382 replies to this topic

[allpaw4]

Hmmm. Numbers in the fine learning getting much worse, but IAM has increased. See what happens in another few days - the replacement gasket may have altered things, so see what happens.

 

Either way, the ECU is doing its job and limiting it to try and save the engine. If you get less performance, so be it. Better than needing a new engine.

[JDWhiteWRX]

If anyone is going to the Top Gear Festival next weekend at Sydney Motorsport Park (Eastern Creek) my Outback will be on display there on the Saturday with 16 other cars from the Impreza WRX Club. They will also have Cody Crocker driving the new wrx on the figure 8 track throughout the day.

[Liberty]

I doubt I'd be able to make it but it's great to hear you are having your car on display. Definitely worthy of it.

[Samwise]

Nice work!

 

I'm hoping to make it too Top Gear, but I don't think I have the time next weekend

[JDWhiteWRX]

Here is my car on display at Top Gear Festival today. It was funny standing next to the car and listening in on peoples comments, they were either impressed with the turbo swap or wondered what a stock looking Outback was doing on display with a bunch of modified wrx's.

 

[Beckers]

Nice,

 

Fits in perfectly.

[Morgan]

Spewing we missed seeing this. We were at the festival today!

[RyanSharpe]

Fantastic read mate well done

[JDWhiteWRX]

Hi Guys,

 

A little bit of an update.

 

You may remember the ECU was pulling a little timing, IAM never got above 10 when it should hit 16 when the motor is happy plus I had a lot of fine learning correction etc. Here is a Learning View screenshot from last week to show you what I mean. Its basically been like this since I got the car on the road again but I could not figure out why.

 

 

So I took the car to NRG Auto this week to see if Nick could diagnose why it was not happy. Good news was that according to Nick there was no detonation so no chance of damaging the motor, just not getting the full performance out of it as the ECU was holding back the timing to keep things safe. Fuel usage has been consistently 10L/100km around town.

 

Nick installed a air/fuel ratio meter in the exhaust so we could see what was happening real time and we went for a drive. Turns out it was sluggish coming out of closed loop and when it did it was a little lean under boost.

 

So he then installed a fuel pressure gauge to make sure it was getting enough fuel and we went for another drive. Everything seemed good there so we then swapped out the AFM to make sure mine was not faulty and bingo! everything came alive

 

So I have ordered a new AFM but pinched the one from my wrx temporarily as I only drive it when I'm racing, reset the ECU and have done a bit of driving.

 

Here is the new Learning view screenshot, everything is happy now!

 

[Beckers]

So how does it perform now ??

Are you going to HVC ??

Very keen to see you car, talk shit etc.

[JDWhiteWRX]

Yeah mate I will be there in the Outback. The power delivery is much more smooth and linear, its pretty quick for what it is but when money becomes available I will end up doing a vf34 (or similar) with injectors, exhaust and tune just to get the full potential out of the swap.

[Barbbachello]

Yeah mate I will be there in the Outback

Nice. Wouldn't mind seeing this in the flesh. So faulty AFM was the problem?

[JDWhiteWRX]

Yes, we cleaned it but it still didn't come good.

[JDWhiteWRX]

Installed cruise control back into the car today. The cable on the original CC module was too short and the throttle is on the opposite side of the turbo motor so while I was at NRG the other day I grabbed a CC module from a wrx which Nick had spare on the shelf.

This photo shows the difference in cable length. Other than that they are the same so once I bolted it in and connected the plug everything worked and the car now has cruise control again.

 

[Morgan]

Wow big difference in length!

 

It's the small luxuries like CC that make stealth builds like this even more epic..

[jasonp]

Great work Joel. You have done a power of work!

[JDWhiteWRX]

I had a loud whining noise coming from the motor yesterday, it sounded like it was coming from the alternator or A/C but could have possibly been from the timing belt area. I started by removing the alternator belt and then starting the car, noise still there. So then I remove the A/C belt and start the car, noise gone! Then I remove the A/C tensioner pulley and give the bearing a spin in my hand, problem found.

 

I had a spare one off my old motor which will do the job for now and after installing it the noise was gone but the bearing in it was not silky smooth so I have ordered a new one anyway. Happy days, glad it was nothing to do with the timing belt.

[Morgan]

Good spotting!

[JDWhiteWRX]

Spark Plugs

 

Well I have been putting this job off for a while and I am still kicking myself for not changing them before installing the new motor, why didn't you guys remind me?

 

Wow what a shit job it is to change spark plugs on a outback with a turbo motor! I have done my wrx before and it was a bit fiddly but not that difficult really but then you lift those chassis rails up a bit and its like performing brain surgery! I would almost prefer a clutch swap over this job

 

This is what I am dealing with and this was the easy side

 

 

If you don't have the right length extensions and a spark plug socket with the rubber inside you're gonna have a real bad time. The other side I had water hoses for the intercooler in the way plus the rail seemed just a touch closer to the motor, enough so that I had to disconnect my socket, extension and ratchet in three stages.

 

New versus old

 

 

After I finished she fired up first go and ran like a dream.

[allpaw4]

Yea, I had fiddle central when I was checking out the issues on my second motor. 3/8 is better than 1/2 inch as far as socket sets are concerned. I found it easier to crack them with the ratchet and then remove the ratchet and spin the assembly with the tips of your fingers. Hard work on the fingers, but it went faster. IC must be off if you want to do it from the top, it just gets in the way otherwise.
Is the gap on those plugs different? Looks like it from the photo, that's all.
Sorry, not the IC, the airbox