Topic: Delphi's 2011 6 Speed Swapped WRX - Car is finished - 415WHP!

[Delphiwrx]

A bunch is a copypasta from another forum that I posted this on but it died. Here is my mods list as far.

Engine/Drivetrain:
- Catless FMS Downpipe (don't buy it, I got it for 100 dollars and it fit like fat man in an airplane seat) Grimmspeed Downpipe now
- CNT Catback (fitment was great actually, I was quite surprised)
- AEM Cold Air Intake
- FMS Top Mount Intercooler
- DW65c fuel pump
- Grimmspeed 3 Port EBCS
- Custom AOS Grimmspeed Style
- Custom Lightweight Crank Pulley
- Cobb Double Adjustable Short Shifter
- Cobb shifter bushings front and rear
- Cobb Accessport V3, Torqued Performance Custom Tune


Interior:
- SMY Cluster
- AEM UEGO Wideband
- AEM Boost Gauge

Suspension:
- Whiteline 22mm rear swaybar

And this is what I hope to have planed.

Engine (built by me not a shop):  - So much of this Has Changed

New OEM EJ255/257 Block - Reusing my current block
New OEM EJ255/257 Crank - Reusing my current Crank
Manley A/B Pistons - Getting Manley 99.75mm Pistons
Manley H "Tuff" rods
King Bearings
ARP Head Studs
B25 Ported/Polished Heads by me - Going to bowl blend my D25 Heads
Tomei Cams (not sure on which ones yet)
GSC Intake and exhaust valves
Oem Head gaskets Up in the air with this, may use Felpro MLS as I have heard good things
KillerB Oil Pickup and Oil Baffle
Tomei Unequal Length Headers and Up-pipe Looking for Equal Lengths
Injector Dynamics 1000cc Injectors
TGV deletes
Racer-X Front Mount Intercooler Eventuall front mount still may use my Top Mount
Blouch Dominator 3.0 XT-R, 10cm Hotside, not sure on inlet yet turbo - I have an Steamspeed STX67, may talk with Steamspeed about going to a STX71

Driveline:

STI 6 speed transmission swap! - I got this already
Exedy or ACT Clutch
Lightweight Flywheel - Stock STI Flywheel



Well I bought the car in June 2011. And it has been nothing but good to me.  Now I really never thought of doing a build thread but since I am starting new here I decided to throw all my pictures together as best as I can. I am missing a couple pictures of mods here and there but for the most part it is all here.


So the day I picked her up from the dealer ship and brought her home this is how she sat.



So the first thing of business was to fix the altezza tail lights. Just not for me. So I masked off the lights and painted them myself. (Yes I know these have an exhaust on the car, but this is when I had redone them. Just keeping chronological)


Then came winter with some mud flaps and steel wheels to go with it.


Okay so even after gutting the factory muffler the car was still much to quite for me. So I bought this guy. Had great fitment and I love the sound it has. Not stupid loud but loud enough to know when the car wants to go



I went out and bought cobb accessport and got a custom stage 1 e-tune from Torqued Performance. That guy is amazing. I took it to castrol and ran a 13.6 @ 101.8 mph. 60' was only a 2.0s which is pretty bad..  Anyways I was browsing WSC and this guy was looking to trade for his Rota DPT's 17x9 for 17x8 wheels. I jumped all over that.
So first is what stock looked like.


Now for the new




So the power bug hit me again. Managed to pick up a cheap bellmouth catless downpipe. The change in power from stage 1 to stage 2 is crazy up top.

So between then and up until recently things were quite. I added an AEM intake which really helped with the power up top. Torqued Performance did all the adjustments for it. A couple weeks ago I managed to split the crappy stock intercooler apart. So I was in the market for a new one. Couldn't choose between front mount or stay top mount. Until this went on sale for $450.






The shifter and bushing went in pretty easily. Everyone said the rear one would be difficult. I found it much easier than the front one which was supposed to be easy.
Before (not my picture, just for reference)

After

It made a world of difference. Shifts feel crisp and precise. I cant get over how good it feels.

Now the sway bar was easy to get off until I snapped the Allen Key in the end link. Made for fun getting it off.  But here is stock compared to the whiteline. Stock is 16mm, whiteline is 22mm adjustable.


I then went and got another creative bug. I made my own lightweight crank pulley. Weighed in at 1.1lbs compared to the stock 6lbs! Fit like a glove. It made a little bit of a difference. Revs rise and fall quicker when just reving it.

[Delphiwrx]

Not my build related, it is one I just did for my friend, but all the internals will be the same as what I am going to be doing. Not many people post pics/build their own engines so in my opinion it is nice to see.

Clearances for those who want to know.

Mains -  0.0013 - 0.0015
Rods -  0.0018 - 0.0020
PTW - They were B grade drop in Manleys, they came out to be 0.0028 - 0.0030
Ring gap top - 0.019
Rig gap bottom - 0.022

[Delphiwrx]

Okay Bump from the dead, build from the dead update!

So this is what the car looked like when I parked it in the garage in Novemeber. Was burning oil, compression was surprisingly even at 125 psi on all 4 cylinders but I knew something was wrong as the amount of oil I was burning was getting quite bad. I figured I had just worn the engine out and It has 107k km on it and had a downpipe on it since 10k km. I did it in really good when I pulled it apart.



I quickly dove into it, these cars are pretty quick work for me as I have pulled these motors over a dozen times on various subarus and all the engine bays with the EJ platform are basically the same with locations for mounts and what not. Only took me 2 hrs just putsing along listening to music and texting.




Oh and I really needed a new clutch seeing as this was stock and I had an upgraded turbo...

Also uckfay... Never had that happen and this is the newest Subaru I have worked on...


So I kind of got to into it and forgot to take a bunch of pictures but I found my problem. One thing this is with almost zero cleaning of the piston. I literally washed the oil off with some dawn dish soap. This is what good maintenance looks like!


So I was going to build the engine anyways but still sucked.  There was no detonation marks on the piston tops, spark plugs, valves on head quench area. I am going to chalk this failure up to to tight of ring gap for the power I was pushing. Seeing as the top ring can be as tight as 0.008 factory that would do it even with a good tune.

But moving on from that I did a big thing... Also I don't own a truck but it fit in my trunk of my Impreza!  It is an STI 6 speed with 10k kms on it from a 2013 STI. It is a direct swap for my car and will go in with no issue. I just need the clutch, flywheel, and a DCCD Controller for the center differential.





So I got the rest of the motor cracked apart. Crank was mint, the main bearings actually look brand new. The rod bearings wear is not to horrid, seen worse on N/A Engine see better on other turbo motors. The compression side of the bearing is wearing through the protective coating while the other side looks brand new as well. I will suspect that I was straight up power wearing the bearings from too tight of factory clearance. But this right here shows that putting a good oil that fits to how you drive (oil weight wise) will go a long way. I beat the itshay out of this car the day I took it off the lot with 7km on it. I did a hard break in and it treated me very well with cross country treks all the way through the desert of Arizona, Nevada, and Central Valley California.

Main Bearing


Rod Bearing



Here's a few more pictures of parts I already have that will be going back onto the car.

Turbo - It has a 20G sized exhaust housing 8cm with a compressor wheel similar to a Garrett GTX2867. I took it apart to coat the hotside.





ID1000 Injectors and a new downpipe because the Chinesium one I had cracked



Got the drive train swap complete. Literally just need my custom ordered shift knob and shift boot. I also got a sub panel put in my garage as well! So starting with that.




After that was done I could use my new air compressor I got for Christmas. Having an air impact really made short work of stuff. I pulled the exhaust out in no time and then was able to get at the drive shaft. After that it was tackling the transmission.










Looks like its ready to go in. Had my friend help me put in the trans because it would have been a nightmare by myself. Look at that size difference!





New seal time.

Worst part... And bad pictures.



Finishing touches, clutch cylinder, oil and the rest of the shifter stuff inside.

[Roadwarrior]

Wow, those are some big chunks missing.

[Delphiwrx]

So now I am about to pull the trigger on some pistons and headstuds from Touge Tuning. Just waiting on Paypal invoice. Still waiting for my JPM Coach works shift boot and Anarchy Motive Shift knob that I got custom done for this as well.

[kijho]

The progress you've made thus far looks pretty complex, very impressive!

[Delphiwrx]

The progress you've made thus far looks pretty complex, very impressive!

Thanks,

Honestly the hardest part for me was bench pressing the friggen r180 rear diff into the car. I would even call it a bench press. Just very awkward all together.

[Roadwarrior]

I'm very jealous of the 6 speed swap, I think once mine is all tuned and broken in, that the 6spd swap will be the next thing I start saving for.

[jakesubie]

Good read nice work. And 6 speed ftw

[Delphiwrx]

So a few things for people who were wondering what is needed for this swap for 11-14 wrx's.

08-14 STI transmission with fork, cylinder, shift linkage
08-14 R180 OR R160 with 3.54 Final Drive
08-14 STI Drive shaft, If using R160 08-14 Automatic Impreza driveshaft
STI starter
STI Flywheel and Clutch
08-14 STI rear axles if using R180

You should probably get a MapDCCD or a DCCDPro. You can run open but if you spin all the power will either go to the front or back.

The front axles from the 5 speed will be reused. You cannot use the STI ones as they will fit but the splined are too long and will stick to far out on the hub. I found this out during the swap. For the rear the axles fit in the hubs and are a perfect length. So woot you get the beefier sti axles in the rear where the torque is most biased too.

If you have a 08-10 WRX most of this will work but you will have to get Legacy Spec B axles for the rear because they're narrow body and the rear suspension is pushed out further on the 11-14 WRX's.

So a good cost alternative is get an R160 with a 3.54 Gear ratio and an AT 08+ Impreza drive shaft and put that in your Narrow Body WRX and you can use your stock axles.



Also for those that bought shifter bushings for a 5 sp I have some pictures of what I did for front bushings if you don't want to buy new ones. The rear stay bushing is the same for both 6 SP and 5 SP.

So now it is time to see if I could make my 5 speed transmission short shifter bushings to work with the 6 speed front linkage. I pushed out the factory bushing. The pin beside the bushing is one I was going to use.



I found some sort of pin I had laying around from other vehicles and it fit the 6 speed bolt perfectly so it was looking good for me to make this work.

Next step I needed to turn down the 5 speed bushings evenly so that I could press them into the 6 speed linkage. I came up with this haggard idea and pressed it against my bench grinder so it would spin evenly and leave a decent round bushing.



Next steps were drill and cut. This pin was from so sort of hardened steel. Not safe for a hack saw. Used my dremel and a cutoff wheel to shorten it.


Like a glove. Cost saving because new bushings are 45 USD!

[Delphiwrx]

Small update but with some expensive parts. Still need a bunch more but the Canadian Peso isn't helping.
Manley Pistons


ARP Headstuds

A Pitch Stop Mount made in Canada. Supporting local business where I can.




So that leaves me needing the following still.

Flywheel
Head Gasket Kit
Timing Belt Kit
Rods
Main Bearings
Clutch
Equal Length Header
DCCD Controller
And a Oil Pickup

Thanks to Touge Tuning also for helping me out with the Pistons and studs as well A+ from them.

As for the Clutch has anyone here used Bully Clutches? They're made in Ontario so I wouldn't mind going with them.

[funk32]

wow, nice work on the build so far. What do you plan on using for a dccd controller?

[Delphiwrx]

wow, nice work on the build so far. What do you plan on using for a dccd controller?

Thanks! Your build is a bit of an inspiration to me even though I am not going in the same direction as you. Not many people personally undertake Subarus in Canada to the extent you or I are going. I am planning on getting a MapDCCD after reading reviews and talking with Chris at Touge.

One small update, I got my shift boot from JPM Coachworks. This stuff is extremely high quality, I can see why people love Alcantara and their products. The wife loves when I do car stuff on the counter tops... I actually had her help me put it on though because the fabric was so tight to get on.

[Barrett]

Really nice looking build.

[funk32]

Thanks! Your build is a bit of an inspiration to me even though I am not going in the same direction as you. Not many people personally undertake Subarus in Canada to the extent you or I are going. I am planning on getting a MapDCCD after reading reviews and talking with Chris at Touge.

Thanks, ya builds tend to stay pretty low key up here. But that isn't a bad thing, there are plenty of days where I wish I was back to stage 2 lol.

MapDccd controller is a great bang for buck, easy to install and works great, I have one of the old V1's but I hear the new ones are not too much different just added some extra's.

[Delphiwrx]

Thanks, ya builds tend to stay pretty low key up here. But that isn't a bad thing, there are plenty of days where I wish I was back to stage 2 lol.

MapDccd controller is a great bang for buck, easy to install and works great, I have one of the old V1's but I hear the new ones are not too much different just added some extra's.

Oh I agree, Stage 2 was pretty fun in my car, Quicker than a lot of things, felt great, highway fuel economy was better than stock but then I remember how awesome it was to not have the power start dropping off after 5500 with the larger turbo. Now that I have my 2.5rs as my daily its balls to the wall with this car.

I hope I can get the DCCD controller done before I get it on the road. If not it would ruin anything because it will be break in period anyways.  I looked at the DCCDPro and heard it is inferior and just as costly as the Map unit.

I got quote on a couple of clutches from Bully and after talking with them and my plans to drag race this a bunch I am looking at getting their stage 4 clutch.

[Delphiwrx]

Well finally have an update worth sharing. I have been slowly plugging away on this. Made pretty good progress though. Still have to refresh the heads with some GSC valves I have.

I got the short block assembled though.

I got the Block bored at The Block Shop here in Edmonton. They have torque plates which is awesome.  Piston to wall clearance specified by me was 2.7 thou to 3.0 thou.

So being that it is a used block STD bearing can sometimes not be enough. My engine had 100k km (60k miles) so I had to so a lot of mix and matching. My crank was used but all the mains were literally bang on 60mm (2.3625" -2.3624) and same goes for the rods being bang on 52mm (2.0472-2.0471)


Main 1 used 2 std bearings - 0.0010"

Main 2 used 1 std & 1 0.026 bearing - 0.0014

Main 3 used 2 0.026 bearings - 0.0014

Main 4 used 2 0.026 bearings - 0.0014

Main 5 (thrust) 2 std bearings - 0.0009

I set my ring end gaps to 0.020 for the top ring and 0.023 for the 2nd ring.






Had to set it aside while I waited to borrow my dads small vice that I like using to hold files while I set ring gaps.







So a couple things. Firstly I finally got my custom ordered Anarchy Motive shift knob. This is well worth the wait as it is literally perfect. It is probably one of my favorite things about the build as odd as it seems. I got the H pattern etched in so it wont wear off from use. Also you can kind of see the JPM Coachworks shift boot in there as well.


For the next bit I am curious if any of you have ran into this problem. When i was installing my Killer B Oil Pickup the one side didn't feel like it was getting snug. I thought I was stretching the bolt actually so I took it out to see the threads condition. They were fine so I inspected the oil pickup to see this.  The head of the hex bolt was interfering with the weld and crushing it.  I took a small diamond file to clean it up. I know it is minor but I feel like the Hardware should be changed to some Socket Head Cap screws for the smaller head size. The Tigwerks pick up uses them and I can see why. I know it is minor but I would like to bring it to attention so other people can see it if they run into issues.



So basically all I have left is the need of a Clutch, Flywheel, and Turbo Inlet. Then I am done and ready to throw it back into the car. Well need fluids and other odds and ends but that is a quick trip to the store.

[Delphiwrx]

Finally!

Got my rings last night. Piston number 2 had a cracked 2nd ring right on the Napier cut to scrape oil I made a hell of a lot of progress last night! Found out good news too. Spark Plugs and turbo inlet will be in next week before Easter long weekend! Car will be running next weekend fingers crossed!

[Delphiwrx]

Got the car running this weekend and have 400km on it already! I did the first heat cycle and drained the oil right after. Replaced it and currently plan on changing it to Castrol GTX 10w-40 at around 500-600km

Running very well! I've stepped on it a couple times and it is making a lot more power than when it had 2 cracked pistons haha

For reference at factory idle when hot oil pressure is 18-20 psi with 15w-40 oil. This is with my clearances listed and with a 10mm oil pump.

It has piston slap when cold but I figured it would. Most do when cold. Quietens down when the engine is hot like most do as well. Don't think it is burning oil at all which is awesome Lastly the 6 speed is awesome! 2nd gear feels a little clunky notchy when cold but once all the fluid is warm it is super smooth.

[kijho]

Got the car running this weekend and have 400km on it already! I did the first heat cycle and drained the oil right after. Replaced it and currently plan on changing it to Castrol GTX 10w-40 at around 500-600km

Lastly the 6 speed is awesome! 2nd gear feels a little clunky notchy when cold but once all the fluid is warm it is super smooth.

Really great to hear man, good job!!!  Most have a little bit of "notchyness", after a few drives you just become used to the shift feel and then it's good I'd say!! 

[jakesubie]

Got the car running this weekend and have 400km on it already!

Glad to see it all together hope too see it around the park .

[Delphiwrx]

Thanks guys.

I plan on doing an oil change on it tonight.

Have 500km on it now so time for oil change #3.  I was running Motomaster 15w-40 oil in it. Basically the bottom of the barrel.

Now I am going to use some non synthetic Valvoline VR1 20w-50 Racing oil in it for 2000 ish km before I give Castrol Edge 5w-50 Oil a try and see how that fairs in abuse and if it starts to shear down.

[VTAKLOL]

You going to be having your oil analyzed then?

Awesome to hear she's on the road though dude, you'll have to swing by coffee sometime with it! :p

[Delphiwrx]

You going to be having your oil analyzed then?

Awesome to hear she's on the road though dude, you'll have to swing by coffee sometime with it! :p

I may get the 5w-50 Castrol analyzed when I run it. The other oils I won't be though. I know the VR1 is a pretty top notch oil for the buck though. This motomaster stuff is questionable. From what I've read is that it is Rotella T 15w-40 that didn't meet the cut. So viscosity could be on the lower end of a 40w oil, it has far less additives I know that.  The MSDS sheet says it should be between a 15-16 CST @100°C but was tested at a 11 CST (Rotella T6 is on average a 13-14).

I took apart the first oil filter, was the usual amount of metal I see in new engines, if anything it was a bit less because all the other engines I've done were cleaned by hand and not a jet washer prior to assembly.

I will for sure have to come out to coffee some time soon. Maybe this weekend. After the oil change I plan on driving the car a bit harder. Wasn't a light break in by any means and its seen full 21lbs already on a 4th - 5th pull but still took it pretty easy. I am just happy that it doesn't appear to be burning any oil 

[Delphiwrx]

Oil is changed. Began driving the car hard too. I have to say flat foot shift + 6 speed + decently heavy clutch (Exedy Stage 1 HD pressure plate) is like heaven on earth. I used FFS on my 5 speed but it usually felt like crap and I was constantly worried about ripping the gears to pieces.

With the Valvoline VR1 20w-50 it bumped my hot idle oil pressure up from around 18 psi to 25-27 psi. Much more comfortable with that and it is pointing me in the direction for Castrol Edge 5w-50 for when I run synthetic.