Nigel's Daily Driver.

[Guest]

I thought I'd start a new project thread for the strip down and rebuild of "Steve's" car.

For those of you that don't know this car, it "was" a bit of a beast, producing around 350 hp "allegedly". That was until a very wet day last October when Steve entered a very deep puddle at the same time as an oncoming van. Basically the van pushed a wake of water into the inlet tract and the rest was history.

Roll on to February this year and for a number of reasons Steve decided to sell the car, and I was the lucky bleeder who bought it.

The car isliterally loaded with goodies, that we all would like for our cars, most of all me!! I need a million tuning parts for my Rocket Bunny project, this ar has a few of them.

I will post up a strip down and rebuild of this car, basically returning it to stock, and also put up some pics and info on the engine rebuild.

I now have the engine bearings from Fensport, and a genuine Subaru gasket kit, so the motor rebuild can begin!!

[Guest]

As promised, I have some pics now of the car and its parts..

Here we have the lovely Cosworth brakes.. looking a little sorry for themselves as they've seen no action since October.

Whilst transferring all the stock rear suspension components into the car I removed the exhaust system. This is one big Mother of an exhaust!!! It's a JDL manifold back system that measures 3" all the way...

I may sell this if I can find a single exit system that doesn't require a remortgage!!

[JamesP1991 222]

Is that the same JDL from over the pond?

Their manifolds have quite a good reputation over there too on the U.S. forum, it's just such a shame they are quite expensive!

React well to a remap too

[Guest]

Yes James, it is the American company. I have the full exhaust, a spare brand new back box and the full JDL Turbo kit.

I am currently toying with the idea of using this kit on my RB project and selling the AVO stage 4 kit on?????

Things are getting ridiculous.. I have the JDL Turbo kit, the AVO stage 4 kit, a brand new JDL Back box, brand new Perrin cat back and the used JDL 3" manifold back system.

[JamesP1991 222]

Hmmm In regards to the tuning potential, does the stage 4 avo have a higher capacity to hit bigger numbers or is the JDL a better prospect? Not read up much on the JDL turbo kits so couldn't offer my opinion on it!

Does the JDL kit use Garrett turbos? As I can imagine you can chop and change Garrett turbos depending on how much power or lag you want.

A nice dilemma to have nevertheless!

[Tim Radley 18]

As promised, I have some pics now of the car and its parts..

Here we have the lovely Cosworth brakes.. looking a little sorry for themselves as they've seen no action since October.

Whilst transferring all the stock rear suspension components into the car I removed the exhaust system. This is one big Mother of an exhaust!!! It's a JDL manifold back system that measures 3" all the way...

I may sell this if I can find a single exit system that doesn't require a remortgage!!

Swap for mine?

[Special K 442]

Nige -  cost for brakes?

 

Swap my 17" kit.

 

Spec K

[Guest]

Sorry Keith,

The brakes arent for sale, they were the main reason I bought the car.

[GT86Jay 202]

Nige -  cost for brakes?

 

Swap my 17" kit.

 

Spec K

 

Swap your 17" kit!?!?! 

You're going 18" ?

[smudge 1020]

I'm sure you want to sell me the wheels Nige, despite what you said over PM the other week

 

What manifold is on Steve's (your) car?

[Guest]

I'm sure you want to sell me the wheels Nige, despite what you said over PM the other week

 

What manifold is on Steve's (your) car?

I actually don't want to sell the wheels to anyone Smudge!!

The exhaust manifold is a JDL turbo kit one, ceramic coated and very well made. That's not for sale either as I'm toying with the idea of using it on my RB project and selling on the AVO kit.. though I'll more than likely change my mind tomorrow :P

[Tim Radley 18]

I actually don't want to sell the wheels to anyone Smudge!!

The exhaust manifold is a JDL turbo kit one, ceramic coated and very well made. That's not for sale either as I'm toying with the idea of using it on my RB project and selling on the AVO kit.. though I'll more than likely change my mind tomorrow :P

RB kit?  Sounds like we need to discuss this over a beer

[smudge 1020]

I actually don't want to sell the wheels to anyone Smudge!!

The exhaust manifold is a JDL turbo kit one, ceramic coated and very well made. That's not for sale either as I'm toying with the idea of using it on my RB project and selling on the AVO kit.. though I'll more than likely change my mind tomorrow :P

 

Boooooo!

 

The manifold isn't 3" is it?

[Guest]

Here we have the car in its latest guise.. It's getting more stock with each passing day....

Note all the suspension parts are now stock, as are the brakes.

Not a bad looking car for a Cat C write off eh??

[Pitman 188]

Have you started the engine re-build yet, Nige?

[Guest]

Have you started the engine re-build yet, Nige?

Yes and No Dave.. just honed the bores tonight and am currently checking ring gaps. I have done the bearing work on the mains, each one is now less than a thou clearance. This motor will make good pressure!!

Onced I've done the big end clearances, I'll get it all cleaned and chuck it back together.

[Guest]

I have now started the rebuild of the engine and currently have a short block on my stand.

I have taken a few pictures on the way and will happily put together a build log to show you all how these little boxers go together, if there's any interest that is....

Please let me know if you would like to see this, it will take a lot of typing up and don't want to waste my time if no ones gonna read it!!

[Keethos 842]

I think I speak for quite a few people here that we'd all love to see your engine build, many of us have no experience doing anything like this so it will be very educational for us, especially on an 86

[Tareim 343]

I'd definitely be interested in a build log of the engine

[Guest]

Okey dokey, will do then. I'm no expert, but I do have some experience of a few rebuilds.

BTW, some people are going to hate me for this, but Steves car is now totally stock. There is not a single modified part on it now!!

She's still on axle stands, wheel less and going nowhere. I can't bring myself to get shot of the wheels and tyres, so they'll go back on, probably with a set of Fensport lowering springs. She looks like a 4x4 on stock height!

One thing I would like to say is that the KW/Weitec ARB's are not well made. They have been on the car for no time and are already showing signs of bubbling under the paint, cracking of the paint and the split alignment collars are rotten.

Given the choice of ARB's, I'd look elsewhere!!

[Mark-in-Stoke 488]

mobiles!!! D'oh Double post again

See below

[Mark-in-Stoke 488]

Sir, Which is my desk? and by the way this is my favourite class.

[Pitman 188]

I have now started the rebuild of the engine and currently have a short block on my stand.

I have taken a few pictures on the way and will happily put together a build log to show you all how these little boxers go together, if there's any interest that is....

Please let me know if you would like to see this, it will take a lot of typing up and don't want to waste my time if no ones gonna read it!!

 

I would definitely like to see the build log - it may give me some pointers when I come to build my race Yaris engine.  It has been a while since I last built a race engine :-(

[nikndel 509]

 I may have missed this but what was the actual damage caused by the water to the engine?

[Guest]

I may have missed this but what was the actual damage caused by the water to the engine?

The damage to any engine normally entails broken pistons and rods, but can also cause more serious damage...

In the case of this one, the pistons were all damaged, where the top ring had sheared the aluminium piston material down to the second ring and the rods were bent.

I haven't actually seen the damage as the parts have been used for tests, so I don't actually have them. I have clocked the crank, and all seems fine but I will be doing a deck height to piston check tonight, just to make sure..

So, how do I do this rebuild thing.. I shall start here and go over the many stages of how I do the work. Some will think I'm OTT, some will think I don't do enough. One thing we must remember, this is "Only" a road car engine and will not be getting tuned, so every part going into it is standard, My project engine on the other hand is a completely different story...

Before any inspection can take place, the whole thing must be cleaned thoroughly to remove external grit and debris and internal oil and any possible debris from the damage. One thing I will say her is that unusually, I actually haven't stripped this engine. It was done by Dave at Fensport, so he could analyse just what had been damaged and what was salvageable. I would like to thank Dave for his professionalism in bagging and labelling all the parts and nuts and bolts. He's made my life a lot easier..

So, here we have the main casings and head castings. The bores have been honed gently to bust the glaze off them, giving the new rings a better chance of seating.

Note that the heads have the guide seals still fitted.. before removing these have a look at them, they are not cheap and are not included in the gasket kit from Subaru.

Now we must check our bearing clearances. The main bearings in the block and the big ends are all done the same way, with plastigauge. This is basically a strip of plastic that is very thin and very accurately manufactured. You lay the strip on the bearing or crank, here we can see the strip laying on a big end bearing crank pin.

Now the bearing cap is fitted and the bearings are torqued down. The plastic is squashed between the bearing shell and crank pin, giving a clearance indication...

We can see that the clearance lies somewhere between .045 and .050mm. This is too near top limit for me, so new bearings were obtained from Fensport and the clearances checked again. This time we had a better clearance, between .030 and .040mm.

As mentioned earlier, exactly the same process is done on the Main bearings.

Now we move on to checking the pistons and rings.

Luckily my engine in my project car has B graded bores, as does this one, so my pistons and rods could be used. The assemblies were stripped for a check of the bearing clearances, ring gaps and gudgeon pin condition.

All was good condition wise, but then it should be.... these pistons and rods have done 150 miles and not over 4000 rpm!!

To check the ring gaps we need to push the ring into the bore using a piston, to keep the ring square and level.

The gap is then checked using feeler gauges. The top ring gap is specified at .2 to .3mm from memory...

My top ring gaps were all around the .008" mark, (8 thou) so are all right down near bottom limit. This is all going good so far!!

On the subject of pistons and rods, they are not to be just "thrown in". They are different right to left... note the different shaped dimples. These marks show forward direction.

Also ALL the rings are different. The top ring, second ring and top oil ring must only be fitted one way up. Here is a typical "Up" mark on a top (compression) ring.

The bottom oil ring can go either way up, but must not be put in place of the top oil ring.. always check your manual before fitting rings to pistons.

So, that's it for now. Next we'll begin on assembly...