nicksubaru

I don't know how to link posts but the topic title is... DIY Head Resurfacing... or "Post-apocalyptic machine shop techniques!" Posted by GD

I wouldn't swap the tranny. I only have manual cars too. If you want a manual, then start with a manual car. As for this car. You said that your pretty handy. I would pull the motor and see what you really have to work with. Then decide from there, what you need to do to get it fully running or put a 2.2 in it. Can you even find a 2.2 for cheap where you are? I just did a full reseal and heads rebuild and you can do it all with surprisingly little bit of tools. I didn't break over $800 for parts and supplies. And you 100% can resurface your own subaru heads because they are aluminum and small.

This little project was more time then money. Being that i did all the work myself in the front driveway under a shade tree, And a tailgate of a pickup. Motor sat on a tire and 2 4x4 wood blocks. (wish i had a motor stand, but covid-19 made the stores around me not stock them for some reason)

Yes. Only because it was on #4(left, back if looking at the front)(see previous post for pictures) the hardest part was removing the rod without fully removing the piston, and the rod nuts. The 1st nut was easy. The 2nd one... Well i used a small ratchet 1/2 a click turn and had to reset it each time. That took a while on and off. But the buff part was easy. I just took off the high parts but didn't go all the way down the lows on the crank surface. No way of measuring roundness or anything. Completely shot in the dark. I do not recommend anyone trying this. I only did because its on a 2nd car that i dont depend on and i have AAA towing if the wrost should happen. But as of now it's been a great running car.

I personally dont like it when a post never cames to a conclusion, so... For anyone who reads this in the future. The car runs great and i followed what i was told on here except for one thing. I very lightly polished the crank surface and put in a new stock size bearing for the one rod. I used a shoe lace wrapped around and cut to size 800 grit then 1000 grit sandpaper, and wd-40 for lub. I did not go down to where all the groves were gone. And it was a complete gamble and a half. Also im running full sync oil. But as of a about 2000+ miles the car runs better then i have seen any of my cars before. So i am very happy. Not sure if i said fully all that i did. But i hot water pressure washed the inside and out of the block resealed every single thing other then spit the block halfs. Polish the combustion camber to 1000 grit. Same of the piston tops and valves. Lap the valves. Port and polish intake and exhaust to 320 grit. Full gasket, seals, and rtv ulta black where needed. Resurfaced the heads with the glass top and sandpaper to 320.Put it all back together. Thank you all for your help in making decisions. And all the great info.

Hello. Im working on an 03 subaru forester ej25 Auto tran. The problem is the monitors are not setting as ready. Ive drove this car over 2,000 miles. separate trips. Have driven it the recommended drive cycles over and over again. At this point ive tried to use romraider and ecuflash with the open port 2.0 cable to try to see if something is wrong with the ecu or something??? Unfortunately i wasn't able to pull the rom or log for some reason. Not sure why. The only not ready monitor is the o2. This happened after the cat was replaced. Any ideas would be helpful. Thank you in advance.

For the heads, this is how everyone does it?

Vary useful!

What is spec on this? 2000 ej25 na outback. I use to have a good repair manual, but i cant find it. Something like 28 lb then 90 degree turn. I don't remember

Ok, that makes sense. Being how little room i have in there to put it back together, would lock tight be a good idea on the rod nuts? Any other "might as wells" while i have everything apart? I already did all the head work following other posts mostly posts from GD, and others

What would happen if i put in a new bearing? That's what i was thinking of doing. Figured that the new bearing would "break in" with the way the crank is. My other thoughts was that a new bearing would last longer then the old one. The old one has a little hole in it as you can see in the pic and there is small cracks in the old bearing too.

The bearings say on them... F-112 979D Thats stamped on the under side of the bearings. On the rods its on that too but in a mirror image From what is seen from the pictures would i be able to get stock new bearing and put it back together? There's no way to clean/polish the crank from what i know of. Not with out rebuilding the whole short block... Unless someone in the Sacramento, CA area has a good short block for a cheap price, lol

I probably should not have messed with it and just put it all back together...

End cap side

Rod side

Close up of crank

Im not sure if i should be happy with this... But i was able to remove the rod without spitting the block or even taking the piston out...

No sparklys or metal shaving that the naked eye can see

I believe this oil pump is 10mm. It should be very early bearing issue. Without removing the rod cap, there is zero show of issues to anything around it. The oil didn't have sparkles in it from what i could tell when i drained it. I may have to have a closer look at the old oil and see, i think i still have that oil somewhere around here

Yea, i kinda gave up the idea of using that ej22 short block. Im wondering if its a good idea or not to remove the one connecting rod end from just that one that has little "play" seeing what it looks like. (the original ej25) i think i can get the cap off with out splitting the block... Maybe... And yes i know that your supposed to do all bearings and machine the crank. But its so small of a wiggle, maybe i could get away with just replacing that one bearing??? As of now, im already thinking that i could just put it back together with maybe 10w-40 or thicker oil and drive it easy. Might get another 10k miles out of it. There wasn't a knock when i pulled it. Thoughts?

After doing my own research, i dont think ill have a good enough CR for an NA build. Unless someone else has an idea to raise the CR?

The only reason i care about CR is i just want it to run good and for as long as possible. Im trying to use what i have available to me.

Im not sure if im allowed to link from another subaru forum, but an admin will remove it if its not allowed https://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1413118 I found this, but unfortunately i can't open it or the links in it say "not found"

If i do the backwards frankenmotor is there math that can guess what my CR ( compression ratio) will be? Again the bore is .020 over stock ej22 from 92 legacy, and heads from 00 OB (the actual car) I noticed that the pistons comes out of the deck a little bit, if i had a depth gauge i would measure that. Maybe that would be a good time to buy one... So if the head gasket needs to match the "bore" does the over size change that? With the pistons coming out the deck, negative deck height, would i need thicker head gasket?

I agree with GD. I know that there will be unforgiving mistakes made trying to assemble that short block myself. I recently moved and i dont have a "home" machine shop yet (Sacramento, CA). Im sure that there's at least one that is probably good. What about this ej22 short block that i was talking about. This is the motor that i had assembled by a good shop long ago. It came out of a 92 legacy. Originally this was planned for my 86 brat, but i never gathered all the things that I needed and i lost the 92 legacy car before i could get wiring. (life stuff happened). What problems will i run into if i use this short block but everything else from this car (2000 OB ej25). What headgasket would i need? Im guessing that i would need the head gasket to match the short block???