Tyler's Legacy SS.... under an impreza shell

bmxpunk · Post by **bmxpunk** » Tue Mar 21, 2017 11:06 pm

I have sold the ESL ecu and have ordered an Alcatek Ecu(formally Simtek) from Enginetuner in the U.K.
https://8378simtek.wordpress.com/products/

Also got some inspiration in the mail today

And when this car is built I'm moving on

beatersubi · Post by **beatersubi** » Sun Mar 26, 2017 3:31 pm

We should talk. I could beef up a crossmember. Or make one similar to whats commercially available.
John is as interesting guy. Very opinionated. I've had some (long) interesting conversations with him, mostly about Ford, Merkur, and Cosworth stuff. But also about him hanging up his hat on building suspension and having someone take over. He was still fairly guarded about his sources and techniques, though.
Those magazines look awesome! Where did you find them?
You're not really switching to a Mini, are you?

bmxpunk · Post by **bmxpunk** » Sun Mar 26, 2017 4:36 pm

beatersubi wrote:We should talk. I could beef up a crossmember. Or make one similar to whats commercially available.
John is as interesting guy. Very opinionated. I've had some (long) interesting conversations with him, mostly about Ford, Merkur, and Cosworth stuff. But also about him hanging up his hat on building suspension and having someone take over. He was still fairly guarded about his sources and techniques, though.
Those magazines look awesome! Where did you find them?
You're not really switching to a Mini, are you?

What are your thoughts on reinforcing/replacing the crossmember? I asked on one of the Facebook rally groups and was given the 3rd degree. The first handful of replies said "that's dumb, just buy a TSS," followed by "that's dumb, the factory cross member is the 'fuse' in the system. You'd rather have a bent cross member than bent frame rails right?" And finally "that's dumb, extra metal and reinforcement in the engine bay is a huge safety hazard that stuff is supposed to crush in an accident." So I handed it off to the co-driver so he could power wash it and we'd stick it back in.

The magazines are are from highpowermedia.com and came from Europe. They get fairly in depth with information. The article on Higgins current car for example they explain why VTCar uses the 2.0 instead of the 2.5, that the car has a 9.0:1 steering ratio and that nothing from the current car will cross over to the 2018 car when the rules are changed.

So I've been obsessed with the Countryman since I saw spy shots of it back in 2009 or 10. When my forester was ran over by a Cummings late last year I finally convinced the wife to let me use the insurance money toward a Countryman S All4. The car drives really well and is much easier and seems more stable and better balanced than the Impreza when you push it. It would also be much roomier with a cage while still being overall shorter than my Impreza. BUT it's not without its quirks. Long story short I dropped it off to have an oil change while I was in Denver and they called me back with a $3800 repair estimate for a fuel pump, water pump, cv joint rebuild ($1000!!!!!), front brakes and a clutch slave cylinder. The pumps ended up being under warranty and I did the brakes and axle myself for substantially less cost. But I still had a $1000 bill that day, which put me behind on hetting things finished on the rally car.
So while it would be fun, in order to build one strong enough, powerful enough, and durable enough would take a small fortune along with another small fortune to maintain it. And heading up a bike and ski shop doesn't do much for me being a "small fortune-aire"

beatersubi · Post by **beatersubi** » Wed Mar 29, 2017 1:28 pm

I thought the lower arms were the fusible link. I suspect that if the crossmember is getting bent, you have bigger problems. Unless there is a weak point in its design that is bending/deforming under 'normal' rally use.

I might have to pick up a few of those magazines. They sure aren't cheap, though. 9:1 steering would be fun.

The new mini is made by BMW? That would explain the repair and maintenance cost. I picked up a $500 318i to take rallycrossing last year and was wondering if I had overpayed when it needed rear wheel bearings for ~$300 after the first event.

bmxpunk · Post by **bmxpunk** » Fri Apr 21, 2017 2:00 am

SoCal Porting tire into my turbocharger this week. He said we caught the turbo just in time because it was suffering from oil starvation. That seemed strange to me as there is no sign on the cams and the oil pan was clean as a whistle inside. Compressor wheel wore a bit as well. Note to self replace air filters more often.

Found out today that most of my employees are finished with school so they are quitting the same day that I was supposed to leave for the first hillclimb this year. Then about 20 minutes later we found out that the permits for Rally Colorado were all declined. I'm fairly bummed out but not hat should give me an extra month to get everything else ready.

bmxpunk · Post by **bmxpunk** » Thu Apr 27, 2017 10:30 pm

SoCal porting is in the middle of rebuilding and upgrading my turbo to the billet wheel.

Just got off the phone with JE Pistons and have some of the FSR slugs coming. We were going through my original piston order and the local machine shop originally ordered my pistons using a rod length that was shorter than my rod length.

bmxpunk · Post by **bmxpunk** » Thu May 25, 2017 8:41 am

Well I missed the first event we were hoping to attend this year. Ecu hadn't left England, pistons are still in California and strut bodies are still in Seattle.

Have made little bits of progress. Have been taking time seam weld some joints and patch some holes. Shell had a few panels that were pulling away from each other so we took car of those. Found the mount for the pitch stop would easily pull away from the firewall which was no good.

Rebuilt turbo made it back. I have a friend machining the housing out for the restrictor now. SoCal went above and beyond and polished up the port job I had done years ago. New compressor wheel replaced the old piece with rounded blades.

Working on a few reliability upgrades like the ARP wheel studs and looking for a new steering rack as mine was leaking from ever possible spot. I'm also considering switching power steering pumps for packaging reasons. I have both sitting on my garage floor, the Ver 3-4/20k style pump would eliminate the 02-05 Wrx style reservoir that's taking up space. Not quite sure what the draw backs would be, less fluid might run a little hotter?

Next step is to make sure my seat mounts meet current standards.

beatersubi · Post by **beatersubi** » Mon Jun 19, 2017 2:52 am

You could always add an auxiliary p/s cooler. Have you considered going to manual steering?

bmxpunk · Post by **bmxpunk** » Thu Aug 03, 2017 7:08 am

Well it's been a less than stellar summer for me and we missed Rally Colorado. My friend called in a favor (still kit sure what he's done for me in return) and I had to replace the clutch in his 2010 Forester. 20 minutes after I laid his transmission on the ground, the clutch went out in my wife's 2011 outback. This all happened 3 weeks before Rally Colorado, at the time when we were frantically in the rebuild process. Time wise it made sense to spend a few more days replacing everything that needed to be at 100k so my car got pushed back another 2/5 weeks since I only have about 1.5 free hours after work each.

Found out from my former navi that Matthew Conte (you still on here?) is the current owner of the old open light car I used to drive. Awesome to see it still running.

So withdrew our entry and entered Rally Wyoming. It's inexcusable to miss a rally 1.5 hours from home so here we are cramming.

Since we had a few extra weeks to work with we went a little more in depth. I took the cylinder heads in to be rebuilt. The came back shiny, flat, and with a valve job.

We pulled the bottom end apart and found the bearings to be good, but are replacing them with some King Xp since I don't want to go back together with used bearings.

Added some Killer B goodies to hopefully worry less about reliability.

New clutch to harness the additional power.

New intercom is mounted. Hope the noise canceling is good, my co-driver has a low soft voice that doesn't get too excited.

The transmission is 90% rebuilt, I just have to install a couple new bearings in the transfer case in the morning and it's ready.

I'll update more over the next few days- Rally Wyoming is in 22days...

beatersubi · Post by **beatersubi** » Fri Aug 04, 2017 3:38 am

Cool to see progress. Sucks when life gets in the way of important things (like racing). That oil pickup is an important one in Subaru engines, good that it's going in before it becomes a very big problem.

bmxpunk · Post by **bmxpunk** » Fri Aug 04, 2017 3:59 am

Thanks! Progress feels really good.

Here's my big win for the night. Transmission is back together with the Modena Front Diff and the STI 20kg center and all new bearings.

Also got a few things to clean up some of the brake system.

bmxpunk · Post by **bmxpunk** » Thu Aug 17, 2017 7:30 am

T-7 days before we leave for Rally Wyoming!

These are almost flat top

Killer b goodies

Turbo with the 34mm restrictor installed

Engine and tranny are back home.

Brakes already to go with the new reservoir, dial bias adjuster and of course the giggle-stick

Trying to decide if I like this scoop and if it will even fit. Opinions?!

Without

Finally a car with working air conditioning

And my 6 "used" michelins finally made it.

bmxpunk · Post by **bmxpunk** » Sat Aug 19, 2017 8:31 am

While I was hard at work with wiring and adding in wires for a switch for anti-lag and wiring for an intercooler sprayer, my co-driver build ducting for the radiator.

Got brakes bled and dialed in last night. Tomorrow we start her up!

bmxpunk · Post by **bmxpunk** » Thu Aug 24, 2017 5:03 am

Well we won't make it

We were about to start the car Monday and found a coolant leak where the turbo feeds back into the head.
I'm gutted.

bmxpunk · Post by **bmxpunk** » Mon Aug 28, 2017 5:34 am

Rally Wyo was a good event though I would rather have not been spectating.

I started to dive back into my car today since I bought new coolant fittings for the passenger side head. I drained the coolant and strangely there was less than the 2 gallons that went in. I pulled the plugs and they were all dry, so I drained the oil pan which filled the 7qt pan I was using.

Anyone have diagnostic tips for determining where my coolant is coming from? I'm really hoping it's the cometic head gaskets and not a cracked he'd or block or an o-ring between the cases.

beatersubi · Post by **beatersubi** » Mon Aug 28, 2017 9:13 pm

So, there is cooling getting into the oil somewhere?

bmxpunk · Post by **bmxpunk** » Mon Aug 28, 2017 9:16 pm

beatersubi wrote:So, there is cooling getting into the oil somewhere?

Yes. And we haven't even got to start it up.
And I'm not quite sure how to diagnose it.

beatersubi · Post by **beatersubi** » Wed Sep 06, 2017 4:18 am

A compression and leak-down test would be a good start, especially if you suspect the head gaskets.

bmxpunk · Post by **bmxpunk** » Wed Sep 06, 2017 4:42 am

beatersubi wrote:A compression and leak-down test would be a good start, especially if you suspect the head gaskets.

Not off to a great start. I walked away from the car for a while just to quell my frustration. Got back to it this past Monday.

Started a leak down test and found my freshly rebuilt heads leaking 25-30% through the intake valves on cylinders 2 & 4. I need to call that machine shop tomorrow.

So since everything was already hooked up, I thought I would load the base map into my ecu and at least make sure the new MAP sensor, IAT, and throttle body were reading. But to no avail. The laptop won't connect to the ecu. I'm not sure if the ecu is getting power. I grabbed the bolt meter and it was seeing 12.9v from the main relay.

Back to being frustrated. And now it's a bit of a waiting game to see what rules will change for next year as I've heard rumor of some class changes.

I did check out Rally Wyoming which was more fun than I thought it would be from the sidelines.

beatersubi · Post by **beatersubi** » Mon Oct 09, 2017 4:30 pm

Sorry to hear about your frustrations. Stick with it, it'll be worth all the trouble.
Did you verify cam timing is correct?
Check ECU grounds?

bmxpunk · Post by **bmxpunk** » Mon Oct 09, 2017 4:39 pm

beatersubi wrote:Sorry to hear about your frustrations. Stick with it, it'll be worth all the trouble.
Did you verify cam timing is correct?
Check ECU grounds?

I think it has something to do with the Kill switch I wired in. I’m going to see if they have a diagram for it today.

I pulled the engine last Thursday and pulled off the head that was leaking out the intake valve. I was thinking they put in the wrong shims and those valves were too tight. Imagine my surprise when they were the loosest.
This is totally my fault for not checking from the get go but these aren’t right:

beatersubi · Post by **beatersubi** » Mon Oct 09, 2017 4:49 pm

Assuming those are the lash numbers, the front intakes seem a little tight, but otherwise it looks okay. The valves aren't bent, are they?
FYI, you can 'erase' sharpie with sharpie. Just scribble over and wipe off before it dries.

bmxpunk · Post by **bmxpunk** » Mon Mar 26, 2018 4:04 am

Hello again!
Well since my last post I've torn the engine completely down. And I'm going through everything, though without a trustworthy machine shop at my disposal, I'm having to add either time or money or both to get things to and from Colorado. Picking up the crankshaft from Ft. Collins this week.

I also need to revisit the old heads again. Is there a way I can measure them to see if they were milled too much? Or does anyone have a source for some 20g or 20k heads anymore?

My tool collection is also growing, though I hope to not need the bore guage and micrometers on this project for a long time.

Now I need to revisit what rod and main bearings I should use, stock or something like King or ACL. Anyone have any preferences?

I had to include a picture of the car while it was shiny from the rain.

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dankberries · Post by **dankberries** » Tue Mar 27, 2018 12:39 am

bmxpunk wrote:I also need to revisit the old heads again. Is there a way I can measure them to see if they were milled too much?

This per the 1993-1996 JDM GC8 F.S.M - Head resurface limitations.

bmxpunk · Post by **bmxpunk** » Tue Mar 27, 2018 2:31 am

dankberries wrote:
bmxpunk wrote:I also need to revisit the old heads again. Is there a way I can measure them to see if they were milled too much?
This per the 1993-1996 JDM GC8 F.S.M - Head resurface limitations.

Thank you!

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