Yup, more questions from Techy..... First, How does this look in the cylinders? It's my first time so I'm not 100% sure what I should be looking for. Is the crap that is on the piston supposed to be there? Can/should it be cleaned off w/o tearing the whole thing apart? Second, How does this cylinder look? Ben mentioned to look for scoring, but I'm not sure what exactly that is. I assume it means some kind of scratching. Third, What is the best way to clean off the goop from the old head gasket, etc... I tried a light scraping on a very small section but it looked like it put a few very very tiny scratches into the aluminum so I stopped. Fourth, What would you guys do about this whole situation with the sheared bolts on the EGR stuff (sorry, I'm not sure what the actual names of all the parts are
Pistons look normal to me, seefoam should help clean that off later. Your cylinder walls look fine from what I can see of the pics. To clean off the old headgasket, first start with a razor blade to get the big stuff off first, the use a very fine rol-lock disc to finish cleaning the surfaces up. If you stop by work, I can give you a disc. Hope all of this helps. As for the EGR, looks like they need to be drilled out, and if they are a threaded hole, run a tap through them.
The SCORING you want to look for are from the rings that come in contact with teh cylinder wall goin UP and DOWN. Subarus tend to have pistons scoring the TOP of the cylinder walls because of oiling and the way gravity is keeping the pistons on the BOTTOM of the cylinder. If found this apparent in our '98 Outback on the top skirt of all the pistons; 170+k miles. The HEAD I don't really recommend sanding it by hand. Just razer blade as much of it off if you can. If it's really that dirty you are better off having it resurfaced so it's "flat and true." Sanding can cause spots where it's lower and some higher. This may lead to blowing HG's in the future. Same goes with the heads. Taking it apart that far already you should clean the pistons. The oil holes in the oil ring section on the TOP side of the pistons get clogged with carbon buildup. This is bad because there's less lubrication to the top side of the cylinder wall and you get scuffing like I mentioned earlier. There are at least 4-5 little holes about 1-2mm diameter and there are also some on the bottom side as well. The areas where the rings go in also get carbon buildup and results in less oil lubrication on old motors. These areas can be cleaned. The carbon however needs to be scrapped off because they hold TIGHT onto the piston. SeaFoam does the job well on parts of the piston where it can, lots of carbon build it will NOT get off. Remember which piston goes where. They are cylinder specific. At the TOP front of the block halfs it'll tell you if they are A, B, or C pistons. This area is on the block area where your Alternator sits above. If takin rods out, remember which way faces the FRONT of the motor. Rod caps go on a certain way, with one side that MIGHT have numbers/letters on your EG33.
I would pull the pistons. Your cylinder walls look fine. Might be able to go over them with a honing tool, always a good idea for re-ringing the pistons to have a fresh crosshatch on the walls. Pulling pistons really isn't that difficult, getting them back in can be a hassle without the proper tools but a ring compressor is pretty cheap. For the headgasket, like was mentioned before, use a razorblade to clean as much as possible from it, you can use brake parts cleaner and a scouring sponge (3M greenie weenies work great for this) to remove the rest. I wouldn't take sandpaper to it, as mentioned it can cause low spots. Seafoam is your friend. It will clean an awful lot of stuff. Your best bet for the pistons (especially since they are dished) is to fill the dishes with seafoam and let it sit overnight. The next day, come back with a texas toothbrush or some kind of scrubbing brush and go to town on the piston tops. You can scrub most of the block this way too if you want to 'detail' the block surfaces. Seafoam will remove just about anything.
How is this all done? Do you have to split the block? Would any of you who have done this be willing to come over and help me at least get started? Also, since it's all apart, should I be adjusting valve clearances or anything? And if so, how does one do that?
Oh, at least one person on the SVX forums has mentioned that it doesn't cause any problems if I were to just plug all of the EGR lines and leave it all off since we don't have smog checks. I'm not sure if I would be comfortable with that, but what do you guys think?
Sorry for the off-topic question, I always thought the eg33 was closed deck and came in the svx, and the H6 was open deck. Is this an H6 or eg33?
^ thats a EG33 H6 from a SVX right there and yea the deck is open. i dont believe the EZ30s are closed either.
Ok, adding another question into this mix. It's about the things that are behind the valves (the metal disk things, sorry I don't know the name). Most of them fell out of one of the heads and were put back in, but if I am going to flip the head over to remove the old gasket, they'll all fall out I think. Is this ok? I didn't know where they came from so I'm sure they're not back in the correct places. Thanks! These little disks that the cam hits.
Those are buckets, and you are definately going to want to mark or label where they came from, as they are typically set for valve lash from the factory. You're still going to want to check lash when you are done, but they will be extremely close to correct if you label where they came from now before removing them. Not sure how those are assembled, but there are two types. Shimless buckets and Shimmed buckets. Shimmed buckets will be two parts, a cup and a shim disc. Shimless will just be the cup or bucket as it's called.
So for the ones that fell out, how in the hell do I check them? It was actually all of them on one head that fell out, i was just trying to not sound like such a dolt, but in retrospect fibbing won't help me get this fixed. So yeah Oh, and they were all just one piece.
Next question, how the hell do I remove this sprocket? If I'm not mistaken, I'll need to get it off to remove the oil pump.
Well big fella, when you go to re-assemble your heads, we can do a lash check and figure out where they go, just try to keep the shims for the other head marked and together. MARK THEM NOW WITH A SHARPIE AND PUT THEM IN A PLASTIC BAG SEPARATE FROM THE OTHER HEAD'S SHIMS.
Well ****. Not to sound super n00bish, but how does one do a lash check? Also, when you just said shims there, were you talking about just the buckets? Since I only saw the one piece fall out. I guess a logical addition to this would be the question of adjusting valve clearances. How hard it it to do, and is it worth it? Also, how is it done. Thanks again for all the help guys.
You check the lash with lobes of the cam at the small part. This can be done with a set of feeler gauges. if you see going to take any kind of abrasive to the deck surface, it should be done with some sort of metal straight edge.
Lash check is valve clearance check. You place the buckets and shims over the valve rods, install the camshafts, and then rotate the cam so that the lobes are pointed away from the bucket. Then you slip a feeler gauge in there and see how much space is between the camshaft and the bucket/shim. Then you check that against the factory spec for valve lash. If it is correct, you leave it, if the gap is too big, you put a bigger shim in there, if it is too tight, you try a smaller shim.
Also, some sort of gasket remover works well, as does acetone. The carbon gaskets can be a pain to get off, but if your are replacing them with carbon gaskets, it's not the end of the world. Just make sure the sealing surface around the cylinders if very clean. I need to be more thorough to make my Cometics seal properly, and will actually use the copper gasket spray, since they can be finicky about the surface finish.
EDIT: I also just looked up the valve clearance specs though AllData and it just says "Note: Equipped with hydraulic valve lash adjusters" I think I'm beginning to get the picture here. Here are a few pictures of the buckets I just pulled out of the head that hasn't been all mis-matched. I only see the one piece, no shims. So how are they different? Is the bump inside each one slightly different?
Hmmmm. Those look different. You'll need to measure each with a micrometer and then check the lash with them in the head. Then you can re-arrange them and adjest as necessary. If there is no "shim" part to the bucket, the buckets themselves vary in thickness to maintain the proper valve-to-lobe clearance.
So what do you make of the "Note: Equipped with hydraulic valve lash adjusters" in place of numbers for valve clearance specs?
yea, those look like HLAs. I don't know the details of the EG33 ones, but on EA82s, it isn't the end of the world if they get mixed up, as the valve lash is maintained by oil pressure. it is ideal that they go back where they belong, however. I'm glad to see you posted this stuff on subaru-svx.net, because those guys will know! the crank sprocket can be a bitch. there's nothing holding it on but time. some heat can help it quite a bit, I managed to use a torch on the sprocket and a damp cloth on the end of the shaft to work some SeaFoam Deep Creep (if you aren't using this stuff, go get some. it's seafoam in aeresol form. awesome for cleaning, awesome for penetrating, lubricating, etc. etc.) in there. then again while keeping the pulley hot and shaft fairly cool, used a screwdriver to pry it off of there. be careful though, while it will take some force to get it off, it (and anything you might be prying against!) can be damaged. as for pulling pistons. here's a video about pulling them on an EJ22. EG33 process is very similar: http://www.vincentfurniture.com/photos/subaru/pistonpull.wmv
^ Yeah, I did a big DOH! today when I was looking a motor at a buddy's shop down here. There is none of the measuring and shimming madness with those.
That means they are HLA valvetrain. Those buckets looks just like what they should be. No need to shim adjustment. They do that themselves. If it was like '02 WRX, there would be a disc up top where you can rotate it seperately from the bucket. OR there would be one on the bottem.... but not in your case.
