Im cross posting this from another local forum. This car was built to its current state over the past 3 months. All the work was done myself, some with the assistance of a few friends.
I was driving today and started to hear what I can only describe as a fluttering noise while coasting in gear (if I had to associate a noise to wastegate flutter, this is what I feel it would sound like). I hammered through 2 gears and boost topped out at around 11lbs or so (down from a typical 15lbs) and the car was noticibly slow. I parked the car, and when idling, the low oil pressure light turns on, and goes away under any rpm higher than idle. When off, there is the noise of a fluid dripping and boiling in the area of the turbo-- internally as far as I can tell because there is no puddles, no smoke, or smell.
I did not notice smoke from the exhaust, there is no noticeable oil consumption.
Update:Catastrophic oil pickup failure. The motor still ran fine so im putting a new one in and we will see from there. I don’t see any large chunks of bearing material in the oil or filter, just fine copper (although more than id like to see)
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(pic of copper deposits in the oil pan)
The car started life as a 99% stock/garage kept vehicle with a catback and a innovative street tune. Between my purchasing the car about a 9 months ago and today, the timing belt service has been done as well as a new clutch less than 10k miles ago. The trans fluid was replaced with extra-s.
Parts I have acquired so far:
---- Cobb Accessport (kindly reflashed to the most current firmware by innotune)
----Megan racing downpipe
---- Invidia up-pipe
---- AMS catback
---- Defi-racer 52mm oil pressure, oil temperature, and boost gauges
---- AEM uego AFR gauge
---- ATI clock pod
---- ngk plugs 6668 lfr6a
---- Walbro 255 fuel pump
---- Motul rbf600 brake fluid
---- Hawk dtc-60 front pads for the track
---- Technafit stainless steel brake lines
---- star-specs
---- New shortblock
---- CP pistons
---- FP hta68 w/ 8cm hotside
---- Group N Motor mounts
---- Injectors (dw 740’s)
---- Gasket set
---- Oil pump
---- Arp head studs
---- AVCS/Oil line kit
---- Heat wrap and coating
---- Killer B oil pickup
---- Gimmick turbo inlet
---- Samco intercooler hose kit
---- Grimspeed EBCS
---- Innovative tuning oil cooler kit with thermostatic sandwich plate
Parts I need-
—turbo blanket
The vf39 is dead from oil starvation. My intention for this car is to be a fun/extremely reliable track day car. Not looking to blow ferraris out of the water (as fun as that would be). I’m going to go with the FP HTA68 turbo with an 8cm hotside. This should give me a bit more HP over a vf39 stage 2 tune, but the power curve should hold harder to redline than the vf39.
I have the turbo and everything pulled already
Best tool EVER.
Killer B oil pickup
---------- Post added at 08:48 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:44 AM ----------
Today was less productive than I had hoped. Turns out we dont have a 14mm allen wrench, so I could only manage to get 2 of the 3 access plugs out to get the pistons out. I went to sears and they have a set that costs 40 bucks with a 14mm in it-- off to harbor freight tomorrow! I realized I don’t have any fugibond either.
Tomorrow plan is to get the last piston out, rings gapped, and all of the pistons installed. Then im going to reclaim the AC (taking out the condenser rather than working around it), drain the coolant, and start to get the motor out of the car and onto a stand. The tranny was separated less than 10k ago and i was pretty liberal with the never-cease so hopefully it will be uneventful.
Now for pics:
Shiny new CP pistons.
Shiny new shortblock. The AAAB bore worked out PERFECTLY with the pistons I had. I have between .0032 and .0039 PTW clearances on the stock bore due to differences in piston size. One of the bores was quite large (obviously the .0039 PTW)–the rest are all .0032-.0035. Rings are gapped and ready to be installed (minus the piston I cant yet get out). Hopefully im one of the ones that has good luck with stock bore/“drop in” pistons.
The fast motorsports avcs/oil line kit. seems to be pretty well made, we will see if it leaks at all. Any reason not to put regular old teflon tape on the fittings?
Moar goodies. Arp head studs, DW 740 injectors and the AEM AFR gauge.
Bought the gimmick inlet hose from innotune today as well as a case of amsoil and t-clamps for the intercooler hose (i always leave with more than i planned to buy). Got all 4 new cam bolts from northtown (youll see why) as well as a tube of fugibond.
Pistons are in and the motor is all plugged back up.
AC is reclaimed. Im here now draining/removing the coolant system and taking off the accessory drive and other parts that can come off easily before pulling the motor tomorrow.
---------- Post added at 08:51 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:48 AM ----------
/end night. Let the fun begin again tomorrow morning.
For anyone looking to take off an intake manifold, I suggest you follow the FSM to the letter. There are quite a few hidden plugs and hoses that are hard to see.
2 hours to pull the motor, remove clutch/flywheel, and get it on a stand. Not too shabby for someone who doesnt have a clue what they are doing.
I suggest that you remove the upstream o2 sensor from the manifold prior to pulling the motor out. Its a tight fit and any mistake causes it to make contact with the chassis.
Pretty productive day, minus the cam bolts-- let me tell you those are not fun. I also think im going to pull off the oil pump that I installed today. Im pretty sure I used too much fugibond on it and am worried the excess will make it into the oil.
Got the motor out and stripped. Cams are out. One head is back on the new shortblock and torqued, other head will go on tomorrow. PIX!
Heres our contraption to get the cam bolts out. It involves an old timing belt, 1 c-clamp, 3 vise grips, a 10mm allen socket with 3/8 to 1/2 adapter, a breaker bar, and a pipe. Worked absolutely fantastically minus the one bolt that we stripped due to user error/not paying attention well enough. For anyone who is not familiar with subaru, these bolts are notoriously impossible to remove without damaging them. Subaru has a special tool for holding the cams, and it isnt cheap so this method is needed to get them out. A good impact gun doesnt even touch these bolts.
Had to copy mikes bolt stress relief method on the one we stripped to get it out. It worked perfectly, because once it was cut, an EZ-out grabbed the shit out of it and zipped it out like butter.
Heres a video of it in action. Excuse my commentary, in the heat of the moment I thought I was the smartest man alive. Looking back, im pretty sure a monkey could have done that.
Here’s a video of impact failing to get the bolts out. That’s a 785 foot pound impact to give you some reference as to how fucking tight these bolts are. I was terrified of those vice grips flying off at my balls. May be NSFW as i do swear once…haha.
Head #1 is on and torqued.
---------- Post added at 08:51 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:51 AM ----------
Today was a trainwreck compared to the rest of them.
-
Woke up to my alarm screaming at me that I had to go to a mandated OSHA refresher training at work. COMPLETELY forgot about it. Didnt get to the shop til about 2pm.
-
Got an email from IIR. The turbos are drop shipped from Forced Performance since I ordered the 8cm hotside.
My representative at Forced Performance has been out all week. I tried calling multiple times, emailed multiple departments and i finally received an email that stated, “2-3 weeks at this time”.
Before this is set in stone I need to talk to my representative when she arrives back on Tuesday. She originally told me that all upgrade actuator orders would be shipping within a week of when the order was placed.
I’ll let you know on tuesday.
Bad experience already with FP. Im at a crossroads-- do I just cancel that order and spend the extra couple hundred and go with the blousch 20g-xt and de-tune it a little? Someone give me guidance!
- DAMN those crossover pipe bolts suck. Broke 3 of the 4 clean off in the block. Had to drive to lockport to source new bolts-- that was a waste of an hour.
- Someone tell me what is wrong with this picture. Had to take it apart and do it all over again due to the error on my part.
- With all that said, its 11pm and the shop is now cleaned up and ready for business tomorrow. Heres my progress for the day. Other head is on. Cams are all in with pulleys torqued. Water pump and oil pump are on. Crossover and some hoses are on.
Goodies!
On the motor:
hopefully startup tomorrow. I need to source a plug for two of the coolant lines that go to/from the water oil cooler. Also need to find a plug for the EGT bung on the up pipe-- its like a m11-1.25 thread. Also need to get the sandwich plate from innovative so i can actually attach an oil filter to the car 
