New: Project 22T
 

Update 2/25/13:

Well, as we all know, this is no longer a budget car, but at least it's still here!

Swapped the Revtronix-chipped EJ22T ECU to a Robtune-chipped EJ20G ECU (JDM Yo!) programmed by Rob from NASIOC over the weekend. It's a ~6-wire harness edit, with the addition of Rob's spark convertor module to run the Legacy ignition. When using a 92-94 N/A Legacy ECU case, it fits right into the stock location. The install took about an hour and was totally painless. It started right up and ran amazing from the get-go.

The Revtronix tune was never fully developed, and had some inconsistencies transitioning from part to full throttle. Rob's been monkeying with OBD1 Subaru code for so long with tuned 20G's that he really has his tunes dialed, and it shows. The car is OEM smooth in all gears and power ranges, I can only imagine what a TD05 and 550's must be like.

This was the last serious flaw with the car for DD status, and it's nice to have it figured out. At this point, I will probably go back to the stock 3.9 gearbox, clutch, and rear end.

Here are some recent photos (no, the car was not clean).


http://www.scottystrachan.com/subaru/91ss_2013_1.jpg

http://www.scottystrachan.com/subaru/91ss_2013_2.jpg

http://www.scottystrachan.com/subaru/91ss_2013_3.jpg

http://www.scottystrachan.com/subaru/91ss_2013_4.jpg

http://www.scottystrachan.com/subaru/91ss_2013_5.jpg



The mod list as it currently stands:

Engine

EJ22T long block refreshed with rings/bearings/hone (thanks Cory!)
JDM 440 injectors (tested 440cc and 444cc by Witchhunter) in stock rails
JECS MAF
Robtune EJ20G ECU and spark adapter
Cheap ball/spring MBC @ 16psi
Custom in-fender cone filter intake (made out of two AEM/generic intake parts)
'02 WRX TD-04 turbo
'06 WRX TMIC with stock BPV
STi coolant tank
Diamond Coil Pack
6ga ground wires to coil, alt, MAF, batt, and both strut tower points
New and re-routed hoses all around
STi engine mounts
Kartboy battery tie-down
3" catless bellmouth DP
OEM '05 STi catback, length and hangers modified


Suspension/Steering/Brakes

STi steering rack modified for GC chassis
Poly steering rack bushings
V.5 STi front hubs (ABS disabled)
GC8 suspension assembly, KYB AGX and Prodrive P1 springs
Poly RSB link bushings
'03 WRX wagon FSB
'03 WRX front brakes/brackets/rotors
'01 RS 16x7 six-spokes
225/45/16 Hankook Ventus


Drivetrain

'95 Impreza 1.8 5MT 4.11 transmission
Redline Lightweight Shockproof gear oil
OEM Cable clutch, pressure plate, flywheel
4.11 rear diff with LSD carrier swap


Interior

'03 WRX front seats
Canadian manual seat belts
JDM Momo early Legacy wheel
Momo shift knob
Rear poly shifter bushing
LC-1 Wideband AFR
Boost/Vac gauge
35% tint all-around
Lowered seat brackets
New windshield

I think I saw a full stock wrx exhaust for sale in reno craigslist. Check it out if that is what you are looking for.

You'll probably be fine with an NA gearbox since you won't be beating on the car. I think (but I'm not positive) the Leg has a 3.90 ratio, so basically any 1.8 or 2.2 gearbox will match except for '93 and '94. I would either go all-stock WRX/STi on exhaust, or all 3" from the turbo back. If you're going to use a stock catback you're not going to get much benefit from a non-stock downpipe.

Yeah, the 3.9 ratio is correct. I remember you saying that the 1.8's had a closer ratio or something, and I imagine that they are on par with the 2.2's for durability. I just don't want to run into an electrical or mechanical non-compatibility.

On the exhaust, I just want a stock look on the muffler, maybe I can have the 3" pipe fitted to the muffler by the shop that does it? Aren't the WRX and STi stock mufflers pretty high-flow? I definitely don't want loud.

If you want it to look stock, just make a custom 3" catback with a Magnaflow and get the least blingy tip you can find put on it. Better yet, get a dual 2.5" outlet and you can stick stock STi tips on it.

Add some pictures to this thread for the fun of it please.

Josh has a Legacy Sport. Nothing done yet for power just suspension, but we did replace the old exhaust. It has an sti exhaust. Sounds good I would guess it would be plenty sufficent for an upgrade in turbo since it was design to operate the sti. You have to get the exhaust lengthen about 3" iirc, because the front to rear dimension is longer than the Imprezas.

It would be good to upgrade to an engine/ecu that excepts some kind of add on engine management. Josh hasn't done anything to his for power because he'd need a stand alone engine management. Also the engine in these cars is a closed deck model, so it can handle a decent amount of power if you can find a way to manage it.
When Josh wakes up I'll see if he can put some input in on the tread.

Done.

10-4, I take it that the STi exhaust sounds much better than stock. The only reason I am thinking 3" all the way, is that I want to do as much to make it efficient and add power that isn't taxing on the motor or requiring extra management and stuff.

OK, I take it the STi muffler is not free-flow enough for a 3" pipe.

Thanks for the tip, I asked him and he said it's catback. Did not get to a price, as I am more interested in WRX headers and up-pipe and 3" turbo back right now I think. Good to meet you at the meet!

Borla Hush almost looks stock and is quiet while still being 3 inches all the way...not cheap but the Borla Hush can is available for pretty cheap. Have a shop add it and a 3" resonator maybe if it isn't available in your fitment .

IIRC the STi CBE narrows to 2.5 or 2.25 and has baffles (not straight through). On a "stage II" 2L WRX an STi CBE would probably hold back 10HP while the WRX CBE holds back about 15 or so. But a 2.5 straight through would be plenty good at that power level. 3" is overkill but if you may ever upgrade to a medium or big turbo, you'll be ready.

Alright, I am tearing into this sooner than expected. It started raining oil yesterday, so I said screw it and slapped it on stands and started taking things apart.

I have the up-pipe, the turbo, and the downpipe off. The starter is off and I am clearing the decks for transaxle action.

The oil was coming from the turbo outlet hose, easy fix after taking it all apart.

The turbo itself was actually loose, with the exhaust housing rotating on the compressor side. There was enough play to almost touch the blade tips on the inner housing wall once I got it off the car. So, that turbo is not going back on. That means operation TD04+TMIC is a go.

Some questions:

1) On the hydraulic clutch (same as WRX), I was told there is some procedure for fixing the fork in place prior to pulling the tranny, otherwise PITA results upon reassembly. Anybody done this before? I might have to talk to Cory about this.

2) The WRX up-pipe has a cat in it, plus a sensor - is this an EGT sensor or something, and would I want to use it?

3) Will the catted WRX up-pipe provide less airflow and generate more heat than the open stock up-pipe? If so, I may just pull the trashed heat-shields on the stock one, wrap it in that heat-tape, and put it back on. Comments?

4) There seems to be a lot of oil blow-by in the various vacuum/crankcase hoses coming back to the intake side, is that bad?

You actually need to remove the fork before you pull the trans. If it's the same as a WRX, there will be a 10mm hex cap on the driver's side of the trans, near the slave cylinder. You remove this cap, and there's a big pin inside of it that the clutch fork pivots on. If I recall correctly, a 6mm bolt screws into the end of this pin, which allows you to pull the pin out, removing it from it's bore in the middle of the clutch fork. Then you just grab the top of the fork and pull it up out of the throw-out bearing. You'll know when it's free 'cause it'll just flop around in the hole there, but you won't be able to remove it completely. Just be sure it's out of the throw-out bearing, and let it rest in the top of the trans.

When you go to put the tranny back in, I'll tell you the ancient Japanese secret for putting it back! ;)

Lube it with soy sauce?

What Cory said. The fork gets disengaged from the throw-out bearing and the motor/tranny can get separated.

The sensor in the WRX up-pipe is an EGT sensor. You don't want to use it unless the Leggy ECU has an input for it that it needs. Even then, you can ditch that EGT and replace it with some resistors to prevent a CEL (at least on a WRX) as the EGT is only used for emissions to know when the up-pipe cat is at temperature.

As long as the stock up-pipe is of similar size, and is in decent condition, I'd use it rather than a catted WRX pipe. Or you could go all banzai on the WRX UP and drill out the cat... just try to avoid getting cancer while doing so. Either way, the less restriction and the less chance of something blowing through the turbo, the better.

Sounds like the compression on the motor may be down. If you've got the time and money, it might be prudent to pull the motor apart, hone the cylinders, slap on some new rings, and do the head gaskets while you're at it. The 22T block is a terrific block, but even it wears out with mileage. Get the compression and leak-down checked to at least see where you're at.

Or alternatively, a proper pair of catch cans will help keep the intake clean even with the blow-by of loose rings... allowing you to run the motor cleanly without spending the cash on a rebuild.

I think I will do this, the ID is identical.

I was planning on turning my attention to the motor after getting the immediate problems rectified. The timing covers need replacement anyway. It seemed to run well enough to commute with for a while, so as long as the oil in the intake does not harm anything (turbo, TMIC ?) I will run as-is for a bit.

If there is a danger with the blow-by, then I will look into the catch can thing.

OK, I will post the techie stuff over in the right place.

As for current news, the car is on stands, the transaxle, turbo, and exhaust are out, and I will be sourcing clutch and related parts this week. I have almost all the other stuff that I want to do ready:

Stock WRX headers
Catless WRX up-pipe
WRX TD04 turbo
2006 WRX TMIC
Stock 2005 STi exhaust turbo-back
1993 Impreza 5MT and diff

If I slap it all back together and the scary noises are not all gone, then engine rebuild time (no, no not yet please!).

Clutch swap to cable from hydro is underway.

Why are you switching to cable? I'm pretty sure that a nonturbo slave cylinder and clutch fork wil work just fine, unless there's just no way to mount the slave.

Well, I'm not familiar with another hydro setup, you are saying that the non-turbo hydro would not have the large cross-pin like Cory described removing (that the cable transmission is not machined for)? My books only showed the one hydro design.

In any case, the hydro system could use a refresh, as it was not exactly performing like new. I also have cables on all the other Subies I've gotten for the family, so I feel more comfortable with them. Plus, except for getting the hydro pedal box out, the conversion has been a snap, and cost less than $15 for the pedals and cable.

Cable <<< hydro for clutch setup. All you have to switch from where you are now is to go back to the hydro pedal box and change the slave cylinder, and possibly the clutch fork. It would then be the easy setup for pulling/installing the gearbox in the future.

In order for hydro system to work with the transmission I got from you, the slave cylinder would need to be reversed in direction from the old setup. Because I literally have no idea if that type of setup exists, I don't know if the brackets, cylinder travel, alignment, forces, etc would even work with the setup. Perhaps it does exist, but I don't have a diagram or layout showing all the small parts needed.

I want this to be factory reliable first, the exact system used does not matter since it ain't a race car. I'm planning on retaining the hydro bits, in case I get ambitious down the road and need the extra heavy duty capacity.

At this point, because I don't even know if just changing the tranny, exhaust, and turbo will solve the problems, I would prefer just to get it to the point where I can drive the sucker. This is taking so long because I am getting the complete education on the procedure and small parts as I go. If I had all the pieces in place, this would have been done days ago and I could go on with evaluating the motor condition.

Really, pulling the tranny was a pretty simple deal, it's the unfamiliarity and small pieces that's killing me now......doing a tranny swap with no system modifications or changes would be super simple in the future. I say this of course before knowing if it runs once bolted together....

All NA hydro clutches (mainly the RS, Forester and some Legacys) use the reversed slave cylinder. What I can't tell you without looking is if your motor has the threaded bosses where it would mount, or if it's on the motor or transmission in the NA hydro setups.

I'm just recommending trying to keep the hydro because in my experience, it's better. Not that the cable system doesn't work at all. The hydro system would meet your goal of factory reliability plus simple future repairs or replacements.

Well then, I might rebuild the hydro seals and swap it back when I get bored....

Sweet Legacy!! I was Torn between this and the 91 GVR-4 back in the day. Even now I rant and rave about this model. Good Luck.. I remember when I was kinda looking for one they were all Auto and not the 5sp.

OK, got her running today.

Mainly, I got tired of fooling around with several issues at once and decided to put all the stock bits back on and see if the new diff and tranny worked. They do, with a little bit of noise, but nothing like what was going on before.

The turbo, exhaust, and TMIC all have little fitment issues that I will be able to address piecemeal rather than leave it all torn apart.

What I did find out with all this is that a nice tranny jack and tall stands make all the difference. The actual fitting up of the new tranny took all of 15min with no blood or sweat. Being able to adjust everything makes all the difference. In the future, I anticipate JUST tranny swaps to go easy, the annoying part is bolting all the little stuff back on....you know, axles, exhaust, and stuff.

I think I might have the clutch adjusted a little too tight, IE the first half of the pedal stroke does the full disengagement. Wouldn't it be better if I allowed a little more pedal freeplay?

NO WAY.

So, after getting my car running last night with the new trans and diff I drove it around for a few miles and everything seemed OK.

Today, I drove it about 20 miles and upon reaching my destination found oil dripping fast....I checked the level, put some more in, and proceeded towards the nearest store....I got maybe 500 feet and then the racket started. Basically that same sound it had before only under driveline load, only this time with no load added.

It took about 0.3 secs to realize the motor was toast. Just got it towed home (thanks AAA Plus). So, the motor was going after all.....

If I do a rebuild, I will not be going for power and mods, I would want to get it back to factory spec, or at least spec with updated components if available. Not really interested in messing with hybrid motor stuff.

All I have right now are images of Scott's WRX flashing through my head.....

Where's the oil coming from?

If there's a hole in the block... it'll be cheaper to do a WRX or STi engine swap than to source a new EJ22T. Those EJ22T blocks are worth their weight in gold!

Well, after jacking it up, it appears that all the oil is all coming from the rear of the motor, under the transmission cover.

When running, the knocking can be felt through the clutch pedal! It runs, but would clearly not do so for long!

If I swapped blocks, I would want to do so in a manner that allowed me to keep the stock ECU and stuff, if we are talking a full wiring harness swap and stuff, I have a much better candidate and not nearly enough spare funding at the moment!

Rear main seal, or cracked separator plate.

Unfortunately, with monkeying around with the tranny, is it possible you knocked the rear main out of whack? They're pretty touchy, and can "fall in" to the motor if you're not careful.....


<--- had the spyhunter mod on the first test drive after a shop we all know and hate, wasn't careful....heh.

No, not likely....at least....not me. I replaced the rear mainseal while I was there, and very carefully seated it to the original depth.

Given the sounds that the car was making beforehand, I'm pretty sure that the problem was preexisting.

Spyhunter mod, lol.

*whew* Vindication.

What with all the work out of town, shooting matches, and family stuff, the car has just been sitting around. I finally got around to pulling the motor out today. I left all the manifold/turbo/intake stuff on, and yanked it out. Left the A/C and Power Steering hooked up and just pushed them to the sides.

I'm in the process of stripping the motor down, and the first thing I went for was the clutch and pressure plate that I had just installed. Well, the leak was definitely the rear seal, BUT, the seal was intact and aligned correctly. However, I can push the crankshaft sideways with my finger and get a break in the seal. I doubt that is supposed to do that....

There was still about 2.5qts of oil in the pan, so I am 99% positive that the turbo and valve trains are OK lubrication-wise. There is no external block damage. I've gotten the intake manifold, exhaust, and turbo off, and next I will take the timing stuff off the front. Once the heads come off then I will know if the valves are screwed or not. Probably not.....

However, I do not know what to expect if the crankshaft was sloshing around like that with the hammering so intense before I shut it down. I really, really, really hope that the block is not screwed.

One step at a time here....not sure what would be involved with trying to swap in a WRX motor, probably all new wiring too. Let's hope this one is salvageable. Bottom line, I am really glad that it had nothing to do with my mechanicin'!

Scotty, want a parts car? My 91 turbo is no more, but the motor and driveline are complete, and it's yours for a song ;)

Wow, and I can sing too (not really).

Seriously, if you have a 22T motor that is sound, I'll take a parts car for sure! I'm curious as to the model, condition of stuff, 5MT or auto, etc. I'll PM you my info.

Oh crap man, what happened to it?! That car was sweet. :(

A bit of an accident involving a bout of panic braking and a jersey wall. See the pics in my classifieds thread here.

Yeah, I saw that after I posted here.

Poor car. :(

Yay, I made it back just fine! That car runs great. Josh, I feel soooooo bad about that car, it was so clean and I'm sure drove awesome with working suspension. Don't worry man, I will make sure it's spirit gets a new body, one way or the other!

I won't get to this until mid next week, but at least I have a lot of options now!

498 White 91 5MT Turbos to go!

Thanks, glad to hear you made it back to Carson City OK. I'm just happy it's going to a good home :)

The car was a blast to hook around a corner with the Bilstens installed.
:( I feel like the worse wife ever. Not so sure the Forester makes up for it. I killed a classic.
At least you'll get good use out of the innards.

You brought it into this world, you took it out. The circle is complete, it'll be ok :)

OK, motor is out, will do the valves, timing, and clutch today. I just don't feel like changing the tranny *again* right now, so I'm staying cable for the time being.

Let's hope things are running by tonight......

The two cars look pretty funny side-by-side in the garage! My wife comes in and says "hey, this one is missing something..."

Get a picture of the progress! :) Especially the two side by side.

What she said ;)

Here is what I have.....I'm really not good for taking pics, unless I am on a pic-specific mission!

As of last night, after my brother helping most of the day:

Front Brakes swapped
Steering Rack swapped
Engine swapped - valves are non-adjustable (?), new timing belt, swapped clutch, plate, and flywheel (mine won't feel nearly as nice as yours). Everything is hooked up except the intake parts and radiator.

I was gonna use that 3" downpipe, but it's not set up for a donut gasket, so I'll just wait until I find a nice 3" muffler and then do the whole thing.

Next: Finish engine bay, adjust cables, new rear pads + bleed all brakes, new ATF, coolant, oil (what kind did you have in there, Josh?), turn key.

I'll wait until it's driving before I start any "not bad for my first swap" stuff. ;)

ON behalf of Josh, until he sees this post. I know it's not synthetic, but I'm not sure the weight is. Hopefully that helps.

Also just for curiosity are you going to swap the Canadian seat belts in to your project car?

Oh yes. Many cosmetic bits will come over, as soon as the basics are running.

I'm really looking forward to the Momo and the seat belts.

Test drive tonight or tomorrow morning!

Nice work ScottyS!

I hope it purrs like a kitten for you :)

and good call on the Cable 93 Imp Clutch. people call me crazy but i like the feel of my 93 clutch more than my 05 STI. the 93 clutch is light and binary, the 05 clutch feels like it belongs to a diesel truck . hahaha

It's easy to make a clutch feel great when it only has to hold 6 monkeypower.

IT'S ALIVE!!!!!

And it drove to G-ville and back without leaving the Spy Hunter mod!

Engine is running 12inHG idle and pushing 7psi boost. Might have a small vacuum leak? I can't hear anything though. It is a bit older after all.

No hiccups, smooth accel, handles fine, shifts fine, sounds fine. As long as it stays this way for a while, haha.

Now the other stuff begins: steering wheel, seat belts, trunk lid, instrument cluster, rear door, headlights. Then on to intercooler and maybe Scott's old TD04. Or suspension, if I figure out a relatively easy and inexpensive solution.

So far, so good, Deede and Josh!

I want to take a family portrait soon.....it will be a full driveway.

Wrong. It either got Mobile 1 or Pentosynth that Paul sells. I always put synthetic in. :p

Shit! Sorry for the false info!
I wonder if there is synthetic in the truck. I hope it won't asplode if I mixed a little. Eek.