stephenw22

I know we've been over this over and over again, but I don't remember hearing if there was an answer to this: Has anyone tried drilling out and tapping the block for a 12mm bolt or stud? It seems like 11mm is an awfully weird size. If we could move to a more common size, maybe studs will become a more affordable possibility. M12x1.25 doesn't seem too far away... Has anyone tried drilling out the block?

Turn your car's ignition to the 'on' position, but don't start it. All of your dash lights should come on. If you have a light called "ECS", then your car has a computer. If not, then your car doesn't have a computer, so don't worry about ECU codes. If you car has a computer, it is under the steering column, just about a finger's depth behind the dash. With the ignition in the 'on' position, an LED on the computer will flash codes. Just look under the steering column for a box with a flashing LED on it. The LED flashes a computer 'morse code'. Long flash = 10, short flash = 1. Example, 3 long and 4 short = code 34. Multiple codes have pauses in between groups of flashes. I think that there's an article in the repair manual (USRM) that covers ecu codes. It's more thorough that I can be using my memory.

If it was one of the top cam case bolts, I'd just use one of those crappy epoxy thread repair kits, and just snug the bolt up until it was a little more than hand-tight. The problem is that it's 2 bottom bolts, and they're the ones on either side of that o-ring. I know that those 2 bolts are probably the most critical of any of them. I'll pick up the helicoil kit for these ones, that way I know I'll get enough clamping force. Thanks for the tip on the cam seal bolts! The torque on those bolts is only something like 5ft-lb, so all I need is a few good threads. I'll pick up a few longer bolts today when I get the helicoil kit.

So I'm putting the ea-82 from the Hornet together yesterday, and I found a few stripped-out bolts. 2 bolts for the passenger-side cam case stripped out (the ones right by the o-ring), and both bolts holding the passenger side cam seal. So, I can replace the cam case, but I'm thinking about getting a helicoil kit for the cam case bolts (since the threads for those bolts are in the head, and I just torqued the head gaskets on two days ago). Has anyone done this before? Just wondering.

The fuel system (from the pump to the regulator) stays at a constant pressure. It should have no problem supplying fuel to the injectors, no matter how the boost is changing. Maybe your fuel pressure regulator has issues. I think it's tied into the manifold pressure, so it will deliver fuel to the injectors at a constant PSI above whatever the manifold is at. If it were responding too slowly, you might have fuel problems. Is your O2 sensor okay? I've heard that as they get old, they also start to respond more slowly. That would affect your a/f mixture when the boost changes quickly. I never had any pinging issues with my turbo wagon, no matter how hard I pushed it.

Don't forget exhaust gaskets! (I almost did) Get turbo gaskets if you can, they seem a lot better than the "normal" ones.

Well, the heads are back on. It's taking more time than I had hoped, but I keep getting visitors and other distractions that slow me down. I'm going to have to replace the water pump. I noticed that the one that was on there is leaking out of the weep hole. I have a spare pump in the basement, I'll toss it on instead. It wasn't much of a leak, but since I have everything apart, I might as well swap it out. I won't be doing anything tomorrow, as I have previous plans in town, but on Thursday night I'll be doing crank/cam seals and cleaning off the cam cases. I'll probably put the oil pump and water pump on as well.

RTV is really greasy when it's first applied. If you torque the gasket down tight right away, the gasket will squeeze out and it will leak, 100% guaranteed. If you apply the RTV and let it set before tightening, then it will work very well. In the past, what I've done is to apply silicone to both sides of the gasket before installing it. Then, I only tighten the bolts finger-tight, or enough for the water pump to make very light contact with the gasket. Then, the next day, I'll tighten it the rest of the way. These days though, I only use the gasket, no RTV at all. I don't even worry if it gets a little wet during installation. They seem to hold just fine on their own. For me, what's most important is having a perfectly clean gasket surface. I'll scrape it with a flexible putty knife, then with a razor blade, and then buff the surface with a scotchbrite pad.

Things are moving along nicely. I've fabbed and painted some blanks to cover the air pump and egr piping. I also 'test-torqued' the heads to see if the head bolts could hold the torque and not strip out. They all held up just fine, no problems. That was my biggest worry of the whole process. I have the head gasket material cleaned off the passenger side. I'll do the drivers' side today, and clean any major carbon off the pistons. I'll clean everything out really well, and maybe even get the heads back on for good. Thanks for everybody's help and suggestions so far. I'm taking pictures as I go along, so I'll have to set up an album once I'm all done.

So I pulled the engine this morning. It took about 3 hours to get everything out of the way and drained. Then it took another 2 hours to strip the engine down. I was taking my time since I've never pulled a Subaru engine before. It was pretty smooth, and I could have shaved an hour or more off the pull time if I had done it before, and if I had all of the tools and equipment together. QUESTION: What can I use to clean off the gasket surfaces? On another vehicle, I'd probably use a steel-bristled brush, but I think that it would gouge the aluminum. Could I use a brass-bristled brush on a drill/dremel to clean surfaces off? Or, do I revert back to razor blade scrapers and dental picks? Thanks in advance for your help!

I tried platinums in my turbowagon, didn't make any noticeable difference. I thought that maybe there was something else in the system holding me back, so I replaced everything else in the ignition system, piece by piece. Still, no difference. When it came time to change the plugs again, I went with NGKs, and it ran fine as well. For me, platinums aren't worth the extra $$. NGKs work just as well, and they can be maintained over a long time as well.

I'm not planning to do anything with the heads, other than maybe cleaning them up a bit. If either of the heads look nasty, I'll think about doing more, but otherwise it will be hands-off the heads. Same goes for the block/pistons/other internals. I'll pull the pan off, and if I see any obvious damage then I'll look closer. Otherwise, I'm not touching it. I have a turbo motor that I'm thinking about completely rebuilding, but that won't be until later. As for parts, I have a place that can get me stuff in a hurry. They give me the jobber price, and a deal on freight charges.

maybe you mean 75w90 or 80w90 bigger number is last up here, 75w90 is synthetic oil, 80w90 is regular.

I knew there'd be some kind of losses when you try to suck air past filters, valves, and other restrictions - I just have no idea how much they'd be. Doing a little searching with google, it seems like most of the links use values in the 80-85% range for volumetric efficiency, at least for a n/a engine.

Are you sure that you just didn't get rocks inside the heat shielding? That can give you a lovely rattle. With the engine cool, bang the exhaust with a rubber mallet and listen for rattling.

The oil leaking onto the exhaust is a 'safety concern', and I was going to re-seal the engine in a month or 2 anyways, so I'm just going to do it now instead. Basic plan is to do a complete re-seal, including the heads. I'll probably paint the oil pan as well, and maybe the engine. I'll check clearances on the oil and water pump, and replace them if I have to. So, before I tear into this, are there any special tools I'll need? I already have basic hand and air tools, a torque wrench, a set of feeler gauges. Also, any tips that apply specifically to these engines? I've replaced head gaskets before, but never on a subaru.

For just a straight-up calculation (not worrying about manifold vacuum or blow by, etc.) 1cu.ft. = 28,300cc In 360 degrees of rotation, 2 cylinders are filled (900cc) Engine max speed (being generous) is 8000rpm total displacement in 1 minute = 8000x900 = 7,200,000cc 7,200,000/28,300 = 254cfm More realistically, Max speed is 6,500rpm total displacement = 5,850,000 CFM = 206 With pressure drops through the intake, it's probably closer to 175CFM at the intake, I'd guess. (At least for an N/A engine)

On my turbo wagon, the electrical contacts in the wiper gearbox were all bent out of shape. I took the cover off (3 screws, if I remember correctly) and straightened them with some needlenose pliers. They worked for another couple of years until I retired the car.

I've put about 30k miles on mine, and the only thing that stopped it was the body of my car rusting out (R.I.P. the Rustbucket)

I really don't care about power, all that matters is getting this car past the safety inspection. The oil leaks right onto the exhaust and smokes. There's a risk (however small it may be) of fire, so the leaks need to be stopped up before it will pass inspection. There's no emissions inspection to worry about for me, not in my province. Would my mileage go up? Just wondering...

This seems quite possible, but will it cause me problems like pinging or such? The out-of province inspection on the hornet is almost done, but they need me to fix the oil leaks on the car. I have a nice spfi engine in my '88 with minimal leaking. It would be easiest for me to pull the engine out of the hornet and swap in the '88 engine. I'd have to change the manifold and disty, but that's easy. I'm just worried about the increased compression. I still want to use regular, not mid or premium. Gas prices here just went to CAD $1.06/litre - that's CAD $4.01/gallon, or USD $3.35/gallon.

There's a rubber hose that is directly under the turbo. That (at least to me) would be the most likely source of a leak.

I didn't, and I don't have any leaks. I just used the new thingies (grommets?) that came with the kit. The old ones were brittle and leaked badly.

I prefer studded tires in winter, but then again I drive on roads that are covered in ice/snow for 4-6 months of the year. On a 0-10 scale, this is how I'd rate tires for winter use: 0 - Old, bald tires 1 - 2 - Heavily-worn tires 3 - 4 - 5 - Decent all-season tires 6 - Siped all-season tires 7 - Generic winter tires 8 - Blizzak 9 - Nokian 10 - Studded tires However, if you're driving lots on bare pavement, or doing lots of highway driving, you can throw studs off a studded tire. The Nokians are great from what I've heard, but I can get studded tires for about 1/2 the price up here, and they work the best in my climate/conditions.

I have all the parts together and I'll do the required work today. Then I can get on with the other stuff as I have the time. I probably went through 2 quarts of oil on the drive here. It was about 1/3-1/2 quart with every fill. I averaged about 24mpg, which is pretty good, considering my speed for the last 500 or 600 miles was around 70mph. The temps stayed pretty cool. The only time it started getting real hot was on the Coquihala (sp) pass in B.C. I had it floored in 2nd, going up the hill at about 35mph. Both electric fans were on, and I almost turned the heater on, but then I saw the top of the pass. I have a couple of spare radiators that I can pick from, once this one is properly licensed and ready to go. There are still a couple of other things I'll have to do to winterize the car (block heater, heat riser to the carb, battery blanket, fixing the defrost setting) but I still have at least a couple of months before those start getting real important.