Stingrae's Legacy GT

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Stingrae
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Stingrae's Legacy GT

Post by Stingrae » Mon Apr 21, 2025 11:46 am

G'day everyone,

Thought I'd make a thread about the new car before I get ahead of myself and don't post about any of the work...

1994 Legacy Gt Jap import with an Ej20H (only in 4sp auto sadly), an absolute rocket once its running. But its been sitting with a blown headgasket (water jacket to cylinder) for about 7 years. Modplated in QLD for larger turbos, to spec of the later 97-98 Ej20H.

Here's some photos
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Below is after a quick clean, has come up quite well. Also infested with spiders, wasps, cockroaches and ants.
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The mighty brumby dragged it most of the way up the driveway. After Dad was done dragging it up the driveway the clutch was pouring steam out the bonnet. And just a week after the 5 speed swap. It might be the worst driveway to get cars up
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Very happy with my purchase, and it was $1000 less than the brumby. Can't drive it till August 2026 when I get on opens, but it will take a while anyway.

The Liberty forum and FB group don't seem to have much on these, any ideas on where to get documents on the engine?

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El_Freddo
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Re: Stingrae's Legacy GT

Post by El_Freddo » Mon Apr 21, 2025 5:02 pm

Nice score Stingrae!

The chrome handle on the rear tailgate always gets me - it’s so JDM!

Be ready for the possibility of corrosion on the bore if it wasn’t run often to blow out any moisture build up.

The RS Liberty forum might have some info on the Gen2 GT. It’s basically the same as the RS turbo with cosmetic changes for the most part.

Smoking brumby clutch, not good! Did you use low range 4wd to do the towing work? And with the 5spd conversion, did you machine the EA81 flywheel to match the step of the EA82? I can’t remember how much needs to be shaved off to make the step the same. This allows the EA82 pressure plate to have the same clamping force on the EA81 flywheel as it did from factory.

If you didn’t do the shave job on the EA81 flywheel, it will still work until it can’t clamp the clutch disc - this occurs well before the clutch disc is near wearing out!

Looking forward to updates when they come!

Cheers

Bennie
"The lounge room is not a workshop..."
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Stingrae
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Re: Stingrae's Legacy GT

Post by Stingrae » Mon Apr 21, 2025 9:16 pm

Hey Bennie

Checked out the RS Liberty Club earlier and saw your wagon, very cool! They do have some info, but I suspect most of it is for the 97-98 models, still referred to as an Ej20H, but the 'Black Box of Death' is different.

This thing
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It has 15 or so vacuum lines running off of it and its a nightmare to diagnose or replace hoses for if removed. It controls the turbos and most issues come from tampering with it.

In the brumby, I haven't welded the 4wd lever to the linkage, so I pushed it forwards into 2H (or so I thought). But, Unbeknownst to me, the ea82 4wd linkage is above the pivot on the lever, and the ea81 is below. A 'happy little accident', and we dragged it up in 4L. Fortunately it wasn't driven much like that. Also during first fit up it was in the neutral between 4H & 4L, having 7 neutrals was terrifying.

I used the ea82 flywheel, and reused the clutch because it still has (or had) good life left in it. when using the ea81 flywheel the starter must be spaced 3-4mm, which I suspect is about the same as the machining. After the swap the starter was a little sluggish, but dad flogging it freed it right up. Also got an OEM RHD (possibly wrongly advertised and is actually LHD) ea82 clutch cable from Cyprus but it was barely longer than the ea81, I'm going to weld up a stronger pedal box which should allow me to add a longer linkage to make it work better. Still a massive upgrade to the beaten up ea81 trans and cable.

Strangely, when first installing the new flywheel, it didn't clear the housing, had to file the bottom edges (only found this out after installing the gearbox). Asked the Fb group and it had only been seen on an early 80s auto and a twin carb/dual port. Looked up the exhaust port and unfortunately its a bog standard ea81, but strange to see on a 1992 brumby.

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Anyway, back to the legacy. when the headgasket went the previous owner pulled over and all the coolant left out tailpipe as steam. Hasn't turned over since. The block is cast pistons and 8.5:1 comp, seems a little high but I have heard it has a larger combustion chamber, so it may have standard NA pistons.

Have a look at centre console, they kept all the cool stuff for themselves. I almost want to keep the 4sp auto for the 'Power' mode.
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Dan

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El_Freddo
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Re: Stingrae's Legacy GT

Post by El_Freddo » Mon Apr 21, 2025 11:37 pm

G’day Dan,

Ah yes, I forgot about the twins :-x The Gen1 GT was basically a JDM auto RS turbo…

In that case, subyclub.com have an awesome array of info that’s basically the holy bible of twin turbo links. I just hope they still work - http://www.subyclub.com/topic/1548-suba ... entry52427 . There are others in there too - if you want to keep the information long term try downloading the pages as that forum is currently experiencing issues when trying to log in. As a guest you might be able to download each page with all the information. If on your mobile use the full page mode, much better in my opinion.

I also remember a pile of info from “Kong” - possibly in a build thread and possibly for a B4 - having said that you might find many similarities to your EJ20H twins in the vacuum actuation department.

Also many threads about going to single turbo in there too ;)

As for the brumby that’s weird about the bell housing and the flywheel interference. That spacer you speak of when using the EA81 flywheel with the EA82 5spd is to adjust the position of the starter in relation to the EA81 flywheel’s starter gear ring. If you put an EA82 and EA81 flywheel side by side you’ll find a difference in the crank mounting face and the ring gear’s distance from the crank mount.

The 5spd I believe is well worth the effort! My brumby is still standard tractor 4spd.

The 4wd linkage can be easily adapted to use the factory brumby lever - it’s done all the time. From memory you need to mix and weld EA82 rod to the EA81 rod at some point to match it all together and have it function properly. Sorry I’m a bit vague on that.

Thanks for the compliment on my RS. Sadly she’s good from afar but far from good atm. And RS is taking on a new meaning with the visitors it’s had while in storage wrapped up under a tarp as that’s all I’ve had for it in recent years :cry:

Cheers

Bennie
"The lounge room is not a workshop..."
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Re: Stingrae's Legacy GT

Post by Stingrae » Tue Apr 22, 2025 5:53 pm

Thanks, Subyclub has hundreds of twin turbo discussions, and many about the bg5a. Unfortunately many old websites are down but I'm sure the internet archive can bridge the gaps. Don't think I can get around the broken PDFs though. Will go hunting for Kong's posts.

The single turbo vs twin turbo argument sounds like ea vs ej to me. It's 30 year old tech, and of course it's outdated, but it's still cool and 260hp stock (or a little higher in this case) will be plenty of fun. That being said, being faster than my mates Nissan v35 would be nice too.

This thread was very helpful
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/showthread.php?2 ... n-turbo-eh
my black box has the bottom solenoid in use, which makes it pretty easy. Here are my vacuum diagrams
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Now that the TT system isn't witchcraft (mostly), its time to prep for pulling the engine and trans, hopefully both out through the top.

In more exciting news, I hooked up the brumby's battery briefly and got most accessories. Stereo, antenna deployed, front & back wipers, horn, constant hazards (with or without the button). No crank/starter movement at all, possibly due to the terminals not being tight. Going to charge a truck battery to get a decent test on the weekend.


Dan
92 Brumby
94 Legacy GT

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Re: Stingrae's Legacy GT

Post by Stingrae » Fri Apr 25, 2025 4:42 pm

Decided to quit while I was ahead today, managed to strip everything down to the heads and it's not looking good.

New plan - strip everything and pull the block by itself. The auto is way to big to get out, and the torque converter has to come with the engine unless I can get it to turn over. The following setup couldn't do it.
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Here's the current state of the engine
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Can't get the camera to focus but it's clear that a couple of valves are rusty
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However, the turbos look good, one is perfect, the other has a small scraping noise, but neither have any shaft play. hopefully rebuildable. Car only has 160,000km, and these being different turbos they can't have many kms on them (Or maybe they can). Intercooler is a little oily, don't have the experience to say whether it is much cause for concern.
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Seeing as the block has to be stripped, and may be unsalvageable, was looking into other options, forged pistons, ej207 semi-closed decks seem hideously expensive, maybe resleeving is the way to go. There's much disagreement, but it seems the WRX STI was the only car to get forged pistons and only in certain years. Better head bolts/studs and good headgaskets look much better suited for 280 horsepower this thing makes.

Also, I was incorrect about the later EJ20H being higher horsepower, I believe it to be the EJ20R that these turbos are off, or maybe the 20x/y (which was Aus delivered in the later GT) but that's going off the previous owners words, haven't had a good look yet.

Found two blocked off hoses from the BBOD, have read this is common as the original turbos have an extra wastegate/boost control device (Will confirm tomorrow).

Fumigated the engine bay after a spider was sitting on the other side of the battery tray, scared the life out of me at 7am halfway through sipping coffee.

Subinats 2026 is in October, and I can't drive a modplated car in August 2026. I've got a deadline.

More to come, if all goes well the block will be out and split over the weekend.


Dan
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94 Legacy GT

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Silverbullet
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Re: Stingrae's Legacy GT

Post by Silverbullet » Fri Apr 25, 2025 10:30 pm

That looks like a project and a half in the making! :o and ye gods man was that thing driven through a hay field at some point? :lol: A lot of grassy junk on that engine. Do you care about JDM purity? keeping it original? If you're going as far as to rebuild the engine and sleeve the cylinders then you might as well update it to modern tech while you're there. If it were me I'd be doing everything in my power to bin that black box of death, it looks like trouble on steroids. Would have thought a single modern designed turbo and programmable ECU would perform better than two 30 year old tech ones but I don't have experience in turbos. All depends on the budget I suppose! ;)

In any case I admire your determination to get this beastie back on the road, it will be epic when finished 8-) If only you could pick the brains of turbo yoda, he's played with old turbo charged Subarus a great deal.

Helped a guy out once with ignition issues on his Brum with L series 5 spd, I found it did not have the EA81 flywheel, it had no timing marks whatsoever! Made setting the timing impossible. Does the EA82 flywheel have timing marks?

And can confirm grafting the EA81 and EA82 rods together works very well for keeping the original range lever in the cab.

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Re: Stingrae's Legacy GT

Post by Stingrae » Sat Apr 26, 2025 2:42 am

Funny you should say that Silverbullet, it's been sitting like this for about 7 years
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I'm not mad on JDM cars, but I was early to a good deal that wasn't torn to bits or ruined by rust (Imported to NZ in approx 2000). I like to keep cars mostly original, or at least original looking. The Sony radio in the brumby drives me up the wall, not only that it looks terrible but it was terribly installed too. I like rally cars, unfortunately, all the Lancias, Alfa Romeo GTs, Triumphs, Audi Quattros, and anything remotely close to homologation spec are far, far outside my price range.

It all started with this one on the PS1
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I'll probably never have it, but the 1994 legacy scratches the 1998 WRX STI itch a little bit.

I'd like to save the engine block because it will be a nightmare trying to explain to main roads that it's the heads, manifold and pistons that make the power, not the engine block.

I will die on the hill that an antiquated and superseded technology is still worth keeping. Compared to almost any other engine, the EA series engines are terrible, Siamese heads are atrocious, the fuel efficiency for it's power are terrible, most attempts to turbo them (especially the EA82m projects) blow up or crack valve seats down to the water lines. But, seeing an RX turbo or a twin carb/port Leone is cooler than an EJ swap. Hearing the engine scream at 4000 is awesome, and the EA81 is dead simple. The sequential twin turbos are old and have problems, the newer single turbos spool up much faster (arguably offsetting the advantage of sequentials), but I'm sure that hearing both going at the same time will be awesome.

This EA82 flywheel does have faint markings, but they're offset and useless on an ea81. Also the flywheel is only supposed to go on one way, but the EA82 bolts are slightly wider, so there is a slight gap when using EA81 bolts. Due to this, I believe there are 'technically' two ways it goes on, but it should be clear that one is incorrect and requires forcing.

It's a long way yet, but as soon as the wagon is moving it becomes the daily and the brumby can a much needed restoration.


Dan
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94 Legacy GT

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Subyroo
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Re: Stingrae's Legacy GT

Post by Subyroo » Sat Apr 26, 2025 3:06 pm

Stingrae wrote:
Sat Apr 26, 2025 2:42 am
It all started with this one on the PS1
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Dan
I think a lot of Subaru owners fell in love with the WRX Rally cars in the 90's, plus drivers like McRae - Burns & Solberg also helped with the following.

I fell in love with the boxer rumble and it still gives me a thrill 30 odd years later. Whenever I pull up beside one at the lights or are beside one on the highway, I always wind down my window and tag along for that boxer rumble.

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Re: Stingrae's Legacy GT

Post by El_Freddo » Sat Apr 26, 2025 10:39 pm

Subyroo wrote:
Sat Apr 26, 2025 3:06 pm
Whenever I pull up beside one at the lights or are beside one on the highway, I always wind down my window and tag along for that boxer rumble.
I do those things too if I’m not in the Gen3 Liberty that sounds awesome - I reckon it puts many WRXs to shame with its UEL extractors and STi Genome rear muffler. I can’t wait to have the Brumby EJ’d and the same awesome Subi rumble!

Cheers

Bennie
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Re: Stingrae's Legacy GT

Post by Silverbullet » Sun Apr 27, 2025 8:34 pm

Stingrae wrote:
Sat Apr 26, 2025 2:42 am
It all started with this one on the PS1
Image
Oh wow, what a classic, the memories :lol: I reckon I watched my brother play that when we were kids. That your copy? $48.99!! for a video game in the mid 90's, about a years worth of pocket money :lol:
Stingrae wrote:
Sat Apr 26, 2025 2:42 am
I will die on the hill that an antiquated and superseded technology is still worth keeping. Compared to almost any other engine, the EA series engines are terrible, Siamese heads are atrocious, the fuel efficiency for it's power are terrible, most attempts to turbo them (especially the EA82m projects) blow up or crack valve seats down to the water lines. But, seeing an RX turbo or a twin carb/port Leone is cooler than an EJ swap. Hearing the engine scream at 4000 is awesome, and the EA81 is dead simple. The sequential twin turbos are old and have problems, the newer single turbos spool up much faster (arguably offsetting the advantage of sequentials), but I'm sure that hearing both going at the same time will be awesome.
Dan
Yeah man, I get it. Stuff that was cool back then is still cool today for different reasons IMO. I had the twin carb EA81 in my wagon, daily drove it for a couple of years. It was cool, extremely unique, sounded great and went harder than a normal EA81 but in the end for me it made too little power for the amount of fuel it drank :lol: 27" tyres do not help one little bit. The EJ swap brought many quality of life upgrades compared to the 40 year old tech. No big dead spots on sharp left turns being one.
El_Freddo wrote: I can’t wait to have the Brumby EJ’d and the same awesome Subi rumble!

Cheers

Bennie
If you manage to copy that sound, let me know how you did it! My EJ with UEL headers from inside the car still sounds 90% the same as the twin carb EA81 to my ear :lol:

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Re: Stingrae's Legacy GT

Post by El_Freddo » Mon Apr 28, 2025 10:02 pm

Ah man! I just found out I missed a number of updates on this thread - all of them after the twin turbo aids diagram (which is impressive in itself)…

Man that’s a find! Cool pic of it when you picked it up.

The torque converter can stay with the transmission. Access the flex plate bolts through the bell housing timing hole from memory. Then make sure it stays with the trans while you remove the engine. You might be able to get the engine to turn over by putting some penetrene down each intake port and hoping it gets into the cylinder. The extreme way to do it is to remove cam covers and physically open the intake valve(s) to get the penetrene into the cylinder to do its thing. A cylinder might dump it straight into the exhaust, don’t worry about that one! If you get the engine to turn over, happy days. If not, pull the torque converter with the engine obviously. Prepare to need all forward space you can get in the engine bay to get it out properly. Get a new front seal for the transmission.

Best to do the engine work outside the vehicle - easier on the back! I’m not sure if that would be actual rust on the valve stems, could be oil varnish but you’d know more for sure being able to actually look at it physically. Be prepared for some head work!

Any EJ turbo block will slip in between those heads ;-) I don’t know how difficult it is to get things rego’d with an engine number change in NSW where I assume you’re located (haven’t checked). Shouldn’t be an issue if you can show proof of purchase for the engine. But if you’re a purist and the engine number match the vehicle from the factory then it’ll be worth doing up the engine (I don’t know how to do this other than looking at the owners manual where they fill out the vehicle’s details).

That’ll be a few dollar-bucks right there for the rebuild. Re-sleeving would be the go, you’d be able to reuse the old pistons if they’re still good. Don’t get hung up on the cast and forged stuff. If you’re staying OEM power keep it simple like it already is. And the 8.5:1 comp ratio is about right, not high by any means for a booster application, especially these days! The dish on the top of the piston is what drops the compression. AFAIK the combustion chamber in the heads are the same as the SOHC heads.

I guess the thing is to know what your end goal is and how you want to go about it. Keep the twins and OEM purity with factory management; or go all out with an aftermarket setup that will cost more but (hopefully) in the end be more efficient, powerful and possibly reliable? That’s your call.

Just keep swimming with it, take plenty of notes and photos along the way!

Also, Siamese exhaust ports have a place. Just look at the EZ that has them. And the yanks got them on many of their EJ22 models as well! It’s nuts how they have to look at what exhaust ports their EJ has for donor replacements! The EA81 is way better than the EA82 in my book, just saying. I do love the older stuff but also want more power and fuel economy. Plus if I go EJ in the brumby all of my Subarus on the road will be EJ so I’ll have the same oil filter etc across all of them 8)
Silverbullet wrote:
Sun Apr 27, 2025 8:34 pm
If you manage to copy that sound, let me know how you did it! My EJ with UEL headers from inside the car still sounds 90% the same as the twin carb EA81 to my ear :lol:
And what does it sound like from the outside? It’s all about the muffler. Get a good resonator mid way to stop droning then a sports muffler on the rear that will give good sound. Getting it right can be tricky. Also sound deadening your interior will kill the sound from in the cab. Steer clear of a cannon muffler unless you’re after the cringe factor.

The setup on the Gen3 RX is backyard UELs much like the empire unit but without the long single runners, stock cat, mid pipe and resonator that bolts to the STi Genome rear muffler (which is really a big fancy cannon muffler now I think about it). You can put your fist in the exhaust tip and still have room. Sounds good!

Something to aim for with the Brumby for sure! Mine will have factory UELs and a snail/hairdryer too. I should get stuck into that again…

Long one, sorry not sorry!

Cheers

Bennie
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Re: Stingrae's Legacy GT

Post by El_Freddo » Mon Apr 28, 2025 10:07 pm

Brisbane! Close enough but that’s an insult so I won’t say that…

And I’m pissed Subinats isn’t happening this year! It was my trifecta year too. Spewing.

I’m surprised they haven’t moved it interstate for one year. From memory that’s what they used to do - Sydney MSP then Phillip Island etc.

Cheers

Bennie
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Re: Stingrae's Legacy GT

Post by Stingrae » Tue Apr 29, 2025 8:07 pm

Subyroo, hello mate, nice to see some activity in Brisbane.

Silverbullet, I've got the PS1 and a few games sitting in a box, just can't part with it. Also, just want to clarify, I do like EJ swaps, but whenever I ask or look for information the response is often 'Weber it' or 'just EJ it', it misses the point.

Bennie, haven't been able to break it loose before, and now won't be able to (see below), it all needs work anyway, and now I can properly clean everything. Going to separate trans and deal with it later. Thanks for the info, I don't care about engine numbers (didn't even come with documents), just don't want to spend heaps for a formality, but, if the engine that I'm 'swapping down to' (In it's original configuration), is below the EJ20H's stock 250hp, I might be fine. Not looking to flog it, ideally it will be a fun daily with reasonable fuel economy.

I've been busy.
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Lots of messing around with rusty downpipes, but it's out. Of course, nothing went to plan, but by now that's 'all part of the plan'. But it was foiled at the final stage - it doesn't fit through the back gate. will fit without the trans though.

Found this earlier, probably just 50/50 split but still interesting.
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Ran the Vin through LegacyPic.Uk, and it came up as a GT-B and all info was correct but an asterisk stated that it doesn't always apply to JDM cars.

There's a lot of misinformation, but here's the for and against.

For:
Manual adjustment drivers seat (All regular GT had Power adjustment, GT-B didn't)
Nippon ABS (optional for GT, standard for GT-B)
Cassette + CD radio system (optional for GT, standard for GT-B)
Possibly lowered suspension, didn't clear the car trailer (GT-B had 'Subaru Sports Suspension')
No airbags (GT had drivers and optional passengers, GT-B had none. Because the sportier model needs less safety)
FH option code (Believe to be GT-B only)

Against:
No BBS wheels (Stock on GT-B)
Wood trim (Supposedly not available for GT-B)
Seller probably would of said so

If it is a GT-B, it will have a torsen rear diff, will be interesting to see.
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Re: Stingrae's Legacy GT

Post by El_Freddo » Tue Apr 29, 2025 11:13 pm

Whoa you move quick! And the trans came out too!

Now you can work the penetrene into the engine and hope to free it up. It has to happen at some point, can’t split the block without removing at least one bank worth of pistons… other option is the bin for the block… keep the oil pump and oil warmer/cooler unit.

That diff lock thing you found will probably be for towing if it’s not got a fuse in it. This is to de-couple the rear end to tow it with the front off the ground. Needs a battery fitted to do the vehicle.

If there’s a fuse fitted it’ll probably be some sort of auto DCCD type arrangement, I’ve not heard of that one before though, it doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist though!

Whatever block you put in there, try to match the dish volume that the current block has on top of its pistons. The power of the engine will come from the cams, turbos and Engine management - all of which you don’t seem to be changing. Small changes in the compression ratio going up won’t matter much as our fuels are better now than they were back then. Come to think of it, being JDM you might find it has either no dish or a really tiny one at most. They had awesome RON fuel compared to us, probably still do!

Phase 1 or Phase 2 blocks will do the job. The way to know the difference easily is the number of bolts on the bell housing. 4 bolt = phase 1, 8 bolt = phase 2. All bolt on pieces/accessories fit between the two. Also to note, two of the “bolts” are the lower studs ;)

Other way to go is to read the A/B code on the top of the block, there will be four letters in total, two on each case half. Either A or B.

This represents the factory tolerances of each cylinder. Find a Naturally Aspirated block with the same letter combination and you could swap the pistons in and go again.

You’ll find that there is no difference in the EJ20 bottom end to the non-STi boosted EJ20 blocks. Rods and cranks are the same. Oil pump is smaller on the NA and there’s no oil cooler/warmer above the oil filter, but these swap over anyway. Bin the NA water pump for the turbo one and off you go again.

Food for thought. It might help with sourcing a replacement block. Throw some new rings on the pistons and assemble.

Cheers

Bennie
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Re: Stingrae's Legacy GT

Post by Stingrae » Wed Apr 30, 2025 5:30 pm

Took a head off before trying to break it loose. Glad I did, not sure I would ever get this to move.
Image

Cleaned up a bit and the pistons might be salvageable, but it is probably cheaper to get a better block.

Have photos of the heads too, but they're downsized and don't want to work properly. Ill some them below but no guarantees.
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Cams look good, hydraulic lifters look good, valves are rusted beyond use. Most of the crap should come off and the head should be all right.

Edit: removed question about semi-closed ej207 from an STI, checked codes and it was, in fact, not semi-closed. Not worth the $1000 asking price.

Plan is to find a decent phase 2 open deck block and hopefully keep the pistons.
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Re: Stingrae's Legacy GT

Post by Stingrae » Thu May 01, 2025 5:25 pm

Took the other head off today.
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Tried scratching the rust out of cylinder 2
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The photos don't make it look good, but in person it looks like the walls are good and everything else is stuck to it. This block may have life in it yet.


Intake camshaft looks like this. Not pretty.
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Seeing as it's scrap otherwise, I'll have a crack at cleaning it up. Can't imagine that any 2nd hand block will have 160,000km.
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Re: Stingrae's Legacy GT

Post by El_Freddo » Thu May 01, 2025 11:19 pm

That rust is nuts! What did they do, drop the car in a river? I hope not!

I’ve not seen that amount of water in so many cylinders for a blown head gasket. I think there’s more to it than just a head gasket.

160,000km or not, that block will need a lot of work to get it going again. I reckon you’ll find the bores are shot after cleaning up the rust.

And I need to turn my RS head off and think Gen2 GT - you’ve got the ARX style pistons so any turbo block will swap in. And that rust on the valves should clean up ok so long as the valve stem and seat areas are not overly affected. You’ll only know after cleaning them up. A second hand set of heads could be a cheaper option at this point. Worth looking into anyway.

You might be seeing more on that camshaft than I am here. It looks like a groove to me. I wouldn’t worry about that, so long as it’s not grabbing or causing an oil leak I’d run long term.

Do those spark plugs have half of the coil pack’s snout on them still? Hopefully they don’t fight you to get them out.

Good thinking on removing the heads - something I didn’t think about as it wasn’t in front of me staring me in the face - such an obvious solution once the engine was out of the vehicle!

Keep up the good work!

Cheers

Bennie
"The lounge room is not a workshop..."
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Stingrae
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Location: Brisbane

Re: Stingrae's Legacy GT

Post by Stingrae » Fri May 02, 2025 7:01 pm

I agree, there must be something else to this. I suspect tap water, or maybe the other colour coolant was used. According to the previous owner, when the gasket went it was steaming out the exhaust for 20 minutes after he turned it off. Which, to me, sounds like a pretty serious leak, but all the cylinders look the same, and the gaskets have no obvious deformation. I have heard that the coolant lines in the turbos are cast and sealed, but I will check if it can leak into intake.

Will pull the sump off before trying to turn it over again. Given how bad it was I don't know if the crank is worth saving...
But I did strip an engine mount nut, so that will have to wait.

Seeing as I'm already here, and I have plenty of time to get this on the road (more to come below), I'll wait for a phase 2 block. I've seen a few with 'rod knock', or a 'spun bearing' (can you be any more vague), and may buy one, but it would be nice to set a good foundation with a decent block.

All snouts broke on the sparkplugs, don't know if I was supposed to do something specific, but they crumbled with little pressure.

Absolutely gutted to find out that, green p plates are 2 years, not 1. I will not be off my p plates until Aug 2027. Ruined my day finding that out :-x . It is considered a high powered vehicle, and it is modplated for an engine modification. I will not be attending Subinats 2026 in the Legacy, but I might be able to in the brumby, but it needs much work before that.
92 Brumby
94 Legacy GT

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El_Freddo
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Re: Stingrae's Legacy GT

Post by El_Freddo » Fri May 02, 2025 10:14 pm

Ah bummer about the P plate deal. No bueno. Good news is: good things come to those that wait. Well you know, the ones that are smart about it.

I see you made it to the RS Facebook group. You’ll get a lot of differing opinions on there! Looks like there are some block options popping up too in that thread.

I liked the advice to have the heads harden tested. It’s a simple on the spot test to see if the heads were overheated and as a result are now soft. You could reuse them but you’ll pop a head gasket well before it “should” let go…

Subinats 2025 is what I want! Hanging for 2026 now. Might have the RS going and the brumby EJ’d and Ruby Scoo in better condition than she is atm… then it’ll be either “which one” to take or “how do I get them all to Subinats?” That would be wicked to get all three there!

Anyway, I digress. You’ve got plenty to get on with. Block and heads will come in time with some scouting around. What other attention does the GTB need in the mean time?

One thing I want to do with my RS is pull the floor carpet out and hit it with a gerni, give it some shampoo love, gerni again, dry it out than throw it back in. Could be worth the effort with yours too.

Thanks for the regular updates shared so far! I know how projects go - heaps at the start then they generally taper off from there as bits need to be sorted.

Keep up the good effort, you’ll get there!

Cheers

Bennie
"The lounge room is not a workshop..."
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El Freddo's Pics - El_Freddo's youtube

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