kimokalihi's 91 SS EJ20 Swap

[kimokalihi]

Another productive day! Started out with replacing the STI lip that got ripped off in the snow.







Then I unbolted the bottom of the up pipe and to my surprise I found out there wasn't even a gasket there! Nice. Fixed that.








I decided I didn't like the BPV plate that I made rubbing up against the IAC vavle elbow so I grabbed some scrap aluminum plate and fabbed up an intercooler bracket. I like it a lot. No more play in the intercooler. That thing is solid.

First rough cut.



Final product and new gap between intercooler and IAC.

[PhyrraM]

Nice job on the bracket. Looks factory.

[kimokalihi]

Thanks. Belt sander, hack saw, drill, hammer, punch, file. I feel like I could design some pretty cool stuff if I had the tools. That would be an awesome job. Designing and building custom auto parts.

[beatersubi]

Does it run any better now?

[kimokalihi]

Seems to be the same but it ran good before.

[Grayguy]

Mmm, brackets. Looks nice. Fore some reason i really like a good looking bracket haha

[kimokalihi]

Thanks. Brackets are a great mix of form and function.

[Legacy777]

Bracket looks good!

Also, regarding your PCV hoses, check this post out. I'd recommend getting some emissions hose from rock auto. It's relatively cheap, and then you don't have to worry about it degrading.

http://bbs.legacycentral.org/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=47500&

[vrg3]

Wow, you got a bend that clean and neat just by hammering the piece of scrap aluminum against a corner? Nice work!

[kimokalihi]

Thanks guys. I put the aluminum in my vice before cutting it and I made sure it was in the vice right where I want the bend and then just beat it with my 3 lb hammer. Then I took it out and set it on the edge of the back of the vice and beat it to flatten it out nicely. Then I made several measurements and cuts and test fits and sanded it with a stationary sander and hand file.

I could have done a better job and I might sand it better later. There's still sand marks from the sander and I took off a little too much around the manifold bolt hole. I made that bpv plate too which looks a lot cleaner but I had more time to work with it and it was obviously less complex.

[SILINC3R]

Kimo if you get the time I would try and paint cause it wont stay shiny for long. Looks really good though.

[kimokalihi]

I'm pretty sure it will. The BPV plate looks just as it did when I made it 2 years ago. I also made the throttle body spacer, the plates that hold the bolts for the scoop, the battery tie down bracket, the coolant tank bracket. All of it is still in great shape. It's aluminum. Lasts forever.

[evolutionmovement]

Aluminum definitely corrodes. It turns white and powders away. It might take a while, but it will start where the bolts contact it. For galvanic corrosion prevention, it would be best to coat the cathode side (the more noble metal, which is the steel bolt in this case). Zinc spray (zinc being the least noble of the three metals, becomes the anode, dissolving in the process) in the apparently low corrosion environment of your area would probably have it last indefinitely. However, the corrosion of the aluminum due to environmental conditions will be served with a coating on the aluminum. It's also possible the aluminum you have has been clear anodized, in which case, the corrosion would be wherever the metal was worked to where the coating was removed. But, judging by what you say, any significant corrosion of the alloy will likely take longer than you will have the car for.

[Alphius]

Great bracket! I need to do something similar, my intercooler sometimes rattles against my hood and I have to loosen the clamps and re-adjust it.

[Legacy777]

Aluminum does oxidize in air. It creates a dull coating that protects the underlying metal. Corrosion from salt and galvanic corrosion has a more likelly chance of causing issues.

Overally you should be fine in the area you live.

[kimokalihi]

I'm aware that it does corrode because when my car sat for 2 years it got nasty white dust all over the engine so I rubbed it all off and put a blanket over it every time I was done working on it and it never happened again. I believe the corrosion is much worse with stagnant moist air than it is when I drive it regularly because there's zero corrosion on it since.

[kimokalihi]

Got out of my car today at the junkyard and a couple guys were checking out my car and one said to the other,"Yup, that's a subaru legacy." Then he says to me,"I had a legacy wagon once and it did 190 and still had power!" I just replied with,"What??" He then said,"Probably the same engine too." I doubt it, haha! He most likely had the more powerful EJ22E. He either was reading KPH or he was high as a kite. Probably both. 190 kph = 118 mph so that sounds accurate. You'd think you would know the difference between a buck twenty and 190 but he was probably too scared to think at that breakneck speed.

Some people's kids.

Found another 91 LS sedan in pretty decent shape. Inside of the trunk looked brand new. The tail lights were in awesome shape too. Bought my second multiswitch with intermittent adjustable wiper. Hopefully it works this time. I'll install it tomorrow probably.

[kimokalihi]

SLi battery tie down.

[Grayguy]

If one was concerned about the aluminum, one could just clear coat it....

[kimokalihi]

I'll do that if I ever notice any corrosion.

[kimokalihi]

Last night I noticed my exhaust didn't sound right when I got out of the car to close the gate to my driveway. Sounded like an exhaust leak but coming out of the muffler which was strange. When I got up closer I could hear that it was only coming from one of the tips so I shined a flash light in side the muffler and found this.




Apparently my cheap $40 hi-flow cat from summit racing gave up on life and shit it's insides out, easily traveling through my 3" exhaust and even through my muffler only to get hung up in one of the tips which is probably only 2" inside the muffler at most; 2.5" at the exit.

I guess I have to remove my whole exhaust from the downpipe back and try to shake it out the mid pipe since it's all one piece after the downpipe.

Lesson learned. Don't buy cheap cats in an attempt to be green or pass emissions and certainly never run a pre-turbo cat of any kind.

[kimokalihi]

As you can see from the picture its raising the temp of the right tip causing it to melt my bumper and that does not smell nice.

[cj91legss]

no bueno

[kimokalihi]

Yeah pray to god I don't go up in flames.

[kimokalihi]

Not gonna go up in flames now! I removed the chunk of catalyst. So glad that's not in there anymore. It was BAD. Must have been a massive restriction on my exhaust, it's not wonder it got pushed out of the cat. The one side of it is completely clogged with rock hard sediment! Between this and my up pipe missing gasket leak I must have really been robbed of power on that dyno run a few months ago.

I'll post pics when I get some time. As usual my ceramic coated down pipe was only luke warm to the touch and the mid pipe directly after it was HOT. I'm completely blown away at how effective that coating is. IF you get it done at the right place that actually uses quality ceramic coating and now just some shitty rattle can job like I swear grimmspeed does.