'99 Legacy GT sedan, WRX swap

[Alphius]

Hmm, bit of an update here.

I spun a rod bearing in my '91 shortblock. When I took it apart, it appeared to have been bad from the very beginning. Sometimes that's how things work out when you build cars from junk. Haha. I swapped in a really clean looking '93 EJ22 shortblock with only 160k on it. Looked to have been well maintained and it was in the junkyard because of a bad clutch. On top of that, I have a 13 month no questions asked warranty, so if it does blow up I can get a new one for free.

When I put the motor back together I put in a set of 565cc cleaned and flowtested injectors, TGV deletes, GrimmSpeed turbo heatshield and a Deatschwerks DW200 fuel pump. No more potential fuel problems hopefully!

I also kind of bought another car on impulse... I bought Brydon from RS25's old Forester with a pretty insane build! http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthr ... ?t=2726346


This car is ridiculous. It's somewhere around 500whp with a built EJ257 WRX hybrid, GT4088R turbo, AEM standalone ECU and full STI 6-speed/R180/Brembos.


The reason I bought it, right here. I'll be parting it out and hopefully making enough to end up with a cheap or free 6-speed for my Legacy. I know my 227k mile original 5-speed could fail at any time, if not from power it'll just fail from sheer mileage at some point. I couldn't pass up this opportunity to own a crazy car and also get a cheap 6-speed out of the deal. It's kind of a shame to part this build out though.

[kimokalihi]

Damn. I'm peanut butter and jealous of that forester and 6mt swap. Some day...

[Alphius]

You'll have to come check it out before I tear it apart in a few weeks.

[originalcyn]

It's going to the forester farm where there's miles and miles of roads for it to play on.

[cj91legss]

:\

[Alphius]

Hello beautiful.

[mike-tracy]

I drove this car tonite, it was superior to a stock ej205 WRX in every measurable way. At least till the clutch master or slave decided to give up the ghost.

Very fun and unassuming since its so quiet.

[Alphius]

Haha, yeah, something in my clutch hydraulic system let go last night while Mike was driving. I'm not going to spend the money to replace it when the 6mt swap with all new hydraulics is coming soon. It is parked and I'm driving the LS1 Camaro until I put the 6mt in.

[Alphius]

My dirty car is getting an upgrade today...

[cj91legss]

6 Speed Time!!

[Alphius]

After a couple unforeseen issues... Done!

[Legacy777]

Nice!

[mike-tracy]

This running yet?

[Alphius]

Been driving it every day since August 9th to work and back.

Front LSD and DCCD is pretty cool when driven in anger. Easy to save it from the normal Subaru understeer now... Just mat the throttle and the front tucks back in and holds the line! Amazing. Very counterintuitive to do in a Subaru, but it works. I'm sure my Bridgestone Potenzas are helping out a bit as well.

35:65 split with DCCD set to open is fun too, when you mat it the rear starts to come around nice and slow.

Haven't played around on loose surfaces yet, this is all just on pavement. I can't wait to try it in the snow this winter.

[Alphius]

Yet another new shortblock is in! I had some issues with the thin headgaskets I was running. The pistons contacted the heads and destroyed the rings/bores/pistons in two engines. By the third engine, I wised up. I'm running 1.3mm thick Cometic headgaskets now, so hopefully this engine lasts longer than 3k miles! I do have a 13-month warranty on the shortblock from Pick-N-Pull so the swaps have cost me nothing but time and gaskets.

Some damage shots from the latest EJ22:

Combustion chamber imprint on piston top. Pistons were spotless less than 3k miles ago when I assembled this engine. Tons of blowby and oil consumption along with a terrible rattle on cold start.


Close-up of some contact damage, the heads were in much better shape.


I hate these stupid hex cam bolts, but I have a foolproof way to remove them when (not if) they strip out! I even have the proper tools (Company 23 cam tool and high quality 10mm 1/2"-drive hex bit) to remove them nicely and they still strip out. If I have to tear this down again I'm buying the TiC F-U Cam Bolt kit which replaces them with normal hex head bolts. EJ25D bolts sadly do not work.


Weld a 32mm axle nut on and it zips right out. Gotta be quick with the impact wrench after you weld, otherwise the heat cracks the composite cam gear.

[cj91legss]

I read a few threads about those bolts. Man, people have had some serious issues with them. Antiseize on the flat surface of the bolt head seems to help remove them without stripping.

[Alphius]

Oh yeah, they suck majorly. I can see how anti-seize might help on the underside of the head, but I also don't want them to work loose. The real problem is that the tiny 10mm internal hex can't take the torque required to break the friction bond between the bolt head and cam gear. I'd rather switch to a 17mm bolt than use antiseize. At least I have the welder and the knowledge to zip them off in a couple minutes of work, some people I've seen online fight them for days. They only cost me like $1.60 each or something like that from the dealer.

[Alphius]

And then I swapped the winters on. No more Prodrives for a few months.

[cj91legss]

Probably a good idea. Either way she still looks great. Thanks for the emails man. Compression ratios!

[Legacy777]

That looks very nice and a good sleeper too

[86BRATMAN]

Oh yeah, they suck majorly. I can see how anti-seize might help on the underside of the head, but I also don't want them to work loose. The real problem is that the tiny 10mm internal hex can't take the torque required to break the friction bond between the bolt head and cam gear. I'd rather switch to a 17mm bolt than use antiseize. At least I have the welder and the knowledge to zip them off in a couple minutes of work, some people I've seen online fight them for days. They only cost me like $1.60 each or something like that from the dealer.

http://turninconcepts.com/tic-fu-cam-bo ... -avcs.html

Little on the pricey side for bolts, but it's better than the fight with those hex bolts. I'll be buying them for the replacement engine going into my 05 whenever I get around to finishing it.

[ride_child]

yea he said if he has to tear it down again that hes buying that kit!

[Legacy777]

I love TiC's product names

[aquiniano]

Hey Alphius! Nice Legacy! I aspire to do the same Hybrid engine build with mine, out of pure curiosity how did you get your ebay stub antenna to work with your power antenna??

[kimokalihi]

Looks great with those gold speedlines. Also good with the newer legacy wheels. The car lends itself well to all kinds of wheels it seems.