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Thread: EJ20R engine rebuild

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    "FNG" GShep's Avatar
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    EJ20R engine rebuild

    ...as mentioned in my introduction thread, I do own a 98 JDM Legacy GT-B Limited with a broken EJ20R engine.
    It's already the second engine in this car. A year after the first german owner imported it, the first engine blew up as a valve ripped off.
    He got a new engine which soon then blew up again. It still ran when I bought it, but only on 3 cylinders and it pushed out a lot of exhaust fumes through the oil cap. We figured the cause were the piston rings, so I checked the spark plugs and cylinders with and endoscope for oil



    The failure why the engine was just running on three cylinders was soon found, spark plug of cylinder 2 was completely crusted in oil.


    Pulled the engine out the next day to find the reason why there was so much oil in the cylinder.


    Cylinder 2 is quite polished, you still can see the finish a little though. Thanfully the broken ring didn't leave any scratches.


    ...but the actual failure is this:


    We guess that the injector is broken and dripping, thus the cylinder overheated and melted the piston away and at some point the piston ring couldn't take the heat anymore so that it simply broke apart so that the oil wasn't kept out anymore.
    I'm not sure if the previous owner exchanged these or reused them from the first engine. Might already have been the reason for the first engine failing.

    Shortly after my brother and I measured the cylinders with a three point micrometer screw.


    ...which looked quite promising.


    Of course we also measured the ovality/out of roudness with an inside micrometer at 12 and 3 oclock, which is where things started to look bad.
    We measured differences of 0,1mm outside, 0,06mm middle and 0,04mm inside the cylinders.

    The only clearance values I got though are from Haynes Repair Manual for the 2.2 and 2.5 and when I compare thouse, what we measured exceeds the limit quite a bit.
    If the out of round limit is the same for the EJ20R, I'll have to go with oversized pistons.
    Can anybody confirm that the out of round limit is the same for the EJ20R as for the 2.2's and 2.5's?

    It also would be good to know what other parts I should replace (long/short screws of the crank housing maybe?).

    So far I plan to order these things:



    Is there anything I would need to order in addition?

    I also do need the torque specs for the cylinder head bolts and crank housing, already found this on the forum but are the values the same for the EJ20R?
    viewtopic.php?p=276708#p276708

    Hope someone on here can help me out on this, I really wanna see that engine back running before next year's season starts.
    Current cars: 97 Legacy GT-B Auto, 98 Legacy GT-B Limited Manual, 96 Golf Syncro 16V (WIP), 86 Scirocco 16V GTX (WIP), 76 Golf LS (Future Project)

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    "FNG" GShep's Avatar
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    Re: EJ20R engine rebuild, need a little help

    Thought I would give the start post a slight cleanup, as I got a little closer to entering the rebuild phase, but still got a few questions that need to be answeared first
    Current cars: 97 Legacy GT-B Auto, 98 Legacy GT-B Limited Manual, 96 Golf Syncro 16V (WIP), 86 Scirocco 16V GTX (WIP), 76 Golf LS (Future Project)

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    Re: EJ20R engine rebuild, need a little help

    Well, I just got my EJ20R back from the hop and the rings are what had the problem with my oil burning. I also have a bad rod bearing though. Cylinders were in great shape though and same for my pistons so they are still original.

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    Re: EJ20R engine rebuild

    There is some progress on my engine rebuild, but looks like instead of replacing only the pistons, I'm getting the full EJ20R experience.

    I should mention that the previous owner drove this car to his garage, right after he heard a loud bang coming from the engine bay, along with having a power loss and the engine shaking.




    Main bearings are covered in chips...



    ...which left quite some traces on the crankshaft.


    The piston is lacking quite pieces, and I only found a few, small crumbs in the oil pan, not enough to fill that hole.
    So I guess that's where the chips are coming from.



    The only thing I can't explain right now, is why the damage is only reduced to the crankshaft.
    Cylinder heads, cam shafts, Pistons and piston pins... everything except for the main and rod bearings is in a great condition.
    Shouldn't the oil first get pushed through the oil filter anyway?



    Took everything apart now and next week I'll drop everything at an engine shop that friends recommended me some time ago.
    Subaru offers three oversizes for the main and big end bearings, but depending on the price for getting the crankshaft lapped, I might just go with a new one.
    Current cars: 97 Legacy GT-B Auto, 98 Legacy GT-B Limited Manual, 96 Golf Syncro 16V (WIP), 86 Scirocco 16V GTX (WIP), 76 Golf LS (Future Project)

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    Re: EJ20R engine rebuild

    Took the engine to a machine shop friends recommended me.
    They checked everything and said it's no problem to get everything fixed, they even gave me quite good price for everything.
    They gonna enlargen the cylinders to 1. OS and the crankshaft will be lapped to 1. US.

    However, I now ran into problems sourcing the original 1.OS pistons for the last production year EJ20R.
    My Subaru dealer first said it would be no problem to order them, but now that he did, Subaru Japan said the pistons would be out of stock.
    I now placed an inquiry at amayama.co.jp in hope that they may know a different source, waiting for them to reply now.

    If that doesn't work out:
    Would it be possible to use the pistons from a pre 31.07.1997 production EJ20R or an EJ208?
    These pistons still seem to be available, even here in Germany.

    ...or could I run a BH5 TT engine (EJ208) with the ECU of my BG5 TT, as in just using the block and cylinder heads from the BH5 TT?
    BH5 engines seem to be quite easier to source than a BG5 TT.
    Current cars: 97 Legacy GT-B Auto, 98 Legacy GT-B Limited Manual, 96 Golf Syncro 16V (WIP), 86 Scirocco 16V GTX (WIP), 76 Golf LS (Future Project)

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    Re: EJ20R engine rebuild

    Have you considered running aftermarket pistons? with the availability of the parts you need getting hard to find, I would suggest maybe going with a set of aftermarket pistons with coated skirts. This would also give you a chance to bump up the power if you want.

    A hybrid swap would be a viable option as well, especially if you are looking at replacing the crank anyway. You just need to figure out what you would be looking at CR wise with whatever short block you choose.
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    Re: EJ20R engine rebuild

    I almost have my rebuilt 20R installed in my GT-B. I had a hard time finding piston rings, but my pistons where in great shape. Luckily, we have enough race car places that will custom build pistons how you want them for about $500 (USD). I almost did that to get forged, but mine had no problems at all and I'm on a budget.

    I do however have a 20H that I just pulled out og my GT-B (first replacement motor that lasted a week... LOL). I might rebuild it, but we will see.

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    "FNG" GShep's Avatar
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    Thought I would give a quick update on this. Engine is already together and running.
    I also figured out what engine the shop threw in the Limited's engine bay when the original EJ20R blew up.
    It looks like they used an early EJ20H engine, at least that's what one would say when looking at the heads, intake turbos, etc.

    So I can confirm now that I'm now running a complete bastard engine
    Early EJ20H Legacy GT block & heads
    EJ208 pistons
    EJ20R Turbos, intake etc. etc.

    To compensate the pistons I used a thinner MLS gasket and for the main and big end bearings I used ACL Race ones.
    Replaced every gasket and many hoses and painted every single part and bolt, because why not.
    Engine bay is completely cleaned and the exhaust lost most of its mufflers and cats, just the backbox and a 200CPI magnaflow cat remaining.
    Added gauges for oil temp and pressurae as well as boost to keep an eye on everything and made a custom harness with AMP superseal connectors for them.














































































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    Current cars: 97 Legacy GT-B Auto, 98 Legacy GT-B Limited Manual, 96 Golf Syncro 16V (WIP), 86 Scirocco 16V GTX (WIP), 76 Golf LS (Future Project)

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    I'm thinking about my own engine bay and wanting to cry from it's messiness. You have a gorgeous setup there.
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    Engine bay looks nice! Definitely love the colours for the engine!
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