December 2020 Update: Driving Around and Engine #1 Teardown
I’ve put another 1000 miles or so on the car driving it around. Even encountered some sub-freezing temps on a trip to the North Carolina mountains and overall everything is still working pretty great! There are a few little issues below though that have been added to the to-fix list. Driver door window needs to […]
September 2019 Update #3: EJ207 is in and running!
Engine Coolant pipes have all been switched to silicone couplers. No leaks yet! They seem to have a better seal than the FFR provided adapters. Did an oil change and have mostly filled with coolant although some bleeding still needs to happen. Installed JDM ECU and ran wiring for AVCS (variable valve timing in Subaru-speak) […]
September 2019 Update #2: Engine Prep for The EJ207
New engine is in! It’s a JDM EJ207 Version 8. This is the JDM WRX STi motor, which is a twin-scroll turbo high-revving variant of their 2.0L engine. Should be a fun engine in the 818 with less turbo lag and a 8k redline. Makes somewhere around 280hp on the stock tune which is how […]
September 2019 Update: Murphy’s Law has run its course
Engine Failure So…the engine dyno session did not go as planned. Car was doing well for about two hours and pulls up to 6000 rpm. Made 260 HP and 310ft-lbs at the wheels by that point. However, once the tuner did the higher rpm pulls the engine got rod knock immediately so that brought everything […]
August 2019 Update: Running on all cylinders!
Engine I re-shimmed the valves to bring everything back into tolerance on the passenger side head. To my relief, the leak down tests following this were good! I put everything back together and sure enough the car is now firing properly on all cylinders 🙂 . Dyno tune coming shortly! Fingers crossed everything goes smoothly […]
July 2019: Valve Shim Mini-Update
I had a brief visit back to Georgia and I took an hour or so to measure my existing valve shims so I can order replacements in the correct size. I wanted to do this so I can get the engine running as soon as possible and not wait on parts. Valve Shim Measurements: I […]
May 2019: Engine diagnosed (Probably) and Summer Break
Engine I took off the passenger side valve cover to measure the valve lash on the rebuilt head I purchased from eBay. Sure enough, 6 out of 8 valves had a clearance of under .002″ (tolerance is .008″ +/- .0008 for intake and .010 +/- .0008″ for exhaust) meaning I could not measure them so […]
April 2019 Update #2: Engine Issues Continue
Engine Apparently engine building is not my calling…discovered some new issues when I brought the car to DBW Motorsports to get it tuned. We were having some issues with misfires on cylinder #3. After checking injectors, coil, plug, wiring, etc. we did a quick compression check which showed only ~90psi compression on that cylinder. DBW […]
First Start!!!!
The car has finally started without any mechanical carnage! (See video) It has a new passenger cylinder head now since the last attempt. Engine I disassembled the engine while it was still in the car. This involved removing the timing components, turbo, partially removing the intake, the intercooler, misc hoses, and half of the exhaust […]
December 2018: First start attempt (ended poorly)
Engine So…I attempted to start the engine and things did not go as planned. It turned over fine at first. It backfired a couple times for the first crank or two but the engine never started. Then I heard the timing belt slip followed with a noise that I’m pretty sure was the piston and […]