Just bought a 1991 Legacy Sport Turbo!

[AEROSUB]

Hey all, I am a newbie to the subie and have spent most of my time working on my toyta 4runner. Now i have a new project and would like your input and recommendations...

for a grand total of $200 I purchased a 1991 legacy sport turbo with "overheating and head gasket problems" so here I go...

The story on the car is that it started to over heat oten, and the guy drove it and kept putting in more coolant until one day, "it got really bad and the mechanic told me it needed a head gasket". since then it has been sitting in the garage for about 2 years.



I picked it up and was able to start it with a jump and drive it onto the trailer, i could smell the sweet, sweet smell of coolant in the exhaust, and also noticed a loud and obvious tapping sound.

Best case scenario... overheated, blew a head gasket and maybe tweaked a valve adjuster causing the tapping.

Worst case scenario... overheated alot, blew head gasket, maybe short block needs to be rebuilt as well, tapping could be from piston damage and heads might be cracked!

Below are some pics of my teardown so far, Enjoy!

[kimokalihi]

For $200 the whole engine could be toast and it would still be a steal!

I'm jealous of your $200 car.

[asc_up]

What a steal!

I bought my Legacy for more than 10x's that much and the engine blew on me 3 days later lol.

[AEROSUB]

Thanks, that was pretty much my sentiment as well.

I am almost about to get the heads off but today i quit when one of the exhaust manifold bolts seized just as the nut was about on the end of the bolt, and one of the timing cover bolts is stripped on the lower left side so i couldnt get it out.

more pics later...

[kimokalihi]

Same thing happened with the EJ22T I just took apart. Stupid timing bolt was rusted so bad it just rounded off when I put the socket on it. I couldn't get a vice grip on it because the timing cover was in the way.

I ended up just taking the belt off and removing the head with the cover still on it and the belt still around that cam. Then on the other head there were a couple exhaust bolts on the heatshield that rounded off so I ended up removing that head with the header still bolted on.

[ericem]

With my timing covers I found the plastic holding the nut part would crack. I just ripped them out just need to turn them till you find a spot where it comes out easy.

[kimokalihi]

Yeah but you don't want to break those covers. They're very expensive new at the dealer and hard to find good ones. Especially DOHC ones. Which he doesn't have....but I do and I take care not to break them lol.

I think the EJ22T and N/A are the same so those should be quite common but most, if not all the engines I've seen at the junkyard are missing everything off the front of the engine including the covers.

[91legacyawdturbo]

Not to bad of a buy, pull the motor rebuild and it will be a sweet car. Might as well build the block while your at it. Got to love the cheap SS around(300 for mine) If its an manual watch out the clutch fork pin you'll have to remove it to pull the motor out.

[AEROSUB]

Update!

Got the heads off... can anybody take a look at these and see if you see anything that would indicate a leak?

And what is the yellow gunk flowing out of the coolant passages Leak-stop in a bottle

[sublunacy]

Im not an expert but, the headgaskets rarely go bad or blow on your EJ22T. Do u know u got a sweet car there, the colour made me sick to my stomach, but the car is the 91 SS! ++++Oil cooler and Viscous LSD rear differential. BTW watch what gear oil u put in ur car, the wrong oil will wreck all 3 of your LSD's.

OH yea is it a manual?or auto?

Very nice! get an
intercooler mounted( 100+-),
WRX or EVO Turbo($100+-)
Chip upgrade( $250??)
STI struts Springs and Hats($100 +)
3" downpipe and exhuast
Injectors and rails for alot more power
maybe STI wheels and Tires, .......

Get ur heads ported!!!! ur SOHC heads are good because they won't destroy ur engine if there is a timing belt problem.
Your pistons are very good and it has a forged crank, its the rods that are a little soft. if you have a bit of cash get new rods and a timing belt tensioner. Also ive heard that u are supposed to replace the oil cooler baffles, because they hold/clog up with dirt/debris and dump it into ur fresh engine rebuild.

my 2 cents,

[kimokalihi]

STI struts Springs and Hats($100 +)

I think STI suspension is more like $250+