279 replies to this topic

[Matt]

Solid centre clutch = my girl refuses to drive it lol



= win!

[Barbbachello]

Paint looks mad. Bad luck about the belt though

[Lukeoly]

In other news, I've been doing some research on my mystery motor. The motor came out of my GC8 WRX but I had suspicions that it wasn't the original. I knew that the engine had been rebuilt not long before I bought it but I never really knew what was inside.

 

The only clues I had to go on were:

- I was told that it had forged pistons by the previous owner but he wasn't very mechanically clued up

- A receipt that came in the book was for a set ACL race bearings

- The case had been split at some point (excess goo visible from the join)

 

I'm definitely more knowledgeable than I was back then and not knowing what's inside has started to bug me more.

I started to do some research on the stamped numbers I could find on the block and heads.

The heads were pretty easy to identify as Version 6 STI heads by the RHC 008 stamped on almost all sides. I was pretty stoked to find this out as they have bigger ports, better cams and shim under bucket valves which make them much more rev happy!

 

So if the heads weren't standard WRX what's the chance the block wasn't either?

While the V6 EJ207 isn't as strong as the V7 I was still hoping I had got lucky with a complete EJ207. I found it really difficult to find info on the numbers stamped into underneath the Power Steering pump which was annoying but this weekend when I pulled the timing gear off I was hoping to find another stamp and give me some clarification. I found an R20!

R means open deck (V5 and 6 EJ207s were open deck)

and 20 as far as I'm aware refers to the cylinder wall thickness.

 

I'm yet to find out what pistons are inside. The only way to confirm without pulling heads off is to use an inspection camera through the spark plug hole. Does anyone have one?

[Beckers]

Hey Luke,

 

The info I have confirms that the R is open type deck.

The 20 after the R is the capacity, ie 20 = 2000cc.

In regards to bore thickness it will be shown as a -16 etc, example R20 -16, 

Hope this helps you work something out.

 

Cheers

[Lukeoly]

New timing belt and covers went in over the weekend. A bit of an annoying job to do again so soon but it's a small price to pay for peace of mind I guess.

Part of the reason I was annoyed about doing the belt was because I had a more interesting mod to do; Black Faced Meter (aka blackout cluster) install.

 

I picked up one of these from a fellow SC member out of an AUDM B4 for a great price. I also managed to grab the plugs and as much wiring as I could reach in and snip off. This made the swap SO much easier as it meant I wouldn't have to source the plugs and I could esstentially just go through one wire at a time, de-pinning them from the Rev A-C RX plugs and then into the Rev D-E B4 plugs.

 

It all went pretty smoothly with the exception of a blown fuse and an incorrect earth. I wired up the cluster without the Illumination control at first (I plan to work this out soon) but when I powered up the cluster for the first time it was doing some weird things. What was even more strange was the fact that the illumination control was seeming to be controlling the power going the unit. With brightness turned all the way up the cluster seemed to behave normally but it would dim down each step and begin to flash to the point where at the lowest illumination setting it would actually have no power at all!

I was getting worried that the AUDM non-blackout cars illumination control wasn't separate like the JDM cars but the more I looked at it (and the flashing) it was looking more like a bad earth. 

It wasn't until I looked at a diagram someone had made on nasioc that it became clear. In the A-C non-BFM pinout, pin A20 is just listed as a ground (there's another ground in A12) but it's not just a ground, it's an Illumination ground!

So I was essentially grounding the cluster power (not just the illumination) through the illumination control module. Once I swapped this for the for A12 it worked perfectly.

 

It was a little annoying but I hope that it'll help me figure out how the the AUDM non-BFM clusters do illumination control. 

 

Before (lame!):

 

Trims off:

 

Halfway (what have I done!?):

edit: dirty little green wire was hanging on from bench testing haha!

 

Mostly de-pinned A-C A connector:

 

All buttoned up:

 

All back together (10,000x better):

[Robert]

Love the bfm's

Looks so good

[Matt]

Awesome work!! I miss my old bfm

[Morgan]

Looks so good man! Much improvement.

A inspection camera was purchased this week at work. We might have to go around there one weekend soon and see if we can get inside your engines.

[cowie165]

Luke that looks great mate. Nice work. How long did it take (excluding the fault finding...)

 

I wonder if the fuel gauge will light up on E like on the RevDE?

[Bumpty]

This thread sits next to my penthouse catalogue.

[ChrisLovell]

Luke that looks great mate. Nice work. How long did it take (excluding the fault finding...)

 

I wonder if the fuel gauge will light up on E like on the RevDE?

How do you mean?

[Lukeoly]

Looks so good man! Much improvement.

A inspection camera was purchased this week at work. We might have to go around there one weekend soon and see if we can get inside your engines.

Awesome!
 

This thread sits next to my penthouse catalogue.

LOL. Thanks... I think.
 

 

Luke that looks great mate. Nice work. How long did it take (excluding the fault finding...)

 

I wonder if the fuel gauge will light up on E like on the RevDE?

How do you mean?

I was taking my time as I wasn't feeling the best at the time and I think it took me about 2.5 hours. 
Cluster is D-E and yes, the fuel gauge ring does flash with low fuel level.

[cowie165]

I was taking my time as I wasn't feeling the best at the time and I think it took me about 2.5 hours. 
Cluster is D-E and yes, the fuel gauge ring does flash with low fuel level.

 

Wow, that's fairly quick, especially if you were a bit crook. Glad to hear all the DE BFM features carry over - I was wondering if it needed a separate line for that gucci stuff but it makes sense that it's all managed by the BFM!

[Robert]

Don't worry about bumpy he's a bit special

[Lukeoly]

Update time!

With the conversion all but complete I’ve been enjoying the car and slowly tidying bits and pieces (when are these things ever completely finished!?)

I’ve upgraded a few more things in the interior since my last update. My favourite one being the seats. I was originally holding out for a set of E tune seats but fellow member CRUISIN came up with a set of GT-B seats for sale and I knew they were up to Mark’s standard they’d be in great condition.




I actually owe a huge (and belated) thanks to both Mark and Pat for being such a great help getting the seats sent. I bought the seats right around the time Pat had bought Vicelore’s white Gen 3 and Mark managed to get the seats stowed into the car while it got couriered up the Sydney!

The seats have made a massive difference to the driving feel (especially at pace!)

I was up on the northern beaches before Christmas and I couldn't help but grab a couple of pics where we picked it up:




I decided to take the car off the road over the Christmas break and replace a few items that I should've replaced before the engine went in. I also had a split in the 06 WRX upper radiator hose I'd been using. I was never happy with the fitment of the upper hose so this was a good excuse to fix it. The main issue I had was the GC8 coolant crossover pipe I was still using. It just doesn't come out as far as the GD pipe. I had an 04 WRX pipe lying around so I bit the bullet and removed the intake manifold. I also wanted to replace the remaining original coolant hard lines as I'd had some trouble with them weeping and knew they were probably nice and crusty inside.











I also bought a parts car!
I already have a few parts from this car on the wagon; BFM cluster, centre console, fascia trims and a couple of other things but I'll be swapping over a few other things soon.







It's really helped with all of the little things that were not quite right or just not in as good condition as they could be.

I grabbed a couple of connectors from the B4 to replace some of the damaged ones on the intake I'd picked up for the conversion:









Grubby Bilsteins, alloy control arms, hubs and brakes from the B4:





Of course I couldn't put them in looking like that not to mention missing out on all of those internet points!







Captain Morgan helping out with the install:





I was hoping to replace the RX brakes with 4 pots but the B4 brakes were in ok shape and almost easier to leave connected to the struts with the hubs.

I'm yet to do the rears as I'm hoping to swap out the entire rear end from the B4 (much less crusty and with about 100,000 less kms) I can't find any info to shed light on whether both the sedan and wagon subframes are in fact interchangeable but I'm going to give it a go.

The B4 subframe came out fairly easily:

I’m going to clean it up and replace some of the bushes (I’d like to do all of them but that gets expensive quick). While it’s out I think I’ll do rear diff bushes and trailing arm bushes. Any recommendations of other bushes that are absolutely worth replacing while it’s out?

B4 Rims were a shabby shade of matte black but what I didn’t realise they were actually pastidipped. The tyres actually have decent tread on them so I decided to start the tedious task of removing the plastidip.

I wasn’t sure if I’d like the look of the B4 rims but now that they’re on I’m kind’ve torn between these and the Bugeye WRX rims I also have. I’d like to refinish one of these sets in a a shade somewhere between silver and gunmetal but now I can’t decide which ones lol

[andrew_k]

Yewwww! Who doesn't love a parts car?! Well played sir.

[Adam]

Looking great!!!

[Liberty]

She looks tops in that last pic! Well done mate.