Tool Time!

I spent my day on Tuesday in Subaru heaven. Colorado Component Rebuilders is the mecca for Subaru junkies. Shelf after shelf of blocks and heads and tools and pieces and parts and Subaru posters on the walls. From those parts, they turn out what are essentially brand new Subaru engines. My 2.5 years working for them is partially responsible for my Subaru obsession, I'm sure. The owners, Rick and Emily Johnston, were nice enough to grant me access to their shop and equipment to rebuild the engine in my new daily driver.

My first step was to tear the engine down and assess the damage.

Luckily, I had prepared myself for the worst, and what I found was about what I had expected. The engine had accidentally the whole ring land on cylinder 4. Unfortunately, the block was too scored to simply be honed, so it's off to the machine shop to be bored out and I've got a fresh new set of CP .20 over pistons on order. No big deal, just a $500+ setback. Sadface.

Once the block was torn down, I spent the afternoon cleaning everything up. I wasn't originally planning on rebuilding the heads, but I figured since I had all day and couldn't get started on the block, I might as well. Plus, it's what I do best!

Soda blaster!

Grinding valves and cutting seats, and that's right where I left her until next week when I get the block back.