legacycentral bbs

yeah the title says it all.

so after spending $3K on a 91 SS and having the engine go out, i decided to spend another $1K on another engine. It had the usual noisey lifters when i first started it. I put in 4 quarts of synthetic oil and another quart of some oil cleaner.
the sound of the lifters went away.




then i was driving today and started hearing another knocking. except not from the lifters. it was low end knocking. so rod knock is what i'm assuming. i pulled the #1 injector and the sound went away. i guess it's that rod.

is there any cheap way to fix this?

any suggestions on what to do? i'm kind of tight on money after all of this...

Drive it like that for now I guess. Are you sure its that rod?? Did u try some Seafoam down the PCV?

which pcv hose do i put it down?




it's a pretty loud knock though...


like it sounds like a big rock being spun around in my engine.

Oh. Then it is probably more serious. Why did you have to spend all that money on another engine? For that price must have some warranty.

i couldn't find a cheaper one. no one seemed to have one. i guess i could just rebuild it using an EJ20 shortblock. anyone know where i could get a cheap one?

Meh, don't feel bad. I bought a car for 1200, spent a grand on a tranny/engine swap and then the tranny went out, costing me another 2k which I don't really have. Now it's still not running right due to a code 32 and 45. This is definitely the last SS, let alone Subaru I will ever buy.

Don't feel bad I spent over 3k on a tranny 3k in body work and another 5k wasting money and the car is still 100% stock lol and not working 100%

Wow, you guys have bad luck with Subarus. That sucks!

3K is a lot for a tranny swap, I did an entire 05 WRX swap with 20,000 miles on it for under 2K.

Doug V. still has that 2.0 block he rebuilt:
http://bbs.legacycentral.org/viewtopic.php?t=32332

I think you guys need to shop better

lol i realized that after the guy screwed me. No more shops other then subaru dealership. In the long run its cheaper. Going to open a shop in the huge garage and just do everything myself. Going to find a SS and swap in the engine and tranny and LSD. Going to be wicked lol.

lol yeah i know. i'm going to see if there's anything i can do about it. i was warned that the engine might have some problems so it's kind of my fault. i just didn't think the problems would be so severe that the engine would blow out on me 2 days after getting it to run. lol.

does rod knock really just start that quickly? i was driving. accelerated a little harder than normal. and then i heard the knocking.

i wonder how much the subaru dealer would charge for an EJ20 shortblock....

Alot...............

lol define a lot.


over $500? over $1K?

Definitly over 1k + labour. If your budget is very tight just get a non turbo EJ22E. Will work ok for you? I have one its fast enough.

oh i have a 93 LS too.
the ej22e is fine for regular driving.
i just liked the turbo for those 2 days that it worked lol.



although i actually raced a BMW 325i and smashed off the line. apparently they have those nice luxory gears and after about 60mph he just smashed past me lol.

that's why i want my turbo hahaha.

do you think if i just put in some 20w-50 oil that it would quiet down the rod knock? as long as i can't hear the knocking i'm ok hahahaha. kind of like an 'out of sight, out of mind' thing.

Hey the motors is screwed give it a shot. Ya I know what you mean on the highway a turbo would be awesome!

haha ok. i'm gonna do that in a bit then.


i'm still shocked how quickly it happened. like one minute the engine sounded great...the next it was loud as hell. like wtf? does it really happen that quickly?

Maybe you think its bent rod. But its just sticking lifters LOL.

ooooh no. trust me. i know what noisey lifters sound like.

this is most definitely not that. lol.




lifters sound like tapping. this sounds like a bunch of rocks being thrown at a piece of steel. hahaha.

lol. I wonder if a bad bearing would cause that? Or something simple. Although u would need to take apart the motor.

If you have another car, just rip it down. Doug could do it in twenty minutes or so, but a simple mortal should be able to rebuild the whole thing and have it back in in a week with taking their time a few hours a day or so (a weekend for the motivated). Even if you've never done it before, these are great cars to learn on, though I recommend a shop manual. The longer you let it go, the more damage it could do to the crank or rod(s) if it hasn't already. Worst case, I do have a crank from an N/A if you need it, I believe they're all forged.

I want to sell my soul (not quite though) that your motor is not that shot.

But if it is, its EASY to rebuild. No special skills, just some tools and time.

hmmm ok. i'm almost positive that i could rebuild it. i'm not an expert mechanic in any way but i somehow managed to pull and drop back in a new engine without knowing what i was doing lol.

my only problem is the money. how much do you think it will cost me to rebuild it?

and to doug: if my motor isn't that shot, what would you recommend that i do?

A rebuild will probably be cheaper than another used turbo motor that is an unknown quantity. Water pump, timing belt, seals, gaskets and tensioner was all under $500 IIRC from subaruparts.com. Bearings and rings shouldn't be that much.

where should i get new rods and bearings?

I would think they'd sell bearings, but I would wait on rods to see if you need them.