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Progress has been slow and time has been short lately, but I've almost got the water pump off and got all the seals I need. The water pump was incredibly stuck, I got out every bolt in the FSM and felt around for any extras that might be there and nothing, on there tight. Careful application of a MAP torch and deadblow hammer has loosened it up quite a bit, but it needs a bit more and I ran out of time. I still need to write up the truck progress when I get some time but it's currently safe to drive, just in need of new shocks. The bolts are incredibly rusted so repeated PB blaster application and a high torque impact are going to be needed. I've been driving it occasionally just to get used to driving it and to make sure the battery stays topped up. I had improving the exhaust on the eventual to-do list on it but every time I hear the engine rev with the current restrictive lovely 30-year-old exhaust I hear dad pulling into the driveway after work so I might leave it as long as I can.
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May 20, 2022 05:29
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I've taken advantage of the three day weekend to get some work done. Water pump replaced, thermostat replaced, hoses coming off the water pump replaced, hoping to get the belt on tomorrow and maybe even turn it over by hand to check timing if the weather cooperates. It has been raining on and off all weekend so I've been working dressed like my avatar. I'm considering cranking it to see if it runs before I put the radiator back on, is running for 5-10 seconds without coolant going to gently caress anything? I'm thinking that shouldn't be enough time to heat anything significantly but also I could be completely wrong. The radiator is likely to be one of the last things I put back on because having it out gives me so much more room to put all the accessories back on.
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May 30, 2022 07:39
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22 Eargesplitten posted:I've taken advantage of the three day weekend to get some work done. Water pump replaced, thermostat replaced, hoses coming off the water pump replaced, hoping to get the belt on tomorrow and maybe even turn it over by hand to check timing if the weather cooperates. It has been raining on and off all weekend so I've been working dressed like my avatar. Top fuel dragsters don't have radiators or coolant. You'll be fine for at least 30 seconds at idle.
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May 30, 2022 14:33
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You can run it for a little while without coolant, assuming a cold start. It'll take a little time for the block to get some heat into it. Up to a minute or two should be safe assuming low rpm and low load. I've moved cars with a friend around his shop with no coolant to no ill effect.
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May 30, 2022 16:38
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You're fine running it for a couple of minutes here and there, just don't drive it. You can safely move it between parking spaces and in/out of of a garage.
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May 30, 2022 19:04
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Good to know, thanks. No luck on getting the belt back on today, I can't find the timing gear/ crankshaft gear / whatever you want to call it. I'm pretty sure I didn't throw it away given that I apparently didn't throw away all of the other idlers and the old belt, so I need to dig around more to find it. Another problem: the Legacy GT water pump that I got because I couldn't find a SVX pump at the time has an ever so slightly differently shaped housing so I have had to shave away at the edge of the rear timing cover to get it to fit. There's also no spot for the last rear timing cover bolt to attach, which is causing the cover to flex out and cause some interference between one of the idler sprockets and the rear timing cover plastic. So I need to figure out what to do there. This is just nerve-wracking doing this work on a rare engine, I think once I get this done I'm going to pay someone to work on this particular car from here on out, I'd much rather learn by screwing up on a 350 or EJ22 than a low mileage engine of which only a few thousand probably exist at this point. It's not helping how long it takes either, that makes it easier to lose parts.
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May 31, 2022 03:46
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22 Eargesplitten posted:It has been raining on and off all weekend so I've been working dressed like my avatar. Protip: consider buying a 10x10 pop-up canopy. I use one for both "have to work on it in the rain" and "OH GOD THE TEXAS SUN IS ATTMEPTING TO MURDER ME" because my garage is full of crap rather than the cars I'm working on. 22 Eargesplitten posted:This is just nerve-wracking doing this work on a rare engine, I think once I get this done I'm going to pay someone to work on this particular car from here on out, I'd much rather learn by screwing up on a 350 or EJ22 than a low mileage engine of which only a few thousand probably exist at this point. It's not helping how long it takes either, that makes it easier to lose parts. Obviously you should just whack in an EZ30 or EZ36. I'm sure it'll be a simple bolt in. 
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Jun 3, 2022 20:47
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Darchangel posted:Protip: consider buying a 10x10 pop-up canopy. I use one for both "have to work on it in the rain" and "OH GOD THE TEXAS SUN IS ATTMEPTING TO MURDER ME" because my garage is full of crap rather than the cars I'm working on. The only two issues I can think of with an EZ swap besides wiring are motor mounts, which I'm sure you can make a solution for, and if the engine is squat enough to fit under a SVX hood
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Jun 4, 2022 14:41
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Hood bulge, obviously.
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Jun 9, 2022 22:56
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There's also the whole "standalone ECU" thing. I think the EZ30/36 are actually more compact than the EG33 I haven't had any time to do more work the past week or so because of working three jobs so I'm always tired woohoo. Also quit caffeine for a couple weeks because I could drink a Rockstar and then fall asleep half an hour later, I was completely burned out.
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Jun 9, 2022 23:11
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I managed to get the AC recharged on the truck today so it's on track to be ready for a road trip. Still not ice cold but I had it on medium just in case going full blast immediately would risk damaging the system that had been nearly empty for who knows how long. Borrowed my friend's Milwaukee high torque and blasted off one of the shock bolts instantly so that's going to be a lot easier. I'll try to get one or two of them done at lunch tomorrow and see if I can get the rest after work. The truck handles surprisingly well with completely blown out shocks, I'm guessing the absurdly long wheelbase keeps it stable.
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Jun 14, 2022 04:34
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22 Eargesplitten posted:There's also the whole "standalone ECU" thing. I think the EZ30/36 are actually more compact than the EG33 Yeah, it is. They used Siamese’s cylinder walls on the EZ, rather than keeping the bore spacing the same as an EJ, like they did in the EG, so it comes out something like half a cylinder longer than and EJ. Timing chains instead of belt, too. The EZ seems to have conquered both head gasket and timing belt failures, so far as I’ve read. Which is nice, seeing how I own one. The ‘05+ EZ is better interns of flow. Mine has a sort of log exhaust manifold built into the head, with one exit, so no amount of fancy exhaust really does anything. Works for turbocharging I guess. Later EZs have 3 individual exhaust ports per head, so you can use headers. About the only thing you can do for the ‘02-04 is remove or change the muffler. Maybe true duals, if you can find space.
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Jun 14, 2022 06:32
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I know some people were talking about overheating problems on the EZ30 but I think they lived in a very hot part of the country. Something about too small coolant paths and too small of a radiator. It was weird though because before that bit of group knowledge came up in the Subaru thread I hadn't heard anything negative about them at all. The second gen EZ30 is actually slightly more powerful and runs on 87 rather than 91 but I really really don't want to do an engine swap so hopefully I don't have to.
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Jun 14, 2022 07:30
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Yeah, our Outback wanting Premium really annoys me, particularly right now. Could be worse - could be diesel...
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Jun 15, 2022 23:29
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Darchangel posted:Yeah, our Outback wanting Premium really annoys me, particularly right now. Could be worse - could be diesel... Same with my BRZ. On one hand, 94 really bites at $2.50/L. On the other, at least I only put in maybe a tank a month these days. Meanwhile, my dad has apparently put in an order for a 2023 F-350 Platinum with the 6.7L turbodiesel so he can pull a 35 foot trailer 
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Jun 16, 2022 06:04
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Got three of the shocks on the Chevrolet done this evening, need one more and a door handle. The front shocks are really obnoxious to get off, they have shallow-headed bolts that are close enough to hard lines or other suspension components that it's hard to get an impact in on there and the sockets want to just pop off the head. One of the 18mm nuts was so stuck on the bolt that I had to take a MAP torch to it for 2 minutes just to get it to slowly rotate off with the Milwaukee high-torque. The underside of this truck is bad, I think I'm going to just pay people to do any underbody work whenever I can. Speaking of underbody, I need to get a new spare wheel, I got a tire already but looking at the wheel itself I don't trust it to hold weight with how bad the rust bubbles are. It's a full sized spare but I'm not sure how to tell if the mounting thing will work with a new wheel. I have very complicated feelings about this truck. It is a massive piece of poo poo and a pain in the rear end to work on, while simultaneously having a ton of cargo capacity, a seemingly reliable drivetrain, cheap parts, and handles the mountain highways like a champ. 22 Eargesplitten fucked around with this message at 07:33 on Jun 16, 2022 |
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Jun 16, 2022 07:30
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22 Eargesplitten posted:I have very complicated feelings about this truck. It is a massive piece of poo poo and a pain in the rear end to work on, while simultaneously having a ton of cargo capacity, a seemingly reliable drivetrain, cheap parts, and handles the mountain highways like a champ. Boy, ain't that the truth. I feel the same way about mine, only instead of "Pain in the rear end to work on" it's "massive expense to have it worked on". I'm just glad we still have a Fit for our short drives sans-kid.
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Jun 16, 2022 15:41
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I just had a proud moment. Doing the other corner, one of the bolts was so bad that even with 2 solid minutes of MAP torch and the high impact gun it wouldn't break loose. So I got out the 2' breaker bar and instantly broke it loose. Didn't even have to do a deadlift or anything, just basically a one-handed incline bench. Maybe that means I need to recharge the m18's battery, IDK. It says it has 3 bars but I'm not sure how fast torque drops off.
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Jun 16, 2022 21:58
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Impacts are great but distance (force*distance=torque) is sometimes what the doctor ordered for big or really stuck stuff. Grats
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Jun 17, 2022 00:13
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Updates without pictures: the last part that it turns out I need for the SVX is supposed to show up today after having to order it from Canada but I need to JB Weld and drill a new hole in the rear right-side timing cover, there's a crack causing the gasket to fall out. Is there a particular type of JB weld that would be best for that? Also, I got the shocks replaced on the truck which was good since I had to tow, these Monomax struts are nice for that. Maybe could have used a step stiffer but it's not too bad, just a bit bouncy and I spend a lot more time with a few hundred pounds in the bed than a few thousand hanging off the hitch. I need to put a new muffler on though, while I was underneath I saw someone must have cut off the muffler thinking it was the cat. I'd kind of like to get a whole new exhaust because the pipe is rusty, the 30 year old cat is probably clogged up, and a new high flow cat and a better collector could probably improve flow to give me a bit more power, but that will be expensive so for now just the muffler. I also noticed that my parking brake isn't coming all the way back up by itself after having a hard time getting it engaged after towing, I hope I didn't mess up the brakes somehow. I kept it well under the rated weight for the truck so I'd think it shouldn't be a problem with brand new brakes. Is it possible to stick weld exhaust pipe or do you need to TIG weld it? I've been meaning to learn to weld but stick is apparently easier, might be a fun project to DIY at some point in the future when I'm not so busy.
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Jul 25, 2022 21:49
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TIG is overkill unless you want pretty exhaust, can be done with stick (thin rods, relatively low amps, I'd guess,) but MIG is the usual go-to for bog standard exhaust work. Exhaust tends to be fairly thing, but thicker than body panels. edit: personally, I tend to use 360-degree band clamps at muffler connections. The can be had in overlap or butt connection styles. These are for one-tube-fits-inside-the-other connections:  Like so:  The butt connection ones are the same size all the way down, of course. These work really well, without crimping the pipe, making it fairly easy to separate the components later. Darchangel fucked around with this message at 22:47 on Jul 25, 2022 |
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Jul 25, 2022 22:41
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I got the timing belt on, and it's lining up after rotating through 4 times like in the FSM. Downside: I need to pull it again in order to get the rear timing cover on one side back on, I had to JB weld part of it that cracked at the gasket and it took way longer than on the package to cure. But at least now I know how to set it up, so that's good.
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Jul 28, 2022 03:08
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gently caress, the Legacy GT water pump I got is a no-go, it doesn't stick out as far from the block so the timing cover interferes with the belt going to it, and the angle makes it try to come off the sprocket after it. So I guess I'm buying a new water pump and going back to that step.
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Jul 29, 2022 01:00
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Ah gently caress, that sucks.
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Jul 29, 2022 05:39
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Darchangel posted:Yeah, it is. They used Siamese’s cylinder walls on the EZ, rather than keeping the bore spacing the same as an EJ, like they did in the EG, so it comes out something like half a cylinder longer than and EJ. Timing chains instead of belt, too. The EZ seems to have conquered both head gasket and timing belt failures, so far as I’ve read. Which is nice, seeing how I own one. The ‘05+ EZ is better interns of flow. Mine has a sort of log exhaust manifold built into the head, with one exit, so no amount of fancy exhaust really does anything. Works for turbocharging I guess. Later EZs have 3 individual exhaust ports per head, so you can use headers. About the only thing you can do for the ‘02-04 is remove or change the muffler. Maybe true duals, if you can find space. 22 Eargesplitten posted:I know some people were talking about overheating problems on the EZ30 but I think they lived in a very hot part of the country. Something about too small coolant paths and too small of a radiator. It was weird though because before that bit of group knowledge came up in the Subaru thread I hadn't heard anything negative about them at all. The second gen EZ30 is actually slightly more powerful and runs on 87 rather than 91 but I really really don't want to do an engine swap so hopefully I don't have to. Oh boy my favorite motor to rant on. When they talk about EJ motors having HG issues, that's mostly garbage, they dont. However the EZ30 absolutly *does* and anything beyond 150K kms is a time bomb. The issue (that got fixed in the EZ36) is the motor and heads warp due to the head gaskets not allowing enough coolant flow around the cylinders and heads. The whole cooling system is also just not good enough, the motor itself runs distinctly hotter than other NA Subarus. This head gasket design flaw was fixed int he EZ36. Sweet motor otherwise but good god the head gasket issue is real, it's a huge one and it will absolutly gently caress the motor... and more to the point it's blindling obvious that Subaru shouldnever have done such a lunatic cooling passthrough that lets so little coolant circulate.
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Jul 29, 2022 06:12
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Yeah, you showed me pictures a while ago in the Subaru thread. I ended up buying a GMB water pump and am getting it express shipped from Rockauto which is massive  but I need to get this thing moving in the next couple weeks and the other option is flat towing around the block with someone in the SVX steering which wouldn't be the worst thing in the world except the entire block is a hill. I live far enough out from anywhere that shipping times are always a problem. I could get the O'Reilly's a day sooner and for significantly cheaper but I don't trust their store brand with something that is so difficult to get to and that can fail so suddenly. I also got an OEM water pump gasket since apparently that's a weak spot on a lot of them, the OEM is metal but the aftermarket ones use a paper gasket.I really expected to get this thing cranked over today, so that was frustrating.
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Jul 29, 2022 06:18
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CAT INTERCEPTOR posted:Oh boy my favorite motor to rant on. Well thanks for ruining my day.
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Jul 29, 2022 16:45
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New timing belt and water pump are on, I'm going to try to crank it over this evening once it's not so hot and if that works I'll put the accessories back on. If it's running rough, it's a non-interference engine so I'll probably just take it to the shop to do it right, this whole process has sucked and been nerve-wracking and I'm going to pay a pro to do it right from here on out. I punctured my AC condenser when pulling the old water pump off, which really sucks. I need to see if there are any condensers that will fit out there and then take it to the shop that does AC to fix it because I'm not going to try that myself.
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Aug 6, 2022 23:53
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New timing belt and water pump are on, I'm going to try to crank it over this evening once it's not so hot and if that works I'll put the accessories back on. If it's running rough, it's a non-interference engine so I'll probably just take it to the shop to do it right, this whole process has sucked and been nerve-wracking and I'm going to pay a pro to do it right from here on out. I punctured my AC condenser when pulling the old water pump off, which really sucks. Just smacked it with the water pump while pulling the hoses off. Is that something that can generally be welded by a repair shop or is that a full replacement? I can see where I hit it but I don't see a huge gaping hole, I think I just cracked a fin.
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Aug 7, 2022 00:08
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Did the magic gas leak out? If so it's usually better to just replace it. But that also depends on part availability. There's an AC thread in here that's an excellent source for info about that stuff, and I'm no expert.
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Aug 7, 2022 00:31
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22 Eargesplitten posted:New timing belt and water pump are on, I'm going to try to crank it over this evening once it's not so hot and if that works I'll put the accessories back on. If it's running rough, it's a non-interference engine so I'll probably just take it to the shop to do it right, this whole process has sucked and been nerve-wracking and I'm going to pay a pro to do it right from here on out. Folks who also have old sprinters on the internet have used jbweld with great success, fwiw. Just smear it on the crack.
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Aug 7, 2022 04:01
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If you hit the fins your choices range from "lol ignore it" to "straighten them as best you can with a radiator fin comb", if you actually punctured a tube, oh you'll know. It'll at least spew some gas, liquid refrigerant, and or nasty refrigeration oil out of the hole if it has even the slightest of a charge remaining. If it is leaking and it's an NLA part you can usually have a qualified shop braze it up but if it's still available just buy a new one, they're usually less than an hour of shop time. You can also jbweld it but the system needs to be empty, ideally with a vacuum applied, while doing so, or you'll just blow bubbles in the jbweld, and if it's empty you might as well be fixing it right or putting a new one in, IMO.
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Aug 7, 2022 09:30
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Oh yeah I let the magic gas out. No liquid as far as I could tell, but hissing for like 15 minutes and I could see the air which generally isn't good. I might call the reputable welder I know in town and see if he could fix it and just take it to him before I put the radiator back on, since it seems like it's way easier to get to the condenser when the radiator's not on. Bright side this is a '94 so it might be the first year with 134 instead of R12, which means it's actually feasible to get it fixed up. The condenser itself is NLA since of course it's not compatible with any other Subaru parts. I could probably 3d print brackets to make something else fit but I'd rather not deal with that headache if I can avoid it.
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Aug 7, 2022 12:23
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Yep that was the magic gas. The one thing you will have to sort whether you fix or replace is the receiver dryer. It's a canister of desiccant that's a one shot. It removes any water introduced into the system. Refrigerant plus water iirc forms an acid and it's bad. Ask here. https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3970674&pagenumber=5&perpage=40 Motronic is the AI ac guy and if I was in your situation this is where I'd start.
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Aug 7, 2022 15:11
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Alright, posted in there. Next problem I'm having is that my keys fell off the carabiner I 3d printed a while ago and despite scouring my entire home I can't seem to find them. I'm going to try a bit more (I'm moving soon anyway so I'm clearing everything out) but if that fails I guess I'm going to have to pay a locksmith a few hundred dollars to replace the keys. I've got separate keys for the ignition and the locks, I assume the ignition switch failed at some point or something so that got replaced and the locks aren't the same anymore. This whole thing has been super frustrating and it's even worse because I know that I shouldn't shell out for all season tires while I've got other big planned expenses so it will be sitting on the snow tires until October or so when it's cold enough to start driving on them again.
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Aug 7, 2022 18:57
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You can drive on snow tires in warm weather. They suck at it and wear super fast but aren't going to explode or anything. Fine though to test and keep everything form siezing up.
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Aug 7, 2022 22:32
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Yeah I just mean that I won't be doing long drives or driving it regularly, which is sad because I really enjoy driving it.
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Aug 7, 2022 22:40
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Bad news: I need to take off the timing belt and water pump again. Good news: It's because the parts from the Subaru dealership that I thought were a no-show showed up yesterday, including a metal water pump gasket and a timing cover that doesn't have holes in it from the idlers self-destructing. I've also got a new lock cylinder at the auto parts store, I decided that's better at this point than hoping to find the keys that I'm pretty sure fell through one of the many cracks in my house since I need to get this thing moved this weekend. I considered seeing if the dealership could cut a new key if I provided the VIN and proof of ownership but I realized that since the lock key is already different than the ignition key, it was probably changed already so that wouldn't do me any good. I can't find any videos of changing the cylinder on an SVX but on a similar year Legacy it looks like it's as simple as popping off the steering column cover, pushing in a pin, and sliding out the lock cylinder. So here's hoping that works.
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Aug 9, 2022 18:09
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I got the new water pump gasket on and the new timing cover on, feels good to be ready to start buttoning this thing back up. Now the problem I'm facing is that it has been about 5 months since I was at this stage of disassembly so I'm playing a big game of "where the gently caress is that bolt?" I'm considering just buying a big assortment of m6 and m8 flange bolts off the internet since those seem to be the most frequently lost ones, for example the couple dozen underbody cladding trim bolts that I'm hoping I will find in a box somewhere. Fake edit: I looked at McMaster Carr, would I be looking for "JIS" bolts since it's a Japanese vehicle? I look at that and suddenly M10 bolts are 14mm rather than the 15mm that they seem to be by US standards so that might be it?
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Aug 11, 2022 05:04
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| # ? Apr 25, 2024 06:57 |
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yeah JIS has to do with the relationship between drive size and thread size and pitch. there are also german standards which dont completely align with jis or the american stuff like you point out, 10mm has a 14mm head in jis and 8mm has a 12mm, which hosed me up when my brother replaced his metric dodge with a toyota so all the drive sizes changed on me
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Aug 11, 2022 07:14
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