'm anywhere tuned anywhere near the max of what it's capable of.

Even after spending time in various M cars and other exotics, my barely tuned Subaru is still an enjoyable drive. 

[08Spec_B]

I'm currently in the end stages of my build with a fully built 257 and built d25 heads. The Manley pistons stated that CR was 8.5:1 with b25 heads or 8.7:1 with D25 heads, which is very minimal change. You can also use thicker head gaskets to lower CR back down if you're really worried about it.

At a bare minimum I would replace the valve seals and recheck valve lash while you are there. GSC viton seals are dirt cheap and easy to install. Once the fsctory ones heat up and get old they harden and tend to leak, which results in burning oil. All you'd need in tools is a spring compressor like the company 23 or PQY one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Underdog]

Agreed with @08Spec_B - valve job, new seals, set the lash, and rock it. 

If you have a later EJ257 shortblock then you likely have the 24cc dished piston which puts you at a calculated CR of 8.57:1 with the D25 heads, which is perfectly safe and will be tuned around with boost targets and ignition timing.

If you instead had the 22cc piston from your original EJ255 (also used in the 05 STI with B25 heads) then your CR ends up around 8.76:1. Cometic makes head gasket in a a variety of thicknesses you could use to bring this back down, but again it really only limits the boost target since your dynamic compression ratio will be higher for the same boost pressure.

 

[BoozeRS05]

You guys are the best. I was reading into it yesterday and I’m feeling much better with the info here now too.

Doubt I’ll go with a thicker head gasket, prob just make the head improvements you all mentioned and have it tuned to compensate.

[BoozeRS05]

Heads are off and at the machine shop as of this AM. Should have them back in about a week, fully rebuilt.

I had hoped I could drop the machine shop off a master gasket set and my short block, but they won’t do partial assemblies. Too much liability they say, so putting it all back together is on me.

I’ll be nervous, but with all y’all’s help I’ll be fine

[seanyb505]

With the heads fully rebuilt and valve lash set (bucket musical chairs) slapping it all together is the fun part. 

[BoozeRS05]

Well it’s a brand new experience for me. I’d love to assemble a motor that lasts a long time, keep my wagon happy and running for a long time.

I’ll have my current longblock to pull apart once everything is moved over so that’ll be my new backup plan.

 

Also I got this the other day and test fit it. I think I like it a lot. CoverCraft velour in navy. Once I get it properly fit and secured I think it’ll look good

 

[BoozeRS05]

Well here are the JDM rain visors and I also finished the dash cover.. Damn happy with both, especially the visors though bc they fit the car so perfectly.

My heads are back from the machine shop, master gasket set and misc parts came in the mail, and started cleaning up my shortblock today. Gonna assemble a motor one of these days

[Febreze Mee]

Looks great! Now we need to get you an accelerator pedal.

[Enlight]

That dash cover looks great!

[seanyb505]

A cheap tidying task might be a USB c cable with a right angle end. It would tuck the wire into the phone a little and have it less loopy front and center on the dashboard. 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B09JG1299Q?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title&th=1

Edited March 2, 2023 by seanyb505

[BoozeRS05]

A nice clean cable like that would be great. I have to figure out how to fill that gap or eventually just buy the JDM cubby that doesn’t have a gap. Thanks!

And fine.. I installed the go pedal I’ve had for about 7yrs. Obviously I’ll need to clean the others up now. That better?!  
 

Thanks fellas!

[SoobyDoobyDoo]

This makes my OCD very much happier…

[BoozeRS05]

Yeah well I had two throttle position codes when I started the car up again.  So thanks a lot guys...  Jk, I Nintendo'ed the plug, re-seated it and codes went away.

Later that night though I locked my keys in my car..  And my drive door handle snapped internally a couple weeks ago, so I was legit locked out of my running car, in my driveway (thankfully), with my cell phone inside the car.  After using every swear word I could think of and punching the air for 15 min, I was able to get a wedge in the rear window, and used a pool cue to lower it.  I'm replacing that driver door handle today.

[seanyb505]

Oh man talk about almost worst case scenario. Congrats on not baseballing the window, I might have.