2013 STI Sedan EJ257 Rebuild Project

I'm out in Augusta. We make it out Atlanta every so often seeing as there is so much to do here (sarcasm).

I'm going through the same thing as you just knocked some steps out already. Funny thing is I've only owned my wrx a little over a year and had the motor out 4 times, did a full build on a friends 11 sti, and am taking on a few side clutch jobs and fixing a botched build to fund mine.

I'm not new to wrenching, and had a couple other subaru's while I lived in Germany, needless to say I've learned a lot recently.

Just keep posting if there is anything else you are considering or questioning as I've probably done it.

 

4 times LOL
your wild man

 

Interior ready for gauge install

 

If you need an engine stand, see if Andrew still has my red one up there. If so, you can have it and pass it along to the next person on the boards that needs one.

 

i got one actually, thanks though!
I think moving forward, i'm going to have at least one project going on it so I needed to have one around anyway

I'm hoping andrew can throw my internals in tomorrow all the machining is done, block looks amazing.

I'm going to need some help big time this weekend but maybe friday provided he gets it done for me. I'll be trying to get it done over the weekend if possible. Any help from anyone would be appreciated even if it's just moral support.

 

I've got a lot to do to my car this weekend but if I finish it saturday I may be able to come help out sunday

 

don't miser the assembly lube for the ARP studs and hardware... that means both sides of the washer and the mounting surface of the nut. This is key to getting the correct torque on the head gasket squish more than anything.

buy a bag of cheap micro fiber rags, bucket and a quart of lacquer thinner to clean the parts before assembly. I use Joe Gibbs Assembly grease, that shit is good on everything. Remember to put a little dab on the valve stem tips

bucket is for the used rags to leave outside near the least favorite neighbor

 

:clap::bigthumb:

 

don't rush is key so you don't forget something and have to go back and redo it.

Get the heads on ASAP so you can torque them and let them sit a while (24hrs) and retorque them.

Next get the oil pump and pan on so the liquid gasket can setup before putting fluids in. If you can get the heads on one day or evening and let them sit overnight while you do the oil pan, pump, timing pulleys, and water pump, you can retorque the studs and install the valve covers and let that liquid gasket setup overnight.

Autozone has a nice torque wrench they rent for free (deposit) that does inch/ lbs I Found it very helpful on small bolts such as the cam blocks.

Any 10mm bolt use a 1/4 ratchet. Any more and you risk stripping them. I have stripped countless threads on the top of the block for the coolant cross over pipe (and I know how easy they strip but it still happens)

Pay attention to the timing rotation on the driver's side to avoid valve interference. This was surprisingly easy on the last sti I did. I recommend using breaker bars with the 10mm hex sockets, so they won't spin out like a ratchet could, and this is a good place to have a buddy hold the cam gears while the other person routes the belt.

No special tools needed.

I bought a $1.75 metal strap from home depot (near the L brackets and fencing material), then drilled the holes a little bigger. Put one over the stud for the bell housing and use a pressure plate bolt to bolt another hole to the flywheel. This will prevent the motor from rotating while you torque the crank pulley and flywheel bolts.

Get shorter A/C compressor bolts from the hardware store. With the air pump delete you can toss one of the brackets that mounts to the A/C compressor. Make sure to get washers to disperse the torque across the aluminum compressor.

I had to pull the intake manifold off the last 08+ sti I did to get the a/c comp off and the motor out. With the pump delete and the shorter bolts, I was able to install the intake manifold before dropping the motor back in. It saved a lot of back breaking work connecting and tightening the intake manifold in the car.

 

Good grief man, what a load of info there.
I will do my best. Gauges come today, so even if the motor isn't ready to be picked up I can at least get them and my kartboy shifter / bushings installed.

I really hope Toua or eddie or somebody local wants to give up a saturday for some beer lol. It's better at least to have people watch you so they can comment when you are about to make a tragic mistake heh.

 

How about those that want to drink and point and laugh?

*Lame attempt at humor in a bad situation*

 

hahaah

be EXTREMELY careful on the head cover bolts. they're designed to sheer off at something stupid low like 10 ft/lbs of pressure.

 

haha pointing / laughing is more then welcome.
yeah this thing being all aluminum means that it's very unforgiving when it comes to torque specs. The OMC outdrive stuff I put in my boat back in the day was the same way, had to re-tap so many holes it was insane. Learned a lot from that experience.

 

I completely agree with getting the heads on first so you can let it sit. I believe ARP states to run the motor for an hour and then retorque the head studs. As we all know, that is next to impossible with the motor in the car on a Subaru. What we did was torque them down, let it sit for 24 hours, then ran heat guns in the coolant pipes on full blast for an hour, then let it sit for a few hours to cool down, then retorque again.

 

http://wrxatlanta.com/forums/showpost.php?p=194285&postcount=30

http://www.hotrod.com/projectbuild/hrdp_0609_project_f_bomb_engine_build/photo_11.html

 

That is exactly what we did in the post from Doug.

 

Ok cool that is easy enough, I have a heat gun here.

For gauges, did you guys that have them follow the path through the firewall?
Or did you take off the drivers side wheel / liner and go in through that hole?
I'm having an extremely tough time getting to the in-cabin part of the firewall hole so I think i'm just going to use the other route.

 

I either used the boot the steering column went through or the boot that the AC drain goes through.

 

We used two heat guns...one in the inlet and one in the outlet.

 

crap i only have one

 

hair dryer?

 

Yeah I might have one of those around. Wife has curly hair so I can't depend on her having one lol

Man routing these gauges properly is a pain under the dash. I can't imagine doing it from the firewall side with the motor actually in there. In other news I apparently have no electrical tape in this house.
I think a trip out is in order.

 

I have one if you want to borrow mine.

 

I would think it doesn't get nearly hot enough.

 

Ill hit you up on saturday. I might be able to stop by in the afternoon maybe into the night..And my moral support do you mean drink beer and watch your big flat screen tv ?? LOL

 

I'm not sure if this helps since I have an 05, but I used a factory hole that was plugged on the driver's side right behind the pedals.

I wish I could be more help, but I have not had to travel down this road yet. Good Luck and thanks for sharing. I'm sure this thread will help others in the future.

 

Might hit you up for that integroid.
Al, man if you could come by that would be awesome! if anything I can use your car as an example of how to put mine back together rofl...

Thanks for everything guys i'm pumped for this weekend! Andrew sais he should be done by then no problem so hoorah!

This wideband has me guessing on where to mount the module versus the gauge. Do you guys mount the module in the engine bay? That doesn't makes sense to me but just trying to do it once, do it right type of thing.
In other news Defi gauges just showed up along with the kartboy shifter and bushings. So much to install hahaha

I'm a bachelor until Friday while shiveh is in tampa for depositions so this will be my life for the next 5 nights and weekend probably.

 

No, mount the module inside the cabin. You can tie strap under the steering column or stuff it in one of the kick panels.

I am actually going to be at my old house in Norcross on Saturday...I can bring it by then or you are more than welcome to come up to my new house in Suwanee and pick it up.

 

Prepping gauges for install:

 

Andrew is going to put the heads on for me. He knows what he's doing, I feel better about it that way and I have a lot ahead of me regardless.
I'll bolt the longblock on the engine stand and start from there.

 

I was going to suggest you ask him if he could do it for you. He has done it a lot more times than you have

 

Very wise decision although it is easy.

 

it may be too late in the game for this, but if you're doing sways it will be MUCH easier to do the front w/ the motor out. I'm not sure about the newer models, but it was almost impossible to get the bigger bars in without dropping the front subframe assembly

 

Yeah I thought about it, but I have to cap myself at some point on spending. After all, I think a tigwerks rotated setup is in my near future hnoes:

 

With that said, routing gauges and doing work near the firewall sure is a lot easier when you can stand in the engine bay LOL

 

New bodies are easy.

 

Yeah, I did mine in my Legacy with no problems at all. I believe this is the same as the GR.

 

stupid fuse taps were the wrong one. only ones they had at advanced too, i'll have to try pep boys or somewhere else

 

You dont need fuse taps Learned 20+ years ago not to use them and just finding a source wire for 12V and switched and splicing into it.

 

Fuse taps are really not great. I've seen some that caused extreme heat due to them getting loose over time and having poor connection.

 

to each their own I guess, cutting, splicing, taping and other nonsense that isn't easily reversible or serviceable is against my EET background heh

I can hear my ET01 professor now... "Would YOU want to fix this later???" lol

 

w00p just got my goodwill check from SOA.
And who sais nice guys finish last?

 

Kartboy VS SPT

Installed

Gauge Install

 

That is actually a funny statement because you are sitting here tearing your car apart and are worried about splicing into wires? How about replacing your fuse block because the fuse tap spread the contacts to far and will no longer make contact? To each his own though...I know the splicing I do can easily be reversed if needed.

 

Parts inventory before picking up motor and starting reassembly.

 

Go buy a bunch of those helicoils in the size for the timing belt cover.

 

Where and why? for the front center cover? I've never had problems with those, but I did buy new rear side covers because they heat softens that plastic and lets those nuts spin freely. I now use a nut driver and just snug them up.

I am waiting on some funds to free up before moving forward with my short block. I thought the machine work was kosher but as I am checking clearances I am finding things a little too tight or uneven across the board. rather than dump more money into this setup I may part it out and start fresh.

I'll have to get my subaru fix repairing this old couples STI with a rotated 30r kit. Was really hoping to have mine back together over Christmas break.

Digitizedsoul - is there anything left after break in miles? You won't need a new tune or anything will you?

What are you using for tuning? If its an AP do you have the Access tuner race software from Cobb? you can email them your serial number and they will send you a link to DL it. If you have that you should be able to turn off the CEL's the tgv deletes and air pump deletes will throw. Save you protune for the rotated kit.

 

He uses the best in the country for his tuning.....Topspeed.

 

Yeah I was going to re-use my protune map from doug, but it's locked and I can't turn off those DTC's. Since they will charge me an hours tuning time for 45seconds of unchecking check boxes and clicking save, i'll most likely use a cobb stg2 + sf intake as a base map, remove them myself and make minor adjustments after break in miles.

When I go rotated i'll have to decide what to do. I don't like not being able to edit my own cars values after the fact, but meh I already have whole thread on that subject somewhere else on here. (open source VS cobb race / Intellectual property debate blah blah blah)

I know the following to be true:
1. Doug is a tuning genius
2. Not being able to edit my own values after the fact for WHATEVER reason is unacceptable (it's my car lol)
3. People who get tuned open source can do whatever they want, people who get tuned with ATR pro cannot (by the same tuner)

Considering all those facts I'll have to find a compromise somewhere because cobb tuner and the AP certainly is the best tuning platform for this car, and doug is the best subaru tuner I know of.

 

No, not for the front cover but for all the bolts that are that thread pattern and pitch. From what I can remember a lot of those seemed to strip easily. I just didnt know the thread and pitch off hand but think it was the same size as the front cover bolts.