v5 STi RA swap in progress

you know....I had a dream that mine started up and it idled, but couldn't really rev high yet...like to 4k rpms....but damn it was just a dream...*sniff*

congrats! I'm 3 months as well without my car.
WHERE'S my LEGACY TURBO GUYS!!!!!

 

What the hell is this year about? Engine swaps for everyone? lol, I was out 3 months too... great to hear it's all working out..

 

ITS DONE!!!!! Pulled an all-nighter with Justin last night and got the car put back together. Runs great, its incredible how long the gears are now, I never had it over 6k last night and still have yet to get up to the 8250 fuel cut and it feels very quick. My buddy has an STi and he said we would have to put them side by side, its close. I might have to bring it to Firestone on Friday if time permits

 

you will eat a stock USDM sti for breakfast

 

Ok, so leaving the office here at work has become a new found addiction. Over lunch I brought her over 6k for the 1st time, it was nice to see the tach buried at 8k and the fuel was still pumpin, this motor truely pulls hard all the way from about 3k -8k. Just sounds beautifull to, the motor comes alive over 5k, I need a boost guage ASAP!! Oh, and the gas guage has gone down fairly quickly LOL.....

 

well.....I played around with an 04 STi last night. The results.
Took and on ramp moving in 2nd gear and WOT my buddy in his STi (3" cat back w/ perrin intake) was right on my heels, but not gaining. Oh the high end the STi seemed like it was trying to pull ahead but that was all over when he hit redline and had to shift, I loved the look on his face when I contunied to pull all the way to 8k. This would definitely take a stock STi, but a heavily modified one I think I would lose, on the low end forsure. The STi seemed like it had had better low end, but the shorter gears seem to help it. I love the sound of this beast at 8k, just sounds so much better than say a WRX with a turbo back, has a much throatier sounds and a much more pronounced idle. The SARD R2D2 BOV just makes me laugh every time I hear it, it quick flutter with a very quick and abrupt phhhhhhst!!! Sounds much louder and I feel better than a Blitz Dual Drive.

Once again.........Garage Tuning FTW!!!!!!!!


Oh, and I have a TMIC intercooler splitter w/ the IC to hood seal so I think this will help the intercooler lover the air temp by forcing all the air though it and not letting it escape into the engine bay.

 

Just so you know an sti with those mods alone maybe adds 10-15 hp.

BTW awesome car!!! i hope i get to see it/run it

 

Get an aftermarket d/p and cat back, and rock his world

 

As quicky as she ran........she blew up!!!

How it all went down for those who haven't heard.

Just before the rest area, I did a lil 8k pull through 3rd gear, not keep in mind, this motor is made to spin all the way up to the fuel cut off at 8250. So, like the guys that sold me the motor have said, don't be shy, run it to 8k since the power keeps increasing the whole way though the entire rpm band.

Well, I was at just under 8k, and I was about to let off to shift when i think I felt a slight decrease in power, I thought this was just the fuel backing off before the fuel cut, but I think it was the begining of the RA's demise on Saturday. Well when we got back "on it" leaving the rest area it just didn't feel as powerful. As a mile or two went by, I kept hearing more drivetrain noise, and just thought it was the new clutch, the people I was passing could hear the same noises I was hearing. About 5 miles down the road, I was in 5th gear and went to give it some gas and it felt gutless, like the old 2.5 motor in 5th gear low rpm's feels. At that same time I glanced over at the temp. gauge and it was above the "H" I was able to make it over to the right lane, and just as i did so, she shut down. Once the car came to a stop, we popped the hood, the engine was so hot, the coolant in the overflow resivoir was boiling. No drips under the car, and the coolant levels where fine. We tried starting her back up after it cooled a little bit and heard a significant knocking type sound from the passenger side of the motor.

I pulled the dip stick and saw a very fine metalic dust in the oil that appeared to be a goldish hue, we attempted to start the motor once again just before this and it never started, motor seemed like it was trying to jump right out of the engine bay!!! Now keep in mind, the internals on this motor are all forged stock by Subaru, so more than likely it is a spun bearing or some people think it could be a blown head gasket, I hope thats the case. But either way, the motor will be completely re-built, and the pistons possibly upgraded. So going forward, the motor by times it runs again will run like its brand new, and will be built to handle more than the stock 287 chp.

So, tomorrow I will drop the oil pan and see what surprises awaits me!!!

 

ugh! I wonder how mine will do WHEN I get it running.....
hopefully you find something that's not too bad.
Hopefully you wheren't losing oil, which would mean the pick-up not picking up any oil form the pan. ouch!

 

Well hopefully we will know what went kabooom! this weekend. I am gonna have Mike Ray take a look at it. Will be pulling everything down to the block, valve cover to valve cover this week. I hope its a spun bearing and that it didn't do any piston damage. Only time will tell now, I just hope i can get her running for a reasonable price. Would still like to break the motor back in before the snow flies!!

 

Well....last night I drained the oil and pulled the filter. Not good I think!! When the oil was draining I could see the mettalic goldish bits with the shop light in the stream of oil. When I dumped the oil filter into the pan, the particles kept getting smaller and smaller, looked like a really fine bronze mud as the last of it came out of the filter. I also stuck my finger inside the bottom of the oil pan and was able to collect some larger goldich flakes. I would assume this is bearing material of some sort. I was gonna drop the whole oil pan but it was late and I wouldn't be able to reach the rear oil pan bolts without lifting the motor off the x-member. Mike will have to peek into there once I get him the hopefully by this weekend. Stay tuned, this damn thing isn't over yet!!!!

 

Well, last night Justin and I pulled almost everything off down to the block. The bearing materia traveled everywhere the oil did. Even in the little oil hadrlines around the turbo! The oil honestly looked like a smokey gold pearl paint, VERY VERY fine particles of bearing material. I tried grabbing the crank and rotating by hand and it won't budge!! So something is locked or seized. I think once the motor is running, I will be carrying a 10 gal jug of 100 octane with and add in a couple gallons at fill up time until i can get it tuned. Who knows, if the block is damaged or more extensinve damage than just bearinfs and rods it will be sitting all winter so I can save up and build it for more power! I will hopefully be getting the motor to a local guy here to take a look at, I will be replacing timing belt, water pump and oil pump just for peace of mind even if they aren't bad yet. Prolly get a power enterprises timing belt or the equivilant. All of my valves are intact, I never had a doubt the werent but it nice to know one didn't decide to drop into a cylinder.

I took a few pics of the new progress, I will post them tonight when I get home!!

 

A lil something for the kids!!

The bearing fairy definitely visited the ej207, looks like she had a lil too much fun LOL, this is the bottom of the pan I drained the out into.

We are becoming pros at this ****.......got alot done in 3 hours

 

hey!
I need some information. Remember my HEAD PORTS comparison thread, if you would, could you measure the intake port dimensions. injector boss to other side, and across the port. IF you can, also get pics of the port runners.

This is technical information that I'm gathering.

 

Fuji- Call me and I will get you the information. I don't have a micrometer or dial caliper though, so the most accurate I will be able to be is within a 1/16" of an inch. Call me and I can get you the info you need, 952.240.4001

-Matt

 

oh..no need for micro meter really. just measure like this.

 

Gotcha, I will take pics and get them back on here before the motor goes to Mike tonight. By the way, I have seen all your comparisons on these, good job on all of this, definitely usefull information. -Matt


P.S. Is your Suby running yet??

 

nope, the suby is sitting in the garage still....I need a guinee pig for my ECU to see if it's dead or alive. I'm waiting for him. haha
Then back to it after this.

 

any pics? OMG you forgot!!! lolz j/k

 

Sorry!! Was in a real big hurry to get the motor dropped off and ended up forgetting to measure and take pics. Sorry, I will get them for you when the motor comes back.

 

hehe I'll be waiting....

 

Well heard back from Mike on the motor yesterday. He was able to get the block opened up and take a peek at things. I beleive one or two of the rod bearings where spun, 3 of the 4 rods took some sort of damage, propably heat damage on the crank end. If the crank is able to be turned down and oversized bearings used, then we will go that route. The pistons where in good shape, along with the bores. The block seems to be just fine, I guess there was a little bot of coolant in the oil inside the block, I didn't see any when I drained the oil, but I wasn't concentrating on that, more the bearing material that was in the oil instead.

So the plan it to rebuild the block, either using STi/WRX forged rods, or an aftermatket rod. Throw new rings on it and all the internal bearings will be upgraded and replaced, the cylinders will be bottle brushed and then should be ready to be broken in at that point. The motor will be broken in on 100 ocatane and then left to rest for the winter until I can get a Power FC and get it tuned for our 92 octane.

When I make it out to Mike's, I will get some pics of the damages.

 

saw your block last night, didn't look like a disaster.

 

If you want pics of damage I can take them next time I am there. I am right in Buffalo.

 

Yeah... block looked fine.... but that crank looked pretty sad.

 

Yeah, thats what it sounded like, oh well, if I need a new one in the end then I will have to go that route. Yeah, I would like to get some pics if anyone cares to take some when they are over there, I am not sure how soon i will be making it up there, need Mike to nail a few things down to proceed forward from here.

 

OK so I have the photos of the damage. I will let you look at them in my photo gallery because I am too lazy this morning to post them...
http://www.mlgez.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.ShowItem&g2_itemId=16336
And there you have it.

 

Hey, thanks for posting the pics, definitely a little bearing damage huh LOL!!

If you could leave the pics on there for a couple days I will copy them, thanks again!! -Matt

 

oI! where are my intake ports? lolz

 

Ok, another update.

I spoke with Mike about the block today and got the details of the engines demise. There where no signs of detnations he said. He also added there where oil/coolant related issues. The mains had pitting from coolant contact. The rods had the same as well but it looks like they took the brunt of the damage. It was not an oil starvation issue, the issue was coolant and oil mixing and not lubricating properly due to a blow head gasket.

So its seems that when I felt the loss of power, it must have been the head gasket going, and then the coolant found its way into the oil aiding in the loss of the oils lubricating properties. The end result being that the worn bearings failed prematurely due to the coolant in the oil.




STILL NEED BIG HELP!!!! I need a short block of some kind, wether it be an new/lightly used USDM STi 2.5l short block, or a v7 JDM STi short block, or a v7 JDM crank shaft/rods/ ect.


So if anyone has any sources that might be of help to me that would be very helpful. I am looking to get this back togethere ASAP!!!

 

I have an EJ257 shortblock. It's all taken apart. PM me for some details.

 

Helix rods, notice the Tomei logo.........