DOHCEJ22E1 Posted January 16, 2022 Share Posted January 16, 2022 Welcome to my project. This time, I present my 1999 Subaru Legacy GT estate, which I call "Grandma Gloria Regina", named after two grandmotherly figures I had in my youth. I don't think I've ever posted my wagon in this forum (I have posted my 1996 LSi before, as well as my 1998 Legacy GT Limited, both of them former EJ22D projects). I picked her up about 2yrs ago from a guy selling her in Milford, CT. His mother had owned the car but she'd passed away and he inherited it through her will. When I first started her, the EJ25D shook violently and right then, I knew that the valves needed to be replaced. Didn't matter. I absolutely had to have this car and after my car accident with the last LGT, I'd have been a fool not to jump on this deal for $700. She started her days out as a factory 4eat, but that would change over time as the 4eat crumbles later on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DOHCEJ22E1 Posted January 16, 2022 Author Share Posted January 16, 2022 Being that this was the time shortly after my accident and half of me was heavily injured from my accident I'd had about a week ago, I got some help relocating my car to where I was living at the time. Here is how she looked, all original... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DOHCEJ22E1 Posted January 16, 2022 Author Share Posted January 16, 2022 This is a 1998 Subaru Legacy GT that me a friend had completed. Built to be a true grand touring Legacy, we had restored pretty much all of it after he'd bought it with numerous issues. Among the repairs were mods as follows: Auto to manual conversion. Coilovers and bushing upgrade. Aftermarket exhaust. High output EJ25D (EJ25D heads/EJ251 block/EJ257 head gaskets). JDM taillights. SUS grille. I enjoyed this car but all good things eventually come to an end, right? This car left this world far too soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DOHCEJ22E1 Posted January 16, 2022 Author Share Posted January 16, 2022 With a good amount of painkillers at the time, I'd finally gotten around to disassembling the EJ25D. It had one burnt valve and one bent valve in Cyl#4. I'd ended up getting some good valves from heads in the junkyard and I'd lapped them into the 25D heads, later putting them on an EJ222 block and installing that EJ22D combo into my GT. The engine ran damned good for a while. The bottom end had an EJ257 oil pump, Moroso oil pickup, and STi pan and baffle. The car was also fitted with coilovers later that afternoon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DOHCEJ22E1 Posted January 16, 2022 Author Share Posted January 16, 2022 The new EJ22D wasn't as upgraded in the oiling area as it should have been for the touge runs I was doing at East Rock, so it began to go through it's valve guides and it's rings in a short amount of time and when it was run on the dyno, it was a smoke bomb that produced 136awhp/126awft-lbs. On a trip to Northwest CT to pick up some parts, a valve in Cyl#4 melted. Engine was still able to bring me back home despite being in the worst shape it could possibly be. There was a high compression EJ25D installed but it failed due to the oil pump gerotor housing bolts backing out at 140mph, chewing up the camshafts and the bottom end completely. That engine was then replaced with an EJ22E, which remained reliable no matter what I did to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DOHCEJ22E1 Posted January 16, 2022 Author Share Posted January 16, 2022 I'd later sold the bottom end to a friend who had later confirmed the rings were on their way out, too. Needless to say, I beat the piss out of that thing without remorse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DOHCEJ22E1 Posted January 16, 2022 Author Share Posted January 16, 2022 (edited) My friend had this engine sitting in his garage for a few years after he swapped his EJ22D+T in his wagon, so I asked him to use it and he gave the go-ahead. This engine turned out to be a neat little rulebreaker because my usual mod list was put on this wagon for it and it produced the following power level: https://www.youtube.com/embed/yRX6NEGSCZA 139awhp/155awft-lbs. I swapped this engine in before my WRX 3.90 5mt and LSD rear differential, which I also got from him. Changed the entire way the entire car responded and for the better. Edited January 16, 2022 by DOHCEJ22E1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DOHCEJ22E1 Posted January 16, 2022 Author Share Posted January 16, 2022 (edited) EJ22E is installed. Edited January 16, 2022 by DOHCEJ22E1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DOHCEJ22E1 Posted January 16, 2022 Author Share Posted January 16, 2022 At around 288k miles, the 4eat had finally given up and it was time to swap it out. Despite being in serious pain and the transmission falling on my face at some point, I manage to finish the 5mt swap in 4 days with some help, working on and off through the pain and painkillers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DOHCEJ22E1 Posted January 16, 2022 Author Share Posted January 16, 2022 My mod list by the point would go as follows: Cosmo Racing intake pipe + Stock airbox = Hybrid intake. Screamin' Demon ignition coil + NGK copper plugs gapped to .056. 2.25in catback. Grimmspeed lightweight pulley. Grimmspeed intake manifold spacers. MaxSpeedingRods GC coilovers + Megan Racing springs. 06-07 WRX 4pot/2pot setup + Stainless steel lines + Grimmspeed master cylinder brace. Stoptech rotors. EBC yellowstuff pads (would not recommend, dusty even though they work well, only last a year). Tribeca 24mm front sway bar. Whiteline 22mm rear sway bar. Perrin solid end links. ZeroSports front strut bar. Megan Racing rear strut bar. Exedy lightweight flywheel + clutch. Dragonball shift knob (7 star). 04 WRX 3.90 5mt w/LSD rear differential. Street Rays pitch mount. Kein transmission racing mount. Kartboy solid shifter, poly shifter bushings, and poly transmission bushings. JDM headlights. JDM taillights. JDM foglights. JDM RFRB grille. 04 WRX seats. 03 LL. Bean steering wheel = 04 Red Momo airbag. 00 2.5 RS 6 spokes (lightweight wheel). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brighton96 Posted January 17, 2022 Share Posted January 17, 2022 Dang that's a shame about the sedan but the wagon looks great and will be awesome to see it completed! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DOHCEJ22E1 Posted January 17, 2022 Author Share Posted January 17, 2022 Dang that's a shame about the sedan but the wagon looks great and will be awesome to see it completed! Thank you! I was a bit iffy about getting this wagon to replace it but it's been a damn good ride. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DOHCEJ22E1 Posted January 18, 2022 Author Share Posted January 18, 2022 (edited) Being given a 22E I could not ignore at the time, I decided to do the best with what I was given. Before long, the 22E had been given mods and Gloria thrown at the dyno to check the results. With the old threads bashing the N/A's for not being able to put out well, I'd have thought that this EJ22E would be the same. Boy was I wrong... https://www.youtube.com/embed/yRX6NEGSCZA Grimmspeed lightweight crank pulley & intake manifold spacers, Cosmo Racing intake pipe/factory air filter box (hybrid intake), Exedy lightweight flywheel, SRT-4 Screamin Demon ignition coil w/NGK copper plugs gapped to .055 (gap recommended by @subie_snatcher_85 on IG), stock exhaust manifold with imperfections in ports removed (single port), gutted pre-cat, and 2.25in exhaust piping. ECU is stock 2.5 GT unit and fuel is 87 octane. Power produced was 139awhp@5004rpm/155awft-lbs@2638rpm. I've no doubt that running on 93 would have helped it generate more power, but powerband is more important so I kept using 87 and that engine would have still been running today if I did not remove it and build something better in it's place... Edited June 27, 2022 by DOHCEJ22E1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DOHCEJ22E1 Posted June 23, 2022 Author Share Posted June 23, 2022 It has been a while since I've posted here but here are some updates that have happened over the course of time long since forgotten. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DOHCEJ22E1 Posted June 23, 2022 Author Share Posted June 23, 2022 .......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DOHCEJ22E1 Posted June 23, 2022 Author Share Posted June 23, 2022 A short while ago, I did a transmission swap to a Mitsubishi 3000GT DOHC 3.0 SL and discovered that the clutch pins look oddly similar to ours. Turns out they are a few mm longer. As I was looking for a way to improve the 3000GT's clutch pedal response and succeeded, I kept that same information to apply to my own clutch pedal (it wasn't bad but could use a little help, even after bench bleeding/new fluid). The thicker clutch pin was my result for seeking a stronger, longer, and thicker pin for improved pedal response. For all intents and purposes, I definitely succeeded. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DOHCEJ22E1 Posted June 23, 2022 Author Share Posted June 23, 2022 The comparison between the pins goes as follows:n. 1. Mitsubishi 3000GT clutch pin. 2. OEM Subaru WRX clutch pin. 3. Aftermarket WRX clutch pin. Also to note, the N/A clutch pins are exactly the same length and thickness of the WRX clutch pins. Furthermore, in order for this to work successfully, I had to use the 2004 N/A Impreza clutch master cylinder, as the increased pressure created by the prototype thicker/longer pin destroyed 2 WRX master cylinders (blew the bottoms out quite violently). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DOHCEJ22E1 Posted June 23, 2022 Author Share Posted June 23, 2022 After taking measurement of the 3000GT clutch pin and having tried it on my slave beforehand, I decided that a thicker pin would suffice, and cut and ground this bolt as close to the 3000GT pin's length as I possibly could. Close enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DOHCEJ22E1 Posted June 24, 2022 Author Share Posted June 24, 2022 Over time, I'd grown tired of the of the EJ22E. While it was a terrific engine, I felt the need for more power and sought to build another EJ25D hybrid. Unfortunately, the EJ251 block I'd gotten had a bolt thread strip while I was torquing down the heads, so it was disposed of. Here is the EJ222 block. It came out of an '01 Impreza L and had about 130k miles on it at the time. Knowing how durable these EJ222 bottoms are, I bought the engine with intent to create another EJ22D as I had done many times before. It got it's oiling upgrades with the following: Killer B oil baffle. Moroso oil pickup. STi oil pump. STi oil pan. Honda S2000 oil filter (replaced after break-in). The rings and bearings were still mint, so no need to replace them. As the engine is running amazing to this day, the results turned out well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DOHCEJ22E1 Posted June 24, 2022 Author Share Posted June 24, 2022 After getting JDM EJ20D heads (a friend stored these after he'd gotten them from me after I tore down an EJ20D I'd gotten from JDM Depot in New Jersey), I disassembled them, got new buckets, new Mizumo valves, sanded them down to perfect flatness in different grits, and got them ready for installation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DOHCEJ22E1 Posted June 24, 2022 Author Share Posted June 24, 2022 The EJ20D heads and EJ257 oil pump are bolted on the EJ222 block and the resulting combo looks the same as my last setup. It is a completely different engine, though. Calm low in the rpm and violent up past 4000rpm, the way a proper DOHC 2.2 EJ hybrid should be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DOHCEJ22E1 Posted June 24, 2022 Author Share Posted June 24, 2022 (edited) The STi oil pan was installed and primered/painted after I'd sanded the rough spot and the water pump was replaced with a brand new one after the timing was mocked up to ensure the cams and block spun as they should after their journals were cleaned and polished. Edited June 24, 2022 by DOHCEJ22E1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rdleg05 Posted June 26, 2022 Share Posted June 26, 2022 great thread......thanks for keeping the hybrids going. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DOHCEJ22E1 Posted June 27, 2022 Author Share Posted June 27, 2022 great thread......thanks for keeping the hybrids going. You're welcome. EJ hybrids are quickly becoming a thing of the distant past, and soon, this EJ22D will also be a thing of the past as I have decided to upgrade to an EJ253 bottom end for more power while my next and final EJ hybrid will be both turbo and 2.2L. I find it fitting for what I feel are my final EJ hybrids after a decade+ of this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DOHCEJ22E1 Posted June 27, 2022 Author Share Posted June 27, 2022 After being completed, the EJ22D was brought to a friend's garage and he helped me install it. I'd been waiting for a good day and after recovering from having been sick the previous week, we decided to go for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now