Your pictures of the engine bay look nearly identical to mine. I sanded mine down to almost the identical level of remaining paint. Instead of POR15 I used ZeroRust. I ahve used both ZeroRust and POR15 now and I definitely prefer the ZeroRust over POR15. When using POR15 I have always prepped the surface properly and still have adhesion problems after a year+. By and large the POR15 sticks but there are spots where I've had to retouch it. (this is for the interior primarily)

I sprayed the engine bay (with a paint gun) with two coats of ZeroRust. First coat was black, and the second coat was grey. I purposefully used two different colors because it allowed me to really make sure that I had the right thickness. So far (going on 10 months of continuous use, most of that with an engine bay radiator and its associated dirt, etc.) the paint is holding up perfectly. You can buy ZeroRust in spray cans as well.

-Tony

Scott,

This is really nice work. Are you a fabricator by trade? I am planning on getting a stainless exhaust system ceramic coated.

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It appears you had the flex coupling ceramic coated. Will that crack and break down the coating for interfere with the "accordian" pleats inside? How about on the braided stainless. Is the coating "bridging" the weave, or is it adhearing to individual 'wires'?

This is part of my custom system for an non 914 vehicle, but the application is similar:

You are one sick and twisted individual!!!! How can I be like you?

Nope, not a fabricator...I am electrical and mechanical engineer by training, currently managing software development for a living. I do almost all of the fab work, up to tacking parts together, myself and then have one of my friends do the finish welding. If you look closely at todays picture, you will see that my welding skills are not so great yet.

I made some more progress today (need to take more days off of work to work on the project!). The hell hole is repaired and part of the engine compartment is painted.

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I did find some more rust by the driver's side jacking point. Will need to fix that...later. I have had enough rust repair for this week. The goal for tomorrow is to get the rest of the engine compartment painted and while that is drying, weld in the fuel cell bracket so that I can start working on the radiator mount.

Scott

Sorry, forgot to answer this question...




I am not sure how the coating on the flex joint is going to work out. The guys at the coating shop said that it will be OK...they have a very good reputation. For the most part each wire is coated and it still flexes fine. We will just have to wait and see.

Scott

Took a big item off of the to do list this afternoon. Pretty much finished the exhaust!!

Here is a picture of it on the ground:

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Installed!!!!!

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As always, I still need to have one of my buddies finish welding it.

Scott

I fit the engine cover on tonight to make sure that the intercooler fits beneath it...it does!!!

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I am going to make a GT style, fully vented engine cover to allow the air to get through the intercooler a better. Is there a source (Grainger or somebody) for the expanded metal that matches the stock stuff?

Scott

Nice work, I'm really enjoying watching this thread. Maybe this topic from the classics by Eric Shea will help you with the GT-style lid.

GT Style lid

Scott

Is this engine a "drive by wire" throttle body? Wondering why you swapped out the steering wheel? I'm building an '02 stock body also. Thinking of going twin turbo and moving the turbos back to the rear end similar to a 935.

Ed aka W9R1
'73 914 w/2003 WRX EJ20
'06 Subaru Forester 2.5 XT

MUCH better off sticking w/ common Scooby stuff. You know it will work, what turbo works w/ what motor etc.

I'm waiting for my 8CM TD06-20G to show up along w/ a new intercooler. Should be over 350HP at the wheels, going to try for 400 on C-16

BJH

Ya, it is throttle by wire. Also, it has a security key so without the ignition cylinder and key the ecu will refuse to do much of anything.

Thanks for the GT lid link...that will help. Now I need to add another engine lid to my shopping list.

Scott

Precisely...but what about using one of the (much less expensive) twin turbo'd engines and just moving the turbos down and back to the rear (to avoid having to cut the trunk area), with stock ECU stuff?

By the way....that setup of yours should be crazy stupid fast.

Oy yeah...I'm going to the dupont registry magazine meet here in Clearwater this Saturday at 7am to what they call the Cars and Coffee meet.

They have some insane cars show up there from what I've seen on http://www.myspace.com/carsandcoffee

At least one of the other local 914ers is going too. I'll post pics.

Ed aka W9R1

Had a few buddies over to help yesterday and we made some really good progress. ...ok, and had a few beers also.

Made the Radiator support and welded in the fuel cell frame:

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Installed:

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Made the outlet of the exhaust and the rear intercooler support:

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Going to try to get the fuel lines run and the rear brakes/prop valve plumbed today.

One month until Woodward Dream cruise...need to get this thing running so I can go up to Pontiac and show the hot rod guys how to make some smoke!

Scott

Progress from Sunday:

Installed new brake lines in the rear:

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Finally buttoned up the timing belt:

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I think that the single most difficult part of the entire project was dealing with the damn cam pullies. Getting them off in the first place, especially the broken ones, and getting them torqued back down w/o the Subaru special tools has been a real pain in the butt. I ended up pushing the engine 2 blocks down to the Subaru dealership to use their tools. I can probably install the timing belt while sleeping now.

While checking the cam timing I rotated the engine and found that the starter is partially engagued. I have one of the recommended eBay high torque gear reduction starters. I am going to install my old starter to see if I have partial engagement with that one also.

Is a shim required to use this starter normally. Could my flywheel be the problem? I have a Renegade flywheel/adapter plate made for the engine/trans combination.

Scott

Nice progress!
My mini-starter fit fine, but others have the same problem. One actually thrashed the flywheel due to the limited engagement. Use the *search* on the upper right link and try searching for "starter" in titles...there was a good discussion recently where mcMark talked about shimming the mount to match the starter gear on the flywheel teeth better - again, in some cases this problem exists but not all. Good luck

i must say, this has got to be one of the most complete STi conversions i have seen. Would love to do the same kinda thing someday. Not sure if it will come sooner than later, but would love for it to come sooner than later

Are you on nasioc as well?

As you can see by my sig im a subaru junkie as well, but the 914 was first.

cant wait to see the final product!
g/l

_billy

PS: dont throw any of that subaru stuff away! before you do, let me know

Thanks for the tip. I am a little less irritated by the situation now. Guess that I have to add one more thing to the "to make" list.

RS22b, I am on nasioc but I rarely read it and pretty much never post. I have sold almost all of the STi stuff already. All that is left are the struts, rocker covers, front subframe and a few other small odds and ends. Oh, center console and carpet also...but only because I had a non-paying idiot win those items on eBay.

Scott

Made a little more progress today. The intercooler no longer needs a board and roll of tape to hold it up. I flattened the ends and bent up some 3/8" SS fuel line. I think that it worked out well although do need to adjust the back of the intercooler up a bit as I can no longer remove the coolant cap.

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The fuel lines are next on the list.

Scott

Got a bit more work done the last couple of days.

Made the through tunnel fuel lines. Also had the exhaust welded and installed the O2 bungs, as always it turned out great...this project would not be going so well without the help of my buddies:

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Mocked up the turbo to intercooler piping...need to tack it into place and have it welded:

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It looks like I am going to need to remove the engine lid latch to clear the IC tubing on the other side. I was really hoping to avoid doing this.

Somebody buy my 2.0L...I mean 1.7/1.8L SSI's, the project fund is running low!

Scott

Hi Scott, I'm pretty new to this forum but I'm lovin it. It's like a gold mine to me. Is the turbo going to drain oil back ok? I'm trying to use a twin turbo and am interested in the positioning of yours. Also are you aware that a light crank pulley creates harmonics that disturb the oil pump? I'm not positive on this but it's something I read on nasioc. You can take this with a grain of salt. I put my original pulley back on though. I will have plenty of power without the risk. Also we have found a better oil pump lately thats discussed on nasioc. Don't worry if your not going to be bouncing of the rev. limiter. Hope the tranny holds up. I really enjoy your thread.
Charlie

Charlie,
Thank you for the tip on the pulley, I will look into it. I still have my original but it was scuffed in the accident so I replace it. I don't think that I will get to use the full rev's all that much anyways.

As for the turbo oil drain, I am going to try to use the stock block return modified a bit to point in the correct direction. I also have a fitting for the oil pan if that does not look like it will work.

I hope the tranny hold up also!

Scott

Have not posted in a while because I have not made any interesting progress. I have been plugging way on a load of small projects:

Made the spacer for the starter
Made the flange for the blow off valve
Started removing the engine lit latch
Test fit the clutch cable
Modified the clutch pulley housing to lower the clutch cable under the exhaust
Started running the cooling lines. This was a bit of a set back. I purchased gates 75w marine type colling line. The specified bend radius was 12 inches. I figure that I could cheat it a little...I was wrong. It creases quite easily. Now I am going to have to put a few stainless steel bends where I need to make a tight direction change. I know, more places to leak but I do not have much of an option right now.

On the brighter side, I proved once again that good things do come from eBay!!! I got an '83 CS front suspension for $285 + shipping which was only $55 because the seller let me arrange shipping through my BAX account.

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You can see one of the 4-pot billet calipers that I plan to use both front and rear in the above picture. As this is not a critical part of the project at this point I promptly disassembled the parts so that they would fit into bins and stored them away until winter.

So needless to say, with Woodward Dream Cruise coming up this weekend I will not be participating with the PorSTi. I will be having a party for it Saturday night. If anybody is planning to be in the area and wants to stop by for a beer and check out the project I am a block east of Woodward in Ferndale...just send me a PM and I will give you the details.

Scott

Quick question...

Since this is a water-pumper, how will you be moving air through the engine bay (and the intercooler) when sitting at idle or at low speeds? Running big high-flow fans?

Why would you need to? It won't be making any boost at idle and very little at low revs.
My sube intercooler draws air through a scoop, and I never thought about it needing
fan circulated air. Not saying it doesn't, but I always figured the intercooler was for cooling
the compressed air from the turbo, not the coolant.


patrick

Even at low revs and idle you'll be pumping 'exhaust-heated' air through that intercooler. I thought the premise was to cool that air? Without airflow (or in a water to air intercooler, coolant flow) it's perpetuating higher intake temps. Not to mention, you'll be keeping warm/hot air in the engine bay.

Sure, you might not 'need' it, but I'm just taking a practical standpoint on the issue. If I were running a boosted car, I'd be doing what I could to keep that intake charge as cool as possible.

Speaking from 17,000 miles of experience with zero-zilch problems with the engine, here's my $.02. My intercooler is stock and is top mounted horizontally (Renegade setup) just to the right of the engine bay. I don't know anybody with this setup that has intake air cooling problems; although I'm sure more air flow across the intercooler would be better for performance. As is you can get 4.5 secs 0-60, and ~10 seconds 0-100. I did remove the engine lid drain pan on my car for clearance of the intercooler. In my opinion the engine bay doesn't get any hotter, if as hot, as the original air cooled engine.

Ed aka W9R1
1973 914/2003 EJ20 WRX engine
1972 914 Roller in process
community.webshots.com/user/fat73
youtube.com search for Porsche W9R1

From a practical standpoint I am significantly better than stock. On the STi (and all other Subies) the intercooler is mounted almost directly above above the turbo. At least now I have the relatively cool air coming off the engine going through the intercooler while stationary.

I intend to monitor intake air temps to see how the system works.

Scott

Hey guys, my son has a sti and we put a front mount ic on it about a year ago. He ordered a water injection kit to add to it. After installing the ic I told him I had some thermocouple wire and a hand held temp guage for the wire and we ran a little check. We ran a wire under the silicon hose at the tb and another under the hose at the outlet of the turbo. It was about 99 degrees by a thermometer on the wall in the shade. In 2nd gear the turbo hit 340 degrees f. and 3rd about 350. We then used the wire to the tb and in second and 3rd we only saw 106 degrees. This was air coming off of asphalt on a 100 degree day. We decided we needed to check the guage so we boiled some water and the water boiled at about 217 degrees if I remember correctly. We are at about 770 ft elevation. My son is a mech. engineer so he is pretty thorough on his evaluations. Needless to say he has not gotten around to adding the water injection and he's now running about 22 lbs. boost. (with a different turbo) When we did the check he was still using the stock sti turbo and I think about only 18 lbs. of boost and I'm not sure if it held that much all the way to redline. On the 914 if you run headers with out wrap the nasioc boys claim you loose boost temperature and turbo performance when you no longer have the cast iron manifolds and insulated pipes.This would also lower the air temps at the turbo and increase lag time. Don't forget the turbo is also water cooled. The subie can be made to run at 180 degrees, I believe, and this also lowers the engine bay temps. Of course there is going to be heat soak when going slow or stopped. Don't plan on real power till you've gone a little ways. One hot evening when my son was first tuning( he was adding springs to the waste gate) he would run through 4th and come back and set with the air cond. on and study the data on his lap top. After several runs he said it wasn't running as good as it ran that morning going to work. I reminded him that we were inducing heat soak considerably enjoying the air. This was about 10pm at night but it was still hot. I am going to eliminate the water lines to the tb and iac valve on my subies. If it gets very cold here I should be hunting. One thing we don't have is the fans blowing air from a radiator over the motor as in a stock application. I still haven't decided for sure which way the air is moving through the engine compartment at speed on the 914. I think it's down but I'm not positive. My 75 has little rubber flaps on the belly in front of the engine bay. This would appear to enhance the downward air movement I would think. Probably a belly pan from the front of the tranny back to the rear valance would also help. I believe at 17 lbs. boost with 93 octane the ic in the engine bay is good enough till it gets above 120 degrees outside and if it's over 100 I'll be in the pool or on the web.

Charlie

I've done similar thermocouple tests...

The hill next to my house (freeway, canejo grade) 4th gear @ 7000RPM had the turbo outlet @ 360* (stock turbo). The throttle body temp would slowly creep up and stabilize just under 200*. Now have a MUCH bigger turbo, and need to up size the intercooler to match.

Damn this HP adiction is never ending.

BJH

Any updates?

replying on the twin turbo comment. I bought a twin turbo complete setup but after considering all the parts that eventially will go bad and the fact that the ecu can't be reflashed and is setup to run on 98 octane fuel, I've decided to just run a vf39 with wrx style headers with the 20h heads and sti block maybe recammed and with solid lifters. I really wanted to make the tt setup work but there are too many challenges to deal with.

Charlie

It's been a while since a progress update, unfortunately not so much to report.

Worked a bit on the IC plumbing. Am waiting on some more tubing to arrive so that I can finish it off.

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Mounted the throttle sensor this afternoon.

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Still need to connect the pedal to the sensor. I will be using some tiny heim joints. Should work out quite well.

With the additional IC tubing on it's way is all of the bends I need to run the radiator lines and the rest of the fuel lines. Lot's-O-plumbing to do yet...

Scott

wow! really nice work! I'm in the planning stages of an STI-914 swap myself, but I don't have near the fabrication skills you've demonstrated. Thanks for setting an example!
As for the steering column, is that necessary? I'm building mine as an autox/track day (not street legal) car, so turn signals and such are irrelevant, but I'll need the wipers working - is it possible to leave the porsche wiper controls as 'stand alone', if you will?
I'm also eagerly watching your pedal/drive-by-wire set up as that was a concern of mine.

PS - ever thought of fabbing up a couple more of those exhaust systems and selling them?? its beautiful! nicely done!

Thank you for the kind words. Building nice parts requires a little patience and the willingness to buy (or borrow) the correct tool for the job.

Lot's of interest in the steering column...It is not required but depending on the ECU you use, you may need to have the RF ID key transponder from the column. I believe that the '04's and earlier do not have that security feature. For the wipers, it would be a lot easier to stay with the stock column/switches. I am going to have to install the Subaru wiper motor into the 914 wiper assembly.

I don't think that anybody would be willing to pay what I would need to get in order for it to be worth my time to make another exhaust system. When I eventually upgrade transmissions and put a bigger turbo on the car I will put the current setup up for sale.



Scott

Work has been continuing at a slow although constant pace. The most interesting development was made yesterday when I connected the pedal to the sensor. Still need to clean up the brackets and make a pedal stop but...at least I know that I got the pedal ratio and feel right.

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Worked on the filter/intake. I had to shorten the ebay silicone part quite a bit. Will make a better mount than a zip tie when the engine comes out next.


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Had to take some time off from working on the car to make a birthday "candle" for my Grandmother's 90th birthday. The cake is actually a wood box that we frosted. Yes, there are 90 holes.



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Scott

Also spent some time on the radiator plumbing.

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and fuel filter/pump plumbing.

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Scott

Scott....Very nice work.

What fuel pump are you using? Also, I see you're sing a fuel cell so it may not matter, but on my WRX conversion (stock tank) I had to tee both the outlet and the return line together into 1/2" fuel line to allow enough fuel flow to the fuel pump (928 Bosche), and weld a return bung into the tank. Just wondering....these engines require ALOT of fuel flow and I was told without the overkill I would get fuel starvation.

Ed aka W9R1

Ed,
I am using a Walbro 255 l/hr. It should be good for just over 500hp. With 3/8" lines to and from the engine, I should have plenty of fuel.

Also, a while back we were discussing alternator belts via PM. Did you ever find out what part number was for your alternator only belt accessory belt?

Scott

Hi Scott, I don't know if it will help but I bought the alt. brkt and belt from outback and the belt measures about 12.625 if you squeeze it together and the part #s are AC Delco 5K275 and a longer # of 88932567, it's a 5 rib belt. Also on the fuel line thing I run a 350hp ram jet in a k5 blazer and it starves for fuel at 5k in high gear with 3/8 fuel lines I thought 3/8 was big enough but I wish now I would have gone with 1/2 it's a lot of work to do over.
Charliew

HOLY COW!!! Man I like your system, because I live in Arizona and I have done it exactly the same way without even seeing your thread till today. I honestly thought I was the first to use Small Car Performance mounts with my own custom crossbar. I made my own so i could put the engine as low as possible than using the stock bar. (I have the older transmission in great shifting condition) Cool now i know its possible for the sideshift too!! I did unfortuneately buy the wrong shortened OIL pan from a sandrail, that was cut at just the wrong angle. Oh well, thats my next purchase. Intake throttle body had to be shortened so it could fit without cutting rear trunk area. Once done and using a turbo tight 90 degree silicone bend....fits Perfect!! Dude its kinda wierd!! I even have the exact same fuel pump and pre and after filters, bought them from Arizona TPI.

I have to tell you though, mine is a ej25 naturally aspirated NON-TURBO and its killer!! 165 stock, but mine is about 180 due to free flow intake and exhaust. I dont have it dynoed yet but lets just say I have a big problem having the rubber stick to the street. I can break them loose in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd around a corner. My first time out, i hit the gas coming out of a corner and the tires broke loose and I looked like Fast and Furious Tokyo Drift! Awesome drift!! Killer acceleration, LOVE IT. Yours is going to be killer. I cant imagine another 45 HP.

My setup bolts up just like yours and doesnt modify the car at all except the front for the radiator.

I am using the Link ECU at Linkecu.com The G3 is the model. Works Killer and total programamble with laptop, cant wait for the dyno to get a few more horses!!

Here are some pics of my car

engine bay

engine bay

underneath engine / custom bar that bolts right up to small car performance mounts with no mods to them

once again wrong oil pan ordered. Have to get outbacks special mid engine one.

Outback Headers stubs straight through to Patrick Motorsports Stainless cans in the back and Supertrapps tied on the ends of them so the neighbors dont get too irritated, and so that I can swap out the restriction when i need to. They are somewhat quiet with the 12 supetrap plates, and a little above normal with 6 plates. THe more backpressure, its crazy how much my torque goes up, and with the Link ECU i can program them for both setups so i am not running too rich or lean. Its as easy as pluggin in the laptop and selecting the other .pcl map file for the link ecu.

Front still not complete, hole works fine, just needs to be a little larger to look a little more put together... Oh Renegades radiator, nice setup, no brainer proven setup. Still fairly new....... Anyone have a little advice to get all the air out of the system. I have added water about 10 times so far and still finding air in system. guess it takes that long to work out the bubbles in the lines, etc.

Budman, You did a nice job on your conversion. I appreciate the pictures of your swap. I also am planning the turbo subie swap but with a subie tranny. Oh yeah the motor Scott is using is stock with 300 hp, thats 145 more hp. actually. With a little tuning and better intake and exhaust it's even more.
Charliew

Budman,
Great looking conversion! Do you have the engine solid mounted? How is the engine vibration? Any cracking issues? How much does it weigh?

Charliew,
Thanks for the belt info.

Scott

Engine is solid bolted to engine bar and when driving just as much vibration as stock. Remember i am still running stock motor mounts on the sides and stock trans mounts (not solid).....Screams.