Xise's 1993 Legacy Turbo

[xise]

Lots of stuff happened since the last post. Ended up getting the 91 Legacy wagon, the wife was driving that until just recently as her DD until we scored a killer deal on an 05 Outback XT turbo.

So now this glacier white 1st gen legacy wagon will life on as Sex Panther II




It is a southern car from Topeka KS and there is no rust underneathe AT ALL. It has a some minimal rust above the wheel arches on both side rear quarters and the front fenders are rotted. All in all, for 600 bones I couldn't have gotten a better shell to work with.

It was perfect, it had blown struts in the rear, and the steering rack was leaking on the end seals. Both parts I had on the original Legacy. So I have since swapped the struts and wheels over, the brakes absolutely suck so they will be do for an upgrade as well.

I have also scored a 5MT from an 02 legacy from the scrapyard across the street from my work, not sure on the ratio of that trans and diff but I don't really care either, I just want to ditch the 4eat slosh box.

First on the agenda is to nix the rust issues the car does have before they get worse, seal em up and paint it a more appropriate color for a car called "Sex Panther" unless anyone has ever heard of white panthers roaming around the wilds.

SO! Plans are as follows:
1) Nix rust (probably going to get new fender and cut the arches out of the old ones and weld em in. filler, paint

2)EJ22 is uber slow. (deal with it until I slap some DOHC heads on my EJ22T block, 04 yellow injectors VF39 and tune)

3)5MT swap (kinda goes with #2) getting an entire swap for $100 \/\/007!!)

4)Profit.

[SILINC3R]

white panther=unicorn!!

[xise]

Haha yeah I am going to go for it lol, unlike the first installment this one is still all one color, and has all it's original doors. My first real act is going to be cutting the rot out of the rear wheel wells and welding in metal form cutting the front fenders up, new front fenders and nose (headlamps grille front bumper and if I can find a clean white ss hood, or just cut a mount for the scoop from the original sex panther)

I am going with a new 91 ss sedan bumper, if anyone has a complete front end i'd be interested.

[sqc151]

check your inbox.

[xise]

check your inbox.

Got it!

Should be stripping down all the good parts left on sex panther and trashing the shell finally. If you want anything off of it let me know because it will be gone soon.It still has a full interior door cards seats etc. A good 4eat turbo trans that was rebuild not very long ago. a good black dashboard etc etc.

I am going to put the motor up on a stand and collect some parts before I tackle this. I want to get my shit together for what I am going to use for an ECU/tuning also.

My setup is going to be: EJ22T block, EJ25D heads, VF39 probably STi injectors from an 04 and whatever TMIC I can make fit. Not sure if I can get the v7 STi intercooler to fit with the 25D if anyone can confirm it will or will not....not sure how different those heads are form the sohc ones.

I still need to get the block checked at a machine shop because it did get hot one time when it pissed out all it's coolant this one time so hopefully the block can be shaved and saved, most def has a HG leak though, although still driveable with no performance loss....yet.

Other than that everything is on track, just need some time to work on it.

[xise]

Got sex Panther in today after a long stint of procrastination I finally started the teardown that will lead the the eventual motor build and reshelling of this motor/suspenson and everything else that I took off.

The last time it was complete....well mostly complete.

Got the rear crossmember and STi links, along with the gas tank out.


motor and crossmember out, trans is getting sent out with the shell to be junked, no need for a 4EAT even though it is a shame...was rebuilt not to long ago, torque converter still has that blue coating on it.

Goodby Sex Panther.......it's been real

[Legacy777]

[xise]

I know, imagine how I feel dude.....was really sad to see it go. what's worse is I forgot to grab a few things like my tmic shroud on the hood among a few other things. But enough of that sad crap....I gotta compile a list!

Before I start doing anything to the new Sex Panther shell I want to get this motor ready to drop in and make some decent power. I already have a bunch of parts ready for this but I know it is by no means complete. I am planning to go with EJ25D heads and intake/sensors to make this easier....I was too lazy to grab all the 22t wiring and ecu as I won't be able to use it anyway.

I have access to a 25D motor and parts, so I should be able to get mostly what I need from that. So, from the 25D I know I am going to need certain parts to make this frankenmotor work. Such as the heads/intake (duh), water crossover pipe, coolant pipes, the dohc PS lines (which I think I already stole from a junk car at my shop) I know there is more and I also know that certain stuff from the 22T will also need to be swapped over....I am sure I could figure it out but it would be a really nice time saver to get a comprehensive list of everything that is needed to make a working EJ22D frankenmotor up and running. I would be happy to make a step by step instructional thread on everything needed while I am assembling it and once it is done as the other threads I have looked at still require some hunting and research.

I know it is tough to make a complete list because there is so many parts to list from each motor and probably several ways to do it depending on what you want to do the powertrain management, but I want to get a list I can check off as I go so I don't waste my time if I don't need to.

So far what I know I need from each motor:

EJ22T
Engine block/pistons/crank
Throttle body
IACV
Diamond coil pack
Front engine crossmember/mounts and steering rack

EJ25D
Heads/valves/springs/cams
Timing covers and plastics
Intake manifold
Water crossover pipe/coolant lines
PS hoses
Fuel rail/FPR
EGR delete (if equipped)

Other items from neither motor:
VF39
Injectors (from 04 STi or maybe higher flowing ones unsure yet)
TMIC and piping

by no means complete but it is a stat to my shopping list

[xise]

Also it is worth mentioning that my VF39 needs a comp wheel, I got it from a kid who left a shop rag in the turbo and tried to start up his sti, it never made it through but chipped a few fins on the wheel.

There are no scratches on the comp housing and the shaft has zero play side to side, very minor in/out. Also this is one of the uber rare VF39s w/o the crack on the exhaust housing (no like a small crack would really cause a problem) I have a few other blown VF39s but their turbo shafts are either snapped or the cartridge itself is junk.....I have a rebuild manual but it looks like I would need to sen the cartridge out to be balanced. Anyone know of a place that balances turbos?

[dankberries]

DOHC installation thread

[xise]

Yeah i was looking in there, there is a ton of info an actually why I know what I do about the swap, but that one focuses more on the EJ20G swap although it does mention some info tidbits for the 25D.

[sqc151]

my old 93ss finally making its way to the junkyard. very sad indeed.

Id like to see you pick up my white 93ss manual. at least it will live on with someone who will take care of it as I have since I owed it.

[cj91legss]

There's not much of a difference in what you're doing vs. the dohc thread, so you can rely on that quite a bit. There's also a good thread over on SL-i.net about turboing an na engine. I tried to search for it but I'm missing a couple keywords and sl_i's sarch function sucks balls. The thread gives you some good info about oil pressure and where to get it and what not since you're using some non turbo heads.

I'll continue to search tho and report back if I find it.

[xise]

my old 93ss finally making its way to the junkyard. very sad indeed.

Id like to see you pick up my white 93ss manual. at least it will live on with someone who will take care of it as I have since I owed it.

It was sad dude, That car got a second lease on life but even before it was crashed it was rusty, had holes in the floorboards and had many a quirk. I already have a shell but I would prefer a sedan. the 91 front end has actually really grown on me, i'd love to find a 91 sedan but I already have this fairly clean wagon so I might as well use that.

you still have that 91 SS I saw last time I was up your way?

[xise]

There's not much of a difference in what you're doing vs. the dohc thread, so you can rely on that quite a bit. There's also a good thread over on SL-i.net about turboing an na engine. I tried to search for it but I'm missing a couple keywords and sl_i's sarch function sucks balls. The thread gives you some good info about oil pressure and where to get it and what not since you're using some non turbo heads.

I'll continue to search tho and report back if I find it.

Thanks for looking out, yeah I have already read about tapping an oil feed/return for the turbo, supposedly there is a pre cast spot for it because the 25D casting is very similar to the 20G. For the most part everything is already laid out for me, not like I am breaking new ground here or anything lol.

The realy question is should I use OE pistons and rods or aftermarket on the rebuild?

[dankberries]

The realy question is should I use OE pistons and rods or aftermarket on the rebuild?

Yea thats kind of the boat I am falling in right now with my legacy, but not really for strength, more that I want a higher compression ratio for daily drivng, off Boost torque.

96' 25D heads are like 20G with shim under bucket non-adjustable
97'+ 25D heads are like 20k with shim over bucket adjustable

I know you said you had read up on it already, but here is a picture for reference just in case:

[xise]

Thanks for the pic, pretty much lays it right out. I wanna go all fancy so i'll probably tap for AN fittings

Yeah the low comp gives a hit I am sure, nature of the beast with a hybrid frankenmotor. I am assuming by adjustable you mean valve lash clearence I am not really very familiar with the 25D heads I pulled heads off of a 25D but I guess I wasn't really paying attention to the particulars lol.

I am probably going to rehab the heads I am getting, they are coming from a car with over 200k so I was going to basically replace everything in the heads and use different cams, i'll have to see what options I have there.

Lots and lots of stuff to do. I am going to prepare the shell first though. Progress might be slow right now as we are currently looking to buy a house fairly soon so lots of time spent there right now. Sex Panther II is off the road for now, the water pump started leaking and I was having to dump coolant in every day and got tired of that. I am too lazy to replace the water pump on a car that is going to be getting swapped anyway so I am back driving the Impreza for now...probably until the legacy is finished at this point.

Not like that is a big deal, I miss the turbo but I still have fun in my na Impreza despite is uber slowness and lack of power.

[dankberries]

Thanks for the pic, pretty much lays it right out. I wanna go all fancy so i'll probably tap for AN fittings

Yeah the low comp gives a hit I am sure, nature of the beast with a hybrid frankenmotor. I am assuming by adjustable you mean valve lash clearence I am not really very familiar with the 25D heads I pulled heads off of a 25D but I guess I wasn't really paying attention to the particulars lol.

I am probably going to rehab the heads I am getting, they are coming from a car with over 200k so I was going to basically replace everything in the heads and use different cams, i'll have to see what options I have there.

Yea AN fittings and SS braided lines is the best option, I'm doing the same.

Yes by adjustable I was referring to the valve lash. 96' heads have buckets that are a set size, the 97'+ have different size shims that sit on top of the bucket/caps.

You will want to be sure your heads are nice and flat or that if needed they can be resurfaced and within spec. 25D's were notorious for HG problems and often times could have warped the aluminum heads.

EJ20k cams are good affordable option that drop in without modification. Kelford cams are an aftermarket option, but are expensive and I believe require modification/machining for clearance.

[xise]

Good info again, thank you. The heads are from a 98. I was thinking 20H cams because they are cheap, they are identical to 20G....what is the main difference between the 20k and 20g heads? I am more versed on the phase 2 heads and really know othing of the old school turbo heads.

[mike-tracy]

From a performance standpoint, pretty similar. G and H have better low to midrange, K and R have better mid to high end power with less down low. Im sure bratman will chime in with the differences. I have a preference towards the ej20g and h because the HLA valvetrain can be virtually silent whereas the 25d/k/r will always have that sewing machine sound in the enginw bay.

[mike-tracy]

Where are you seeing stock K cams for cheap CJ. Only time ive seen them for sale is for what you can get the whole heads for lol.

[xise]

Probably going for the 25D heads, just because they can be had for free. I don't mind the sewing machine noise, every subaru I have owned sounds like that . i would like a more agressive cam though, not sure what I can get out of regrinds vs a jdm cam.

[mike-tracy]

For the price of re grinds, you can get whole ej20k heads...