382 replies to this topic

[Liberty]

I'm speechless.

 

Everything looks brand new and the attention to detail is second to none. Looking great man!

[aekOne]

Great job Joel! This is coming along very nicely

[JDWhiteWRX]

I bit of a milestone in this project today with the  installation of the new turbo motor into the car.

The day started with removing the timing belt covers and checking out the belt. The motor has 108k km's on it and it 10 years old so I wanted to make sure the belt had been changed.

Everything looked in very good condition so I won't change the belt until the bigger turbo goes in.



Then it was time to install the motor. I was going to have a mate come over after work and help me but then I got a little impatient and decided to install it solo. I started by laying the motor on the legs of the engine crane and then jacking up the car so I could roll the motor underneath.



Motor in position and ready to lift up.



Then I just re-attach the crane and start lifting the motor up to line it up with the gearbox. I also undid the gearbox crossmember with the floor jack under the box so I could get the right angle for the motor to mate up with the box.

Here you can see I have the lower dowels lined up



The only hard part was getting the front crossmember into position to bolt back up to the chassis. I had to use my scissor jack and some blocks of wood to lever it into position one side at a time, not too bad though and I had it all done just after lunch.

So here it is how I left it tonight with the new motor in the engine bay. Now its a matter of connecting things up and working out what things do not line up. I have already found the Foz radiator is too tall for the Outback's engine bay, Ben from Ichiban warned me about this so hopefully I can exchange it for one that fits. I will also have to get some hoses for the water to air intercooler, mount the pump and make up some brackets to support the intercooler.

[Jberg89]

This is amazing....just read start to finish. Wow. I'm impressed. Well done mate.

[Liberty]

So close man!

[JDWhiteWRX]

Thanks, yeah not that close, all the big and straight forward stuff is done but now its going to be sourcing the little one off parts and working out issues to get the car up and running, lucky I have a lot of time up my sleeve as AM Auto are still on holidays and won't start work on my harness until the 13th.

 

Putting the dash back in is not going to be a fun job.

[Liberty]

Oh I know man, but you've come so far already in such little time. This Outback is gonna be absolutely flawless by the time you're finished with it.

[JDWhiteWRX]

A bit of a lazy day today, didn't get a lot done.

I started fitting the exhaust, dump pipe first, it all fit fine even though I had read some people remove that black bracket behind the dump because its hits I seemed to have enough room to leave it in place.

From the top. You can see I also put a couple of washer in behind where the dump bolts to the gearbox to fill the gap, had to tap it up slightly too to line up the holes.



From below.



I got as far as the mid pipe with the exhaust, since its off a 06 wrx it doesn't have the length to go any further and will need a little extending at the exhaust shop.



The turbo motor connects to the brake booster on the opposite side so I had to play around with the pipe that runs along the firewall and cut some rubber hose to suit. On the Foz this bolts to the firewall but the holes do not exist in the Outback so I knocked the clamps off the pipe and gently bent it into shape until I could make it fit in the pre-existing hose clips.

You can see the hose highlighted with red dots.



Finally I started installing the drive shafts, I got one side done and checked the length was ok with the wider track of the alloy control arms, length was fine at full droop travel and bump is usually less so I don't think there will be any problem using the original Outback drive shafts.

When I was installing the second one I noticed a split in the boot.



I had a spare shaft off my wrx lying around but it wasn't until I had taken them apart that I realised there is a slight difference in the shape so I will have to go buy a new boot.

This is where I left it, lost enthusiasm at this point

[Morgan]

Haha I had to do a CV boot on the XT this week. Such a messy job!

 

The rest is looking great!

[JDWhiteWRX]

I didn't touch the car today, went mountainbiking instead as it was the last day of my holidays. I did buy a blow off valve (off an Evo9) on ebay for $20 to suit the water to air intercooler and the harnesses are being posted to AM Auto tomorrow. Will pick up a new CV boot too and some hose for the water lines to the intercooler.

[Beckers]

Use a gen Subaru boot, as the made in China stuff is shithouse quality.

Making good progress, well done.

[JDWhiteWRX]

My holidays are over but I got a few things done today after work. I picked up some CV boots at lunch time from Repco, only $15 each and they come with grease, much better than $60 each for just the boot at Subaru (sorry Beckers).



New boot on and ready for install



Installed, the other side was already on.



Next I had to replace both ball joints on the alloy control arms as the boots were torn. I had some reasonably new ball joints off my wrx in the garage since I had put a Whiteline RCA kit on my wrx.

Off with the old



On with the new(ish)



Then I got all the remaining suspension bolted up including the rear control arm bushings, lower strut bolts and put my discs and calipers back on.



I will be off to see Ben at Ichiban tomorrow at lunch to pick up a wrx radiator (the Foz rad was too tall) and an air intake scoop (again Foz too tall), Ben has been very helpful with finding the right parts to get the car running. I also posted both wiring harnesses to AM Auto today to have the engine management wiring from the Foz spliced into the Outback wiring harness.

I still need to make some brackets to support the intercooler as they did not come with it, then figure out where to mount the pump and run the hoses.

[Liberty]

Very good progression today man. Keep it up. Ben is indeed a top bloke! He's helped me out heaps with my Liberty since I bought it.

[Beckers]

All good bro,

 

My new Chinese boot kits only lasted 14 months.

The original gen Subaru boots did 8 years !

Trade price on the boots was only $44 to me, they have been in there 4 years now

I hope the Repco kit lasts a while.

 

Cheers

[Staxta]

New oem boots looked brand new after 2 years on my gen 2.

How do you get trade price? I seem to get it half the time I buy genuine, then other times I don't.

[JDWhiteWRX]

A bit more progress today, it doesn't seem like much but all these little jobs take time.

Started by pulling the dump pipe off again as with the 06 wrx dump I end up with too many cats, so I put the Foz dump on and while I was there dealt with this issue of the sensor hitting the Outback's heat shielding.



Got my dremel out and trimmed a neat little hole.



Fits nice now.



My new BOV also arrived in the mail, $20 on ebay for a Evo 9 BOV, need this style with tubes at both ends to suit the water to air intercooler.

Standard on the left, Evo 9 on the right.



While I was playing around with BOV fitment I had to remove the old hose lines to the turbo air intake which no longer suit, this involved pulling one of the coolant lines off the throttle body to access one of the bolts. So I figured while I was there I may as well do the throttle body coolant bypass mod.



I also put in the radiator I got from Ichiban yesterday, its from a B4. The car is back on the ground as I have finished working underneath and now I am concentrating on making brackets to support the water to air intercooler.

[CRUISN]

Inspiring stuff.

[Liberty]

Very inspiring indeed.

[JDWhiteWRX]

Thanks guys, not much to report today, I did do some work on the custom brackets to support the intercooler but I didn't get it finished so I will save those photos for when its done.

 

The routing of pipes for the BOV is proving to be a challenge with all the different size hoses required.

[JDWhiteWRX]

Some more work done over the last couple of afternoons. Mostly I have been concentrating on making support brackets for the intercooler and working out where and how to route the BOV.

The rear most bracket was made from a cut up, bent and twisted air box support bracket from the NA motor. Here is a shot of it from underneath.



and from the top. I also extended that overflow hose too as it would have dripped onto the starter motor.



This is the front corner bracket which I made from one of the original intercooler brackets from the Foz.



and this is the other front corner which I made from a piece I cut of that same air box support bracket from the NA motor.



Here is an overall shot showing its final position. The mounts are very solid and clearance is very good between the intercooler and all the non-moving parts along the firewall.



This photo shows the rough position of the BOV and how I need to run the hoses. Its a shame the BOV, joiner pipe to intercooler and return pipe all use different size hoses but I have found a place that makes all the conversion reducers and the prices are pretty good.



Next job is to mount the water pump.