pulling my motor, FINISHED! (scroll down)

[jewbaru]

for starters

2004 legacy 35anniversay edition

im pulling my motor out next week, she needs head gaskets and valve gaskets.

theres currently 63k on it (low for a head gasket failure..)

does everyone think i should send my valves out to get cleaned and cut at a machine shop?

and does everyone also think i should do a timeing belt kit (water pump etc.)?

and is there anything better than factory for the gaskets? or should i just go though subaru, autozone or..?

[jewbaru]

also, while the motor is out, is there anything else i should do? besides clean everything up? i think im going to paint my intake manifold and mayb my valve covers

[jewbaru]

ok, well, i can get a whole head gasket set for a little over a hundred at advanced with my discount, so i think ill go there. does anyone know if the head bolts are torque to yield or can i re-use my old ones? apparently head bolts are like 150 bucks? that doesnt sound right

[blackstar]

Whatever you end up doing is totally up to your financial abilities, if you can spend the money now then you will have a reliable car for the long run. Me personally, I would always replace the bolts with genuine Subaru ones, but if the only ones that were available (they are that much from Subaru) to me I would rather re-use the originals than risk using sometimes cheap non-OEM bolts. Subaru head bolts are not marked as a one time use fastener and does not say they have to be replaced in the manual. There are many fasteners clearly marked by the manual to be replaced any time they are removed but the head bolts are not one of them.
For your cylinder heads have them vacuum & pressure checked, but like any machine shop, they'll more than likely tell you "you probably should". If you do get the valve job/valve grind then ask the guy how much extra to clean the intake and exhaust passages of any casting faults.
If it was me, I would use all Subaru parts to do the timing belt, t/b tensioner, t/b idlers, water pump - use Subaru coolant, thermostat, *** look at your thermostat housing the plastic can warp and can start seeping - and definitely replace the little bypass hose off the water pump to the pipe. check the oil pump area, cam and crank seals while your there (probably okay). do the valve cover gasket set w/tube seals, do the plugs (NGK,DENSO)- maybe wires, drive belts, radiator hoses (oem, Samco, Mishimoto), exhaust gaskets @ the heads, oil & filter.
Use the updated Subaru gaskets, it's what the dealer carries, if you wanted to spend extra I've heard good things about Cometic gaskets, if not definitely use the Subaru set.
Consider Engine mounts if you want to do Sti mounts. And if you can $ look into some Delta cams for some extra performance.
:smt017 Is your car a manual ? if so, time to do a Clutch set & flywheel upgrade !

[jey]

I'd do the timing belt, water pump, and clutch (if manual) also.

[jewbaru]

stop teasing me with the 5spd talk.. i can only wish. thats an expensive mod.. haha

so heres what im doing so far

head gaskets
valve gaskets (including spark plug gally seals cuz those r leaking)
intake gasket
exhaust gaskets
timing belt
Tensioner (made in Japan)
Idlers (made in Japan)
Water Pump
Front seal
Cam Seal
headers

and some bling blow paint to add a few horse power


i can get a gasket kit at advance. comes with head gaskets, cam gaskets etc., all the valve gaskets, cept for the spark plug hole gaskets.. for like 100.. is that not good? i should only get subaru parts from the dealer? and i was looking into cams.. but everyone said im going to have to tune my car afterwards.. and idk how to do that.

as far as the water pump and timinig belt kit with the idlers etc., its an ebay kit.. bad idea or?

[jewbaru]

and its got brand new plugs, and the wires are all clean, drive belts and hoses look good also. the whole cars clean.. cept for one damn head gasket.. the drivers side is seaping like a son of a bitch.. but while ur in there, mine as well do some good maintainance work, i know my gally seals are leaking so ill just change everything.

im working with like 500-600 bucks for parts.. (600 is pushing it)

do you guys see anything i should add, take away or change about my shopping list?

(headers are already paid for)

thanks guys =)

[Zac]

have to do atleast cam regrinds while the motor is out.

[02_Legacy]

and i was looking into cams.. but everyone said im going to have to tune my car afterwards.. and idk how to do that.
I don't think this is nessicary, you may get more out of them with a tune but you still will see gains without one. Just don't go over the top, get a more basic grind, not like a stage 3.
I suggest calling Delta Cams, they are a vendor on here, and asking them any questions you have and I'm sure they will be more than happy to answer them. I have heard that they know their stuff.

[blackstar]

+1 on calling Delta Cams to talk to them about what you want, they'll point you in the right direction.
I would still get the little bypass hose, water pump, head gaskets & T/B items from Subaru, but everything else on your list you can get somewhere else. Think about things like thermostat, engine mounts, have the heads cleaned / ground for flow, light weight crank pulley.
Another option for OE parts you can always check out your local dealer websites or other sites like= www.subaruonlineparts.com (http://www.subaruonlineparts.com) or www.subarupartswarehouse.com (http://www.subarupartswarehouse.com) or www.directsubaruparts.com (http://www.directsubaruparts.com) or www.subaruparts.com (http://www.subaruparts.com)

If your going to get a t/b kit don't get that ebay one, it doesn't come with the hydraulic tensioner portion only the bearing,
If price is a factor then check out getting the Gates T/B kit from = http://www.partsgeek.com

[jewbaru]

I love u guys on here lol. So knowledgable. Haha. I'm going to look into all of that. Now u guys mentioned. A regrind. Would that give me any advantage? Or does it make more sense to just go with a stage one or two set? Money/performance wise, what do u think is more beneficial?

[jewbaru]

Parts geek doesn't really mention what comes in the kit. Does it come with the idlers etc? Or just the belt and pump?

[jewbaru]

when takin my motor out, do u guys think itll b easier to pull the tranny and motor as a whole, or disconnect the transmission?

[jewbaru]

all the guys are my shop seem to think that this job cant b done in a weekend, and i dont have access to the right tools.. i highly doubt that. is there any special tools im going to need? though alldata, it says i need a special tool to hold the fly wheel in place? refered to as the ST (stop tool) do i really need this? i believe its a pretty straight forward job right?

pull the radiator, disconnect all the coolant lines, electrical connections, remove ac compressor and steering pump and pull aside. unbolt flywheel from torque converter, tranny bolts, motor mounts, then shes out.. right?

once shes out, take off drive belts, timing belt, intake manifold, valve covers, then the heads..

i know theres a few small steps i just didnt mention, but its pretty straight forward job. weekend job for two people? i personally think i could do it in a day.

but im still debating on sending my valves out.. idk if its worth having them cut and cleaned at 60k.. i wanna do cams but i cant afford them at this time, and as far as a regrind, im waiting for someone to answer my question up there ^

[02_Legacy]

The only difference between a regrind and stright up buying cams is regrinds are going to cost less, but in return you have to wait. If you use delta to regrind you have to take your engine out, take the cams out, ship the cams, then wait for them to ship them back, which means you may have to wait a week with a car that doesn't work. But on the other hand you only have do two cams so it will probably only cost around 200, depending on shipping. Like I said call delta cams and ask them questions, you will get correct answers faster then you will get them here.

[jewbaru]

i think cams will have to wait till i get a job.. lol far as the tools and easy-ness of pulling the motor. any feed back?

ive read up on some but a lot of it is for older versions of my car.

[blackstar]

The only T/B kits online I'm finding are the Dayco"s, or Contitech in the t/b kit. A T/B Kit should contain timing belt, t/b hydraulic tensioner assembly,2 smooth & 1 cogged t/b idlers all in the kit - like this Dayco one @ http://www.rockauto.com . The Water Pump will have to be purchased separately - they don't usually come in a kit. But, I would check out the individual components on both rockauto & partsgeek, you can buy the better quality products individually, something else like a Gates, Koyo, NSK, GMB product, or go to your local Napa (they're the same belts as Gates), and most Napa's carry a product line called= Altrom/Ultra-8 that is imported from OE manufactures like Koyo, NSK, GMB.
Yeah one of the special tools are to hold the harmonic balancer to loosen the crank bolt, and the other is to hold the flywheel when you are loosening the torque converter to flywheel bolts - you can use something like this = http://www.tooltopia.com/lisle-23800.aspx ***** if you can gain access to the ring gear underneath. then you would disconnect the bell-housing bolts holding the trans to the engine. With two people doing the removal/installation it will go quickly - Just pull the engine by itself. But even if you get the heads off quickly, you maybe waiting a couple of days if you have your local machine shop check the heads/grind the valves.

[Okin DaVanh]

Anyone mention the thermostat? Might as well, seeing as you're doing the waterpump.

[jewbaru]

why do i have to remove the crank pully in the first place?

[phi11]

to get to the timing belt and to take the heads off.

[jewbaru]

is the bypass hose off the water pump to the pipe a typical hose that can just be grabbed at the parts store? nothing special order right?

[jey]

Correct.

[jewbaru]

so today was the day. from an outsiders point of view they woulda said the day was a little shitty to begin with haha. i got down to my garage that i share with a few friends, one of them decided to leave an ambulance parked inside infront of the door, locked with no keys.. :smt011

ok, so were pulling the motor ouside infront of the door.. alright, i can work with that its 45 degrees out but the suns nice and warm.

walk over to his tool box where all our stuff is, its locked.. :smt013

mind you he knows im coming and need to do a motor job. wont answer the phone the usual "phones dead scenario"..

only solution..

pull the whole motor with only using 3/8s drive metric socket set i had in my tool box few standard sockets lying around, basic wrench set. no breaker bars, one hammer, one extension, and an oversized 3/8s ratchet

these tools being the ones i carry in my trunk in a small tool box for roadside emergencys

end outcome

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after doing this pull. i have a lot of confidence in my tool box haha. only thing we used that i didnt have in there was a overside rachet that was probably a foot long.

started at 11 and worked pretty slowly till about 5. got the motor all the way down to the pistons

carb build up wasnt too bad on the piston heads and everything else seems pretty clean except for the head gasket on one side.

overall not bad for the 3rd motor ive had to pull and with the given circumstances i think it went over pretty well.

tomorrow i plan on bringing my valves into school to lap and clean them up and hopefully if everything goes as planned i will have the heads and motor back together and ready for install tomorrow night

:grin: :smt028

tonights reward :smt030

stay tuned for some more updates tomorrow

[jewbaru]

and dont mind some of those shots. there a little blurry, but you get the idea

[mike-tracy]

You did it in a very organized and well thought out manner. Kudos to you

[jewbaru]

Oh and rock auto sent me the wrong belt tensioner.. :-/. Idk about the one that's in there right now. Looks brand new. I got 63xxx miles. Should I replace it?

[jewbaru]

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[jewbaru]

Also. The only thing that i broke was the stupid belt tensioner for the ac compressor. The adjustment bolt goes into a plastic piece that adjusts the wheel. Well I didn't loosen the wheel before I tried to back it off. And crack it broke :-(

[StatGSR]

Unless your belt tensioner isn't working properly, i see no reason why you couldn't re-use it.

[httrdd]

Also. The only thing that i broke was the stupid belt tensioner for the ac compressor. The adjustment bolt goes into a plastic piece that adjusts the wheel. Well I didn't loosen the wheel before I tried to back it off. And crack it broke :-(

Lol I did the same thing when I was doing head gaskets in my old 2.5!

[jewbaru]

finished her this morning at about 2am. everything went back together beautifully. this time i was able to move the ambulance out, pull in, and get into my buddys tool box. i was actually pretty impressed with myself for getting it all done in two days with really no prior experiance with subies and only ONE broken plastic piece. not to mention i dont have any left over nuts and bolts either :smt033

also, the headers came in today!

finally have the exhaust all done!
:wav:

Exhaust clip to come very soon probably tomorrow

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[jewbaru]

heres a before shot btw..

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[jewbaru]

no feed back..? lol

i think its a little touch of kenn block. now shes really a green monster haha

[Yamazaki]

no feed back..? lol

i think its a little touch of kenn block. now shes really a green monster haha
It reminded me of the color of the toy slime we had in the late '80s. But at least it's original. Not the crinkle red that everybody else does.
But what's with your air intake? Is it unfinished or do you plan to leave it like that?

[anothernord]

Nice work. That's a major job to pull off in two days.

[jospgut]

I really like the green

looks good.. i think you should paint some of the plastics and other stuff a darker black to really set it off!

[jewbaru]

no feed back..? lol

i think its a little touch of kenn block. now shes really a green monster haha
It reminded me of the color of the toy slime we had in the late '80s. But at least it's original. Not the crinkle red that everybody else does.
But what's with your air intake? Is it unfinished or do you plan to leave it like that?


i never finished bolting the intake on before i took the pictures, i was too excited haha. it is all back on and together now tho. i plan on putting a pipe inbetween the filter and scoop to delete the resonator box.

[jewbaru]

Nice work. That's a major job to pull off in two days.


thanks man. everyone down my shop was giving me shit cuz they thought i was going to tie up space and b there for a long time. no ones optomistic these days haha.

[jewbaru]

I really like the green

monster style

[jewbaru]

looks good.. i think you should paint some of the plastics and other stuff a darker black to really set it off!


i plan on adding a little touch up here and there to make it pop :smt023

[StatGSR]

dude, paint the alternator!!!

needs more greeeeeeeen

[jewbaru]

dude, paint the alternator!!!

needs more greeeeeeeen


alternator huh.. id have to tape it all off and shit. sounds more like a hassle. i wanna paint a few of the pullys. at least the ps pump pully

['Buru in the Burgh]

thinking about doing this to mine...I have to finish my other DIY projects though haha

Good job, I like the Ken Block style

[StatGSR]

actually disassembling it would be the best route, haven't done it myself but i have hard its not that tough. They aren't as complicated as most make them out to be. But still there would be a "risk" involved.

[02_Legacy]

You could always find a close match in regular paint and do it with a little hobby brush. It would be meticlious but I think it would look fine

[jewbaru]

alternator hmm.. ill have to think about that one. but i deff. wanna paint a few more things haha