Author Topic: Slow Legacy GT [GONE] (Read 11407 times)

SlowLGT · « **Reply #25 on:** May 11, 2015, 12:08:46 pm »

Quote from: Canuckrz on May 11, 2015, 10:20:55 am

Very nice, I need to make one for my fozzys sti tmic. How did you go about getting your measurements? I've thought of a couple ways but they all seemed kind of wile e coyote.

I did not have a good way of getting measurements. Since the hood scoop on the LGT is not removable, and the scoop opening is more forward of the TMIC compared to the setup on a WRX or STI. The only measurement I could take was the distance from the rear edge of the scoop to the front edge of the TMIC. Then I just went by trial and error with cutting card boards (2 for $1 from the dollar store). The aluminum sheet and rubber seal are from Lowe's.

I found these links helpful. If the forester hood scoop can be removed from the hood, it makes things a lot easier.

http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1776213
http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1985337

Marker pen taped on a bamboo stick LOL

SlowLGT · « **Reply #26 on:** May 19, 2015, 10:21:29 am »

Finally, it's tuning day. The car is on the dyno, and Sunny is working his magic. I'm sure a lot of you know how I feel right now.

jellynuts · « **Reply #27 on:** May 19, 2015, 12:13:11 pm »

Good luck and welcome to Calgary! If you're staying the night or can spare the time, join the folks at their Tim's meet this evening.

RedBimmer93 · « **Reply #28 on:** May 19, 2015, 01:08:56 pm »

Quote from: jellynuts on May 19, 2015, 12:13:11 pm

Good luck and welcome to Calgary! If you're staying the night or can spare the time, join the folks at their Tim's meet this evening.

This! I'd love to see your legacy in person!

SlowLGT · « **Reply #29 on:** May 19, 2015, 08:15:11 pm »

Thanks for the invite guys, sorry I couldn't make it to the Calgary Tims meet.

Car is now tuned. Sunny is great as always. The car was having some troubles on the dyno. The symptoms are not great, it is decided not to push the engine past 282 WHP.

1. There is some knock when reving the engine in neutral. Can't figure out what is being picked up as knock, could it be throw out bearing or something else in the area causing the knock sensor to go off?
2. Knocks in the higher RPM range, thus why the boost is 18 peak tapered down to only 15 psi. This one is a little puzzling: on my previous 16G Shell 91 tune, there is no knock at 19 psi. I filled up the car with Husky 94 this time, we see knock at 15 psi. Sunny said it could be bad gas I picked up from Red Deer, or it could be engine health problem. I really hope it's not the latter. In my pre-dyno check, I tested appx. 130 psi across the board on a warm engine, which seemed fine. hopefully it's not something deeper that compression check cannot detect.I will fill up the car with 94 at the Husky beside my house and send Sunny some logs tonight.
3. Car puked coolant out of the overflow tank. We don't know when did this happen, as Sunny saw coolant on the floor after he got out of the car. Again, not sure what the cause is. Car is not over heated, throughout the entire dyno session, and the drive back to Edmonton. The coolant level is still really full for some reason. One strange thing is that when I crank the HVAC to 32C and full blast, the air is just warm, not hot.

The car is quite fun to drive now. The added torque in the low and mid range is very nice. The EFR turbo has great spool up, as well as boost recovery. It made more power across the board compared to the 16G. Really curious to see what this turbo can do on a problem-free car. I do wish I had better luck with my car though, maybe I'm in for a new short block, maybe I'm in for new head gaskets (well... this still kinda means I would put a new short block in). In the mean time, I will drive it, track it, and continue to monitor the engine's conditions.

SlowLGT · « **Reply #30 on:** May 19, 2015, 09:09:00 pm »

Preliminary research shows I may have a headgasket on the way out. Sigh...

jellynuts · « **Reply #31 on:** May 19, 2015, 10:08:24 pm »

Hmm... Congrats on the tune, but sorry to hear of the troubles

funk32 · « **Reply #32 on:** May 19, 2015, 10:25:25 pm »

I know that feeling, hope its an easy fix.

Zac · « **Reply #33 on:** May 23, 2015, 01:19:18 pm »

Hopefully things work out.

Just curious what's the mileage on your engine?

SlowLGT · « **Reply #34 on:** May 26, 2015, 03:46:46 pm »

Thanks everyone for the support. To answer Zac's question, the engine is reaching 172000km. I believe it is stage 2 e-tuned since about 85000~90000km, then around 130000km I started throwing more power at it. It has seen cold winter starts, summer road trips, and track days.

Dropped off the car at AutoRX this morning for a leak down test, the results came back 7% on cylinder 1, and 10% on the rest. All leaking past the piston rings to the crank case. The engine is definitely tired and worn (worn quite evenly?), and it doesn't look like I have a busted ring land. Subaru's recommendation is leak down should be no more than 7~10%. My engine is right on the edge of good and bad. At this point, I'm just kicking myself for thinking passing a compression test is a good indicator of engine health. I feel that I wasted Sunny's time and a trip to Calgary.

I am looking into 2 options now:
1. Drop in a brand new OEM short block, have the heads decked and checked. Pro: OEM reliability/longevity, SHOULD be able to handle my power level, lower cost. Con: Does not leave much room to upgrade if I ever decide the 6258 does not flow enough air.
2. Have Tom@TWE rebuild my short block with Mahle 4032 forged pistons, new crank, bearings, etc.. Pro: leaves room on the table for 7163 (60 lb/min). Con: costs a little more than option 1, and possibly longer down time.

Seeing the core members on the forum have been selling their Subaru's, the thought of selling mine has crossed my mind many times this past week. Fortunately, I have decided to overhaul the engine and keep the car for a few more years. I am leaning towards option 2 now, I would love to hear the thoughts from you guys though.

Sean

RedBimmer93 · « **Reply #35 on:** June 01, 2015, 06:09:16 pm »

If option 2 is not that much more expensive than option 1 i would say that that route. If youre going to do it, do it right!

I would love to see how this legacy build continues!

jutes · « **Reply #36 on:** June 01, 2015, 07:05:34 pm »

When I had my STi tuned at Rocket Rally back in the day my compression and leakdown numbers weren't all that great. I think it was 7%-14% leakdown and compression was off 10-15psi on some cylinders. Car was tuned like that at 18psi and ran perfectly fine for 50k and close to 5 years before I sold it. I didn't baby it either with winter, summer and autox driving.

SlowLGT · « **Reply #37 on:** June 01, 2015, 11:08:02 pm »

Thanks for the input guys. If it is decided to replace current short block, I will likely go with option 2. I just installed a new IAG air oil separator, we'll see if this helps with the oil consumption issue. It's not like my engine is on its last leg or a catastrophic failure is around the corner. The compression number and leak down numbers are not the greatest by Subaru's standard, but they aren't that bad, especially for the mileage. I will continue to monitor my engine status and send some data logs to Sunny. Maybe I did have bad gas on the tuning day.

On the IAG AOS: this unit is huge! Build quality is great, with very high quality hoses and hardware. The install was supposed to be pretty easy, but the big AOS and the big TMIC did not like each other. I ended up having to make a little extension plate to move the AOS towards the firewall a couple inches. Of course, that was after I had cut the hoses and tightened the clamps... I'll upload some photos and write a little review for the AOS.

SlowLGT · « **Reply #38 on:** June 15, 2015, 09:51:12 pm »

It's time to move forward. As I've started paying closer attention to engine health, it's really not in the best shape. Before anything catastrophic happens, I've decided to go with option 2. I called up Tom@TWE and put down a deposit today. Tom will rebuild a block with Mahle 4032 pistons, stock rods, new heat treated crankshaft, and King XPG bearings.

And that timing couldn't have been any better (or worse, depends on how you look at it)! On my way home today, I was stuck in the usual Whitemud 5pm traffic jam, the temperature gauge started moving up. I turned HVAC to full blast and pulled off into south gate parking lot. Luckily I managed to shut the car before the needle moved into the red. Coolant level checked out OK, there is no smoke anywhere, and no fluid on the ground. It's like the car knows that I just bought him a new engine.

I was lucky enough that I took the car out to a track junkies event last Tuesday. I was hella slow, but the car was fantastic. The new turbo was definitely responsive, and the DCCD helped coming out of corners. I definitely need more seat time, that'll have to wait till the new engine is installed.

SlowLGT · « **Reply #39 on:** June 22, 2015, 12:48:25 pm »

Started pulling the engine this weekend.

First I organized the garage a little bit. I had to park the car diagonally in my 20x20 garage so that there is space in front of the car for the engine lift.

Really glad the 10mm hex bolts holding the cams came out without giving me too much trouble. I was very concerned reading about people struggles with these little bolts. Here is the method I used. Worked out quite well with two vice grips, a 3 foot breaker bar and a good 10mm hex socket. The first princess auto hex socket I used got shattered by my impact gun.

Here's what the cylinder 1/3 pistons look like. The cylinder walls still have the cross machine marks. I will take off the driver side head tonight and we'll see what cylinder 2/4 looks like.

SlowLGT · « **Reply #40 on:** August 18, 2015, 11:18:51 am »

Yay the engine is back!! So far I have managed to bolt on both heads, valve covers, oil pick up+tray, oil pan, and coolant crossover pipe. Next tasks: pop in the camshaft seals, and torque the cam gears.

Tom did a great job cleaning everything up.

These ARP head studs are quite nice to work with.

Killer B oil pick up and tray

Got this dentist light from my cousin

TGV Delete

Tezzating · « **Reply #41 on:** August 19, 2015, 10:47:35 am »

Your builds looking good ! My old block has cross hatchings in the bores too.. not sure whats up with that.

Claw · « **Reply #42 on:** August 19, 2015, 03:41:05 pm »

Dentist Light = awesome idea.

mojikita · « **Reply #43 on:** August 19, 2015, 09:21:24 pm »

Looks great! That light would be amazing for engine work. Keep us posted on your progress.

SlowLGT · « **Reply #44 on:** August 24, 2015, 10:52:03 am »

Thanks guys. The engine build was going great, until I found some hoses have hardened and cracked. Currently waiting for full engine coolant and vacuum silicone hose kit to arrive.

SlowLGT · « **Reply #45 on:** September 05, 2015, 01:33:19 pm »

It runs! Fired up yesterday. Had a couple minor issues before I decided it was time: 1. Forgot to put clamps on the turbo coolant return line, made a little pool on the ground; 2. Did not tighten fuel line enough, sprayed gasoline all over the engine bay; 3. The coolant temperature probe and purge control valve plugs are identical, and they are only 2 inches apart...

Followed the following procedure:
1. Filled with NAPA 5W30 oil, fired up the engine.
2. Burped coolant, checked for leaks, let engine idle for about 20 minutes till fans kicked in.
3. Dumpled oil. The oil looked so much like clear water. Thought I connected a coolant line into a oil line, panicked and touched the stream pouring out the oil pan. Confirmed it was oil, and it was HOT OIL.
4. Filled with NAPA 5W30 and a bottle of Lucas Oil break in additive. New filter.
5. Went for a 20km light drive.
6. Dumped oil. Got a little smarter and did not touch the hot oil.
7. Filled with Castrol GTX 10W40 and a bottle of lucas oil break in additive. New filter.
8. Drove around lightly to let the car warm up.
9. Drove it like I stole it. 20 pulls from 2k~5.5k RPM, then immediately engine brake. Used different gears to put different loads on the car.
10. Dumpled oil and filled with Castrol GTX10W40 and a bottle of break in additive. Going to drive it normally around town, and give it boost every chance I get.

Oh, before the first fire up, I pulled fuel pump fuse and crank position sensor, cranked the engine a few times to prime it.

The break in map is wastegate pressure only (~9 or 10 PSI). Car feels smooth and strong. Next I will hook up my leak tester and look for vacuum/boost leaks.

The coolant and oil residue burning off the header almost killed me in the garage.

SlowLGT · « **Reply #46 on:** September 06, 2015, 05:56:29 pm »

Tom sent me the old pistons this week. I removed the top two rings of a piston, and this little piece fell out. Not sure which cylinder this piston came out of. The motor had just over 170k km. Compression test was 130/130/130/127 PSI. Leak down test was 7%/10%/10%/10%. Before I took the engine out of the car, it was consuming quite a bit of oil. I'm really glad the engine rebuild was done on my own terms, before anything catastrophic happened.

2015-09-06

Dano · « **Reply #47 on:** September 09, 2015, 08:20:32 am »

Gotta love those ringlands. I had a piston do the same thing in my Prelude, but it showed on compression tests, as 3 cylinders were at 230-235, and that one was 130. Still ran great and was running low 13 sec passes at the track.

SlowLGT · « **Reply #48 on:** September 09, 2015, 10:30:03 am »

OK. I had to postpone the dyno appointment with Sunny (sorry again Sunny) because car has a weird problem: with the equal length headers, it sounds very rumbly. Talked to Leo@First Gear, the problem could be: 1. I set timing wrong; 2. A dead cylinder which could be caused by a bad injector or low compression.

Also, there is a slight vibration at idle, I think I may have a vacuum leak, or it could be caused by a injector. Maybe these injectors don't like sitting on a the shelf for too long.

So I'm looking for some ideas... How do I test injectors? Any local shops can test and clean side feed injectors?

Tezzating · « **Reply #49 on:** September 10, 2015, 08:57:09 am »

Check your AVCS solenoids are connected properly and not leaking oil.. you have an AP? Try checking the AVCS angles to see if they change.
I had a cam angle sensor die on me causing rough idle and being doughy off the line. Finally the car went into limp mode.. might be your issue too.
I'd also check the wiring harnesses for the coils. If you can identify which cylinders mis-firing move the coil and see if the mis-fire moves.

You can always check for leaks the old fashioned way.. idle the engine and spray Carb Cleaner around all the gasket edges, vacuum hoses, etc. if the idle suddenly picks up or changes, you found your leak.