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Here's the catch. I am looking at changing my flywheel and clutch assy this week (end). Having experience changing engines and gearboxes on Fords in the past I started looking at vids on youtube for hints, tricks and more insight on how it all fits together on a Scooby. Most show the engine out some show the way I am used to. Release prop from rear diff, disassemble key components and slide the box down with help of a jack and some friends manipulating the tranny. I am inclined to do it this way as it seems far less hassle than with the engine-out way but from what I can tell there is 1 complication. The gearstick. In my assessment this will need to come off as I don't see how the box can be moved backwards without doing so. Anyone fancy shedding some light on the job at hand and what they would advice/suggest. I will be changing sparkplugs and rear crankseal while I am it. I am fairly sure Subaru didn't intended the need to pull the engine for a sparkplug change. Not so sure about said crank seal though. So what's your thought? And sorry if this has been discussed before but there's such and abundance on information the 'trees and forest' thing springs to mind.
It has been done to death on here but I'll tell you anyway.
Engine out = 2/3hrs max taking your sweet time about it and then it's in your face for everything else you want to do.
Gearbox out on axel stands = 4hrs + if it goes smoothly, loads of groveling, crawling in and out about 20 times, lots of swearing, crap in your eyes, scrapped knuckles and then you get to drag the cnunting thing out and back in again.
After you've done that you have the joy of crawling back under there and trying to fit the clutch and crank seal, then you get to **** about with the spark plugs for a couple more hours.
Good points made there Ditch. Suppose you're completely right. Groveling on my back in the dirt and gravel struggling with a heavy gearbox and getting bloody knuckled doesn't appeal to me at all. Engine out it is. Thanks for your insights you three and for bothering replying to another clutch topic.
Right day 1.
Had a late start. Got started around 12:30 but since I had to drive the car to where surgery would take place I had more delay so took it slow. Started the usual way of an engine-out job. Battery out and removal of undertray.
Shame at some point hot coolant (I suspect) damaged it.
Started on stuff that didn't involve having my hands close to warm parts. Then it threatened to start raining and realised my windows were still down....
With rhe tray out of the way and the coolant having cooled down enough I undid lower coolant hose and removed the fans. More proof the previous person that worked on the car needs a smack on the head. All 4 of them looked like this.
Next I succesfully performed the proven 'spit on the turbo to check it's still blistering hot' test and it wasn't so the intercooler was removed and while I was in that side the starter was taken off, heater hoses removed... well more or less as I encountered stubborn hose clips that need more persuasion and I made a start on undoing the box-to-engine bolts.
Associated wiring loom is unclipped, alternator is off and most of the p/ s pump and a/c pump bolts are off but sadly I struggled reaching the last few bolts. Partially cause of the lack of the correct tools and partially cause I never took out a Scooby engine before.
This bolt behind the a/c pump
Another 1 I had trouble geting at
So this is where I left off for today.
Thanks for reading, will update as progress is made.
And here is an update. Found the bolts I struggled with yesterday and now have both a/c pump and p/s pump out of the way. Found more dodgy stuff when I was working unbolt in the turbo from the downpipe. I have no problem with fixing things cheap but every once in a while you gotta bite the bullet and spend your hard earned money. I 'proudly' present this piece of handy work.
As you can tell the top connection has been previously been 'repaired' and when I removed it I was astounded how little of the inlet was actually secured to the turbo. So there was only thing to do with this..... BIN IT! So now I am urgently looking for a replacement. That brings up a question. How good (or bad for that matter) are the cheaper alternatives for the known and loved brands like Samco and SFS? I saw the alternatives (lincer race and rally for example) on ebay for a fraction of the immensely expensive Samco and SFS turbo inlet hoses. As it's a right pita to change I rather not do it again within say 12 months. Time for me to bite the bullet and splash out and buy a Samco or is it mainly the word that makes the 150 pounds difference? I also need to change the exhaust manifold as that's a write - off too thanks to the dreaded metal wurm. I.e. It's rusted beyond what I fear repair. More or less to the entire middle section of my exhaust system. It's more and more becoming a restoration project rather than a relatively straight forward clutch, flywheel, crankseal and spark plug change.
So what's left? Need the downpipe out of the way to reach the final 2 bolts from gearbox to block. Taking off the O2 sensor that would get squashed if I don't. Couldn't take it out cause I lacked the tools for that. Don't have a spanner big enough nor do I have an angle grinder to modify a sparkplug socket to unbolt it and I need my mate to deliver the engine crane and heavy - duty garage jack that's gonna support my gearbox.
Parts to acquire: new turbo inlet.
Exhaust manifold and uppipe.
Already arranged a turbo-back 3" Japspeed ss exhaust system.
Tools needed: big *** spanner.
Badly need a ratchet spanner 14. Would make my life a hellofalot easier working on the Scooby.
So all in all it's looking up. Hopefully have the engine out tomorrow. Wish I had one more day of weekend.
Well the engine is out and more former abuse woes. Spotted damage on the intake side compression wheel and the turbine wheel bearing suffers from axial play. With the lump out my mate suggested changing the turbo as this is the perfect time but this repair is getting out of hand and bleeding me dry.
Haven't received many comments so far but I hope someone can advise me on my options. Do I get an exchange item and stick with the TD04 (that's what is on it now right?) or do I opt for an upgrade and get a TD05? Will this be a straight swap? Since I will be binning the standard turbo-back exhaust in favour of a (temporarily) full decatted 3" Japspeed I will be needing a remap anyway to prevent it going lean and break even more stuff. Will the original injectors and fuelpump cope with the demand or would it need a fuelpump and 550cc injector upgrade? I am not looking to squeeze every horsepower out of it. 250-275hp will do me just fine. I however am looking for an relatively affordable solution.
On a "brighter" note at least it was crystal clear the clutch was utterly knackered so at least the mini - project isn't in vain. Just didn't expect it to get out of hand this much. The car was supposed to be in decent shape and had a clear MoT sheet last year. Guess the MoT person was blind as a bat or very lenient.
Thanks for reading.
Last edited by Remko; 06 August 2015 at 10:16 PM.
Reason: typos
But of course should I be wanting more power in the future I will be limited by the 04? I am assuming everything over 300hp will become a problem for the standard 5spd gearbox and inevitably will kill it. Obviously being gentle with the box can prolong its life but so easy to get carried away and strip a gear or something. I guess sensible mods and power will be my trajectory so sticking with a TD04. The hunt is on for a vgc TD04 turbocharger. My girlfriend wasn't amused yesterday when I told her the turbo had seen better days lol. Cause I also have to keep in mind the car will also function as a family car in the future.
You can certainly go for a bigger turbo, the gearbox is good for well over 300 (mine has withstood quite a few launches etc using a vf24, sti pinks, map etc)
You can fit any compatible turbo, it just boils down to how close to the wind do you wish to sail?
Sailing too close to the wind is always the danger. Been looking for either a replacement/exchange for the turbo or a refurbishment. Haven't decided which and am waiting for a quatation on a turbo refurbishment from a local-ish company. Still very tempted changing to a vf34 or td05 and upgrading fuelpump and injectors for safety measures and future power upgrade cause a part of me would love to see the sunny side of 300hp in the future. Never owned a 300+bhp car and that's high on my bucket list.
Meanwhile I got stuck in yesterday and prepared the flywheel and clutch change. Obviously this involved removing the old..... err...... well.....
Clutch?
And again I found spooky stuff. Apparently 4 bolts will do just fine to hold the clutch to the flywheel....
Yeah, that's right... One of the bolts was sheared off and been like this for god knows how long. Luckily I don't need to muck about with getting it out cause I have a lightened CC flywheel to take its place
With the junk out of the way it appeared the rear crank seal has indeed been leaking and again fortunately enough I was prepared and placed a new seal after having cleaned the clutch housing.
Moving on to the other bits I replaced sparkplugs, cleaned the coils and several other parts of the engine. And more stuff that didn't please me. Cracked and broken timingcover being the least of my worries. Worst is a badly repaired leak with a lot of silicone on the exhaust camshaft. My guess is a leaking rocker cover gasket. Other worrying stuff is missing bolts that hold the rear side of the timing cover to the engine making it kinda wobbly. So am I replacing the water pump, belt-tensioner and belt while I am at it? Would be dumb not to however the belt seemed fine. Oh and then there is the problem of 2 bolts on the left hand side timingcover not wanting to come out. Not stuck... more stripped thread.... lovely......
As mentioned before, the turbo needs to be dealt with so removed for either the bin or a refurbishment.
So tomorrow unless much needed parts are coming in I might just jack up the rear-end of the car, clean off some of the grime from the rearpart of the drivetrain and place the quick-shift kit for a well deserved sense of accomplishment.
Ordered exhaust gaskets, replacement for the very rusty headers and uppipe and a Pinner inlet hose.
Got my in-law coming by with a torque wrench to fit the flywheel. 72Nm if my memory serves me right. Obviously combined with loc-tite.
Today I got a reply from the refurbish company. But they don't repair turbos. They have a new one for 11000SEK (about £850 I think) so I talked to a friend and he said its usually not worth repairing a turbo yourself so in stead I continued going over my options and I found a vgc oem item with a breaker for around £160. The best part is it's really close to me so postage will be minimal. They are checking the turbo tomorrow for me to check whether or not it really is in the condition they so far assumed it is. With the amount I had feared the turbo replacement would cost me I might be able to do the right thing in and squeeze in a timing set with a new waterpump. Also on my list is a new rocker cover gasket. That horrible repair on the leak bothers me. It's just a matter of time until that will start leaking again, that much is certain. With any luck it's readily available unlike the 24v cosworth engine I had to get parts for when we converted my old 8v twincam Sierra to V6 but I won't bother you guys more with the F word
As a sidenote..... are the cam pulleys balanced? Cause the campulley where the gasket has been repaired has been damaged. How? Beats the he'll out of me.
Don't remember how much time I spend on it but things are moving forward. The turbo has been changed for a vgc item bought for about 150 pounds. Obviously changed all relevant gaskets and oil/water seals. Changed the right hand side rocker cover gasket as well. The amount of silicone sealant I found was shocking. Honest to god, I even found sealant on the cam. Took me several hours to remove all of it from both the head and cover. Last weekend the new flywheel and clutch kit went on permanently. A new fuel filter while I was at it and a new fuel filter. Getting in a couple if new hoseclamps and some new bolts to fill the holes of the bolts that were missing of the timing cover and the ones I was forced to remove with the use of an angle grinder. As well as a fresh crankpulley bolt. Few more days and the engine is ready to go back in its home.
How time has flown restoring my WRX. Cause that's what it was after all the worK I put in it. I would most definately call it a project.
Anyway....
The engine is back in its place and some bits replaced. Alternator guard, a new multi-belt and some minor ancillaries. Still have to fit a tophose but it hasn't arrived yet. When cleaning mine it turned out it suffered major damage so it had to be replaced.
Oh.. and I was wrong on my calipers. What I took for severe rust was actually some alien material that was nearly col-welded to my calipers. So I set on stripping them down and rebuild them in stead of replacing. 2 pistons were seized. Both calipers had a seized piston. But strangely enough on the rim side rather than engine side..
So this is how they look now.
Buying paint today. Rebuild kit and piston is ready to be placed. Few more days and the car is back on the road.
How time has flown restoring my WRX. Cause that's what it was after all the worK I put in it. I would most definately call it a project.
Anyway....
The engine is back in its place and some bits replaced. Alternator guard, a new multi-belt and some minor ancillaries. Still have to fit a tophose but it hasn't arrived yet. When cleaning mine it turned out it suffered major damage so it had to be replaced.
Oh.. and I was wrong on my calipers. What I took for severe rust was actually some alien material that was nearly col-welded to my calipers. So I set on stripping them down and rebuild them in stead of replacing. 2 pistons were seized. Both calipers had a seized piston. But strangely enough on the rim side rather than engine side..
So this is how they look now.
1 of the pistons I got out in decent shape. Sprayed it with a rustsolvent and allowed it to a soak a day and with help from a crowbar it came out. The other 1 I has to be more creative and brutal to get it out. Drilled a hole through the collar to fit the slidepins from the caliper so I could get decent grip on it. Clearly it didn't survive that treatment. Hence the purchase of 1 new piston.
Buying paint today. Rebuild kit and piston is ready to be placed. Few more days and the car is back on the road.
31 July 2015, 05:41 PM
WRX 2001 Clutch swapping time - which way?
