382 replies to this topic

[Adam]

Love that you are taking the time to write this up for us! Thanks!

[JDWhiteWRX]

No problem.

 

Another day working on the car, today I started work cleaning up the engine bay ready for the new engine. The engine bay is a mess due to the previous owner adding some kind of additive to the cooling system to try and fix the head gasket leak, these things never work and all it end up doing was boiling over and spraying the crap all over everything. I have pressure washed the bay with a bunch of different chemicals with no success so the only way was to use some buffing compound and a bit of muscle, much easier to do while there is no motor or harness in the car.

Here are the before photos.











To clean it properly I started at one corner and made my way around the engine bay. I had to remove most of the things bolted down so I could polish it properly. While I was there I swapped any brackets I could to the brackets from the half cut as they were in better condition. I also used new looking bolts that I had left over from the half cut.

I also swapped the under bonnet fuel filter setup from the Foz into the Outback, this way I can delete the in-tank fuel filter in the Outback when I upgrade the fuel pump and I will have an easy to service fuel filter setup.

Here are the photos after cleaning.

[Adam]

[Robert]

That's mint!

[CRUISN]

Madness!!

[Hypnotic]

Amazing!

[Morgan]

This is awesome! Would love to get my engine bay this clean!!!

...not removing an engine purely for cleaning though hahaha!

[Liberty]

I could eat off that.

 

Awesome work man. This is becoming an awesome write up! Perhaps one of the most detailed I've ever come across.

[JDWhiteWRX]

My fingers are bloody sore today from all that polishing in those hard to reach places, I really want to finish getting the engine bay ready for the new engine but I may have to take the day off.

[Liberty]

Ha ha, I can imagine. Give yourself a break man. It's New Year's Eve!

[JDWhiteWRX]

Didn't get a lot done today, yesterday was some hard work which left me very tired but I still managed to knock a few things over.

Installed the boost control thingy, the bracket didn't fit so I just mounted it direct to the tower. It's the same in my wrx anyway, useless brackets that weight too much are gone.



I installed the resonator in the guard but the snorkel didn't fit as the Foz radiator support sits too high. Might have to source a wrx one, let me know if you have one lying around that you don't want.



I then made up the second bracket for the water to air intercooler radiator.





The other mount fits neatly in an existing hole.



Finally I removed the bumper again and the bumper beam crash bar thing to take a good look at everything. I was not happy with the condition of the entire radiator support area, lots of surface rust which will only get worse if left alone.

I started work on this but won't show the photos until its all cleaned up. Here is what it looks like.


 

[allpaw4]

Wow. there is some serious progress happening here! Have you been down to autopro or bursons etc to see how much a replacement WAIC radiator is worth? The fins look pretty second hand on that unit, and I'd say you want that working pretty well to keep heatsoak away.

 

Something else to think about is deleting the resonator on the intake - I think I remember correctly when I say a fair bit of flow losses are caused by that res.

 

Cheers,

Ben

[JDWhiteWRX]

Hi Ben, I will spend a bit of time straightening the fins and then see how we go with temps once its running. Since the motor went unexpectedly I don't have a lot of cash at the moment for upgrading everything, I just want to get it back on the road at this stage.

 

I still run the resonator in my wrx and it makes the expected power for the turbo its running, I did ask MSR about it at the time of tuning and he said it was not worth removing, just makes more noise without it which is something I don't want in the Outback.

[JDWhiteWRX]

Today I finished cleaning up the front end around the radiator support. I attacked it with my Dremel using a combination of sanding discs, pointed stones and the wire brush wheel. Then I went over the whole thing with my orbital sander, followed by a good wash with wax & grease remover. Then some primer, white paint (all done yesterday) then today I masked part of it up and sprayed on the black paint.

Here are some more photos showing how bad it was.







Here are the photos after the respray.









Time to put the new motor in now.

[Morgan]

It's like it's brand new!!!!

[Adam]

A++

[sbv]

Very tidy. Impressive writeup and attention to detail!

Well done!

[93tzlegacy]

hey joel the intake duct you need is from a B4 or WRX, they use the same air box but have the lower rad support.  looks like its coming along nicely. 

[zahmad]

It's like it's brand new!!!!

Exactly my thoughts!

[JDWhiteWRX]

Some more progress today, started by re-installing the A/C condensor, bonnet latch, air temp sensor and horns. Then I bolted the WTAI radiator in place.



Then I had to paint the corroded lower radiator support brackets, very time consuming for just two little brackets but I like to have everything done right and looking good. Started by using the sanding belt and wire brush in my Dremel.



Then a wash with wax & grease remover, some primer and some black paint.



Here is the before and after, new bolts too.



With that done there is nothing else left to do with the engine bay so it was time to get the new motor ready. Started by removing the "green brackets of death" as they are known, this makes it easier to swap out the injectors later when the bigger turbo goes in, much easier to remove with the engine out of the bay.



I also installed the flywheel and clutch that was on the old NA motor which suits my dual range gearbox.

Then I rolled the motor out of the garage and gave it a good soaking in degreaser, followed by a thorough blast with the high pressure washer.



The motor came up very clean, almost looks new again.





Hopefully tomorrow the motor and front crossmember will be bolted into the car.