Maciek's 2.36L Turbo Build (and boom goes #4 rod bearing!)

[macipusy]

Maciek’s 1991 2.35L Turbo Legacy (updated 7.14.10)


Hi, I’m Maciek and have decided to document a 2.35L stroked turbo motor build.

The goal of this build is create a reliable and conservatively tuned daily driver Turbo Legacy capable of 400ftlb/350hp while remaining loyal to the ej22t platform. The manner, in which I chose to achieve this goal, is through a 2.35L DOHC turbo motor.

The car I own is a 1991 Legacy Sport Sedan in pearl white. I have owned this car since 2007 and it is my daily driver. Here are some pictures of the car.







It is running the stock long block with 240K miles. The car makes 270ftlbs and 240hp at the wheels. With the high mileage motor, restrictive 22t heads, and maxed out TMIC; I have decided to build a proper motor for the Legacy.

Following is a list of modifications I have already made:

Engine:
VF39 turbo
06 WRX TMIC
550cc STi fuel injectors
Walbro 255 fuel pump
92 Legacy NA fuel rails
Invidia bellmouth 3” DP
Borla Hush 3” CBE
Coffee mug intake mod
JC Sports cone filter
TurboXS BPV
NKG Iridium spark plugs
Diamond coilpack
8.5mm Magnecor spark plug wires
Lightweight pulley set
Exedy lightweight flywheel
Exedy Stage 1 Race clutch
Group N tranny mount
Group N pitch stop
WRX shift linkage
Hallman MBC
Manual FCD
PP6
Innovate LC1 wideband O2
IC sprayer nooozles
WRX Coolant Reservoir

Suspension:
KYB AGX
GC coilover kit
18-22mm Whiteline RSB
22mm Whiteline FSB
Perrin F/R endlinks
STi trailing links
02 WRX rear lateral links
SimplySubie fender braces
STi front strut tower brace
OBX rear strut tower brace
ALK- 99 Outback bracket with Poly bushings
17” JDM BG5 wheels
215/45 Yokohama S-Drive

Exterior:
02 WRX hood scoop
94 GT sideskirts
RS Liberty rear skirt
30% tint
96 GT projector driving lights
Blinking corner lights

Interior:
Nardi steering wheel
98 GT shift knob
STi shift boot and trim
98 Outback leather heated seats
GC8 A-pillar triple gauge pod
Autometer ES Series Boost gauge
Autometer ES Series Oil Pressure gauge
Innovate AFR gauge
WRX aluminum pedals


The motor build and ECU, wiring and installation, should take me 18-24 months. The motor swap should take place in Summer-Fall 2011. The current motor needs to last that long without any problems….last thing I need is a spun bearing 6 months out from a whole new motor.


I set up 8 sections where I will be adding and updating information throughout the build. When I post updates, I will note on each section the last date of edit.

I have decided to break the build into the following categories:

SECTION 1 – Short Block
SECTION 2 – Heads
SECTION 3 – Intake Manifold
SECTION 4 – ECU and Wiring
SECTION 5 – Transmission
SECTION 6 – Suspension / Brakes
SECTION 7 – Body
SECTION 8 – Miscellaneous


I will comment on the progress of the build throughout the thread, but the bulk of the information will be compiled into the following 8 sections and kept at the fornt of the thread for easy access.

[macipusy]

SECTION 1 (updated 9.22.10)
Short Block
1.1 Crankshaft
1.2 Rods
1.3 Pistons

I purchased a 91 ej22t with 160k miles from the local yard. I cleaned and disassembled it.

Here are a souple of pics of the ej22t block halves:

ej22t block case
closed deck design

1.1 Crankshaft

After some research, I have decided to retrofit a phase2 ej25 crankshaft into the ej22t block halves. This would require either to machine the block to accept a position 5 (rear) thrust bearing, or grind the crank to accept position 3 (center) thrust bearing. I decided to go with the modification of crank as the route.


Pic of stock phase2 ej25, 79mm stroke crankshaft:


Notice the thrust surface is cast in the number 3 position as well as number 5. The crank will be ground to all .010 oversize bearings

Bearing Selection – ACL Race Bearings

Crank Selection - The phase2 crankshafts are all cast with a thrust surface in the center and rear. When I was selecting a crank, I chose the one with the tightest fit in the thrust location. I used a stock bearing as a measure and made sure I got a tight fit. This will give a machine shop extra material to grind away when fitting the oversize bearings.

Machining of Crank – The phase 2 79mm stroke crank has been machined by Area Auto Machine Shop in Denver, CO.

A full grind was performed for .010" over crank and rod bearings....$95
The position 3 thrust surface was ground and prepped to properly accept the thrust bearing....$25
Balancing....$50

The thrust surface turned out great...the bearing fits with no play at all. I will measure all the tolerances to make sure.

Pics of the machined crank are coming soon.

1.2 Rods

Forged components seem like the only right option when building a motor from scratch. The selection of the phase2 vs phase1 was partially influenced by the availability of rods, 52mm rod journals vs 48mm rod journals. I decided to go phase2 because you can use any ej20, ej22 and ej25 forged rods.

Rod Selection - Just ordered a set of forged H-beam Eagle rods for ej20/25. I will post pictures when they arrive.

1.3 Pistons

The pistons will have to be custom, in order to achieve my target Compression Ratio [8.5:1]. I have decided to go with CP STi style pistons with a smaller bore.

CR Calculation – I am going to be using the stock 22T head gaskets for this build. I have done some research and it seems these are stong enough to handle the power I am looking for.

I did a cc test on the ej20H heads that I will be using and it turns out the chambers are 49cc. I did this test by placing the head with the chamber facing up on a level surface. I then poured in water through a syringe which had the volume increments in mL on the side until the chamber was full. I did this a couple of times to doublecheck my numbers.

I finally ordered the pistons. Here are the specs I used in my order:

Custom CP Forged Piston Build Specs

Block Type: H-4 – Subaru EJ22T
Bore: 97.5mm/3.838”
Stroke: 79mm/3.110” (Stock STi Phase2 2.5L crank)
Rod: 130.5mm/5.137” (Forged H-Beam Eagle Rods)
Head Gasket Thickness: 1.6-1.7mm/.063-.065” (stock ej22t HG)
Head Gasket Bore: 98mm/3.858” (stock ej22t HG)
Piston Type: STi style piston
Piston Dish Volume: 17cc-18cc
Cam Lift: 7.55mm(EX) 7.7mm(IN) (Stock ej20h Cam)
Combustion Chamber Volume: 48-49cc
Target CR: 8.5:1
Piston Deck Clearance: 0
Wrist Pin: 23mm/.9055” (Stock Subaru Size)
Block Planed: .003”-.004”
Heads Planed: .003”
HP Goal: 350-400 whp

It will take about 4-5 weeks for the pistons to be manufactured and shipped. CP keeps all of the spec info on file in case I blow one of the pistos up in the future and need a replacement.

[macipusy]

SECTION 2 (updated 7.14.10)
Heads

I purchased a set 96 ej20h twin turbo heads from a friend. These were fully rebuilt and ran only for 10 minutes.

Pic of uncleaned ej20h heads:

ej20h heads

The heads have been rebuilt again after a full port and polish of both the exhaust and intake ports by Subyswamper. Pictures of the PnP are coming soon.

The combustion chambers on the ej20h heads are 49cc.

I will be using the stock 22T head gaskets on this build. I still need to measure the thickness of these for my final CR calcs and post the results.

[macipusy]

SECTION 3 (updated 7.14.10)
Intake Manifold
3.1 Intake Manifold / Throttle Body
3.2 Fuel Rails
3.3 Intake
3.4 Vaccum Lines

3.1 Intake Manifold / Throttle Body

I purchased a complete ej20h intake manifold from Kimo. I stripped it and cleaned it. Pic coming soon.

I will be using an inverted ej22t throttle body like Slodrive and Kimo, since the ej22t TB (60.25mm) is larger in diameter then the ej20h TB (54.25mm). I have already cut off the coolant lines which run through the TB since I will not be using these. Pic coming soon.

Slodrive has helped me in starting a rough cut for the aluminum TB spacer. Pic coming soon.

Slodrive also has fabbed a nice plate with a nipple which will bolt over the stock ej20h IAC location. I will be attempting to use a WRX boost solenoid as my IAC which will hook up to this location. Pic coming soon.

I need to do this because the Haltech Sprint 500 will not run a stepper motor IAC.


3.2 Fuel Rails

Since I will be running 960cc STi side feed injectors, the fuel rails will need to be reworked in order to accept these. Pic of Deatschwerks 960cc injectors and flow sheet coming soon.

I will be using the Phase 1 2.5L n/afuel rails. Since I want to run an under the manifold intake, there will be interferance between the fuel lines and the silicone intake. This was apparent in Kimo's recent attempt at a similar solution.

I have devised a plan for a hybrid fuel rail system that will allow me to use the 2.5L n/a rails and still run the under the manifold intake.

I will use just the injector sections of the 2.5L n/a fuel rail. Pic coming soon.

I will bolt these fuel rail sections to the ej20h fuel hard line sections. This will allow for the intake clearance. Pic coming soon.

By using the 2.5L n/a fuel rail, it is not possible to use the fuel supply line from the ej20h without modification. I chose to just hack a supply line from a ej22t fuel rail system and bolt that to the supply line on the LH fuel rail. Pic coming soon.

[macipusy]

SECTION 4 (updated 1.06.10)
ECU and Wiring
4.1 ECU
4.2 Wiring Harness
4.3 Tuning

4.1 ECU

ECU Selection – I just ordered the Haltech Sprint 500 ECU. It should be here next week. I am starting to form an attack plan for the wiring harness. I will build it to run my current setup and then modify it for the 2.35L motor.

I think the only differences will be Coil on Plug conversion and using the STi crossover pipe with the newer style water temp sensor.

4.2 Wiring

I am considering taking the EFI 101 class being offered in the area in April 2010. We would learn all the sensors one by one and how they work. This knowledge should help me get started on building a custom wiring harness for the ECU I will choose to use.

[macipusy]

Section 5 - coming soon

[macipusy]

Section 6 - coming soon

[macipusy]

SECTION 7 (updated 7.14.10)
Body

I have recently purchased a rear bumper skirt from a guy in Australia. He was a member on the RS Liberty site and was kind enough to ship it to the US. I painted it to match the pearl white color of my car using spray cans which I purchased from paintscratch.com. Paintscratch mixes the paint by color code. The color is close but not exact, since my paint is 20 years old.

Pic of painted rear skirt as well as 94GT sideskirts and front lip I painted earlier this year.

[macipusy]

Section 8 - coming soon

[macipusy]

The Haltech Sprint 500 ECU is ordered and on the way.
The crankshaft is at the machine shop getting cut to fit.

[macipusy]

Got the crank back from the machine shop today and updated Section 1....pics of crank to come next week.

[crashnburn]

i love this build. i am watching.

[macipusy]

I am going to have a big update coming very soon...I have been dealing with keeping the 250K mile motor running while I try to keep on with the new build. Lately there have been problems one after another keeping me from taking pictures and documenting progress.

Things I will update in the begining/mid April:
Photos of machined crank, Eagle rods and PnP'd and rebuilt ej20h heads
Documentation of my Haltech 500 ECU installation plan...I will be installing this mid April on my current setup.
Then I will start to clean and tap the Air Temp Sensor into the ej20h intake manifold I am waiting on, as well as compare and select fuel rails.

Also, I have decided on the pistons....CP custom forged STi style piston with a smaller bore size. All calcultaions are done, just waiting on the funds to place the order.

[macipusy]

Sorry it has been so long since the last update. After reading Kimos updates, I felt like a jerk and got motivated to start updating my build.

I have added a bunch of pics and some progress on the intake manifold and body mods.

Pics documenting the fuel rail system and intake manifols progress will be coming soon.

[kimokalihi]

I just noticed that shot with the flash glare. Looks sick! Nice work. I need to get a nice camera some day.

[macipusy]

A few things on the horizon....

1. Pics of the turbo I purchased for this project.
2. New exhaust getting installed next week...just the DP back.
3. New brake system.
4. Documentation of the STi shift boot installation.
5. Ordering the pistons in the next week or so.
6. Haltech Sprint 500 installation plan and the install (Octoberish 2010)

[macipusy]

Some of the pics were taken by my buddy who is a photographer. He has nice equipment. I finally dragged him out and took some shots of the car....too bad it was a month before the rear skirt got delivered.

[CAV3MAN227]

-Looking good! Need to meet up again sometime!
-Joe

[Florin1]

Beautiful car brother. Keep it up. Very nice job on how organized the thread is.

[kimokalihi]

I agree, very nice layout. Mine is all over the place. Never thought to do it like this.

[macipusy]

Just ordered the pistons. CP STi style smaller bore custom forged pistons. I posted all the specs in the shortblock section above. Should arrive in 4-5 weeks.


I will be installing the wire loom for the Haltech Sprint 500 this weekend. I will also be drilling and tapping the intake manifold for the IAT sensor and wiring up the 4 Bar MAP sensor. I will do the writeup of the wiring progress next week.


I might get around to snapping some pics of the turbo and new exhaust later today.

[macipusy]

I finally installed the Haltech Sprint 500 ECU on Wednesday night. Slodrive was there to help and it was a lot of fun. I will be posting a full writeup on the install in the next few weeks.

I tuned it on the dyno myself with some help from Harvey to get a little more power out of it. Just with the new ECU being able to advance the timing for E85, it put down 250 awhp and 300ish ft/lb tq, this is with a 15% correction factor. It had more in it, but at 240K miles I opted for a little less power with a less chance of breaking something. I'll have all the power I will need with the new motor, so I'm cool with the numbers for now.
I will post up the dyno sheet when I get a chance to scan it.

[CAV3MAN227]

-Sweet bro it sounds great!

-Joe

[mazda ej22t]

is the engine all finished now? could you pm me some more details on part numbers and get in contact with me thanks

[macipusy]

Motor is not finished yet. I have all the parts and ready to bore and hone the block to the custom pistons. I am waiting on one of my friends to take kick ass photos of all the components before I take them to the machine shop.

I have also been traveling back and forth to work a few states away....so my build has slowed down.
The target date is sometime this summer.