Ej22 Rebuild

[Treemty]

Hello!
As you can tell I'm new here, but I've been wandering around the forum for a while. I inherited my dads '93 legacy L FWD Auto, I know it sucks I have no awd and it's auto, but I still love this car, so I'm fully aware of its money pitness. Anyways, I just pulled the engine, and have completely torn it apart. Next week I'm going to be taking measurements and cleaning all the internals of the block. In the meantime I figured I should see what type of power I can manage out of my N/A EJ22. I looked into stroker kits but they're a little out of my price range..

My current options for this car are rallycross or super sleeper both really depend on how much I want to spend on looks vs performance in the long run. Since this baby needs quite some tlc to look presentable again!!


I'm hoping to get my hands on an old 5mt and rebuild it along with converted the rear end for awd!
I am thinking of eventually Doing the eg33 swap but I figured might as well see what can be done with these bad little four bangers.
Can the ej22 even compare with the eg33??

Any tips or tricks for my rebuild? My teacher is giving me some ej22t gaskets, he said they work better and last longer, anybody have any knowledge on that?

Any help is much appreciated and thanks in advance!

Tl;dr:
What can I do with an ej22?

[Legacy777]

Welcome to the BBS.

Cams are probably your best bet for more power out of the non-turbo motors. Check out www.deltacam.com

[Treemty]

Welcome to the BBS.

Cams are probably your best bet for more power out of the non-turbo motors. Check out http://www.deltacam.com

what type of power increase do you think i could see with cams and a tune?
Ive heard these open deck blocks dont handle too much boost, but how much is too much? Is a turbo even worth it?

[mike-tracy]

The only way you'll make a big increase in power will be a turbo. The open deck isn't the issue, as most of Subaru's 2.0l turbos were open deck. If you want to lower the compression to a boost friendly 8.x CR, you can just put used turbo pistons in there.

What do you mean by tune? Are you talking about buying a standalone computer?

I think you should establish a budget and goal for power before you start throwing parts and money at the car.

[Treemty]

Since I started this thread my daily lancer had a cooling failure and my gorlfriend crashed her car. So finances have changed as well as mobility! Which means this legs gotta be quite reliable once I finish the build. Funny to think I'm about to trash my 04 lancer I got 6 months ago for a 21 year old car because it's more reliable lol. Why did I ever buy a mitsubishi?

Since I'm all stock N/A I could wish for 300hp range but I'm more interested in keeping a low budget with a solid motor at this point. So I'm thinking around 200hp is a good starting point for this car. I'm going to start stripping out unnecessary parts and probably my ac this week, as well as an acid bath for the block and some components and a nice little paint job after that!

Lucky for me this build has to take 2.5 months since I only work on it once a week in class, I have a little more time to gather parts and moulah. Preferably id like to spend less than $1000 but 2k would be a max budget.

After some research I think eg33 pistons would be more cost effective than ej22t and should fit as well!
As for the heads, I've heard two sides on DOHC swap. But mostly that it's not worth the effort or cash?
Would this money be better spent on turbo parts?

If I go turbo, which I would like to do! Would I need an intercooler? Since tlegs don't have them stock if I'm correct. Unless that's for minimal boost?

What's the best turbo setup for an N/a 22? Should I just grab some used wrx pipage and turbo? Along with tleg headers?

Thanks for the advice guys! Any and all help is much appreciated

[Treemty]

SUCH FILTH!!

[mike-tracy]

Well first decide if you want to go high compression N/A or lower compression turbo. With the N/A and eg33 pistons you'll probably make 180-200 crank horse power at the ragged edge.

With turbo you can make 180-200 (possibly more) crank hp and WAY more torque than NA at low boost (5psi or less on a WRX TDO4 or an ej22t's VF11) on the stock block (with no piston swap) and:
-rising rate fuel pressure regulator (RRFPR for short)
-ej22t 370cc injectors (not strictly necessary if your AFR's are good, but good to have for when you crank up the boost a bit)
-tmic,
-wideband,
-MAF voltage clamp.
-manual boost controller and boost gauge
-02-07 wrx or 91-94 turbo legacy exhaust manifold, up pipe, downpipe, etc. If you get a full exhaust off a WRX, the midpipe needs to be extended several inches. Not a huge deal.

The limiting factor here would be the higher compression caused by the pistons and very primitive "engine management" (the RRFPR). Stock ej22t turbo heads are super cheap, I believe a guy is selling them in pairs for $50 + shipping in the parts shed right now. So you'd have proper cams for the job, plus the heads already have the oil and coolant lines for the turbo - no drilling needed. I'm sure I'm forgetting something, so hopefully others will chime in.

[Treemty]

Thanks for the help everybody so far!

Does the rrfpr replace the fmu?
Could you explain TMIC and wideband, please and thank you!

How much boost can the ej22t piston and heads handle comfortably?

[mike-tracy]

No, the RRFPR works in conjunction with the fmu/stock ecu, in that you still need the stock setup when it's not running under boost.

The tmic= top mount intercooler. The "best fit" intercooler is from a 93-96 wrx. Since those are old and relatively rare, most people use the top mount from an 06-07 wrx, with a silicone y-pipe kit for an 02-05 wrx that's been modified (check out the intercooling section stickies to see what needs to be done) to fit.

The stock turbo legacy only runs 8.9 psi on the VF11 (a smallish turbo), making 160 crank HP. The tune is rich enough and the engine unstressed enough that it doesn't strictly "need" an intercooler. Anything over that and you're just feeding the engine hot air.

The wideband I'm referring to means a wideband 02 sensor, and the matching gauge, so you can see what your instant air-fuel ratio is. The RRFPR can be adjusted to provide X psi of fuel at a given boost pressure level. You'll need to read up on what a safe air/fuel mixture is under boost, so you don't blow the engine immediately, lol. Plan to run super rich, since you have no fine tuning ability.

Last but not least, the stock ej22t pistons and heads can run comfortably at 18psi on a td05 (a midsize turbo), when *properly* tuned for. You won't be seeing this with RRFPR tuning lol.

But there is a way... You can convert your car electrically into a turbo legacy, running the turbo pistons and heads, and run a "robtune" which is good for 250+ WHEEL HP. I won't go into detail here about what is required to convert, because these methods are well documented on the site.

At the top of the threads in each section is a "sticky" which you've probably noticed. Inside each are good threads on how to do what I've mentioned (minus the RRFPR, that you just need to use the google search at the very top of the page for).

Happy searching

[Treemty]

Thanks again for all the help! Due to financial problems some of the build is on hold, but I've got a question on my gaskets!!

My teacher wants me to use ej22t head gaskets and I was wondering if I can just get a full ej22t set or if I have to get ej22 set and hg seperate?
Thanks in advance!

[Legacy777]

The ej22 headgaskets are not prone to fail to my knowledge. If you want the ej22t headgaskets you'll need to get them separately from the standard ej22 rebuild gaskets.

[86BRATMAN]

The ej22t and ej22e have completely different coolant passages in the heads, use of the wrong gaskets will lead to overheating and blown gaskets, and on to worse if it's not fixed promptly.

[mike-tracy]

The ej22t and ej22e have completely different coolant passages in the heads, use of the wrong gaskets will lead to overheating and blown gaskets, and on to worse if it's not fixed promptly.

That's what some people say. I have thousands of miles on mine without issue. Yes, boosted.

I made a gif a few years back showing the difference between ej22 and ej22t head gaskets:



Now I didn't do this, but an old timer mechanic told me to lay the new hg over the block and use a ball peen hammer to tap open up the holes that don't allign perfectly.

[86BRATMAN]

Personally I wouldn't chance it, I've seen a non-boosted dohc ej22 pop head gasket because my friend was dead set that he was going to build one and turbo it. He heard me say head gasket to match the bore and stopped listening. Used ej22e gaskets on his motor and within 1k miles it lost a head gasket.

[Treemty]

Wassup y'all!
Ordered everything before I read the posts but it's back together with a full ej22t gasket, re ring and bearing set!!
Tomorrow I'm dropping her back into the leggy and crossing my fingers lol.
All of the ej22t parts were just tighter margins for anybody else interested. Everything was still within spec of the N/A.
Rebuilt my starter as well in hopes for a perfect start tomorrow!
Here are some pics from yesterday, minus some vacuum and fuel hoses, cam gears and of course timing belt, but that's all on meow, just didn't take pics haha.





And my buddy who was rebuilding his suburban 350 motor with all water proof parts for his boat, although the colors look the same on my phone, his is bright orange and black, mine is more of a safety red.

[Treemty]

Got it running on the first try
No leaks, however my CEL is on. Does anybody have any reccomendations for checking the codes? Snap-on scanner was useless when I tried..
Gotta buy new rotors and pads and looks like I have a power steering leak. I'm deleting the A/C( the compressor is locked up already, haven't had ac in 3 years lol)
So now I just need a full exhaust and turbo >.< but I'm waiting until I get a job in the shop for that.

Had a friend help me tear this bad boy apart, but I did almost all the rebuilding and dropped it in alone, so I'd say so far I had a successful first rebuild/engine pull! It most certainly ran better than it ever has after this, I also rebuilt the starter, so now it's my reliable car again!! After I break her in I think this leggy will be my new DD!

[Legacy777]

Regarding the codes, you can pull them yourself via the instructions on my site.

www.surrealmirage.com/subaru/engine.html

[Treemty]

Gonna check the codes this weekend finally lol. Didn't have this car for a while due to some police towings and my own apartment building towing it -.-

But it's back in my paws with historic plates and wrx exhaust!
Seems like they did a shotty job on my exhaust though, sounds like I've got a leak in the same place as before with the added whistle coming from my muffler when it's idling in park. Got new spark if wires and she's running a little better, but it's just so rough idling. Motor is shaking in the bay at idle. Which means the whole car is. New motor mount time?

Other than that shifting from 1-2, 2-3 is intense. Feels like a race car banging gears but it's automatic

Anyways she looks pretty and 100miles on the rebuild lol

[Legacy777]

Yeah, check the codes first and let us know....something may come up that will point you to a culprit for the engine shaking.

[Treemty]

Car died on my way to work, at a car shop(facepalm), motor had been misfiring then, after seeing smoke come out of my exhaust, and rough starting the past few days. We thought it might have been bad spark plug and after pulling the plug discovered the cylinder was filled with gasoline! Did a compression test and it hydro locked. Cranked it with the plug out let all the gas escape. Bought a new fuel injector, realized the old was stuck open. Engine ran but still smoking.

Drained the oil, was about 25% gasoline lol. Flushed a little extra out of there after draining.
Filled er up and she ran great feels a lot better with my extra cylinder.

Still haven't had enough time to check the engine light. But she's running pretty good and chugging less fuel so I'm happy regardless.
And it only cost me $50 free tow from AAA

[Legacy777]

Glad to hear you figured out what the problem with the poor running was.

[Treemty]

So after that whole ordeal my battery kept dying, so I let the subi sit for a little, until I got its own battery( I had been using 1 battery back and forth between two cars lol) Turns out it was just a lightbulb shorting out killing my battery.

BACK ON THE STREET!

Update:

Thought I needed new brakes, then after inspection, I realized I just needed a flush, but my master cylinder is pretty much gone and this car is so rusted out underneath, after many bleeds and a flush, my pedal is still shit.

Checked the CEL, Knock Sensor!
-Somehow my knock sensor was unplugged after the rebuild...
Plugged it back in, and yay my car has no CEL and runs a bit better.

Looks like I'm burning fuel or oil upon startup(ONLY), smoke from tailpipe. Car still has a little trouble starting up without giving it some gas, and the knock sensor code CEL comes up again if its too cold, or if the RPMS drop below 750kish

Also getting a 35: Canister Purge Solenoid Valve - Solenoid Valve Inoperative.
Not sure if this has anything to do with my current troubles or not. But seeing as its getting colder I dont want to drive it too much unless I get this figured out!

Another Note:
After rebuild, this car has way more torque than before, layed dow n some rubber several times.
BUT I need a new axle, Rack and Pinion and of course that over priced exhaust i had installed is leaking -_-

If anybody has any suggestions, any help is much appreciated!

[Legacy777]

You may want to run an active diagnostic with the green connectors.

The canister purge solenoids wear out over time and can cause intermittent codes. If you can find a used one that is still good, it'll save you some money.

[Treemty]

Hey thanks for the input and advice! Unfortunately I haven't been able to spend as much time as I would like to on this car lately.

I drove it to work today and hit a hard corner when my engine sputters and cuts out... So I throw it in neutral and try to start it but it just keeps cranking... Ended up having to push it two blocks into a public garage until I could get it towed in to work later on.

*Note: I was going 40mph ~4krpm, motor was proper temp.

It cranks fine, has fuel, sparks but won't start.
I determined from a noide test that my injectors aren't firing, which my co-worker suggested might be an ecu problem but I don't even know where to start looking so I will consult the lead tech tomorrow.

If anybody has any pointers it would be much appreciated!!

[Legacy777]

I would verify that you have 12v at the injectors and that the wiring back to the ECU is good. Have you confirmed spark with the noid light?

You may also want to check the timing belt to make sure the engine is still properly timed.