Suby-engined rustoration, 21-Sep-2024 update: more racing-related carnage! Options

[Andyrew]

Sounds great!! Fantastic progress!!

[strawman]

Mind sharing the re-flash of the ECU? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/popcorn[1].gif)

Not sure my final tune would do you any good unless you had the exact same setup as mine. My tune is based on stock EJ255 internals, cams and slightly ported stock exhaust manifolds, but with the followings aftermarket mods: Grimmspeed catless uppipe, shortened Invidia bellmouth downpipe and Flowmaster Delta 10 3” inlet/outlet muffler, BNR 18g-based hybrid turbo, Frozenboost Type 14 air-water intercooler, 2” intercooling tubing, lightened flywheel, Grimmspeed EBC solenoid, Injector Dynamics 1050X injectors, TGV-deleted topfeed manifolds, Cosworth fuel rails, Aeromotive FPR with electronic sensor connected to ECU (thru left TGV input wire), COBB E85 FlexFuel kit connected to ECU (thru right TGV input), AEM wideband O2 sensor connected to ECU (thru input of deleted rear O2 sensor), GM intake air temp sensor used for speed-density setup in place of the stock AFM, 3” aluminum intake tubing and large K&N cone air filter, Tial blow-off valve, and AEM 300 lph fuel pump. I plan to swap in a larger/quieter muffler to help avoid the attention of the PoPo before having the car pro-tuned on a dynamometer.

My “start-up” tune will be replaced when it gets pro-tuned on a Mustang dyno. My tuner will include a separate tune on my COBB AccessPort to limit the boost in first gear and likely also second gear to avoid excessive wheel spin (another advantage of using the Suby transaxle is the internal gear position sensor!) for autox duties. He charged me $700 for the start-up tune (several iterations so far!) and the eventual pro-tune.

[strawman]

Holy schniekies, it has been a long time since I updated this build... in the intervening months my mother was diagnosed with an aggressive form of metastatic breast cancer in March 2019, so we moved her in with us for the first few months of her disease and then shuttled back and forth to San Francisco for her final two months on this planet. Thankfully, she moved on from her suffering in August. She raised my brother and I as a single-mother, fully blind and in a big city, while always supporting Rick and me no matter the bad decisions we made while growing up -- truly the definition of a hero/saint. I still cry a little bit every day...

Work has also been crazy-busy, but it provided much-needed distraction. On the positive side, our daughter Cassidy got engaged to a great guy in October, and Nancy and I are stronger as a couple than ever.

I also finally came to the conclusion that I had to give up on my adapted 2005 Legacy GT wiring harness, since I ended up frying the first 2004 Forester XT ECU and my COBB flex-fuel module. I pulled the chassis and engine harness, as well as the throttle pedal, from a wrecked 2004 Forester XT. I also obtained a different ECU on Ebay. My wife put up with the harnesses on our kitchen table throughout September and October as I made the necessary mods. I finally wrapped up that wiring nightmare about two weeks ago, and got the car running last Sunday.

It. was. scary. fast... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving.gif)

It still had some hiccups (poor throttle tip-in, hunting idle, etc.) during my first two drives so I took it to Pokrajac Tuning yesterday. I provided the ECU logs of these first ~10 miles help Mike with the initial tune. I had the chance to watch him with my car on his Mustang dyno, his earmuffs on and his laptop sitting on his lap -- secretly scared that he'd pop the engine. But he conservatively tweaked the tune over the next 60 minutes. My first pull was 250.10 ft/lbs and 242.12 HP. As shown the attached, he tweaked it to 324.40 ft/lbs and 290.69 HP at 18psi. He also provided two more conservative tunes on my COBB AccessPort: 1) wastegate/spring pressure, and 2) 15psi.

I picked it up during lunch today, and wow does it run like a scalded cat. I plan to drive it over the next couple of days to look for weaknesses, and to hammer it at the last PCA autocross of the year on Saturday in Santa Maria, CA. I'm running it on straight gas for now, but will wire in the new COBB flex-fuel module in the coming weeks. Of course, do I REALLY need more power? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/aktion035.gif)

[Andyrew]

Very sorry to hear about your mother!





325lbs of torque is MOVING!

Did the tuner tune with any E85 in the system?

Congrats on getting it running!

[strawman]

Did the tuner tune with any E85 in the system?

Thanks Andy for your kind words. The current tune doesn't include E85, but it is apparently pretty easy for Mike to add using his COBB AccessPro software setup. The fuel pump, lines and injectors were sized/installed with E85 in mind. The COBB flex-fuel module will automatically adjust the tune based on the percentage in "corn" in the fuel. I also installed a petcock on the bottom of the fuel tank to easily empty the E85, since it apparently gets "stale" pretty quickly if it sits. I merely need to replace the COBB flex-fuel module when it arrives next week and then pay Mike to put it back on the dyno for final scaling.

[914forme]

IE85 likes to attract water, so add a fuel stabilizer and it will extend its shelf life. Do drain it, before you store the car for long periods.

Also do not forget you will use more E85 than normal gas so your range will be reduced, even before you get on it with the right go fast pedal.

Enjoy, that setup is a great way to go.

[Andyrew]

Also e85 will eat up fuel lines really quicky. I would say that for storage you should keep regular fuel lines in the car or you'll be going through filters and lines quite regularly.

You can probably get away with say an e40 mix and get quite a bit out of it as far as knock protection and Hp increase.

[charliew]

So sorry about your Mom, this really tests our faith. My wife is well into ad at about three years. We all have different little time bombs inside us. I hope I outlast my wife to study ad and help her as long as I can. My st judes pm had a recall on the battery 4 or more years ago (the problem was known in 2011) and getting it replaced is something it really takes a lawyer and money to have success at. Lawyers are cheaper than Dr's. The wealthly are really the only ones with better healthcare no matter what country they are in. I do not know of any field in which central texas has good specialists in health care. It's up to each of us to monitor our own care and to not trust our providers.

I'm still lurking but probably my expertise is pretty dated. My son had a 04 487hp sti on e85. It was not a stock internal 255 so not much relevance here except for the e85 part. the only reason he ran e85 was to keep detonation under control on the street. this was just a street/road car hobby for him. he sold it to someone in dallas a little over a year ago and moved on to a audi rs3 something or other. 400hp stock but tuneable to a safe 500 on the street also on e85 but it senses automatically the octane. It even starts the fuelpump when the door opens. He would not sell the sti to me, I had built a cold air intake and shrouded the fmic and made several little manifolds to help engineer the breather system using the mann provent used by lingfelter originally on our research. I'm sure he did not want to baby sit me on it as it required a laptop a lot on our changing weather to keep it optimum on performance. He always tuned it conservatively to save it. In Waco pop 120k he only had about two places to gas up which to me was a real pain but they were close to his workplace. I think any alcohol in fuel causes more problems for a street car than it is worth especially when you consider the places where you can use the torque. The quality of the e85 requires you to monitor it on every fillup to keep the tune optimum. Also because of the water issue you might want to not use a vented tank but use a closed tank system to keep the moisture out. If I missed your mods to control it I am sorry.

I think as you have decided that a race e85 tune is good though and the under 20 psi is good and probably a tune all the driveline can handle long term. The only thing I would think might be tested is the volume of the airfilter on full boost. the old formula of 1.45cfm for 1 hp might be used to size the filter and intake tubes.
I like following along on your journey.

[strawman]

A pre-autocross pic of my 914 behind its TDI-swapped tow rig. I’ll provide an update after the race today.

[ValcoOscar]

Same here...sorry about your Mom.

She raised you well, glad I had a chance to meet and talk with you at our WCR2019 luncheon.

Guys/Gals...he won the 50/50 $$$ raffle and decided to pass. Very generous of him.
@Larmo63 name came up next (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ar15.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/headbang.gif)

Hope to see your beast on the road soon.

Happy Holidays!!!

Oscar

[strawman]

Well, that was short-lived! The first four runs were an absolute blast, with oodles of torque and instant acceleration. I experienced no flat-spots or other untoward tuning issues; it is a BEAST! Even the guy in the GT2-RS came over to see "what the heck you got in there?" In fact, I broke the tires loose in third gear (albeit on relatively cold tires) on a straightaway.

However, while in queue for my fifth run my oil pressure started to drop (30psi at idle, and only went up to 60psi at 3k rpm). Like an idiot, I didn't park it and decided to hammer it anyway. About halfway through the run, I heard the distinct sound of rod knock and then quickly a loud bang... followed by lots of steam. I immediately pushed in the clutch and drove through a wall of cones to get off the track ASAP. Once we verified it was not on fire, I found the motor was locked-up. So much for my junkyard motor...

I haven't done the post-mortem yet (I've been busy helping with another 24 Hours of Lemons), but it appears that I threw a rod through the top of the block and punctured the cast aluminum coolant crossover tube. Hence the steam mentioned above. I won't be able to spend any time with the car for a couple of weeks, but I've already ordered a new IAG Stage 2 short-block with a couple of upgrades. It includes a new Subaru case, 2017+ STI nitrided forged crank, forged rods and forged oversized slippery-skirt pistons, as well as an IAG windage tray. Hopefully my recently-rebuilt heads aren't borked, but I won't know until I tear it down. I'll send my BNR turbo in for inspection to make sure metal bits didn't get past the custom turbo filter (which, if full, could've starved it for oil!).

I learned a couple of things: 1) Duh, I really shoulda parked it when the oil pressure dropped, and 2) I need more traction. I will install an electronic oil pressure sensor that will pull timing/limit boost if it drops below a PSI threshold, and I plan to widen the rear flares to get more rubber in the back.

I'll snap photos of the carnage and the build-up of the real motor. It's only time-n-money... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/headbang.gif)

[charliew]

sorry to hear about the carnage. It will take a real effort to clean out the heads oil passages. The heads have the little restrictors in them that can be removed for cleaning. The oil cooler/warmer is toast, if you are still using it, maybe the pump is ok it can be checked of course. metal removal in a suby is a hard job. So what rpm did you push it to? Do you know about the smoothing of the ports on the block behind the oil pump? 60psi is a lot of pressure at 3k. hot 200 degrees at idle 30 psi is good in my opinion. I guess it is no 3 rod. I'm sure it will be better next time. 7-8 qts of synthetic in a pan with gates maybe? 18 psi doesn't seem like a problem on stock parts unless it is a high mileage motor. Since you didn't loose any oil check the level before you take it down and study how it is before you disassemble it will give you some knowledge to start the inspection. I would make a list of questions to try to answer for myself. I've never cleaned a accusump before.

so sorry but you are young and knowledgeable.

[strawman]

Hi Charlie, the tune limits revs to 7k, but my datalog shows I never got above 6,054 during the two runs I remembered to hit the "datalog" button. I'm not using the OEM oil cooler/warmer due to the shape of the Smallcar cast aluminum pan... but oil temps never got above ~210F despite driving it hard and upper 70s weather. The former EJ22T engine would easily go over 220F after a few runs. I'll clean out the Accusump again (I bought it used) and replace the o-ring again -- pretty simple process. I'm going to have Pokrajac Tuning build the motor and talk to him about smoothing the port behind the oil pump; we'll see if my brand new 11mm pump needs to be replaced. As mentioned, it is a used engine -- out of a wrecked car with ~104k miles that wasn't drivable... so I couldn't put it through its paces on the road before pulling it.

[lierofox]

Mental note: gotta drag strawman up north of the grade and have you poke around my ugly beast of an STI swapped 914. Remind you of what turbo lag feels like!

It's like waiting for VTEC, but with actual results!

[strawman]

Sorry I haven't updated in a while. I moved to a bigger place (with a 30'x50' shop!), and finally dragged the 914 to my new place. The new engine is in the car, but I haven't started it yet. Stay tuned... I'll provide an update with some pictures in the coming days.

Here's a teaser:

[strawman]

As mentioned earlier, I heard a loud BANG at (according to my datalog) 5,130 rpms and then steam poured out of the engine bay. The car sat for a few weeks while I ordered the new shortblock and other parts in preparation for a new heart.

After removing the intake manifold I began to see what actually happened. As you can see in the first pic, the aluminum coolant crossover tube is cracked and you can barely see the hole in the top of the block.



Here's a pic with the crossover removed; you can see the "custom venting" and several metal pieces laying about.



I pulled the drivetrain and placed the engine on a stand to begin the real tear-down. This is where you can see the real ugliness: that's what remained of the piston and one of the valve heads, and the upper half of the connecting rod sat at a weird angle. Check out the cylinder scoring, too.





Remember me talking about my totally rebuilt heads? Obviously, this head is beyond (feasible) repair.



Here's more carnage:





I don't have a pic of the turbo, but the hot-side impeller was damaged by all the metal pieces that shot through it. The intake was full of oil and small metal pieces, as were the cast iron exhaust manifolds. My brand new 11mm oil pump was surely damaged, too. Yuck.

So I sent the turbo back to BNR Supercars for a rebuild, and the 3-quart oil reservoir back to Accusump for a cleanout and reseal. I found a pair of used heads on Craigslist (after I had to send an Ebay pair back because the damage was not accurately described!). The heads I ended up using needed new exhaust valves, so I upgraded the springs throughout as part of the rebuild.

For grins-n-giggles, I separated the block to see more carnage. Obviously, the rod bearings were gonzo and the crank is junk. In my next post, I'll share the custom baffling I installed in the new block and in the oil pan -- and the hole in the now-empty block helped in devising the baffling solution.

[strawman]

Obviously, the old engine was starved of oil so I worked with my tuner to prevent a similar fate for the new engine. Although my COBB AccessTuner can display oil pressure and log it, there is no shut-down like we have on the buses here at work. COBB says they're working on something to at least sound an alarm, but it looks like I'll need to closely monitor it. Speaking of oil, the Smallcar cast aluminum pan is great for providing additional clearance while only giving up 1/2 quart of oil, but there is zero baffling inside. Further, the modified Smallcar oil pickup is suspended (no bracing) and it sits near the front of the engine -- so all the oil rushes to the back of the pan under acceleration. Did I mention this thing is a rocket under boost? Yeah, that ain't gonna do...

After cleaning everything up, I bolted the oil pick-up and pan to the bare "vented" block. Through the hole, I could easily trace the outline of the pick-up onto the floor of the pan through the block, which helped me figure out how to best baffle it.



I bought a set of aluminum flapper baffles from Summit, which I installed in the custom-fit "can" around the pick-up. Below are pics of the mock-up and then as welded-in. As you see, I used flanges at the bottom to help with TIG welding, since I knew it'd be a challenge to mate the aluminum sheet and relatively porous cast pan. The flanges at the top provide some rigidity. I used SS rivets to secure the flappers to the walls of the "can." The holes behind the hinged section are barely smaller than the flap itself, so it flows well back into the can while returning oil constantly fills it.





The welds ain't pretty, but I filled it with water and frantically ran figure-8s around my driveway to make sure the fluid will stay inside of and return to the can (I'm surprised my neighbors didn't call for the guys in white lab coats!). Not very scientific, but I hope it'll work and save the considerable investment that I have into my new engine setup.



Finally, I wanted to shore up the Smallcar shortened oil pump pick-up; even the factory one has a bolted-on brace. So I bent up some scrap steel, cut-off the upper portion from the factory brace and welded it together. I then mocked up a rig to test for air leaks using old radiator hoses and clamps, some PVC caps, and pressurized it under water. It is tight! You can also see the IAG windage tray, which helps keep the oil in the pan and away from the rotating assembly.



Final pic is of my new shop. Yup -- I have an old Benwil 12k lbs. 4-post lift, an Atlas 9k 2-post lift, and a shi**er in the corner. So far, I've installed twelve 17.7K-lumen LED lights (bright as WalMart!), wired up 38 pairs of 20-amp 110V plugs throughout, and three 30-amp 220V plugs for my MIG welder (each lift has one). Still need to wire in a 50-amp for my TIG, but I'm waiting for a new/larger panel that will be installed as part of the solar system in the next few weeks. The compressor will be installed under the lean-to. I bought a bunch of old pallet racking and an old Cat V50D forklift to help move-n-store big stuff. I still need to install the workbenches and small-stuff shelving. One small corner is reserved for my wife's lapidary stuff; maybe we'll spend more time together now? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/confused24.gif)

[76-914]

Geoff, first I want to offer my condolences on losing your Mom. We were on vacation then & I totally missed that. I would liked to have known her. Rock solid and salt of the earth. Now I know where you get your resourcefulness. I like your baffle mod. Your new shop is the Cat's Meow buddy. Kent (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

[charliew]

I wish you had a 7-8 qt pan.

[JRust]

Geoff man did I miss a bunch. None of it good. So sorry to hear about your mom.

Totally missed your earlier post on your motor going boom. Man can I relate. Had mine running 2 weeks before it spun a bearing. Finally got it back with another used 02 2.0 turbo motor. Guy left my ebrake partially engaged when it was on the dyno run. Passenger rear caliper leaked like a sieve after he got the tune done. Waiting to rebuild my damn caliper so I can actually drive my car (IMG:style_emoticons/default/headbang.gif)

Well that shop is sweet man! Congrats on that & your new build is going to be sweet