avg_joe Posted December 4, 2014 Author Share Posted December 4, 2014 Do I need to take the cams, and rocker shafts out of the head? Or can I leave all that stuff intact? At this point, the engine has been opened up almost as many times as the passenger side door, so I'm thinking that cams, rockers, and valves have been inspected, and are in good shape, and wouldn't need to be disturbed. I'm trying to follow the steps in the manual, but am unsure what is actually needed for a HG replacement, as the manual goes through step by step removing every bolt, from every hole, and seperating every part from it's assembly.... After a good night's sleep, and a good cup of coffee, I am leaning more towards fixing, and less towards making it a cube. I really do like the car, and want it back on the road.....sloppy shifter, and all. I am in WAY over my head on this project, and I get frustrated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fairtax4me Posted December 5, 2014 Share Posted December 5, 2014 Yeah the manual says use special tool this and that and these others but none of them are really required. The bolts can be broken loose by wrapping an old timing belt or leather strap around the pulley, then wrap the other end around the crank sprocket and hold it, then give a sharp tug on a breaker bar to crack it loose. If you're having the heads machined its a good idea to remove the cam and rocker assembly so that the shavings from the machining can be thoroughly cleaned from the head. Sometimes the shavings can get into the oil passages and can cause damage to the cam if not removed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avg_joe Posted December 7, 2014 Author Share Posted December 7, 2014 I've got the heads off. Looks like my mechanic is off the hook for this one, as it was the side he didn't do. When I took the head bolts off, the middle 2 bolts were only hand tight on the passenger side, and it was pretty obvious that it had been leaking. All bolts were tight on the side that I had my mechanic work on. Looking at gaskets online, are Fel-Pro a good choice? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hankosolder2 Posted December 8, 2014 Share Posted December 8, 2014 No to the Fel-Pro. They have a good rep for domestic stuff, but I have read of issues here. OEM Subaru or six star are the way to go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avg_joe Posted December 14, 2014 Author Share Posted December 14, 2014 I ordered gaskets from Six Star. I got the whole set, with all of the other gaskets and seals as well. Figuring that I might as well do it 'right', since I have it all apart. Torx plus....... WTF?!?!? I went to Fastenal, Home Depot, Menards, O'Reilly auto parts, Advance auto parts, and Napa auto parts........ Out of all those places, NOBODY even knows what they are. Fastenal could order them, but not one other place could even order them in. All I can say about the whole situation, is.....Good thing I still have my Ford. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forester2002s Posted December 14, 2014 Share Posted December 14, 2014 'Torx Plus'? Are you referring to the head-bolts? If so, a 12-point hex-socket will fit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fairtax4me Posted December 15, 2014 Share Posted December 15, 2014 The hell is a torx plus? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avg_joe Posted December 15, 2014 Author Share Posted December 15, 2014 The bolts that hold the cam caps on. I was going to replace the plugs at the end of the cams, and the oil seals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fairtax4me Posted December 15, 2014 Share Posted December 15, 2014 Are they a male torx head or female torx head? A male torx head would be an "E" torx .the E meaning External. Those should be commonly available. If its a female torx head a regular torx bit should fit and work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avg_joe Posted December 15, 2014 Author Share Posted December 15, 2014 A regular torx bit fits about as well as a no.2 phillips bit fits into a no.3 screw. A mute point now, anyway. As I discovered that at least one of the bolt holes for the heads is stripped. I made a quick trip into town, and couldn't even identify the size/thread pitch of the head bolt. Which makes finding thread repair difficult...... I guess I'm looking for a different engine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avg_joe Posted December 16, 2014 Author Share Posted December 16, 2014 Engines are OUTRAGEOUS!!! I don't understand why they are so expensive. I found out that the head bolts are 11mm with 1.5 pitch....Absolutely no hope of finding thread repair locally. I guess I will order a set of helicoils from Amazon, and see if it will hold. Secret parts, egg-shell head gaskets, snake oil in the water, NO aftermarket support, assembled with unavailable tools........Who wouldn't love a Subaru? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avg_joe Posted December 30, 2014 Author Share Posted December 30, 2014 From bad to worse!! I finally got thread repair stuff, and did the two holes that were known bad...Only to discover that it must be 1.25 pitch, because my head bolts won't thread into the inserts. Can't see how to fix this one, now. I guess it's back to engine shopping again. The really sad, ironic part about this whole debacle is, I got the Subaru so that I could SAVE some money by not driving my 1/2 ton 4X4 pickup all the time.....Now I'm in so deep on this thing, I can't justify not fixing it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avg_joe Posted January 30, 2015 Author Share Posted January 30, 2015 Issue has been solved! I ended up getting a different engine from CL...then discovered that the seller of said engine lied about it's condition. I found another engine on car-part.com that had broken it's timing belt due to idler pully bearing malfunction. I asked the seller to pull the heads off before I got there so I could see the cylinder walls, and they looked good enough. I put my freshly surfaced heads on it, with Six Star head gaskets, new water pump, timing belt, and idlers. I FINALLY got everything in/on/filled/tightened, etc....I get in, turn the key from off to run a couple of times to verify that fuel pump is working, and to get fuel up to the engine.....I take a deep breath, and turn the key to start and crank the engine.....It cranks fine....I repeat several times, cranks fine, but no attempt to start......!!!! I get out and stand there scratching my head, thinking......,........,........(kind of a slow thinker) Then I think 'I don't remember hooking up the coil', so I hooked up the coil to the wiring harness, and it fired right up. I made sure the coolant was properly burped, and have driven it 50-75 miles in a couple of trips. Had I been a little bit more willing to listen to reason in the beginning, I could have saved myself a whole bunch of grief! +1 if it's pressurizing that bad I'd be leary about putting much into that block either. It's either due to severe overheating or a very poor head gasket job or headgasket quality (do you know what brand is currently in it?) Consider a used engine: www.car-part.com 99 Forester or Impreza RS 00+ Forester, Impreza, Legacy, Outback 99-2001 EJ22 can also work if you get an EJ22 exhaust manifold - it's plug and play, very easy. I had put over $1700 into that engine, and was having a hard time with 'throwing away' what I hoped were good parts. You guys were right, and I should have heeded the good advice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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