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.

Wiring Deja Vu

I could have sworn I've already done this...oh, wait...that was the other car. Despite my ambitiousness and good intentions, I didn't get a whole lot done this weekend. I managed to crouch in the snow just long enough to remove the UTEC and the a-pillar gauges, a whole bunch of ugly alarm wiring and butt connectors, and that's about it. I was far too frozen to put anything back together. While most people are drinking beer, eating nachos and watching football, I was playing with wires...

Look familiar? Left it looking more or less like this:

0 horsepower.

Spent the rest of the day Thursday disconnecting things and getting the motor ready to come out, then pulled it this afternoon. The plan is to rebuild my existing motor at Colorado Component Rebuilders, and ditch the big turbo and Utec for something more suitable for a daily driver. I'm currently in the market for an excellent condition STi turbo (VF39, VF48, whatever...don't really care) and intercooler, and the PE1820, Utec, and APS top mount intercooler are for sale.

Here's what the car looked like as of about 14:30 this afternoon:

Spent a few more hours cleaning, and now it looks about a million times better!

My pile 'o fasteners and a goodnight shot...

Bad news.

I was really hoping that the blue smoke coming from the new car would be something easy. A bad turbo, or even a bad PCV valve. It seemed to be running okay, aside from the occasional flicker of the check engine light, and it wasn't making any unusual noises.

Wednesday night, I had a dream that I did a compression test on it, and the left front cylinder had no compression (that's normal, right?). Thursday was my day off, so I pulled the turbo and found a ton of oil in the intake and intercooler. The turbo inlet hose was soft and eroded from all of the oil. The turbo had no shaft play whatsoever and I couldn't find anything wrong with it. Bad sign. I pulled the plugs on the passenger side and everything looked okay, both cylinders passed the compression test with flying colors. There was hope. Pulled the plugs on the drivers side, and found this...

Left rear cylinder wasn't looking too pretty. Checked the compression, and...

Nada. Damnit.

New car!

I was offered a deal I couldn't refuse on another 2002 WRB wagon, so I decided to make it mine. It was super cheap, but it was smoking like crazy, so I wasn't really sure what to expect. Photo stolen from the previous owner.

ENGINE:
650cc Injectors
APS Large Top Mount Intercooler
Blitz FATT Turbo Timer
BPM Crossover Pipe
BPM GT Turbo‐back Exhaust
BPM Up‐pipe
UTEC ECU with ProTune
NGK Colder Spark Plugs
PE 1820 Turbo
STi Shortblock (installed November 2006)
Tein Hood Dampers
Vishnu Intercooler Hoses
Vishnu Lightened UD Pulley
Walbro 255 Fuel Pump (new when shortblock was installed)

TRANSMISSION:
Kartboy Short Shifter w/comfort bushings
RA Gearset
STi Lightened Flywheel
STi Tranny Mounts

SUSPENSION:
Anti‐Lift Kit w/Comfort Bushings
AMS Front Strut Bar
Custom Skid Plate
Group N Mounts
GT Spec 3‐piece Subframe
Megan Racing Coilovers
Perrin Rear Solid Endlinks
Progress Rear Adjustable Swaybar w/mounts
STi Replica Rear Strut Bar
Whiteline Adjustable Lateral Links
Whiteline Front Endlinks
Whiteline Front Sway Bar
Whiteline Steering Rack Bushing
Stop Tech Front Big Brake Kit

INTERIOR:
2005 USDM STi Gauge Cluster
Megan Racing Pillar 3‐Gauge
Momo Shift Knob (blue/black leather)
Red Interior Lighting Color Change
STi V8 Front Seats
20% Tint

EXTERIOR:
Clear Side Markers
Hella Supertones
JDM Pink "i" Grill Badge
Modded Headlights
Painted Fog Light Cover Screens
Roof Rail Deletes
STi Hood Scoop
STi V8 Painted Sideskirts

WHEELS / TIRES:
Rota Tarmac II (royal black) with Hankook Icebears 225/45/R17
– Not currently on the vehicle, but included
Rota Tarmac II (bronze) with Kumho Ecsta All‐weather 225/45/R17

14 MPG

I've put about 300 miles on the wagon now since the tune. Aside from a strange high idle issue, it's running really well and seems really happy. Changed the oil yesterday, but forgot to save some to send to Blackstone. So far, it looks like I'm averaging 200 miles per tank and 14 miles per gallon.

On an unrelated note, my Bimmerforums Secret Santa sent me an excellent gift. If you're still stalking me, thanks again, Secret Santa. :) Need to fab a bracket and stop at Radio Shack, then I will install.

Hmm...what should I do with this?

Options:

-Coffee table
-Sleeved stroker
-Chrome plate it
-Use it as a pillow
-Aluminum recycler
-Put it in my trunk and tell everyone I've got a dual engine WRX