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Thread: Picked up our STI-hybrid swap donor today!

  1. #1
    Senior Member Tamra's Avatar
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    Picked up our STI-hybrid swap donor today!

    We (myself and my SO, forum name: xxguitarist) went and picked up our donor today. It's an 02 WRX with 171k on the chassis, 16k on the built STI hybrid motor, and 68k on the 5spd tranny.

    We paid $6300, and the guy threw in a bunch of extra parts (STI axleback and catless midpipe, RWD center diff (car is AWD, this is just extra), extra fenders, two sets of extra headlights including Orciari Reps, V8 JDM STI Gauge cluster).

    We plan on driving it for a week or so to make sure everything feels good, and then start the tear down process. Our 818 kit is due October 25th!


    Note: the below stats are incorrect due to a lying seller. See page 2, post 79, for updated stats based on our engine build.
    Engine:
    EJ257 shortblock
    JE 8.5:1 CR Pistons
    STi Nitrated Crank
    ACL Race main and rod bearings
    sti headgaskets, 2.0 machined heads
    NGK 1-step colder plugs
    vf22 ball bearing turbo
    cobb sf intake
    Forge full recirc bpv
    grimmspeed ebcs
    sti tmic
    850cc modded injectors
    Walbro 255lph fuel pump
    catless up and full 3" inch tbe catted blast pipe
    27mm cobb rear sway bar
    agency power pitch stop mount
    Professionally tuned


    Suspension:
    Tein SS-P coilovers with cusco camber plates


    Interior:
    Custom WC Latheworks Teardrop Shift knob
    Cobb Short shifter
    Sony Touchscreen double din
    Polk and kicker door speakers

    Exterior:
    Sedan front end conversion
    Blacked out and cleared headlights
    STi Side skirts
    17x8.25 et30 XXR 535 Chromium Black
    25mm ichiba rear spacers
    225/45/17 Nexxen N7000 with about 3000 miles on the set
    OEM fog covers
    roof rail deletes from a Saabaru




    Recent maintenance the prior owner performed in the last 14k miles:

    New gates timing belt and kit
    New killer b oil pickup
    New oil cooler
    New water pump
    Oil changed every 2500 miles with rotella T6 full synth (winter) and motul v300 (summer)
    New thermostat and coolant system flush
    New fuel filter
    New inner and outer tie rod ends
    Stage 1 clutch with throwout and pilot bearings replaced
    Filled transmission with uncle scottys cocktail.
    Rear diff uses redline heavyweight.

    photo 3.JPGphoto 2.JPGDonor1.jpgphoto 1.JPG
    Last edited by Tamra; 10-10-2014 at 05:22 AM.

  2. #2
    818 builder metalmaker12's Avatar
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    Nice donor

  3. #3
    Senior Member DodgyTim's Avatar
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    Are you going to base line dyno it before teardown? I'd be interested to see the numbers

  4. #4
    Senior Member xxguitarist's Avatar
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    Dodgy,
    Not sure. It would be great to have a real number, but it's also paying for a dyno run twice, since we'll be getting tuned on a dyno after the build is complete.

  5. #5
    Senior Member Tamra's Avatar
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    Just wanted to give a quick update.

    We did a temp registration on the car for a week and had several CELs- P0301, misfire: cyl 1. Research on Nasioc tells us that phantom misfires seem to be common with built motors & lightweight flywheels, which this car has. The car is also running rich, which could contribute. The car doesn't noticeably stutter when the code comes on.

    We had been a bit nervous about the engine, since it was built by the previous owner, as opposed to a professional shop. He seemed legit, and said that he had been quite careful about everything, but you never know. We decided to do a compression test to make sure all the valves & piston seals were good. We picked up a $20 compression tester and did a test tonight for peace of mind, and had solid results - all within 5psi of 140 in all four cylinders. We are still learning about WRX's, but I believe with the hybrid motor and 8.5:1 pistons, that is a solid number. At minimum, it's consistency made us very happy & rather relieved that there couldn't be anything too substantial to deal with down the road to fix the occasional CEL.

    Glad to be done commuting in it- the level of noise coming out that 3.5" straight exhaust was a bit conspicuous!

    We've been starting our tear down and discovering a few things. With all the modifications the car had, it meant that pretty much everything had been removed at some point in the car's life. This means that things are coming off fairly easily! Unfortunately, that is also partially because of all of the zip ties... mostly on body panels, thankfully. We haven't got into the mechanical parts yet, which is where I know we'll start finding the rust most likely. So far, most of the interior is out, and all of the body panels.


    compression.jpgDonor teardown.jpg
    Attached Images Attached Images

  6. #6
    818 builder metalmaker12's Avatar
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    Compression looks great, but I would also do a leak down test. Hybrid motors can be very finicky and a tall order to get just right. If it's getting cels for the misfire,lightened flywheel etc it eventually needs a dyno tune by a experienced subaru tuner. How was it tuned, by who and do you have any data log/ dyno sheets from the seller. If and when your ready I know a few local tuners that have constant access to dynos. If anything you guys got a lot of extras for the money and if the engine and tranny hold up you did well. How's the tranny seem?

    Btw if you think that's loud, try that with just a downpipe.
    Last edited by metalmaker12; 05-22-2014 at 10:38 AM.

  7. #7
    Senior Member xxguitarist's Avatar
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    Thanks Metalmaker,
    We'll check into doing a leak-down once the engine is out (looks easier, or at least no harder, that way?)

    It was tuned by "STi Mikey", who seems to be well received around the WRX/STi world, but I suspect it was done on the street. No datalogs made it to us, but it was "conservatively" tuned, which combined with the backfires makes me inclined to say it's rich if anything. Assume that it was open source tuned, as the car didn't come with an AP.

    Locally I know we have "the shop" and "EFI logic", but we're open to alternate suggestions. We'll likely also pick up an OBDII bluetooth dongle so we can run Torque on my old Android for general monitoring, although it's too slow for proper datalogging.

    Trans feels good so far! The shifter flops around a bit, but I think that's just the bushings on the mount. It goes into all gears, stays there, and doesn't grind. It'll drop into first with a little rev if your're at walking pace.

    Sure it could be louder, but we'll be running in the other direction from there! I want to try with just a cat, but will look at some of the free flowing mufflers if that doesn't quiet things down enough.

  8. #8
    818 builder metalmaker12's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by xxguitarist View Post
    Thanks Metalmaker,
    We'll check into doing a leak-down once the engine is out (looks easier, or at least no harder, that way?)

    It was tuned by "STi Mikey", who seems to be well received around the WRX/STi world, but I suspect it was done on the street. No datalogs made it to us, but it was "conservatively" tuned, which combined with the backfires makes me inclined to say it's rich if anything. Assume that it was open source tuned, as the car didn't come with an AP.

    Locally I know we have "the shop" and "EFI logic", but we're open to alternate suggestions. We'll likely also pick up an OBDII bluetooth dongle so we can run Torque on my old Android for general monitoring, although it's too slow for proper datalogging.

    Trans feels good so far! The shifter flops around a bit, but I think that's just the bushings on the mount. It goes into all gears, stays there, and doesn't grind. It'll drop into first with a little rev if your're at walking pace.

    Sure it could be louder, but we'll be running in the other direction from there! I want to try with just a cat, but will look at some of the free flowing mufflers if that doesn't quiet things down enough.
    The leak down will be easier out of the car for sure, and will tell the real story. My current engine passed both test and decided to eat a ringland or some piston ring sealing issue with a base map. I gotta tear it out of my 818 and tear it down . Granted I was beating the absolute piss out of it, but that's why we build these crazy cars.
    Those tuners are all very good and maybe it's just a base map from the way it sounds, or an off the shelf tune to get it up and running. When you get it in the 818 and running make sure to log it. You can get a cable to log it yourself from a laptop. I will send the info on what you need. If you need someone I deal with a few tuners and Wicked Innovations for all my specialty subie things. Great to hear your tranny seems solid, cause most are toasted. I meant the 818 will be much louder because the lack of exhaust volume.

  9. #9
    Senior Member Tamra's Avatar
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    So far, the majority of the interior is out, and all of the body panels. Last weekend we removed the head unit, AC controls (annoying, with lots of mechanical cables this year), then moved on to the seats, passenger airbag, dashboard, carpet, and some of the other plastic panels. Made sure to spend lots of time tagging each connection we undid. I think that box of 1000 twist tie tags may come in handy.

    We got a JDM V8 STi dash with the car, which we verified works perfectly, so we may use it in our 818. It has some neat features, like a user-selectable shift light. We might need to do something about the speedo being in KPH, though!
    JDM V8 STI dash:
    9FE44EE4-02EA-4236-9798-C2498B823AC7_zpsx6c3qpde.jpg

    Stock dash:
    266839EA-521D-4C42-9BB0-A621EB2F2A42_zpscdpu5j7l.jpg


    Here is our basement with all of the parts accumulating:
    6337A76D-421D-4BF7-AF40-1AE1D778BF76_zpswuxgcv5s.jpg

    The panoramic makes it actually look like we're doing better than we are with storage space. We definitely need to get busy selling off the big pieces and a few spare sets of tires we have from the Mazda3 & Miata, so that we'll have room for all the remaining parts of the WRX.

    We've been beginning to recognize the challenges of working in a 200 sq ft garage. There's another similarly sized one adjacent, but the two areas are separated by a concrete wall with only a standard sized door opening. The tool chest had been in the other side, which has a workbench. That wasn't working, so we picked up an additional chest and moved them into the front of this garage. We have about 2ft on either side of the car to work with.

    BE41F808-68AC-442D-939A-0D36E6F93017_zpsyapxg8s8.jpg


    The car is starting to look pretty gutted on the inside:
    DA6E24D8-9173-472C-830B-9AA2E1CADEA7_zpshyeno2fs.jpg


    Last night, we met up with a local bugeye owner, chatted for a while & sold him a few parts. We had someone anxious to get ahold of the Tein Coilovers that were on the car, so we got it up onto jackstands about as a massive thunderstorm rolled through. Luckily, the wind was going away from the garage opening.

    photo+2.JPG


    We pulled off the wheels, WOW they were on tight. Took my impact gun some time to get them free. We'll be inspecting those studs before the 818 goes together, but initial impressions were no obvious damage.
    The screwed on clips for the brake & ABS lines came off easily- first good sign! Then we removed the top nuts for the camber plates, also easy, and the strut began to drop down away from the frame. Looks like we got lucky, and the suspension's static droop is more than the length of these coils!



    The spindle/hub connections to the coilovers came off quickly with the impact gun too, and then it was free! Repeat 3x. The whole job might have taken a half hour. We were shocked, and very happy about that!

    photo+1.JPG

    We wiped them down to see what we would be trying to sell, and got a nice surprise, they're Tein Super Street as opposed to the expected Street Basis. The labels are faded, but they have the damping adjustment knob on the top. They also seem to have Cusco rear camber plates & Tein front camber plates. These should bring in some extra cash in the part-out.

    photo3_zps8a35bf5f.jpg


    We are going to dig into the suspension more tomorrow and Saturday. Sunday we have an autocross event and will be taking our Miata out for the day, and giving the Subaru a break.

  10. #10
    Senior Member Tamra's Avatar
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    Last weekend started out with some cleanup following mid-week brake work on the Miata between auto-x events (one pesky brake keeps hanging up). Once that was out of the way, we caught up on photos of parts for sale, texted with a few potential parts buyers, then started freeing and labeling the harness, starting at the rear of the car.

    One potential buyer came by, looked at parts, ran off to the bank to pick up cash, and was never seen again. The joys of craigslist. The other two were no-shows. We just want the space in the basement for all of the "keep" parts! We finally got a bite and sold the front end of the car (hood, fenders, bumper, grill), which cleared up a lot of space. So far we've made back $800 (close to 50-50 CL and Ebay, with some Nasioc), and still have a lot to sell.

    We had been keen to get the rear differential, driveshaft section, axles, hubs, etc out. We tried to separate the flex brake line from the hard line as instructed by Factory Five, but the fitting was pretty stuck. We just removed it at the calipers, not sure if we'll wind up doing braided stainless lines anyway. Next was the ABS sensor line, then the E-brake cables. Got all of those hanging freely, then had a look at what to remove to get the assembly to drop out. Not sure if we took the most direct path, but it allowed us to drop the thing pretty completely, with a minimum of fasteners that we couldn't use the impact gun on.

    Things were going unexpectedly smoothly, zip zip zip, set the floor jack to support the assembly, undo the last couple, and it settled down and came right out of the car. Awesome! We dragged it out the back of the car for a photo op.


    Then, it was time for further disassembly. The bolts holding the bracing on came off without too much trouble. They took some effort, but a ~600 ft-lb impact gun does help with that.



    THIS ONE, however. Ugh. One long bolt that holds the two lower control arms in place, mated to the hub. It's exposed on the inner face, which gets blasted with all sorts of road grime, and also collects water. It was pretty well seized on, on the drivers side. We got it off with the help of PB blaster, impact gun, dead blow hammer, and air hammer.



    It's out!

    The passenger side, on the other hand.. We have soaked it in PB blaster, we've run all around it with an air hammer, we've spent plenty of time on it with the impact gun, and we've tried the breaker bar on it. No luck. The front control arm won't even turn on it, though the nut removed easily. We picked up a torch, and attempted to disassemble as much as we could before heating things up. Unfortunately, we could only remove the caliper because we didn't have a 32 mm socket to fit the hub knut. Despite blasting the thing with the torch, it still wouldn't budge. All we managed to do was get the front control arm off by burning out the rubber, but the interior metal sleeve is still securely fastened to that PITA bolt. We managed to break a rubber hammer on it too. Anyone have any ideas on how to get it out????????


    Makes a good case for anti-seize on all similar parts when re-assembling.

    Sunday was Auto-x, I edged out my SO (xxguitarist) and ended up 2nd in the class. I'm looking forward to the 818 as an autocross car, although a bit worried, since the corners already come up so fast in our little 130HP Miata.
    Attached Images Attached Images
    Last edited by Tamra; 06-07-2014 at 12:00 PM.

  11. #11
    818 builder metalmaker12's Avatar
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    Pb blast is a God, lol coming along guys.

  12. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tamra View Post
    All we managed to do was get the front control arm off by burning out the rubber, but the interior metal sleeve is still securely fastened to that PITA bolt. We managed to break a rubber hammer on it too. Anyone have any ideas on how to get it out????????
    There's a good chance it will never come out. My driver's side did the same thing and I ended up cutting the bolt at the inside edge of the sleeve (cutting through the sleeve, not the bearing housing). You can also try cutting the bolt head off and pulling it out the wrong way.

  13. #13
    Senior Member xxguitarist's Avatar
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    Thanks guys,
    We picked up a higher torque impact gun (1295 ft-lb loosening) to see if we can get the best of that long bolt. It's nearly 2x my other gun, so it can't hurt! Well, except for if it breaks the bolt, but then at least I can separate things & bring it to work to use the arbor press.

    Otherwise, last night we just pulled the radiator, AC condenser, and front brakes. Seems like a pretty good trajectory for our kit pickup in October.

  14. #14
    Senior Member Tamra's Avatar
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    We got it! A friday evening of bolt-breaking


    I'm just going to come out and say it. We got that damn bolt free!

    Ok, now the backstory.

    We ordered a new impact gun to step up our game, an Aircat 1150. It felt noticably stronger than our Craftsman, which was by no means bottom of the line. This one is spec'd at around 1200 ft-lb of loosening torque.



    Sadly, that wasn't enough to break it free.

    We rattled away on it for a while, heating up the impact socket.
    Next air tool to line. We spent some more time with the air hammer/chisel. Nope. More torch. More PB blaster. Nope.

    Grabbed the cutoff tool, and cut through the far end of the bolt, next to the hub. Took some time, thick bolt & even our pretty significant compressor was having trouble keeping up.

    Eventually got through it, air chiseled the chunk off of the hub, gave it a few heavy whacks with a hammer, then more with the impact gun, and it broke free!
    The bolt had mushroomed at the far end from the hammer, so we spent a little while longer with the cutoff tool cleaning up the bolt to round, then we were able to extract it!


    Yeah, you could say xxguitarist was happy.


    Pile of tools involved in getting it free!


    We finally had all the necessary parts off and out of the rear end. Plenty of cleanup left, but it felt like great progress!



    In other news, my SO (xxguitarist) took a few minutes at work to print out a keychain for the future car.
    Came out pretty well, I think. He is working on getting his own printer up and running, so we might able to offer these to other builders. Could make them for whatever text was desired too.

  15. #15
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    I had a lot of trouble with the long bolt on the drivers side rear that holds the spindle to the two lateral links. I used WD40, impact wrench, air hammer and big hammer. Actually bent the tip of the bolt slightly. Finally used a torch to heat up both ends where the bolt goes through the spindle assembly and it finally came out. Now I need to de-rust a bunch of parts.
    Dave

  16. #16
    Senior Member Tamra's Avatar
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    The engine is out!

    The past few weeks we didn't work on the WRX, mostly due to having to do a clutch job on our autocross Miata, longer than average work schedules, and family obligations. This weekend, however, we got in about 10 more hours and made huge progress. Everything is out!

    It took us 51.5 hours to get everything removed from the WRX, over the past 1.5 months. Now it's time to start refurbishing parts.

    We have also already sold $2,309 in parts, and think we will end up somewhere between $3k-$4k in parts sold, which will put us at a donor cost of $2k-$3k. That's pretty good in our opinion, considering we got a built hybrid motor, newer transmission, bigger turbo, upgraded injectors and fuel pump, slotted rotors, and other goodies . Our $2,309 sold to date (1.5 months since purchase of WRX) is $1,274 is from Nasioc, $385 from Ebay, and $650 from Craigslist so far. Most of the Nasioc funds were from the coilovers.

    Now, a few pictures from this weekend:

    Saturday we spent 6 hours removing 6 bolts, which was depressing.

    The metal sleeve inside the bushing on the driver control arm froze and would not come off, despite the torch. We ended up cutting it off. Next we had a weldnut break off inside the wheel well, which then required us to cut through two layer deep metal to get vice grips on it. That took about 2 hours alone, mostly due to our air compressor having a hard time keeping up.


    Sunday moved a little smoother, and in about 4 hours we had the wiring harness off and the engine and transmission out.

    Wiring harness:
    .

    We didn't have room to drop the engine and transmission under the car as Factory Five recommends, so we went up and out, although we nearly didn't have room to do that either:









    Dang that feels good!
    Last edited by Tamra; 06-29-2014 at 10:36 PM.

  17. #17
    Moonlight Performance
    Hindsight's Avatar
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    Great build thread. It's so cool that both of you are interested in this! Most of us count ourselves lucky if we get permission from our better halves. Enjoy the build together!

  18. #18
    818 builder metalmaker12's Avatar
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    Ditto lol, my wife could care less. Happy building

  19. #19
    Senior Member RM1SepEx's Avatar
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    Looking great so far!

    engine comes out a lot easier if you take out some aggression on cutting off the front of the chassis

    I'm lucky my wife of 30 years is very understanding (and autocrosses with me too) We also own Miatas but autocross karts, they are faster!
    Dan

    818S #17 Picked up 8/1/13 First start 11/1/13 Go Kart 3/28/14

  20. #20
    Senior Member xxguitarist's Avatar
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    I'm pretty sure I got lucky with this one!
    It has been fun (also: tiring & frustrating) working on the project together so far, but the "together" part has been great. We're both looking forward to the rest of it.

    Dan,
    Agree- Not much that would have to be cut off there to really reduce the amount of lifting required, but we wanted to leave the shell mostly intact so it could be offered as a rally base if anyone was so inclined.

  21. #21
    Senior Member RM1SepEx's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by xxguitarist View Post

    Dan,
    Agree- Not much that would have to be cut off there to really reduce the amount of lifting required, but we wanted to leave the shell mostly intact so it could be offered as a rally base if anyone was so inclined.
    First, not lucky, skillful, relationships take work!

    My shell was toast, I understand trying to get the most out of the scrap!

    BTW what has been done to the Miata? I have 3, 91 daughter's car, 90/96 hybrid, 90 rust free chassis, 88K 96 M version drivetrain, flyin Miata conversionframe stiffners, monster Miata roll bars, konis etc... (grad present for my 22 yr old son next year) , 99 wife's car

    We autocross karts, started when the kids were 10, both in college soon
    Dan

    818S #17 Picked up 8/1/13 First start 11/1/13 Go Kart 3/28/14

  22. #22
    Senior Member Tamra's Avatar
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    I think we both got lucky Especially me... since I really wanted to do the 818, but I'm not that much more help than just a skilled tool passer and general assistant! But, I am learning, and having a blast.

    The Miata is e-street class legal, with Konis & FCM bump stops, Direzza ZII's on the hollow stock wheels, and a new oem clutch & flywheel through Mazdaspeed motorsports (that was a significantly easier job considering we brought it with us from the salt-free state of OR! Especially appreciated now that we've seen what a North East car looks like). It is a 97 with 130k on it, open diff. From autocrossing it this year, it has sealed the deal that we want to add an LSD to the 818.

    Do you autocross yours? We are thinking of going to one of the EvoSchools that will be in our area at the beginning of August.

  23. #23
    Senior Member Tamra's Avatar
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    PS - that is quite a collection! We are thinking of doing some chassis stiffeners on the Miata once we aren't worried about it being e-street legal. How do you like the Flyin Miata one?

    There are some karts at our local autox club and they are incredibly fast, but the Miatas always have the best turnout.

  24. #24
    Senior Member RM1SepEx's Avatar
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    The shifter is a beast, I have a 2 speed RM1DD2 by Rotax... only 33 HP for a race weight of 385, the bike engine shifters have 6 speed motoX engines and 45-50 HP, too much shifting for me

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wK1ZigQucs0 I was late on a couple shifts and was second by 1.5 seconds, not a great showing

    The stiffeners and Monster Miata sway bars make it a rough beast on the road compared to the stock 99 and 91 but it handles well. It's only autocross action was cut short after 3 runs at Loring 2 years ago. 3rd run it just stopped running. The new Mazda sourced timing tensioner failed, the engine jumped a couple exhaust teeth and it sheared the steel locating pin and destroyed a cam gear.

    We jokingly call our club the cumberland Miata Club as 10% of the participants are driving Miatas from old tired stock NA to turbo beast NA and NB as well as a couple NC, one with the hard top.

    There will be plenty of areas where you can get your hands dirty... kit assy it isn't like assembling Legos...
    Dan

    818S #17 Picked up 8/1/13 First start 11/1/13 Go Kart 3/28/14

  25. #25
    Senior Member Tamra's Avatar
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    Well that's good, because I've never been very good at assembling legos! ;p

    That cart looks fun.

  26. #26
    Senior Member Tamra's Avatar
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    Sorry for the lack of updates lately, we've been spending a bit of the weekend time at our family's place by the water and enjoying the summer.

    blogger-image--180272134.jpg

    We've finally sent the shell on its way to a new home. We tried to sell it for $100, then in exchange for a little beer, but FREE finally got it moving. It'll just be used for a rocker panel, but it saved us from having to chop it to bits, then rent a truck to haul it off to the scrapyard, just to break even on scrap/cost.

    blogger-image-273026568.jpg


    Since the car left, we cleaned up the garage, got tools de-grimed a little, and changed the setup to make room for part refurbishing. Here's the new view!

    blogger-image--1679698566.jpg


    High on the list are suspension parts and trimming down the wiring harness. We're probably going to replace the rear lower control arms/lateral links. One bushing is shot, and the arm got a bit heat-treated in the process of freeing that long bolt. It'll also allow us some additional alignment adjustments. We're also trying to decide what other components we want to upgrade/replace. A limited slip diff is high on the list.

    On a more amusing note, we were negotiated UP on the price of some parts we were selling on Craigslist tonight... we were asking $180, the guy offered $200, we nodded in agreement, and he offered $220, then felt terrible that he only could find an extra $5, so we settled on $205.... Now he's interested in coming back for the seats which we are asking $75 each on, and he ended with "okay, so $200 for the seats..." yeah sure, buddy!

    We are now just shy of $3k on our parts sales.

  27. #27
    Senior Member wleehendrick's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tamra View Post
    On a more amusing note, we were negotiated UP on the price of some parts we were selling on Craigslist tonight... we were asking $180, the guy offered $200, we nodded in agreement, and he offered $220, then felt terrible that he only could find an extra $5, so we settled on $205.... Now he's interested in coming back for the seats which we are asking $75 each on, and he ended with "okay, so $200 for the seats..." yeah sure, buddy!
    Somebody needs to tell him, regarding negotiating 101...

    youre-doing-it-wrong1.jpg

    Quote Originally Posted by Tamra View Post
    We are now just shy of $3k on our parts sales.
    Good job!

  28. #28
    Senior Member RM1SepEx's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tamra View Post
    Well that's good, because I've never been very good at assembling legos! ;p

    That cart looks fun.
    so much fun that I bought a second one... driving both at Loring AFB next week. Imagine a B52 base.... 2.8 mile long parallel runways and acres and acres of other paved surfaces....

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRd1CkXPkcU

    that course is 1.5 miles long, runs in excess of 90 seconds!

    2012 running around the other way

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxhX-9-gMfE
    Last edited by RM1SepEx; 07-28-2014 at 12:40 PM.
    Dan

    818S #17 Picked up 8/1/13 First start 11/1/13 Go Kart 3/28/14

  29. #29
    Senior Member Tamra's Avatar
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    We've only been auto crossing on much tighter parking lot courses... I would have a hard time not getting lost on something that big!

    We are going to an Evo School this weekend on Long Island for my birthday. I'm pretty excited to get some feedback on my driving. Have you ever been to one?

  30. #30
    Senior Member RM1SepEx's Avatar
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    we are having a school at BNAS in September

    I've been lost

    I hit a slalom cone last year at 80+ at Loring... Dislocated or broken thumb, didn't feel right until a month or so ago

    The big venues are amazing, seat time with instructors... ++++++++ best thing to improve skills
    Last edited by RM1SepEx; 07-30-2014 at 09:40 AM.
    Dan

    818S #17 Picked up 8/1/13 First start 11/1/13 Go Kart 3/28/14

  31. #31
    Member tango68ss's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by RM1SepEx View Post
    so much fun that I bought a second one... driving both at Loring AFB next week. Imagine a B52 base.... 2.8 mile long parallel runways and acres and acres of other paved surfaces....

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRd1CkXPkcU

    that course is 1.5 miles long, runs in excess of 90 seconds!



    2012 running around the other way

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxhX-9-gMfE
    Dan (RM1SepEx),

    Great to see that Loring is being used for something fun! I was stationed there in the late '80s/early '90s as a B-52 pilot... I taxied the "beast" around that track you were running on! My kid was born there! Thanks for the memories!

    TC

    (Tamra, sorry for the highjack...BTW, the donor work looks good!)

  32. #32
    Senior Member Tamra's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by RM1SepEx View Post
    we are having a school at BNAS in September

    I've been lost

    I hit a slalom cone last year at 80+ at Loring... Dislocated or broken thumb, didn't feel right until a month or so ago

    The big venues are amazing, seat time with instructors... ++++++++ best thing to improve skills

    Ouch! I hadn't thought about hitting a cone in a kart, especially at 80...
    Also, I hope you recover quickly - I saw on your build thread that you had an MS attack. Sorry to hear about that.


    Quote Originally Posted by tango68ss View Post
    Dan (RM1SepEx),

    Great to see that Loring is being used for something fun! I was stationed there in the late '80s/early '90s as a B-52 pilot... I taxied the "beast" around that track you were running on! My kid was born there! Thanks for the memories!

    TC

    (Tamra, sorry for the highjack...BTW, the donor work looks good!)
    No worries! All autocross discussion, even memories, is okay here


    The last few days we pulled apart the rear hubs, started cleaning parts, pulled off the transmission, etc.

    The transmission removal has one extra step that we weren't aware of before some Google searching (after struggling to pull the transmission for awhile) - there is a pin that must be removed in order to free the throwout bearing (helped by the use of the timing belt cover bolt recommended by Nasioc):



    The transmission is off. Guess it's time to get our OBX LSD ordered. We're looking into their sponsorship/contingency program, hoping to hear back from them soon.




    We thought the previous owner had mentioned the car having a lightweight flywheel, but we realized tonight that it just has a newish Exedy stage 1 clutch. The flywheel has quite a bit of cracking, and it weighs a whopping 24lbs, so we are likely going to replace it with a lightweight flywheel... time to do some research.

    Unfortunately, what this also means is that our "phantom" CEL was not caused by the lightweight flywheel that we thought we had. Guess it's time to dig into that a little further too. At least the compression numbers were good... so hopefully there aren't any major problems. Would you guys recommend a leak down test next? We were hoping to avoid actually opening the engine up too far, considering it is a new rebuild with less than 15k on it. The previous owner said he tried to chase down the CEL and could never figure it out.


    And on an entertaining note, our Craigslist friend came back tonight with his friend, knocking on our door at 10pm (apparently we missed his text at 8:30 notifying us that he was on his way), and bought our spare set of beat up no-name wheels for more than we had originally asked for them. We're now just shy of $3300 in donor parts sold! Plus, they're thinking of coming back for the seats...

  33. #33
    818 builder metalmaker12's Avatar
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    Do a leakage test, it will see how well valves and rings are sealing. What was compression
    818S frame #13 Jdm version 8 ej207

  34. #34
    Senior Member Tamra's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by metalmaker12 View Post
    Do a leakage test, it will see how well valves and rings are sealing. What was compression
    All four were within 5 psi of 140. We'll look into picking up a tester. Is the Harbor Freight one sufficient?

  35. #35
    Senior Member STiPWRD's Avatar
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    Have you scanned ur ECU? What code is causing your CEL?

  36. #36
    Senior Member Tamra's Avatar
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    We drove the car for a week and it had several, all P0301, misfire: cyl 1. The car was running fairly rich, which might have contributed as well. When it would pull the CEL, it would not stutter or give any other sign of an actual misfire.
    It is a built 2.5 block with 2.0 heads. You can see the engine mods, as given to us by the previous owner who built the engine, in post 1.

  37. #37
    Senior Member Tamra's Avatar
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    We're in the garage right now and just did the leakdown test. Results don't look promising. We're not sure of the calibration of 0 of our HF leak down tester, but all 4 registered at about 45% leakage and we can hear air coming out of the crank case (oil fill) and some from the exhaust valves (lots less). Anyone know how big of a deal the blow by into the oil fill is?

  38. #38
    818 builder metalmaker12's Avatar
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    Are you guys sure it was at TDC of the compression stroke, I think something was wrong with your test

    2-4% leakage is normal on a wrx engine. 6% is kinda of the max on a properly running motor, but on the high side IMO. I have seen higher on turbo engines ( like 10%) but they almost always had ring, ringland,ring/ piston out of spec clearance valve seat/ guide, and or headgasket issues.
    818S frame #13 Jdm version 8 ej207

  39. #39
    Senior Member Tamra's Avatar
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    We think it was at TDC. The piston was definitely at the top of the cylinder and we tried both "tops" to be sure. It doesn't make sense though, because the leakage readings were within a few % points of each other, so very consistent at 45% (we would have thought that if there was an issue, one would have spiked differently than the others), and the car drove awesome for the week before we started the tear down. The only symptom was the Misfire Cylinder 1 code, with no apparent stumbles from the car, and the car appeared to be running rich.

    The test was performed cold, and months since it was last started. I'm not sure how much this would effect the readings.

    With the tester disconnected from the car, the tester was very slow to register 0% leakage, and we couldn't get it to actually 0 out if left for five minutes. However, the air coming through the oil filler was audible and I could feel it with my face (not so much with my hand), although we aren't sure how much is "normal."

    Considering the above, what would you recommend from here?

  40. #40
    818 builder metalmaker12's Avatar
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    image.jpg mine had higher leakage at #1 and #3 and air bubbles appeared from the radiator neck so the head gasket was my issue. And after a teardown it proved it

    Those values are off the charts of a subaru or any clean running cars spec sheet, so your prob not at the right location for TDC. TDC between the exhaust and intake strokes is not the right place to test, You need to make sure both valves are closed and at TDC. Take the intake manifold and headers off or valve covers and make sure both valves are closed and piston is at TDC than perform the test. Also check your pcv valve for defects. If it was running good than it prob fine, but if you wanna know the true values you gotta get the results to spec out. Hope this helps ya,,,If you feel you performed the test correctly and your compression test were good but leakage was that bad, sounds like you heads need a flow check and rebuild. But if it was running good than get it all together and see how if behaves, just know of the test was done correctly and you have those results it will only be a matter of time before something gives.
    On the flip side , the motors cold and maybe not fully broken in. Get the motor in the 818 and drive the cart around and check oil consumption and listen for piston slap. I would run it an see what happens, if it not broke don't fix. Get it warm and run your test again. The compression test looked good, so if leakage is funky at worst could need heads machined rebuilt and new gaskets and seals etc.


    Any how my motors at the machine shop as of tues and will be getting some detailed measuring and goodies
    Last edited by metalmaker12; 08-09-2014 at 07:40 AM.
    818S frame #13 Jdm version 8 ej207

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