Greetings Nasioc. Long time lurker, first time thread starter. I am a Honda guy, turned Subaru enthusiast, from way back. The WRX is supposed to be my winter warrior. I don't like Reddit and Facebook and social media, so I'm documenting my work here, on a forum, the way it used to be. Forums are dead right?
Before I forget too much, I wanted to show some progress I've made, work I've done, and interesting things I've run into working on my 05 GD Wagon. Mainly, the trials and tribulations I have had trying to get this car dialed in. This is my second GD wagon, my favorite body style, my first one broke my resolve with coolant leaks years ago and I sold it. I regretted it, so despite even worse problems with this one, I am trying, trying, not to give up.
A brief history first:
2024
January: Purchase car, pay too much, smoking all the way home.
February: Replace VC seals, oil cooler seals, suspension, patch a hole in one of the rear shock towers.
March: Go to a localish shop, STI everything, Cobb AP, VF48, injectors, fuel pump, intercooler, dyno tune, 260whp at 18 psi. Probably the dyno pulls killed it, the 140k mile original engine.
A few weeks later engine sounds like a coffee grinder at part throttle. Cut open oil filter, bearing material. Dangit. Chang oil, keep driving it for a few more weeks.
April: Still driving the car even though low oil pressure, on it's way out. 9 psi at idle. Other annoyances, can't get my rear o2 codes P0420 to go off for more than 100 miles with the Access Port. Thats it, ditching it and going open source, can't find a respectable tuner locally because open source tuning isnt respectable (legal?), fine I'll just do it myself. Learn romraider, buy Tactrix cable, cool.
As of today, end of April was the last time I drove the car.
May: Bite the bullet, purchase used JDM EJ205, direct bolt in right? Not so much, not as direct as importers make it out to be anyway. Read lots of threads on differences. Flash my USDM ECU with a stock map, I'll wire AVCS later. Timing belt, water pump, all the seals.
July: Swap the motor, easy enough but from the first start, I have... smoking issues. After months, weekends, troubleshooting, finally definitively can see that passenger side head is weeping coolant, literally dripping out of the head gasket onto the exhaust manifold. I thought EJ205's only spun bearings, and didn't blow head gaskets! At least the oil pressure on this swap was great.
August: Get another replacement JDM EJ205. This one is a DBW motor from a Forester. Lots of differences, worse than first engine but theoretically newer? Have to swap lots of stuff, intake manifold, while I'm in there, add TGV deletes. TGV deletes are for a JDM intake top? Drill out holes to make it line up, sigh.
What's the more annoying part? Water neck is different, so radiator, radiator hoses, nothing lines up. What a pain. Can I swap the coolant neck/crossover? No because the 10mm bolts holding it down are seized, brutal.
Intercooler mounts don't work either. Ok, put it all back together, get a Forester XT radiator, hoses fit better, fans don't. Ok more stuff to swap...
First start, pouring blue smoke. Did my turbo go bad? My turbo went bad. My gently used VF48. Was it smoked from bearing shrapnel? Ok, get a new turbo.
Order VF48 clone, brand new, from Ichiban Engineering. Swap the turbo. Oil smoke cloud fixed. Thank goodness.
September: Still troubleshooting! The problems continue.
I cannot get this engine, my third engine, to stop "smoking" at idle. It's like it's coming from everywhere, headers, exhaust. Not the cloud like when the turbo was blown, but... smoking none the less.
Well, I filed the engine/radiator with water, not coolant, because I fully expected to have to pull this radiator back out when it didn't fit. Now I need to fix any obvious external leaks (I think I'm ok here), compression test again, leakdown test, and determine if the smoke I am seeing is from something burning off, condensation, if indeed I have yet another head gasket leak, from a JDM EJ205. What are the odds?!
What a nightmare.
Ok here's some pics of the saga, a car I've had for 8 months, and have only driven about 500 miles. Thanks for following along.
Pictures:
Work began immediately.
https://i.imgur.com/7LqDWbN.jpg
Classic Subaru.
https://i.imgur.com/IRXsKbk.jpg
More Subaru problems.
https://i.imgur.com/qu6sspF.jpg
Fun while it lasted.
https://i.imgur.com/tqzkCgM.jpg
This is not good.
https://i.imgur.com/wbp8WWX.jpg
First swap attempt.
https://i.imgur.com/m7lX7Dg.jpg
Ok that one didn't work, let's get another one.
https://i.imgur.com/VwnXdkw.jpg
Bad turbo! Starting a collection. I have two blown TD04s, a blown VF48, and a questionable Forester turbo (even smaller).
https://i.imgur.com/9WtZTeY.jpg
Engine back in, now with pretty timing covers.
https://i.imgur.com/Fj034rw.jpg
More Subaru problems.
https://i.imgur.com/xUxYYBm.mp4