My Wrx Rebuild

[donsjapwrx]

And it begins
Well it starts the rebuild of my wrx to find out why i can turn the engine over by hand seems very low on compression, so its time to pull apart and find out why. BTW it still goes like the clappers so not sure wtf is going on!











This was my first couple of hours achievement after work on day1 night

got a fullday to spend on it to today and this is what i found.















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So after pulling the engine out and stripping it down this is what i found.

Now it appears some one has been running this car for a long time with no antifreeze the amount of corrosion on the water jacket side of the liner and blocks are pretty dam corroded at some point there is less then 50% of the thickness left.

Now wtf do i do !!!! looks like i need a new block or see if some one can possibly weld this one back up not sure what to do as i need car on road asap ive onlt got till end of next week to get it back running !!


apart from that everything else is sweet as a nut ! crank is good piston are spot on same as rods, even the bores had perfect cross hatchings all the way through cant fault anything else apart from the corrosion!


oo the only bad thing is that the bolts that held the two case halves together are f*cked well the ones that were in the water jacket were had to use bolt extractors to get them out as the heads were too corroded


Update !!
Ok So a little update !

Took blocks down to my local machine shop and they said yeah no problem but will be expensive. which is what i thought just locking at it it is a hella of a lot to weld and then skim back.

So 2nd plan ive sourced another block, v4 block its only slightly knocking but i dont car cos i got all fresh internals to put in, put im getting full short block cranks \pistons inc , not bad for £120 delivered will be here monday!!

So back to machine shop gave them my crank and heads and also my new valve stem seals and they gonna give the crank a quick polish, skim my heads and also put my new vale stem seals in and lap the valves in for me. Also will be ready monday !

So today was spent cleaning a lot of parts and degreasing and painting.
So far cam covers are now nice clean been gone over with wire wheel and repainted in a nice silver engine enamel .

Got to clean up subframe looks very nice and shiny now ! started to clean up arches and under battery.


Really wanted to attack driveshafts and rear hubs tommorow but they have not turned up yet been waiting a while for them . hopefully soon tho.

But ill put my nice shiny new cdf racing droplinks on tommoro and clean some more.

Its surprising how shiny you can make the manifold with just a wire wheel on a drill


also a bonus a mate who was gonna do a rebuild a year or so ago had a set of new case bolts he said i can have them

Todays Doings
Well today was very much a clean day and prepare.

Got all thee manifold shiny cleaned the injectors and rails cleaned all the fuel rails, replaced fuel filter. cleanes sides of engine bay more, sorted the cams folloewers and caps cleaned them all cleaned out the hydraulic lifters.

cleaned all the front covers put all new seals on the covers.

everything is now ready to put back on and build up. Cant wait!















Ok SO got new block today and stripped it down pistons are good and so are the rods well one had rod knock but i dont care as i have my other set of good rods pistons and crank. but other than that the block is shaweet , fairly clean also anyhow, cleaned all the internals of the block, put my new acl race bearing ins oiled and them put my graphogen grease on also to protect, put the crank back in the rods back in with new acl bearings also put all new block seals on and also used threebond sealant for the block and but the halves back together, rebolted. Picked up my heads from machine shop looking awesome, been skimmed degreased and had new valve seals put in and reground in.

Still waiting on piston rings so time to paint

Painted all the block up and also painted the heads today also.

Waiting on rings to finish.







So did some more down the garage today, my rings should be here tomorrow so i can finally finish her but today i pulled all the block apart and deglazed the bores cleaned again and rebuilt the block back up checking all clearances and also plastigauge and everything is spot on.

Also got my new clutch today and boy does it look nice against the skimmed flywheel, Subaru half moons for the heads also arrived to day, just waiting on rings now ! and tommorow hopefully i can finish it and have my car back!









Btw this is me!







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Blimey mate , you don't hang about .
Looks like a great rebuild you've done there .

[riiidaa]

Originally Posted by donsjapwrx

The National Television Awards just rang, they want their car back!!




Good work by the way.

[Gavsti555]

Looking good mate done my engine last summer. Had same problem with corrosion on the block but was only charged £240 to weld up with both block and heads skimmed and 0.5mm rebore for the cossie pistons

[SpecB]

Pretty quick turn around there! Good job and nice looking finish.

[donsjapwrx]

Lol Thanks guys, Yeah i gota do it quick as i was on a time constraint as i gotta do a 400 mile trip for work up to sheffield and back on sunday ! tracking currently shows my rings are on there way! so im just waiting for them then i can go back down the garage and finish it hopefully get it back in today ! I got qouted the same price for my block too ,where did you go btw. I got another v3 block as they were the same and it was quicker for me to get this than get the block rewelded but im gonna keep it may get it done in the future for some mad project that im sure i will concoct !

[Gavsti555]

Highland court farm near dover

[donsjapwrx]

Right in she goes!













1 problemo

I timed it wrong , Doh ! In my haste i put the crank sprocket with the triangle to the mark and not line , classic newb mistake but o well take covers off tomorrow and re time ...
this time Correctly!

[Gavsti555]

It works better with the correct timing lol

[donsjapwrx]

Ok Little update.

So after rebuild upon first start all was ok untill you revved it the tiniest bit then you could hear a knock from No.1 piston.

Back out she came.

After much checking, re-checking and checking some more i spotted some thing on the head ......

A stamped letter R and B hmmm ok so now checked piston protrusion to block all protded about 015 thou, check the head gasket hmm 020 thou clearly not enough thickness or tolerances , so the head gasket i was supplied with was 0.5mm (020Thou) thus this allowed for the piston to just tap the head.

After much arguing with supplier he supplied me a new headgasket this time 1.4 mm (055thou) thus now giving me enough clearance. so while i was arguing with suppliers and getting new gaskets i also ordered some new goodies.

Ive now got some new injectors 440s and phase 2 rails
A simtec ecu with launch ctrl and anti lag
Walbro 255 pump
FMIC
New adjustable FPR with gauge
An6 fittings all round and elbows for all corners
AN6 fuel rails ends inc fpr convertor
Stainless steel braided hose.
Now gone parralel fuel setup also.

so now with all that to go on as well i have been busy !

So Its all rebuilt now and ready to fire up tommorow when i have some new anti freeze and see how she goes. !!








FMIC not fitted yet but will be, took the car out for a lil 50 mile drive put some fresh v power in, car felt lovely the handleing is really nice and positive with the new cdf droplinks and the engine omg its so nice now smooth free and boy is there now a nice load of power under the loud pedal!

Im so happy and thankful that through all my hard work work what i have now achieved and got im really happy. !

still plenty more to go, need to keep my eyes out for a ncie clean shell now

[Hongkongfooi]

Very impressive matey

[Tomma]

A lot of hard work is clearly paying off! Good work!

[asperformance]

early cars all use the 1.4mm gasket and later cars 0.7........

[donsjapwrx]

yeah this was my argument with supplier as he supplied the one for the later cars! anyway all sorted now !

[AndyWRX]

Glad you got it sorted mate