Reubens Engine Transplant an Single Turbo Conversion

Alrighty, i thought i should post up progress of my project here too, just for the sake of it.

 

My JDM 98 GTB blew it's bottom end last week some time, so i'm taking the opportunity to go STi. At this stage i don't know if i'm going with V7 STi (MY01) short block, Or rebuilt closed deck short block. And i just found my heads may be rooted as well, so i may have to get rebuilt longblock, or find some V3 STi (MY97) heads (not that hard in NZ)

 

Quick question, do you know your STi's in the US by model year or version? It's all Version number in NZ (JDM), but i've put up MY next to them.

 

Anyway, took a day and a half, bloody twin turbo's have very cramped engine bays, this will be fixed though! VF39 power is coming very soon!

 

 

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa208/Pilot_Reuben/hoist.jpg

 

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa208/Pilot_Reuben/enginelift.jpg

 

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa208/Pilot_Reuben/engineout.jpg

 

I make it look EASY. And don't mind the 8 ton crane for lifting 100kg of engine, thats all they had at the hire place

 

 

 

And i found where my Big Eng Bearing got to....

 

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa208/Pilot_Reuben/sumpplug.jpg

 

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa208/Pilot_Reuben/sumpplug2.jpg

ouch! sucks about your engine going all to crap... look like it's gonna be an awesome setup once you get it done tho! i dont know about anyone else, but i keep the engines together with body style and yr.

 

keep up the good work!

Captains log.. February 18th..

This is Reuben here...i have identified the problem with my exhaust..seems that the gearbox crossmember/mount is conflicting with the single turb downpipe, the cure reportedly is a crossmember from a N/A leprocy..

i will investigate further..in the mean time..my car has FAILED!!

 

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa208/Pilot_Reuben/downpipes.jpg

 

 

 

 

In other news. I have picked up my turbo... and the light weight flywheel has arrived.

 

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa208/Pilot_Reuben/VF39.jpg

 

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa208/Pilot_Reuben/flywheel.jpg

Had my mate Ryan over this evening (Mechanic for a subie dealership), pictures speak louder than words

 

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa208/Pilot_Reuben/engine1.jpg

 

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa208/Pilot_Reuben/engine2.jpg

 

Heads

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa208/Pilot_Reuben/heads.jpg

 

Shortblock

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa208/Pilot_Reuben/shortblock.jpg

 

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa208/Pilot_Reuben/splitblock.jpg

 

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa208/Pilot_Reuben/crandrods.jpg

 

Blow bearing V Good bearing... OUCH!

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa208/Pilot_Reuben/crankcompare.jpg

 

And the close up

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa208/Pilot_Reuben/crankclose.jpg

 

One of the bearings

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa208/Pilot_Reuben/bearningsnap.jpg

 

And another

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa208/Pilot_Reuben/bearingdamage.jpg

 

And half way to piston slap! All of them were this worn

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa208/Pilot_Reuben/pistonslap.jpg

ooooooooooooo ouch. Good luck!

There sems to be a bit of engine wear here.

how many miles on the motor?

115,000Km's, so... 71,500 Miles.

 

It lived an abused and neglegted life, very sad indeed. I plan to change this, it's getting a closed deck 2L for it - will be nuts.

115,000Km's, so... 71,500 Miles.

 

Thats it? Holy crap, I woulda guessed over 200k.

That cause you lot never got REAL GT's till 04. The second gen GT was the first Twin turbo, and they had so many issues with that engine (read, my engine). most die before they reach 150,000km's, either by big end failure, or fuel starvation in cyl 3 - and so melting the piston. They fixed these things for the gen 3's, but still weren't bullet proof. it only took 10 years for subaru to realise twin turbo's eat engines, fuel, and don't perform as well as single turbo's

 

That said, the TT is a wicked drive, you get a whack in the back at 4500 when it goes from single turbo, to paralelle turbo. But the gap between them is hell for anything other than straight line driving. Single turbo's still offer the best drive of all.

Mine is probably similar, I've got nasty piston slap. >_< Though, I'm sure I still have all of my bearings, and I doubt any are seized up like that.

Mine is probably similar, I've got nasty piston slap. >_< Though, I'm sure I still have all of my bearings, and I doubt any are seized up like that.

 

Mint. Did the 2.5GT's get forget pistons?

 

Piston slap is also a big issue with the GTB's cause they get abused while cold (hard not to when you're boosting from 2000rpm), and have forged pistons which take longer than the block to heat and expand. Going closed deck should help me in this regard

I have no idea what pistons are in my BK. Though, I'm going to be throwing my block to the wolves (selling it on forums) and buying a 257 shortblock for a swap.

Thought i should keep you guy's updated.

 

Dropped by Possum Bourne Motorsport (PBMS) yesterday, and had a chat with Murry the engine builder. The mans a legend. Anyway, got some expensive quotes, and a gurantee for frickin top notch work - best if NZ for sure. Getting the 2L closed deck block bored and decked, using JE 92.5mm pistons, scat rods, balanced crank, refurbished heads and a damn good assembly.

 

Had a walk around the workshop too, there were two 08 STi's in there, stripped to the chassis, being built as Group N rally cars, a 2L 800bhp, 9500 RPM BEAST of an engine being built for hill climb events.. oh, and possums old 22B rally beast (It may have actually been a 99 WRC)

Sorry i havn't kept you guy's updated. but things have been taking for-ev-er.

 

It's back in the car, startup tomorrow. i'll post how the whole project went when i get some free time. it's 3 am right now in my little corner of the globe

 

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa208/Pilot_Reuben/finallyin.jpg

Well... what a mission...

 

Saturday: Engine was nearly done, I had the intake manifold bolted on, and thought it was more or less ready to go in. The rocker-cover breathers on the TT come over the top of the intake manifold, and I had to hacksaw the other pipes off it to fit it (TT ICV line, and coolant rail to the primary). It worked but was messy. As for the brackets, I had to get a single turbo up-pipe bracket, and then I had to grind a peace out of the right half to get the oil supply line to the turbo. Then the intercooler bracket on the turbo side didn't fit, so I had to grind into that too. As we later found out, this was cause the VF39's outlet is further back (closer to the firewall) than the turbo's of the time (VF22's, 24's etc.)...

 

Sunday:

The engine was complete, and more or less ready to go in the car, except for a few missing hoses (crank case breathers, turbo coolant supply and return hoses, BOV return to be blocked). Cameron (Fused) came around, and we set about fixing the hoses. We ended up buying some random lines for the turbo's coolant lines, and the crank case breather, but we didn't manage to find one for the BOV return. Then David (Miller) came over after we hired the crane, and we went about dropping the engine. Sure enough, I had crap load of bolts left over, and was missing others... I don't know how it happens, the only ones missing were actually the long ones, like to attach the AC, power-steering, and gearbox.... the left overs were loads of generic bolts for the primary turbo crapola that I no longer have. By the end of the day (11pm or so), we had the engine in, most things on, but were still missing a bolt for the gear box, so we called it a night.

 

Monday:

Cameron came over again, and we set about finishing off what was left to do. Got the gearbox bolt in (he had a spare at home thankfully)... And bugger... Never blocked the BOV return! we tried, and failed... So, off to wingers to buy one, thinking it was just one bit of rubber hose. Got there and Hamish was missing, instead there was a new guy there who wanted an exact chassis number to find what we wanted. We didn't have one cause it doesn't matter, so just went off to Sub-Ar-Us in onehunga, and found what we needed in only a few mins. And what a surprise! We had the BOV (to replace the TT's fail-valve), BOV return pipe, Turbo intake pipe, and the single turbo rocker-cover breather - that runs under the manifold; all in one package! The turbo inlet pipe was pristine too, compared to the one I bought that has a small tear in it. As it turns out, the BOV return, and crank case breather are both metal lines joined together, that bolt on where the TT's primary turbo inlet normally goes. And it even left a nice gap just big enough to fit the split fuel rail in, making it nice and tidy. So, the intake manifold is now pretty much exactly a V3/4 now, minus the coil pack. Also, it easy to install now thanks to the BOV return holding the split fuel rail in place, so it can't jam up on the coolant cross over pipe. I wish I had taken pics, but I forgot!

 

Hooked up the down pipe, and surprise again, the rage 3" I got does not fit the factory mid pipe at all Damn. will have to start the car with a 3" catless down pipe alone, and get one made up pretty much right when we need to go for my first drive. yay!

 

So on we went, and we hooked up all the auxiliaries, afm etc. By now it's more or less 7pm, thanks to all the time wasted dri

 

ving to onehunga, and removing and redoing the intake manifold... David had arrived and got to help getting the intercooler on, which was rather entertaining. For a start, I couldn't use the V6 one cause of the left bracket, and BOV placement, so I took the Y pipe off it and put it on the GTB intercooler (thank god it didn't sell!!!) But surprise surprise AGAIN, the damn thing did not fit. One reason was that the silicone pipe was from a V5/6. which are longer than the ones for the 3/4's, so we trimmed that down to size... But it still didn't fit! We then noticed the VF39's outlet is further back (closer to firewall) so we had to trim more off the poor silicone pipe. In the end we trimmed a good 30mm off, and the intercooler still put up a huge fuss, but with much pain and suffering, we squeezed it in. As suspected by Ryan early on in the build, the heater hoses were interfering. but they are rubber, so have been pushed out the way.

 

So that was that. engine bay complete, battery in, and the car was alive! the door bing annoying as ever and my new stereo I picked up for $20 working flawlessly

Now for the ECU wiring. I referred to Jason's thread, and it was ignitors 1+4 soldered together, and 2+3 soldered together (WRONG!) garounded B18 too. I went to crank (after cranking with the ECU unplugged to get oil px up) and: crank crank crank, got one cylinder going.. .... ... 2 cylinder's going.... ... 3 backfiring! Ended up going pretty much "pop pop BANG ... , pop pop BANG ... , pop pop BANG ..." and with only a downpipe too! Sounded damn cool, but not very good for, well, anything! Bugger...

 

So the ignitors/coils were wired wrong. 2 cylinders were firing properly, one cyl was igniting on the exhaust stroke, thus sending flames out my downpipe, and the other... I don't know what it was doing. So Cameron and David called a night, and we will fix the wiring and try again tomorrow (was loud, neighbors were trying to sleep) What we had done was wire A22 into A9, and A23 into A10. what we needed to do was wire A9 into A10, and A22 and 23 together, into where A9 was. I think... It bloody well better be, cause that's what we'll be doing tomorrow, and praying it all comes together!

IT LIVES

 

We wired the ignitors correctly and ta-da, wasted spark! (GTB being coil on plug, V3/4 WRX being wasted spark, this engine being an STi on a twin turb loom (they are identical looms though)). It cranked for about 2 seconds and fired up perfectly! But DAMN is it loud. It's just a 3" downpipe, and no exhaust connected. Sounds faaaaarking mean though, even though it's sligtly illegal I will be getting an exhaust made for it tomorrow

 

And the vid

 

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SL8u18MU7pk]YouTube - Subaru Legacy single turbo conversion[/ame]

wow that thing sounds mean! congrats on getting it running! have you taken it for a spin yet?

wow what a sleeper, you gotta get a video up once the exhaust is on....

Yeah well, my budget is mega blown, and i found out the 3" mandrel bent system would be $500 to isntall, and $700 for the HKS Silent Hi Power.... Um, nope. So it'll just be 3" catless DP, stock 2.5" mid, and 3" endpipe with straight through (packing fell out) HKS Hi power. Should still sound mean, no cats and a straight through muffler! yessss

 

Did take it for a spin with only the down pipe, and it spools damn early, the VF39 is loooouuuud without an exhaust, and on .5 bar boost already at 3000 rpm... stoked. who needs twin turbo! (it probably spools so early cause of the whole no exhaust thing )

 

I'm going to get a video of me leaving to the exhaust shop tomorrow, teeheehee

Hi Rueben,

Your thread has really inspired me. I drive a '99 BH5 TT which has been my pride and joy. To my folly I ignored slight smoking I noticed during early morning starts for perhaps a month or so. What I hoped was a turbo failure half way through a 200km cross-country blast turned out to be that and a blown engine too. Glynn at Rallytec recommends a single turbo conversion (Forester) and your observations confirm all I heard about the inherent tendency for twin turbo engines to fail. All the best with your project. I'll be following your progress

They do indeed fail often. You may want to read the comprehensive thread here.

 

Please keep in mind it applies only to 96-98 GTB's! The theory's, and methods will be the same, but the parts required will be very different. Basically, to make it easy for yourself, you need to stick to V5 and V6 STi's, and WRX's. ECU wise, you will need an aftermarket computer, and you'll have to reloom it to work too, and have to get it tuned on top of that. I wish you the best of luck whatever you chose to do. I was helping a guy from tanzania out recently. He got dicked about so much but muppets that didn't know the first thing about subies. Make sure you talk to the right guys!

 

 

 

And for those who care, it's been running like a champ for the last 2000km's. It's going full tilt at 21 PSI, with no fueling issues, and no retune required on the stock STi ECU! Here's some eye candy with it finally back on the road

 

Video:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0OUuI2JDJc]JDM tyte catless exhaust yo[/ame]

 

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa208/Pilot_Reuben/enginebay.jpg

 

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa208/Pilot_Reuben/GTBs%20Back/45lo-01.jpg

 

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa208/Pilot_Reuben/GTBs%20Back/41lo-01.jpg

 

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa208/Pilot_Reuben/GTBs%20Back/021.jpg

 

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa208/Pilot_Reuben/GTBs%20Back/022.jpg

 

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa208/Pilot_Reuben/GTBs%20Back/023.jpg

 

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa208/Pilot_Reuben/30-05-08meet1.jpg

Hey Reuben,

 

Great looking car you have. Thanks for all your advice. My project's coming along pretty well. Engine slotted in seamlessly and runs very smooth. It's an EJ20 out of a Forester and came with a computer and loom. They're sorting out the wiring now and it should be ready in a couple of days. I reckon an EJ205 STi motor with 6-speed gear box will still happen between me and my BH5 someday.

 

I have a question for you. Do you run your car with the stock radiator? My car came with the stock aluminium/plastic radiator which cracked after about six months. I replaced it with a slightly larger steel after-market replica. The car ran slightly warmer which I suspect with 20/20 hindsight may have hastened the demise of the TT motor. Now I feel (ex cautela abundanti) I really should get back to the stock radiator. We're right on the equator here so it gets pretty hot, a/c runs all the time too.What do you think? Anyone else with thoughts on this?

That is by far one of the sexiest swaps I've seen in that wagon. I hate to be nosy, but around much $$$ got dropped on doing this? Also, did you have to change any wiring harnesses?

Well how much it cost me will be irrelevant to anyone here, but if you must know, the rebuild AND single turbo convers came up to about $9000 NZ Which is about $6800 US. The conversion on it's own was only about $1500 NZ (just over $1000 US), which includes turbo, STi intercooler, ecu and all that.

 

Wiring wise, you gotta remember i starting out with a twin turbo GTB, the 97 STi ECU plugged right in, the only wiring i had to do was make the car run wasted spark, since that what the STi ECU runs.