legacycentral bbs

I have a 1991 Legacy Turbo with a blown head gasket.

Bubbles appear out the overflow when idling, and more when running - overheating etc.

My question is - should I replace the head gaskets on this engine, and oil pump, tbelt, water pump etc or should I source a wrecker engine?

The car has 150,000 miles, and is in generally good condition, a little rust, but like them all here, Tranny works well.

Engine has a couple of noisy lifters, but that can be fixed when the heads are off.

Input please?

You can do the lifters with the heads still on. I say fix it. You're probably looking at the 200-250 area for everything you need. Plus you wont have to swap engines and shit. Is there anything else wrong with the engine?

My head gaskets went around 165,000 or so and i fixed mine.

It depends on how many times it has overheated and how bad.... That would probably be a big factor for me.

If you go in and fix everything like I did, you will have the reassurance that you will have many new parts when you are finished... It's also a great learning experience. You could do a valve job too which should make it run better and get you better fuel economy. I would have the heads machined too...

But, it depends on how many times and how bad it has overheated. That's what I would judge it on. Aside from that, if your current engine was in good shape before the head gakset problem, then you would know that it would be even better when you were done!

Andrew

Fix it.

Depends on how bad it was overheated. If you drove twenty miles in the red or if the engine stopped, then I say new engine, but if you caught it right away and can work on it I'd check it and fix it. If you decide to fix it, check the heads with a straight edge vertically, horizontally, and diagonally to make sure they're not warped.

Steve

Or,
Use a set of EJ20G DOHC heads and upgrade instead of just replacing. Complete EJ20G's go for about $750. You would want the heads, manifold and TB along with fuel injectors and rails from the engine for the conversion. It is not really any more work than just doing the head gaskets. You are just using different parts when you put it back together.

Then you could sell off the turbo, the closed deck block and the other leftovers like the AWIC for $500 or so. Hell, on Nabisco, you could probably sell the block as "rare" in the classifieds and get $500 for just the block.

I don't mean to be a Vulture... But if you decide not to fix it, can I buy your JDM SideSkirts.

It's being fixed as we type....

I am hooked on the BC's and it seemed silly to not fix it - I was just getting pressure from the marital partner to dump it and get something newer.

Hey Andrew,

Good to hear you're not giving up on it. If you need any help with it, lemme know.

Mike,

Lets do a 5MT next spring You game?

Depends on where you're getting the transmission from... I know I'll still need mine.

But otherwise, if I'm still in S. Ontario, you bet I'm in for that!