TurnNBurn's 1990 Subaru Legacy L 2.2 open light rally car

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MConte05
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Re: TurnNBurn's 1990 Subaru Legacy L 2.2 open light rally ca

Post by MConte05 »

Now block off that hood scoop for even better cooling.
TurnNburn
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Re: TurnNBurn's 1990 Subaru Legacy L 2.2 open light rally ca

Post by TurnNburn »

Because its creating more pressure in the engine bay and restricting flow through the radiator? I do have a unmolested NA hood that came with the car, but this one looked cooler (pun intended).
Last edited by TurnNburn on Fri Nov 06, 2015 12:04 am, edited 1 time in total.
1990 NA 2.2 Open Light rally car
MConte05
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Re: TurnNBurn's 1990 Subaru Legacy L 2.2 open light rally ca

Post by MConte05 »

Yep, exactly it. Basically not letting the hood vents you made do its job. That's why when I went FMIC I rotated my scoop so it only vented air. Putting a stock hood back on (with the little scoop blocked off) and proper side hood vents on.
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Re: TurnNBurn's 1990 Subaru Legacy L 2.2 open light rally ca

Post by TurnNburn »

crap... If I had given this any engineering thought then that would have come to mind, but i was more thinking about a functioning hood scoop for the win... back to the drawing board as turning the scoop around wont work for me due to the size of (dare I say it) hole.
1990 NA 2.2 Open Light rally car
MConte05
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Re: TurnNBurn's 1990 Subaru Legacy L 2.2 open light rally ca

Post by MConte05 »

Since you've already got the hood vents, I'd just make a thin sheet metal plate to put between the scoop opening and the hood. Doesn't have to be entirely airtight, just to block the air from pressurizing the bay.

Cooling is one of those things I've NEVER had to worry about with the legacy platform. Still using a stock radiator even with the EJ20G swap and never had a single concern on stage regarding cooling.
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Re: TurnNBurn's 1990 Subaru Legacy L 2.2 open light rally ca

Post by Legacy777 »

I totally agree, Subaru way over designed the cooling system on the first gen Legacy. Even though I did upgrade to the dual row 2.5 radiator that fits the non-turbo lower radiator support I never had any issues with the turbo motor and the non-turbo radiator.
Josh

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1990 Legacy (AWD, 6MT, & EJ22T Swap)
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TurnNburn
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Re: TurnNBurn's 1990 Subaru Legacy L 2.2 open light rally ca

Post by TurnNburn »

Last weekend, Nov 14-15 was a rally cross in a small section of the 400+ acre field that surrounds Oregon Raceway Park out in Grass Valley, OR. My second event ever. It was post season so it didn't count for points and was going to be cold with rain/snowy weather predicted so only 27 drivers showed up. about half of what a normal rally cross in the summer would have gotten. On the way up there my engine rolled over 200k miles! Saturday was the highlight with course setup and practice during the day and running the cars at night once it got properly dark. With massive elevation gains and blind crests the circuit was sooo fun! Where the manifold bolts to the rest of the exhaust backed out and I lost that hardware and the gasket in the field somewhere, I was able to scrounge up some nuts and bolts and put it back together.

The car was running good and I felt like I was driving really well. The official results aren't out yet but I placed 4th out of 27 overall. 2nd in class behind a heavily modded Evo 8. Not bad for a grumpy old legacy.

Day 2 started off bad, and just got worse. When I woke up it was 17*F... and snowing... with wind gusts hitting 35mph. So annoying, but drivable. After my second lap I heard an audible ticking noise from the engine, just sounded like a normal HLA dying as the noise would go away with any amount of gas. So I kept on going. on lap 3 the car loss power and would not accelerate and I saw smoke coming out of the engine bay. I finished as best I could and got back to the pits to figure out what happened. Only to find out when I pulled off my helmet I heard the unmistakable noise of what sounds like gravel in an engine. The car died. I opened the hood and found a big oily mess.


And then cylinder #4 connecting rod was like, piece out (wrong spelling and pun intended)

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1990 NA 2.2 Open Light rally car
Pntaste4evr99
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Re: TurnNBurn's 1990 Subaru Legacy L 2.2 open light rally ca

Post by Pntaste4evr99 »

I guess it didn't like life anymore...that sucks, sorry man.
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MConte05
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Re: TurnNBurn's 1990 Subaru Legacy L 2.2 open light rally ca

Post by MConte05 »

Good news is, an EJ22 engine is super cheap and easy to toss in.
TurnNburn
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Re: TurnNBurn's 1990 Subaru Legacy L 2.2 open light rally ca

Post by TurnNburn »

its unfortunate but not a huge deal. I have a few laying around I could put in there for now. But since its the off season and I have 2.2 totally disassembled and block split apart with new piston rings and bearings for it just laying around im just going to sit down and rebuild a fresh short block. Maybe redo the heads depending on they turn out. Hope my cams survived, probably not though.

I cant seem to find the info anywhere but does anyone happen to know part numbers for the O-rings that go between the block halves? There is a Subaru dealership across the street from where I work, I suppose I should stop being so lazy and go find out.
1990 NA 2.2 Open Light rally car
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Re: TurnNBurn's 1990 Subaru Legacy L 2.2 open light rally ca

Post by Legacy777 »

It's in the parts book you can d/l from me. (Comcast has been having issues so my outgoing internet is EXTREMELY slow, so downloading anything from me may be a pain)
Josh

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1990 Legacy (AWD, 6MT, & EJ22T Swap)
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TurnNburn
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Re: TurnNBurn's 1990 Subaru Legacy L 2.2 open light rally ca

Post by TurnNburn »

I have had a spare 2.2 long block laying around in my garage for 4 years now. Now I finally need it for something more then stealing parts from. I am not doing anything fancy this time with the rebuild. Im just trying to get the rally car back up and running. Split the block and spent the last few days cleaning everything in the parts washer, then scrubbing them with a tooth brush, then back into the hot tank and so on until everything was pretty clean. I had the block halves honed and the machine shop said the crank was in great shape.


Spent a lot of time cleaning the pistons and especially the ring grooves. the old rings were so gunked up that they were stuck in the compressed position. This engine probably had very little compression but I didn't check before hand.

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Cleaned up block haves before plastigauging for the main bearings
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Gauged the rod bearings. I put some red locktite on the rod nuts because of what happened to my 20G swapped legacy. The nut backed off on cylinder 3 and well...

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Everything looks great! I wish a couple of my main bearing clearance's were a smidge tighter but im ok with it

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That's all I got done today. I forgot the O-rings for the block halves at home. I just went to the dealer and had them look them up, I will post up the numbers once I look at them again. Tomorrow will be put the halves togother and pistons back in. Will post more as it goes
1990 NA 2.2 Open Light rally car
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Re: TurnNBurn's 1990 Subaru Legacy L 2.2 open light rally ca

Post by jamal »

I keep a lot of common numbers in a spreadsheet here, mostly for newer stuff but a lot is the same:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... sp=sharing

That seal is 10991AA001, and is the same as the one that goes between the oil pump and block (so you need 4).

opposedforces is pretty good for looking up numbers and also you might still be able to get the subaru fast software off sl-i.
TurnNburn
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Re: TurnNBurn's 1990 Subaru Legacy L 2.2 open light rally ca

Post by TurnNburn »

got the short block situated. unfortunately my spare heads are single exhaust port... I wouldn't mind switching because apparently they flow better from threads that I have read, but I don't have the manifolds that go with them. hopefully the old heads didn't get banged up when the piston let go. Thanks for the info Jamal


Here are the O-rings I used
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1990 NA 2.2 Open Light rally car
TurnNburn
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Re: TurnNBurn's 1990 Subaru Legacy L 2.2 open light rally ca

Post by TurnNburn »

so when going through the heads to see how/what got damaged, I found that EVERY single HLA in both heads are stuck in the compressed position...

I pulled one out and cleaned it with brake clean and took compressed air to it and the little piston popped back to its normal position. it was a little sticky but after compressing it with my fingers a few times it free up and moved freely.

im assuming this is from all of that shitty oil going through them and plugging up the orifice right before it blew up because it didn't make that much noise right up until detonation. But who knows.

My spare heads that came off of my donor engine use the adjustable roller type rockers (and the heads are single port) so I cant use them.

just a quick glance says I can get all 16 for around $100 or so.

Are mine just sticky and cleaning them up should be ok because they are just full of crud, or am I going to have to bite the bullet and buy a set?
1990 NA 2.2 Open Light rally car
TurnNburn
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Re: TurnNBurn's 1990 Subaru Legacy L 2.2 open light rally ca

Post by TurnNburn »

I may have answered my own question by trying to bleed one of the HLA's, well it didn't work. so looks like im shopping around for some...
1990 NA 2.2 Open Light rally car
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Re: TurnNBurn's 1990 Subaru Legacy L 2.2 open light rally ca

Post by jamal »

Can you put the roller setup in the dual port heads or do you not have all that stuff?

I guess I don't know if that will actually work either.
TurnNburn
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Re: TurnNBurn's 1990 Subaru Legacy L 2.2 open light rally ca

Post by TurnNburn »

I could if I swapped over the whole cam assembly, but my Delta cam will not work with the manual adjusters.

And I wouldn't mind swapping over the single port heads because I have read a few threads that they have a 2cm smaller combustion chamber, so a tiny bump in compression (which I probably wouldn't notice) and apparently flow 5% more air then the dual port (which I would like to think I would notice, but maybe not). But I don't have the exhaust manifold, and even if I did, my manifold has been modified to point where a stock one would not bolt on anymore.

Found some on Ebay for $48.95 shipped. And no that was not the cheapest option. But this seller is located state side so shipping wont be weeks out due to being shipped from china on a sail boat. Because im to cheap for overnight parts from japan.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Fit-90-99-Sephi ... Ft&vxp=mtr
1990 NA 2.2 Open Light rally car
TurnNburn
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Re: TurnNBurn's 1990 Subaru Legacy L 2.2 open light rally ca

Post by TurnNburn »

Better views of the damage...

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cracked the crossover pipe
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New vs. old (stuck compressed) HLA's. The new ones came pre bled:)
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Finally back together, going back in the car today! cant wait to drive it again... With all of the snow around here it is going to be really hard to break in the engine nicely, but I will.
Image
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Re: TurnNBurn's 1990 Subaru Legacy L 2.2 open light rally ca

Post by jamal »

Did the rod bolt or rod break, or did the bearing spin and seize?

And what do you mean? driving in the snow means you can easily vary rpm and keep the load on the engine light to moderate!
TurnNburn
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Re: TurnNBurn's 1990 Subaru Legacy L 2.2 open light rally ca

Post by TurnNburn »

cylinder 4 seized up and broke the rod. The bearing is literally melted to the end cap.
1990 NA 2.2 Open Light rally car
TurnNburn
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Re: TurnNBurn's 1990 Subaru Legacy L 2.2 open light rally ca

Post by TurnNburn »

Due to somethings that have come to light in my life, this car is now for sale in the car lot
1990 NA 2.2 Open Light rally car
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