Mighty Subie
New member
So two years after selling my 02 wrx, I finally have another one. I bought ralli's (04 wrx wagon) back in September and it has been torn apart since I got it home. It had a nice knock deep down inside and so it needed a transplant. Well, I gave it one. I got a used 07 wrx block with a broken piston and some new pistons from gabe. Gave the cylinders a fresh hone, and installed the new pistons. Then I yanked out the original engine and got to work. Evergreen supplied me with the new gaskets and I already own the shop manuals and the tools and the space so why not get started?
Well I tore into the old engine and decided that it was really resistant to being torn apart. The engine refused to 'unmarry' its self from the trans and I had to put an air hammer on the dowel pins to get anything to happen. Neither of the o2 sensors would come out and for some reason all of the correctly sized wrenches seem to have disappeared. And then the most annoying thing of all was the drivers side exhaust cam bolt stripping. It HAD to be the deepest pulley and therefore the most annoying one to weld a nut to, but it happened and due to the properties of metal, it came right out when it cooled with no fuss. Remember kids, when it comes to metal, contraction it greater than expansion.
So anyway, the engine is out and torn apart by now. The new block ready and so I start installing pieces. I start with the fun easy stuff like the oil pump and water pump. If I had to do it again I might save those till later but whatever. So then the heads go on. I had to read the instructions several times because I couldn't get around the idea of not torqueing the heads on so much as a light torque and then cranking it in per degrees! So anyway there wasn't much other fuss putting it all back together aside from the stupid extra vent. I went round and round in my head and talking to people to figure out how exactly I wanted to connect it back into the system. I ended up with it Plumbed into the existing hard line that goes from one head to the other.
So then I get the engine completely back together. It still fights me going back in and refusing to mate up with the trans. I finally get it in and the clutch fork in place only to realize that due to a lack of sleep/lost of driving and lots of thrashing/and mostly a lack of paying attention, the engine mounts were on wrong. Don't ask. It happens! Lol speaking of motor mounts... One of mine stripped when I was trying to remove the engine. So I had to cut it off. Not fun. So I got an inexpensive used set. When I went up for the last time to work on my car, we didn't take my loaner car. We used my friends car and guess what I left in mine. Yup. The engine mounts. So I ended up cutting a new bolt to length, beveling the end and welding that puppy on the original mount. I tried to keep the heat down as much as I could to keep the rubber from melting. But that worked great. It was even a 14mm nut too! When I get some more cash, new mounts will be ordered anyway.
So the engine goes in. A lot of new hose clamps go on. Electrical stuff gets connected. Fluids filled. Then I connect the last thing, the battery. I climb inside and here is the moment of truth. A hundred different things run through my head. Maybe those new sparkplugs I had were not really the ones intended for my last wrx. Maybe they were for one of my bikes. Maybe I hooked up the fuel lines wrong. Maybe a hose somewhere is not on. Maybe an electrical connection isn't hooked up right. Three of us has given the car a few once-overs so there was nothing left to do other than turn it over.
So I turned it on. Everything lights up. The battery has good power despite sitting for 6 months prior to me buying it and then 4 more after I got it home. So I turned it more till the started engaged. It flopped over 3 times and fired right up on the 4th. No fuss. I let it idle for a min and no lights come on in the dash so I got out and it runs beautifully. After the oil lines filled up, it puked oil out the turbo feed line all over the turbo and downpipe but I shut it off, tightened the line and fired it back up. Ran like a champ. Then after about 30 min of running, I backed it out of the garage and onto the lawn. It moving under its own power for the first time in way too long.
I will be taking it for a shakedown run tomorrow to see what's up. Can't wait. Should be taking it back to my apt tomorrow night. I'm betting the hour and a half on I95 will help seat the rings.
I will post up some pics tomorrow. Thanks for reading. I'm glad to be back in a subaru. Forced induction FTW!
As she sat when I bought her:
the motor is finally out after being so unbelievably stubborn:
what caused the new block to fail. remedied by a new set of pistons:
this is it for pics right now. I shall get some more tomorrow when I find my camera.
Well I tore into the old engine and decided that it was really resistant to being torn apart. The engine refused to 'unmarry' its self from the trans and I had to put an air hammer on the dowel pins to get anything to happen. Neither of the o2 sensors would come out and for some reason all of the correctly sized wrenches seem to have disappeared. And then the most annoying thing of all was the drivers side exhaust cam bolt stripping. It HAD to be the deepest pulley and therefore the most annoying one to weld a nut to, but it happened and due to the properties of metal, it came right out when it cooled with no fuss. Remember kids, when it comes to metal, contraction it greater than expansion.
So anyway, the engine is out and torn apart by now. The new block ready and so I start installing pieces. I start with the fun easy stuff like the oil pump and water pump. If I had to do it again I might save those till later but whatever. So then the heads go on. I had to read the instructions several times because I couldn't get around the idea of not torqueing the heads on so much as a light torque and then cranking it in per degrees! So anyway there wasn't much other fuss putting it all back together aside from the stupid extra vent. I went round and round in my head and talking to people to figure out how exactly I wanted to connect it back into the system. I ended up with it Plumbed into the existing hard line that goes from one head to the other.
So then I get the engine completely back together. It still fights me going back in and refusing to mate up with the trans. I finally get it in and the clutch fork in place only to realize that due to a lack of sleep/lost of driving and lots of thrashing/and mostly a lack of paying attention, the engine mounts were on wrong. Don't ask. It happens! Lol speaking of motor mounts... One of mine stripped when I was trying to remove the engine. So I had to cut it off. Not fun. So I got an inexpensive used set. When I went up for the last time to work on my car, we didn't take my loaner car. We used my friends car and guess what I left in mine. Yup. The engine mounts. So I ended up cutting a new bolt to length, beveling the end and welding that puppy on the original mount. I tried to keep the heat down as much as I could to keep the rubber from melting. But that worked great. It was even a 14mm nut too! When I get some more cash, new mounts will be ordered anyway.
So the engine goes in. A lot of new hose clamps go on. Electrical stuff gets connected. Fluids filled. Then I connect the last thing, the battery. I climb inside and here is the moment of truth. A hundred different things run through my head. Maybe those new sparkplugs I had were not really the ones intended for my last wrx. Maybe they were for one of my bikes. Maybe I hooked up the fuel lines wrong. Maybe a hose somewhere is not on. Maybe an electrical connection isn't hooked up right. Three of us has given the car a few once-overs so there was nothing left to do other than turn it over.
So I turned it on. Everything lights up. The battery has good power despite sitting for 6 months prior to me buying it and then 4 more after I got it home. So I turned it more till the started engaged. It flopped over 3 times and fired right up on the 4th. No fuss. I let it idle for a min and no lights come on in the dash so I got out and it runs beautifully. After the oil lines filled up, it puked oil out the turbo feed line all over the turbo and downpipe but I shut it off, tightened the line and fired it back up. Ran like a champ. Then after about 30 min of running, I backed it out of the garage and onto the lawn. It moving under its own power for the first time in way too long.
I will be taking it for a shakedown run tomorrow to see what's up. Can't wait. Should be taking it back to my apt tomorrow night. I'm betting the hour and a half on I95 will help seat the rings.
I will post up some pics tomorrow. Thanks for reading. I'm glad to be back in a subaru. Forced induction FTW!
As she sat when I bought her:
the motor is finally out after being so unbelievably stubborn:
what caused the new block to fail. remedied by a new set of pistons:
this is it for pics right now. I shall get some more tomorrow when I find my camera.
Last edited by a moderator:
update on the oil issue tomorrow. Ryan did suggest that I just pretend that my car is rustproofing its self and trying to keep the bugs away.