Looks like we'll be building our motor...

The last couple of weeks have been more prep for the kit arrival, which is starting to creep up on us- equal parts exciting and worrying, as we seem to be keeping plenty busy, even before the surprises.

The EJ motors have a Tumble Generator Valve that improves cold emissions, but the rest of the time is just a substantial blocked section of airflow from the intake manifold to the heads. There are a few ways to remove them, we're removing the butterfly & diverter casting, but leaving the rods, motors, and sensors in for now. It'll prevent any more complicated CELs, so we won't have trouble getting it on the road.

For reference,
EJ205: Standard 02 WRX type engine. 2.0L
EJ257: Later STi engine. 2.5L
The hybrid build uses 205 heads, 257 shortblock.
This allows for an easier mesh with the old computer system, as well as potentially improved flow relative to the 2.5L heads. You still get the improved torque of the 2.5L.

Continuing with our improvements, we bought an EJ257 oil pan, which helps retain and scavenge oil for higher reliability under high cornering Gs. The factory service manual dictates using RTV as gasket, and oh boy was the EJ205 one on there well. The previous owner must have installed it from his old engine.  Spent a bit of time with a putty knife & dead blow hammer going around the outside, then gave the corner of the oil pan a few good whacks, and it came off.

We lifted it off to immediate disappointment. The previous owner had indicated a Killer B brand oil pickup was installed, as the factory oil pickups are prone to cracking, starving the engine of oil, and resulting in spun bearings. Nope. Factory. Crap.

We pretty quickly decided that this meant it was time to dig in deeper, and find out what else was missing.

The leaky side valve cover was going to be coming off anyway, so we started there. He had mentioned in person, but not in writing, that there were ARP head studs installed. Nope. Ok, time to go find the factory service manual for pulling the heads.

Yesterday morning we went down to tackle that job. Getting the cam gear/pulleys off was a bit of a pain, as the FSM specifies removing the timing belt first. We wound up using a creative routing, and a pair of vise grips to lock the cams in a safe location, then yarding on the allen bolt with a 3' breaker bar. All came off without tooo much trouble, but the first pair took quite a lot longer than the second pair. Experience, I guess.

Those removed, we pulled the camshafts, keeping close track of which bolt, guide/bearing, etc belongs to each location. Next was the head bolts, which needed the 12 point sockets I'd picked up a few days ago. Heads lifted off easily after a few hammer taps. Rotate the engine stand, rinse, repeat.

We inspected the pistons, compared lots of pictures online, and determined they were OEM 257 pistons, not the JE low compression pistons that are crucial to a safe hybrid build (noticing a trend)?

Heads were also not machined to match the bore of the 2.5L block. Doesn't seem this is as crucial, but again not as advertised.

Today is a dreary sunday, so we're spending a bit of time researching parts, determining the best build options for a high-revving hybrid motor with moderate power goals. We've officially kissed our old target build cost goodbye (unless we wring some money out of the previous owner), so we're going to do it right this time, rather than running whatever we had until it popped.

If any of the readers have experience with these builds, please chime in.

Parts Parts Parts.. And vacation!

I've been absolutely awful about updates lately, for a couple reasons.

1, Sanding, sandblasting, de-greasing, and brake-parts-cleaning things isn't very exciting.

2, We also just got back from a week long roadtrip vacation in "Frog" our Miata up through Maine, New Brunswick, and around Nova Scotia, including the Cabot Trail. We had a great time, and thoroughly enjoyed the seafood!

Now that we're back, things are starting to come together.
We got our Group N motor & transmission mounts, TGV to intake & block gaskets, Injector seals, OBX "front" LSD, placed a massive Subaru OEM parts order- STi Oil pan, valve cover gaskets, CV joint boots, lots of exhaust related gaskets, etc etc.

We also have finally been making progress on cleaning up parts in a way that feels rewarding. All the calipers are cleaned and painted with the VHT caliper paint, which looks great!

 The axle parts are all cleaned out from LOTS of old grease packed in there. Hint: Degreaser & a rag first, then when it's almost all out, use WD-40 as a solvent to finish, it worked better than brake parts cleaner to thin the grease.

We also painted the OEM header with another VHT product.  Before & After:

We also took another trip up to FFR to check out the new options, sit in the 818S that wasn't available last time we were there, and see the new red R car.
We knew we needed to get a better idea of what to expect with the kit, and it was a valuable trip.

Things we figured out:

• Wipers are an option, not included. We'll probably have a go at setting up our own, but FFR's kit looks pretty nice.
• The trunk kit is decent sized, and most of the way ready. We'll probably make our own to fit around the AWIC kit that we've decided to go with.
• Body panels are not perfect, but they're pretty good. We think we'll be OK with some wrap.
• Seating and steering positions are pretty good for us, for me, I'll need a rather low seat mount to pass the "broomstick" rule. 
• Kits will be coming with the "old" gas tank for a while still.
• Shifter as delivered isn't mushy at all, if anything, it's a bit too mechanical feeling, it'll take some time to get used to. It also sits really high if you don't undermount it in the tunnel.