I'm very late in fully introducing this member of my Subaru family, and I haven't been very present in the forums for quite a while. Pretty much since my daughter was born.
I had my eye's on this one ever since it made it's way to Saskatoon in 2010 or 2011, as it was a friend who had bought it and modified it originally.
So the back story here is that in the summer of 2014 I had bought a wrecked (mostly suspension) 2004 Forester XT and used some of the parts off of my 04 WRX Sport Wagon (STi swapped) to replace many of the damaged parts. I absolutely loved this car, but the same issue came up in that my wife was never going to drive it being a 5-speed, and she may not even have been capable/confident enough if she needed too. My buddy had mentioned that he was going to be listing the 2007 in summer 2015, so I decided to sell the 2004. There was a bit of waiting involved, but it all worked out in the end. The 2007 didn't sell during the wait. Likely mostly due to it sporting a 4EAT and quite a few modifications.
Unfortunately, I had many issues with the 2007 in the beginning, and after almost 3 years later (this September) from a head gasket failure due to a warped head, the famous fuel filter o-ring shitting out in the middle of a WOT data log, to AOS issues combined with underlying issues stemming from the HG failure taking out the bottom end.
When fixing the initial issues with the HG right after I bought the car, it was found that after a previous bottom end forged rebuild the engine was reassembled with the RH head being out 4 thou at the bottom side of cylinder 3. It just so happens that cylinder 3 suffered a catastrophic failure (OEM SB), due to an overboosting event one winter. The issue of the engine ever being reassembled with a warped head was not the fault of my buddy (the PO), the shop that did the work said the tolerances were in spec, which if I recall correctly is a max of 1 thou clearance across the head surface.
As mentioned the next major issue was a combination of underlying affects of the HG failure on the bottom end (collapsed pistons, and possibly cylinder wall/block stress), combined with running a ittshay AOS in colder temps. One evening after a family supper I was at approx. 2/3 throttle coming down an on ramp to the freeway when all of a sudden the car went boom, boom. After this point I was so pissed off about the situation that the car sat pretty much untouched from April 2016 until June 2017. As upset as I had been I obviously realized that there was a lot of money and potential just sitting there wasting away, and to be honest after all of the headaches I still really loved the car.
So onto June 2017, I finally got back to a point of wanting to show the car some love again and get it to where it should be. To achieve this meant a whole new/proper engine build. I decided to start pulling the engine apart and found that the coolant crossover manifold had a rather large chunk blown out of it. After removing everything down to that point it was found that #4's cylinder wall was CRACKED!
So, along with the help of my buddy (the PO) I removed the engine and took it down to Regina and dropped it off at Odd Man Out Performance. The whole crew there is purely passionate about Subaru as well as anything that enters their shop. I was working out of Regina most of the summer, so I was able to stop in regularly to hang out and check in on my new build. I can't say enough good things about OMO. They're all so laid back and put up with me being around, even after Jessie already had to put up with seeing me daily as I was renting his basement hahaha! Yet more importantly they were very knowledgeable and professional throughout the build process and put up with my severe lack of decisiveness at times.
I'll be adding some pictures, but due to a crack in the cylinder wall, basically what is believed to have happened is that coolant got in and caused a detonation resulting in the crack expanding and letting even more coolant in, then hydro-locking the cylinder. The crazy thing is the K1 forged H-beam conn rod actuallly bent, and there was no visible damage to the JE forged piston. The event also caused a piece of cylinder wall to break free.
Now to some more positive times with this now remedied money pit!
Earlier on in 2017 I had signed up for the first Saskatchewan Royal Rally - Prairie Run. The original plan was to surprise my dad and have him run his 2016 Camaro 2SS. However once he realized that he had to place sponsor stickers all over his car, he said hell no! So, that brought the push to get the Forester back on the blacktop. Even though the event wasn't taking place until September long weekend, I pushed it right up until the night before to be fully ready for further break-in. My time was very limited between my work schedule, family holidays, and finding a couple of other failed parts like the radiator which also received some cylinder pressure like the coolant crossover. I should have realized that probability way back when I found the blown coolant crossover.
The Prairie Run was set to start on the morning of September second and I had finally got the car fully assembled and running Wednesday August 30th. I did the first 10-15 minute run-in up to temperature, and dumped the oil. Then the push was on to get some break-in km on it. I was up till all hours a bit that first night, Thursday night, and into Friday night driving all over the city and surrounding area at various speed/loads on quiet night roads to pack on the first 800km. I then did an oil change at 10:30pm Friday night and went out to put another 100km or so on the build. All was great and I was now ready to roll for the Prairie Run the next morning.
The Prairie Run was actually a great way to break the engine in. I decided to limit the boost to run off waste-gate pressure which was 11psi instead of the full boost of 18psi. Although there was some highway driving there was lots of stop and go with it being a scavenger hunt type of rally and I was sure to vary my speeds and load on the engine A LOT. The new engine is what OMO calls their 18A staged short block. It consists of 2012 STi case halves, a 2012 STi crank, King race bearings, Brian Crower forged H-beam conn rods, and Manley forged pistons. The original build had ACL race bearings, K1 forged H-beam conn rods, and JE pistons (way noisier).
So here we are almost a year after the new rebuild and all is great with the car. I'm truly grateful for the willingness of my buddy Chris (PO) to always lend a hand in the hard times, all while not even being asked to do so. Again, I'm also grateful for everyone over at Odd Man Out Performance in Regina for all that they've done to support this rebuild and my overall Subaru addiction. THANK YOU!
Firstly I'd like to pay some homage to the stepping stone that helped me upgrade to the 2007(too many Subaru's $). I do miss it sometimes, but that's mostly because I seem to have an attachment problem. 
Way, back when I simply used to drool every time that I saw the 07 on the street. 
A look at the original engine failure, before I owned the 07, including a cracked case half thanks to a connecting rod. This was due to the above mentioned overboost condition. Destroyed!
A comparative look!
Back when I first got the 2007 in September 2015.
Surprise! My daughter's very first car ride just so happened to be in a Subaru. When I bought the Forester it had an Invidia N1 exhaust. Every time we had to come to a stop, my daughter would start crying. Then she would go quiet again once rolling and raising the RPM's. This car has been part of some of the best moments in my life thus far.
A couple of capture's from a Wednesday night meet, by the talented Megan Skene Photography!
Panda Theme Strong! With Sask08Sti &
