t.ridden's L series - Scooby

t.ridden · Post by **t.ridden** » Mon Jul 14, 2014 1:08 am

Not a complete start again. More picking up cheap parts to try and recover some costs

But yes new ECU and loom, to make things easier on that front and the engine for its bolt-ons as I suspect its quite cooked. Its already proving useful, discovered the difference between the "standard" and "hydraulic" timing belt tensioners today...I've already bought a standard type TB kit, so the good engine will be converted to standard tensioner using the one off the cooked motor.
Props to TheInterceptor for pointing out the substructure in the block that unbolts to swap between tensioner types, saved me a lot of frustration and wasted time/money.

Got the new loom stripped down today and virtually ready to go, will test in the Liberty first then out comes the EJ for some TLC!
Starting with a good wash and degrease! Much needed after a brief career as a paddock car
Then timing kit, external oil seals, water pump and other consumables
Might get a bit crazy with some spray cans too...red timing covers sounds like a good idea...might go full STi impersonator and go red intake manifold too....maybe...
Watch this space!
I'll make sure I have my camera with me this time!

t.ridden · Post by **t.ridden** » Wed Jul 16, 2014 1:21 am

Oh I had fun today!

Started by converting the donor engine from hydraulic to standard timing belt tensioner, fro the cooked engine.
Its quite a simple process and it's one less thing to leak or break easily and apparently is just generally better.
Basically, there's a substructure in the block that each tensioner bolts to and this unbolts from the main block via 3 bolts, two on top and one in the middle of the structure. I needed to remove the aircon compressor bracket in order to get to one of the top bolts, which in itself presented a few tricky bolts! Almost had to remove the intake manifold, until I found a thinner extension bar.
The tensioner subframes simply swap over and the standard one bolts into the donor block without a problem.

Hydraulic Tensioner

Standard Tensioner

Substructure removed from block

Substructure installed in donor engine (stupid me forgot to get a pic of the hydraulic-type substructure for comparasion, will do tomorrow)

Losing the light outside made working on the donor car difficult and I want to clean the area and paint my timing covers before replacing them, so I went and stripped the cooked motor.
Found many possible reasons for it's ill-running, even without cracking the block open; injector tubes crammed full of greasy soot, generally lots of burnt oil inside the intake and heads (oil blow-back through crankcase ventilation to intake due to busted rings/piston?), water pump rusty but apparently functional, timing belt system badly in need of servicing, burnt soot around the throttle butterfly, etc.
Not sure if its the same with modern EFI engines, but from my experience with carb-ed ones, this points to a busted piston or ring, causing the crankcase to become pressurised, blowing oil up through the ventilation hoses into the intake.
Which doesn't bother me too much, it's just a parts motor

More to come as it happens

t.ridden · Post by **t.ridden** » Thu Sep 04, 2014 6:26 pm

Progress update

EJ motor is finally out of the Liberty and separated from the 'box. Had to pull them out together due to a rounded bellhousing bolt....
In the meantime, I've swapped the engine looms (had to also swap cam and crank angle sensors due to plug differences), cleaned up the intake side of things, including a freshened up throttle body (also due to plug differences)

RECAP: I'm using the electricals from a manual Gen1 on a motor from an auto Gen2. This explains all the plug differences.

New drama...got the 'box off, and the torque convertor off, and almost got all the crankshaft-TC plate bolts...the last 2 are stupidly tight...
Dad's huge rattle gun at 110psi won't even budge them :poke:
Seems everything I try and do with this car works perfectly until the very last bolt!! :furious:
I got so excited thinking I might be able to get the new flywheel and clutch on today too...

Ah well...have soaked them in CRC/WD40/etc and will let it penetrate for a day or two and then we shall see.
Gives me time to finish doing the timing belt and cleaning the mud/grease off the rest of the underside of the motor.
Still have no idea on compressing that tensioner, anyone got any ideas?

t.ridden · Post by **t.ridden** » Thu Sep 04, 2014 6:31 pm

Ooooh a package

(Baja for scale, and skids

)

hehehe goodies for Scooby!!

Sticker's been painted over, but i scraped enough off to tell it's legit
3.7 LSD
Swapped my mistakenly-bought FWD rear discs set for this, definitely LSD, tight and no clunking = happy Tom

FujiFan · Post by **FujiFan** » Thu Sep 04, 2014 8:04 pm

Nice

Im surely not the only curious person, so I will ask first:
Where did you score what appears to be a genuine L series/MY CLSD? and how much. Do you know history (if rebuilt etc).
Also if you can carefully remove enough of that silly black paint can you post the part# on the sticker for our perusal please

J.

t.ridden · Post by **t.ridden** » Thu Sep 04, 2014 11:24 pm

FujiFan wrote:Nice

Im surely not the only curious person, so I will ask first:
Where did you score what appears to be a genuine L series/MY CLSD? and how much. Do you know history (if rebuilt etc).
Also if you can carefully remove enough of that silly black paint can you post the part# on the sticker for our perusal please

J.

I'm not sure if I received a response due to my ad on Gumtree or to my for sale/swap post on one of the forums, but I swapped the brake set for the LSD with a bloke from Albury NSW.
Went by the name of Lee, if he's on here, I'm sure he'll pipe up.
I'm not sure on the history, just that it was recently pulled from a subframe. He hadn't road tested it, but the hand-testing was good enough for me. Being clutch pack, I could always shim it tighter or swap gears from my current diff if they were stuffed/wrong ratio.
The silly black paint is taking most of the lettering from the sticker with it, but I'll do my best.

tell you what though, I'm sure glad I added the Swap option to my ad, was an afterthought that paid off!

sublime · Post by **sublime** » Fri Sep 05, 2014 12:58 am

The LSD was from a 1986 RX Turbo I purchased a number of years ago. It had a blown headgasket (What else!) and had done about 190 000 km from memory.

It was the Gumtree ad that caught my eye (swap!) and the brakes in my '74 sedan had just decided they no longer wanted to retain fluid... I am now partway through upgrading from unboosted 4 wheel drums (surprisingly good but fussy and not a great deal of fun in today's traffic) to boosted 4 wheel discs with MY83+ ventilated fronts and the 2wd rear disc set mentioned here.

FujiFan · Post by **FujiFan** » Fri Sep 05, 2014 7:47 am

Thanks for that guys. So it worked out well for the both of you. The Swap option is worth consideration if not just chasing cash.

Now for that prize rear LSD, are you gonna replace the pinion mount bush?

t.ridden · Post by **t.ridden** » Fri Sep 05, 2014 9:14 am

Well there you go!
Thanks for that sublime!
I hope the brakes get to you soon safe and sound.

As far as reconditioning the diff goes, I'll have a google and get some prices, see what needs/is recommended to be done.
For 190000ks, I think it would be pretty unused!

sublime · Post by **sublime** » Fri Sep 05, 2014 12:18 pm

Here's a shot of the original 3.7 LSD sticker:

pzs · Post by **pzs** » Fri Sep 05, 2014 7:03 pm

If I can get my s@/t together I'll do a write up with pics on my rebuild of LSD 3.7 to 3.9. All parts are still active on subaru parts list.....ex japan. Reasonably priced to. Just ordered $100 worth to do my diff . 3 weeks from japan to Alice springs.

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Sun Sep 07, 2014 12:30 am

cLSD - you lucky bugger!!

Cheers

Bennie

FujiFan · Post by **FujiFan** » Sun Sep 07, 2014 10:39 am

Ok good job with the sticker!
This is from the 87 FSM, wonder what a whole new ASSY is worth - FROG

t.ridden · Post by **t.ridden** » Sun Sep 07, 2014 5:46 pm

Haha "using the different rear diff will cause drag"....you don't say!

This "Subaru LSD Oil"... is it best to get that specific one from Subaru or just any good gear oil?
I'm assuming it'll be heavier than usual diff/gear oil, any ideas on viscosity/additives/etc?

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Sun Oct 19, 2014 9:12 pm

Any good gear oil will do the job. I believe they are "phasing out" the LSD oil due to the newer oils being able to tolerate the higher temps of the LSD - or that clutch LSDs aren't in use as much these days?

Either way, pick a good oil and if you want you can seek out the LSD oil. Make sure you change it regularly! And get a diff breather sorted while you've got the backing plate out!

Cheers

Bennie

sublime · Post by **sublime** » Sun Oct 19, 2014 10:29 pm

You can buy LSD additive to go in the regular gear oil.