Its Alive

[evolutionmovement]

Car started up like the last week and a half never happened, but what a racket! The lifters are loud as hell. They've quieted a little, but are constantly clacking. I'm trying to get this damn thing full of coolant now, which is taking a while. Thing is, it doesn't seem any different than the last engine, just louder due to the lifters. So nearly 1/4 million miles must've taken a tole on the old engine's compression (I hadn't tested it in a while) or there's not much lost power between the (I think) different cam profiles and compression ratios. I have yet to accelerate onto the highway, though.

Any trick on quieting the lifters other than Sea Foam as this engine's clean as hell? I hope they break in a little, but I've got to get the coolant to stabilize before I can tell.

Oh yeah, and the exhaust manifold on #3 had oil in it and the driver's side was very white (hm, bad HG, too?). In a way I can't wait to rip down the old engine, but in another way I never want to see it again!

Steve

[vrg3]

Wow. That's awesome! It's running! Congratulations. I'm impressed.

Did you bleed the lifters? Cuz they're probably full of air, no?

When the lifters start working right you'll probably get a little more power too.

[evolutionmovement]

No I never got a chance to bleed them, but you're supposed to do it just before the instal, right? Since the whole engine would be oil less (although I did manually turn the crank a few times to get some oil through) I imagine they might bleed out. I sure as hell hope they clear up.

Not bad money-wise as the whole thing cost me only about $20 beyond what I was doing for the turbo build anyway. Still, the only way I'd ever so this again with any car is to have a lift and an extra set of hands (and a second car as back up to chase down all the little BS things that crop up.

I think my brother-in-law for loaning me his OBS for a few days.

Steve

[vrg3]

I don't think you need the engine to be full of oil to bleed the air out of the lifters. I mean, when the engine's shut off, there isn't much oil in the heads anyway, right?

Yeah, I can't believe you did the entire project by yourself. I can't even contemplate swapping an engine without at least one additional person to help.

[evolutionmovement]

It no longer idles slightly high either (about 650-750 instead of 1000 rpm) not that I minded since I could just let off the clutch without gas to take off. It has a SLIGHT amount of power loss off the line which may be the idle not the engine. I'm really surprised and now the lifters have quieted down!

Here's my problem - I can't hold a grudge (with people either) and I just caught myself rubbing off grease fingerprints and swearing at myself for a small scratch I must have put on the front fender. And I just booked it for the bad CV joint (dammed if I'm doing that at this point).

Dammit, so maybe I should see about getting a second car for backup instead of getting rid of this. I guess the main thing is I can't bear to send it to the JY, but who'd buy it with a dead engine? I still feel bad about my old GL wagon I junked. At the time I said that I would've spent any amount of money (if I had any) to not have junked it. I was even considering storing it until I could get to it, but that wasn't an option either. It sounds stupid, but it's one of my few regrets.

Steve

[entirelyturbo]

The best way to prime the oil is to pull the coil and just crank the engine for about 15-20 seconds. That's what I did with my XT after I resealed/rebuilt the oil pump. Even still, it tapped for about 5 minutes after starting it...

Still good to hear that you have reliable transportation. What job did you get anyway? Was it Pep Boys like you planned?

[THAWA]

well that's very cool. I think the lifters and stuff just get like that when they aren't used for a while. I know mine were loud as hell when they hadn't been used in 19 days. Glad to hear your car is workin again!

[evolutionmovement]

Yeah, the lifters were VERY loud, but are fine now. I actually doubted the car would even start without a fight, but it kicked over immediately. Sometimes I impress myself. I'd like to thank Dewalt for making the impact gun that made this so much easier.

Just came back from driving up 128 (highway) and down 127 (coastline road) with Never Let Me Down Again by Depeche Mode on repeat (yeah, I'm very dramatic) and found that in a drag race the N/A wins hands down, but in gear acceleration seems just as good as the N/A. The power's actually not bad at all so I'm much happier.

Yeah, I got the Pep Boys job. I start next Monday. I figure two years there for my experience and then take the written exams for ASE certs and move on to a dealer. Did I mention that there's a cute girl mechanic there? I'll have to see what's up with her, but if not there was this hottie working at the liquor stote who was scamming on me. I'll have to go back there. Must have been the positive energy I felt after getting that car running.

Thanks to everyone in the support group for following this project.

Steve

[vrg3]

Awesome, Steve. All of it.

[entirelyturbo]

See Steve? Patience and determination will overcome just about anything. Now that you got a job and can make some money, you can finish installing the turbo and everything, and then you'll be so happy you didn't junk her

Oh and btw, you can do that axle for $55 in about an hour, www.cvaxles.com

[evolutionmovement]

I know I can get them there, but I don't want to deal with it right now.

So I misdiagnosed the old engine. Turns out to be a destroyed exhaust valve, not the piston. The cylinders (at least on the pass side) still have all crosshatching! F'n Mobil 1 oil! Anyway, I'll try to post pics of the head. Cylinder 1 looks nasty, too with white caked exh and heavily carboned int and piston.

Piston 3 looks perfect (maybe all that oil kept it clean). I've never seen an exhaust valve cause that kind of oil problem - the spark plug looked dropped in an oil pan. Anyway, I guess I had to do this at some point and replacing the valve (at least the exhaust) would've been a PITA and I would've been taking a chance it wasn't still the piston (or maybe it was both ie, Shroedinger's cat) or that the cylinders were scored and then I'd be out a few hours of extra work. The only thing is I didn't get to replace the motor mounts or use ARP head studs, but I do need to pull the motor again to replace the X-member if I turbo or just jack the engine a little to change them ... whatever.

Head gasket is stretched and you can see that the cylinders walked though the fire rings themselves are round (or at least they match the cylinders).

Took me about five minutes to rip the engine down with the impact wrench. I love that thing!

I feel much better now knowing it was a valve, too and not a piston. Also explains why the damn metal bits I pulled out weren't magnetic. Doh! Whatareyougonnado?

Steve

[THAWA]

but why a valve, what caused it?

[legacy92ej22t]

Mad props Steve! That's so cool that you did an engine swap by yourself. Good to hear the lifter problem is resolved too. What more do you need to finish the conversion to FI?

That's cool, well not cool but you know what I mean, that the problem on the N/A is in the valvetrain and not a piston. Are you going to fix it?

Congrats on the job too! That's sweet, it must feel good to not be in employment limbo any more.

So how's it look that you'll make it to the Subaru Feed and Speed?

[evolutionmovement]

I'll be there barring unforseen disaster!

I have to get the pics up of the head, but my USB doesn't work so I have to go to my sister's tomorrow to get them up.

Engine-wise I need to get a X-member to complete the FI conversion if I go turbo (which is likely). Then I just swap over the engine top end and add the turbo and exhaust and unplug the coolant/oil lines. Drivetrain's another story, although my 60k clutch looked brand new.

What caused the blown exhaust valve? Don't know, but there was some serious heat in that bank of cylinders with cyl #1 exhibiting more heat signs than cyl #3 actually does (excepting the blown valve of course). The carbon build up is thick and heavy in there so it could've been build up that prevented the valve from losing heat through the seat (I'm moving to poetry now) or a hot spot that developed over time. I think the valve was deteriorating for about a week as the oil consumption went up during that time, so a small part could've opened up which created a hot spot that just escalated from there to the point where a big chunk decided to secede from the union.

I haven't checked the other bank, but maybe I'll do it tomorrow. Impact wrench makes it very fast work, but it's too noisy at night.

So everyone be sure to drink your Sea Foam (if it even works that well).

I may just replace the valve and clean it up and replace a few gaskets and sell the engine as now it's basically a boat anchor and I don't know who'd want it and I don't know how to get rid of it as it stands. But the cylinder bores look really excellent (Even when they fail Subarus are impressive) and I'm sure the bottom end is good. I don't know if it's worth it, though since I don't think I could sell it for more than the gasket set costs, never mind the labor. Anyone have any idea what a rebuilt EJ22 engine with *ahem* 1/4 million miles would get?

Steve

[evolutionmovement]

A little to add about the new engine. I had been using some coolant consistently and was afraid of a HG problem. I didn't know how I could've screwed it up as I followed the FSM procedure perfectly and there were no other signs. I checked all the Mickey-moused fittings looking for leakage, but nada.

So yesterday I'm in traffic and it's f'n HOT and I smell antifreeze ... 'Yes!' I thought, 'I DO have a leak and not a HG problem'. So today I had a chance to look at it as I smelled it while pulling into the canoe launch - it was an old marginal clamp on one of the heater hoses that I had forgotten to replace! Had my tools in the back so I just took off the clamp and used one of the overkill hose clamps off the ignition leads on the coil pack. Parking lot fixes are the best.

Steve