I long way off.

Come heel or high water it will be on or before April 12th, 2017. I would love to be driving the car by then, but first fire off might not be a bad goal.

If both of the decks/ surfaces are dead nuts flat (head to block mating surfaces) you may have had a defective head gasket in there from the get go. If that way from the fact then Subaru did eff up.

In the first 100K miles, sure, after 150K miles probably not, but coming up on 200K miles? Hard to see that as a Subaru "eff up," especially for a five hundred dollar (or whatever) used engine when you don't know its history. Again, as a point of reference, are there a lot of untouched 100K mile plus aircooled engines out there? So is that a Volkswagen "eff up"?

No .....I just know that while uncommon, there are defects in these type of gaskets from time to time. Just thought that it may have caused the issue that was being discussed.

I just start began searching for SS pipe last night. I was thinking of hard piping it beneath the pan then rubber on the engine & radiator ends. Still playing with the idea. Give me a week to decide, Chris. The manual calls for triple bond! Is this better stuff? I read a thread that mentioned the water pump on an EZ is good for 400K + . Since I installed the new cooling system the fans haven't kicked on and the gage stays dead nuts in the middle. DB knows I'm not going carbs. No (know) need.

It's true carbs would be pretty interesting but we don't care about them so much, really just want to hear you rhyme.

Wow that sludge issue is Crazy. Those multi layered gaskets just do that, you'll see that with the new ones. The seal is the pressure from being tightened down.

Yeah you can definitely hard pipe it. Check out the phoenixhobbies build:

Phoenixhobbies cooling pipes

Nicest setup I've ever seen under the car like that. I think he is Phoenix-MN on the BBS here.

I'm good either way. Not really in a hurry to re-do mine but will call you this week just to see what's up. I was kinda maybe thinking hard lines too (Why didn't they tell us these are really never done ?)

You SHOULD NOT need a new oil pump. Just re-seal it. Permatex Ultra Gray is very similar to the Subaru stuff, but use what you think is right. Yours is a LOT harder to redo if you get a leak so $40 for a tube might be worth it.

Yeah and we're messing with you on the carbs thing. Now a single HUGE carb.... ...that might be something...

Here you go

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But you could also use Loctite 518 which is anaerobic sealer, so it cures with the absence of air. = Between machined surfaces. Case halves, transmission halves, oil pump to engine etc.... have a tube on order as I normally keep yamabond around, It is convent stop for me. Amazon is even more convent. And I am not tempted to by a motorcycle.

Stuff keeps in a tube much longer than Ultra-gray.

Or any of the Jap brand XXXX-bond stuff. So you have Fujibond, Hondabond, yamabond, etc..... Lets rebrand the same stuff 100 times and go from there. BTW, VW has the same stuff also, so I am sure Porsche does as well, more than likely have the four rings logo on it. Same stuff you get for $1000 a tube to seal you Lambo

That's a good point...the Permatex stuff does harden quickly. I think the tube gets small holes in it after you squeeze it a few times. The gray is fine but I just checked my red...it's a brick.

OK I'm going out to the garage! Gotta get off my butt.

I think your on to something with the re-branding thought, Stephen. I wonder if the "grey" agent Fuji, Honda or Triple Bond, is the same as the German product "Dirko". It lists the same sealing qualities. I have the locktite stuff as well but it might be too old to trust. Have you ever used any CURIL sealing products? It's another German product. I'm still waiting on my gasket set. My order is "being processed".

Finally! Gasket set arrived this PM. I need to go work at my daughters home in San Diego tomorrow but hopefully I can finish cleaning the case, chain guard, etc. and have it back in the car in 2 weeks.

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Cleaned the nasty Oil Cooler

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Started cleaning the case.

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Finished cleaning except the pan and that can wait till it's back in the car. It's difficult to access so close to the ground. My OCD kicked in when I saw the deposits in the water passageway's.

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A before n after pose of the sacrificial 1/2" fitting brush. The trick is to clean the wider aeas 1st then go small because the brush won't expand once it's collapsed.

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Got about 99% of it. My water temps were fine but this is better.

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The wear isn't bad either. Never did use oil and I can still see the cross hatching from the hone. Doesn't show in the pic.

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Finished cleaning the top half of the case.

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Got it ready to hang the heads back on.

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Since I have to wait a few days for 6ea 8mm allen bolts and a rubber hose kit I might as well post where it's at for now. A little cleaner than the last time you saw it.

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A pic of the rear chain cover before it was re-installed.

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The right chain still has slack in it as shown by the green arrow. That's because I hadn't pulled the pin on the tensioner, circled in red, when these pic's were taken. Look close you can see the metal wire used as a pin.

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And a couple all chained out and indexed. Once I receive those 4 bolts the front cover can be re-installed then the engine can go back in.

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You need a couple of tags like these for your tensioner pins

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Hah! I flew w/o one of those for years until one day I took my daughter up and noticed my airspeed was 0. I was flying off a 1600' grass strip with a 50' tree on one end. Needless to say I landed at a large airport a few miles away and cleaned the mud daubers nest off my pitot tube. After that I bought one.

Wow that thing is clean. You're just about ready to roll again.

It's back together. Is it healed? We'll see in a couple of weeks. If I have problems I'll slap another engine in it and be done with it. It was a maize at first but I got to know the engine which is a plus. I want to pass on a few things I found. The best fix for blown head gaskets is, as others mentioned Cometic gaskets and head studs. ARP sells kits with both the Cometic gaskets and studs for many engines. The EZ30 isn't one of them. Kits are available for all of the 2, 2.2 & 2.5's. I guess one could buy 2 kits for a 2.5 and have left over parts but at $400 a kit I'll pass. The advantage of of the head studs is they allow you to increase the torque to about 100 ft lb's. I'm guessing they are around 80 now but I'm not sure. They head "bolts" are tightened to "X" ft lb's then and additional 90 or 45 degrees, depending upon which bolt. Also, I got a quote from Subaru for all the little hose's, hose 90's, etc on the EZ30; >$400. Buying generic Gates 90's and hose it was < $80. I'm going thru my electrical again but will post that in my conversion thread.

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Admerable skills. Good work. When do you plan on coming to Tacoma?

Got the engine back in Sunday and she fired right up. I still have the issue that precluded the engine pull which is a fuel starvation issue. It falls on its face under acceleration. Ordered a fuel pump last nite. It runs great except the stalls but when I put it on the rack I found an oil leak on the rear chain guard. I believe I didn't use enough sealant but we shall see. Given my prevailing piss poor attitude I ordered another engine. I'll throw that sucker in and take my time with the sealant when I pull old number one down again. I want to keep it in waiting.

Fuel starvation? Weird. Did you buy a JDM?

Look what came today:

2 914 limos worth:

Just boxed your half up. Should get it to Fed Ex tomorrow.

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If you get your fuel system figured out and it's running great, how big of a job is is to fix that leak again - another engine pull? Even if so, it doesn't seem to take too long for you. (I know time is compressed in your thread so 'not too long' is a relative term!)
But if you've got the rest of it buttoned up and running well... well, that's just me!
BTW, Mike Bellis just bought an AEM fuel pump and apparently loves it!

First call on take-off... "set take off thrust". Second call is... "airspeeds alive".

I R&R it w/ a stock Suby pump and it is working fine, thus far. If it burns out within 24 mo's I will go that route.

Now you tell me!


Round 2 - Took time away from the project these past several days to attend to, shall we say, life. No sense in whining about problems, right? With that said I'll move along. The newer engine is in and running but not w/o a hitch or 3. I forgot to release the Subaru "pull type" throw out bearing so I lost a few hours reacquainting myself. . The alternator had a bad bearing so I used the one off the other engine. I used the smaller AC compressor that came with the engine but I will need to change the size of my suction line as well now. And as it turns out, the TPS from either engine works fine although they have different part #'s.
When it first fired off it belched an orange-ish cloud and settled in with a rpm of ~1200. So I switched the TPS back to the one that came with it and tried again. This time the idle was ~2800rpm. . After I cleaned out my pants I settled down enough to find that I had not reconnected the TPS plug so the ECU never saw it. After I reconnected the TPS plug the idle returned to 1200rpm so no difference. After 2-3 minutes of idling it began to hunt. Now what? I'm hovering over the engine when I felt the tire spin against my leg. Lowered the lift enough for the rear tires to make contact with the concrete and it stopped. My take on this is that I am running the USDM ECU which only support an automatic so the VSS sender on my transmission works BUT it's looking for some torque values that the 5 speed manual trans isn't sending. It compensates by raising the idle a bit when run @ < 10mph. I figured that I'll drive with the high idle until I figure it out. My previous experiences w/ DJet had trained me in the fine art of driving with high idle syndrome. So, I hop in and get about 300 yds down the road and it starts with that hunting again but this time with vigor. Now I'm ready to kill something. I resigned myself to re-installing good ol' number 1 but decided I'll drive the piss out this thing until I get the other one back together and installed. This is where it gets weird. I've developed a habit of closely monitoring the tach on the upper end so that I can avoid the hard stall that comes at 6600rpm indicated. I say indicated because I am running the VDO Interrogator Tach. The new engine hits 7000rpm indicated before I shift. I didn't want to run past 7000rpm, either. Odd that with the same ECU the new engine rev's higher. This however stumps me. After the 3rd or 4th hard pull the engine stopped hunting and the idle returned to 500-550rpm. For now, I'm going to assume that I had a presence along for the ride and he put a SLITS tune on it's ass. I have no other explanation.
When the engine was out I cleaned up the wiring and labeled everything. I still need to draw a proper schematic that represents the cars current (NPI) wiring layout.


Now that I have the other engine on a stand I'll take my time sealing it up and keep it as a spare.

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I also took the opportunity to paint my cradle as it had been sporting primer these past two years. I decided to strip it down to bare metal and inspect for cracks before I blindly threw a few coats of paint on it. I used PVC purple primer instead of Magnaflux. It works pretty well, is cheaper and can be used for plumbing chores later.

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And here sits the newer drive train awaiting it's new home.

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I began to reassemble (again ) the timing chain enclosure on the original 3.0. There is the front and rear halves. Last time it leaked badly at the rear cover and I suspect that I might have rubbed some of the sealant off before making contact. So this time I decided to give myself a fighting chance. Bought a meter of 6mm x 1.0 threaded rod and cut into 4 pieces to make a jig. The back half slid into place evenly and the rods were removes as they were replaced by bolts

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Back half bolted in placed and torqued. Just need to install cam gears, chain, tensioners/guides, oil pump and water pump. After that the rods will go back on the outer row of bolt holes to be used as a jig for the front cover. If it leaks this time I'll throw it in the trash.

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Hey mail it to me if you're gonna throw it in the trash. I'll send you a label man !

I think you got it this time. Maybe the sludge was keeping it sealed up.

BTW RE: the towing thread...I was wondering...you think your fuel pressure regulator is OK? I don't know how it's set up on that motor. Mine is on the fuel rail. Did you transfer yours from the other engine? Might be worth checking. Two pumps in a couple months is weird.

It's a possibility. I thought I'd check the return line after this one is installed. It shouldn't be passing too much fuel when in use. If it is I'd suspect the regulator. I forgot to mention that I sprung for the "real deal" Three Bond sealant. Yes it is a huge tube but IMHO, well worth it. The difference is obvious when compared to the cheaper Permatex. It flows much better which is a BIG deal if you've ever resealed these cover halves. I'll probably put the rest together today. As soon as I shake the Cobwebs out of my head this AM. I drank a little at Ron's Friends & Family send off. .

I had never realized that the battery had to be relocated too. I stared at that a bit.

Sort of Kev; it was relocated to repurpose the Subaru batt harness. The relay board was 86'd and the new batt tray was build upon the old relay board support arms. Hey Kevin, don't know if you read my post about the JDM install. On mine, nothing had to be switched or changed over. Plug n play. Should make it a simple switch out for you.

I haven't given up yet. I don't want to be a new 'pest' on a Subaru forum. For a bit more money I'd rather a 6 like yours. Then there's freight. I don't want to hijack the thread.

Wait...you guys DRANK at Ron's memorial ???? Noooooo.....

Yeah you need to run those hoses man! You won't believe the difference.

Hey Kevin needs some help. Have you ever seen how they treat newbies on the some of the Subie forums???? Ugh. We can't have that. I might search Outback swaps and see what has been done. Anything but the 2.5 DOHC and you're into the wiring, so might as well do something better and fun.

So choices seem to be:

- another 2.5 DOHC (up to 1999 I think) either JDM or other
- EZ30D
- Sell the car and find another one.

I'll check around.

Whew! That was a blast. Not! But it's behind me now and I learned a few things along the way. I filled it with oil tonite and NO leaks. The threaded rod was the ticket. Heres a few shots of the front cover being installed.

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Well, after my last post I found that I had NOT fixed all the oil leaks. When I reassembled the heads, cams and chain covers the first time I had a small leak on the right cam tower that I didn't see because of the massive leaks between the front and rear chain covers. I didn't have any leaks on the chain cover after the 2nd time I reassembled it but after a few days the small leak appeared on the oil filter housing. I Shit in my Shoes and said it, I'll get it later. A few months passed and I finally got off my ass and pulled the chain covers off again. This exposed the cam tower which I removed cleaned and resealed with the three bond sealant. It's a pain in the to remove and clean the sealer but several hours later it was back together. I put the oil back in it yesterday and no leaks. Geez, 3 times to get it right but it's done. I wanted to wait until I was sure before I posted "NO Leaks" again.

Great Kent!

Btw chris, I opted for choice #3. A guy knocked on my door. I told him what was wrong. He had a 'guy' that could fix it cheaply. Sold! 4 days later he came knocking again looking for a do over. "It's yours now. the sale was reported to department of licensing after you drove out of the driveway.".