KarlGTB

Its always been run on 10w40. Its a pretty noisy engine cold but still quietens up ok with a good run. Do you get much wear in the bores from the cold start piston slap?

I haven't noticed anything when giving it the jandal but maybe I'll try getting someone to follow me and watch. Damn really don't want to have to build another motor just yet. How long did yours last for like that? I am wondering whether my low rpm miss could be due to low compression on a cylinder which could be the culprit for the oil. If there was excessive blow by then I would have thought it would smoke all the time. If the valve stem seals are gone wouldn't you normally see it on over run or when you accelerate afterwards? I guess I should compression test it. If that's OK and the primary isn't stuffed, I'll just assume its leaking through the bore when the piston shrinks and just live with it. If part of a ring was broken would it not destroy the cylinder and be making bad noises?

Ever since building my new engine 60,000kms ago occasionally on start up it has blown a big cloud of thick oily blue smoke. It usually only happens when the car is parked on a lean passenger side low. I never really worried about it and always thought it was just the forgies. Anyway I have recently moved house and my new street has quite deep gutters. Now its happening every start up and its quite noticeable when it engulfs people walking on the street etc. I'm about to single turbo the car and want to get to the bottom of it beforehand. Its a bg5b with the ej20r rebuilt with JE's and ACL bearings, otherwise all genuine bits and stock twin turbo set up. I haven't had the intercooler off yet but there's oil around the primary turbo, bov and return hose. There's quite a bit on top of the head on that side as well, it almost looks like its been leaking out the bov. It happens cold or warm, sometimes after only 15 mins or so with the engine off. Once running it clears within 10-15 seconds but I usually get a bit more as I drive off. After that no smoke whatsoever, on load or over run as far as I can tell. I do have a slight low rpm miss but its fine on boost/load. At the moment I'm hoping its the primary turbo oil seal but also thinking stuffed piston ring or valve stem seals. Any thoughts?

Cheers, I hadn't noticed the BG one. They're almost identical except for the twin turbo crap. http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa208/Pilot_Reuben/Single%20Conversion/V3-4Awiring.jpg http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa208/Pilot_Reuben/Single%20Conversion/V3-4CBwiring.jpg http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa208/Pilot_Reuben/Single%20Conversion/conversion19.jpg I think the ignition should be sweet, if not I guess I'll know straight away. Not sure about the BCS but that will be easy enough it'll either work or it'll be stuck on wastegate pressure. Clutch and down pipe to buy then in to it, can't wait.

How different is the ej20r engine loom to that of the V3/4? I have a dead v3 sti engine and I'm swapping everything over to my good 20r, including wasted spark setup, bcs etc. The engine loom appears to plug straight in. Anyone know whether I will still need to do the wiring mods at the ecu end, or just plug it in and she'll be good to go?

I'm about to start the conversion using a complete V3 STI motor, swapping everything off it on to my ej20r. I plan to use the sti engine loom including manifold top coil pack, do you think I will still need to re-pin at the ecu? It looks like it will all plug straight in.

I just drive mine from the get go. My uneducated opinion would be the less time my forgies are slapping my cylinders at idle the better. But then more rpm = more slaps so who knows. I usually wait a few minutes after water temp is up before I give it the jandal though.

Sounds very similar to when my ej20r bearings went. Could barely hear it at idle, not at all if u were sitting in the car, but at 2-3000 revs u could hear a decent clacking sound. Bearings were smashed to bits. My JEs are pretty noisey, done 60,000 on them now. Hell of a clacking sound at cold idle, much louder than the busted bearings were, but quiet as above 2000-2500rpm. It can take up to 20mins of solid driving to get them quiet at idle. Dont think I would do forgies again in a daily driver. But yea i'd be checking the oil for metal or getting someone to check it out just incase its not slap.

Well I tried the vice grip method and what a disaster. I got the vice grips on as tight as I could but under force trying to loosen the top hat nut the vice grips started slipping and the teeth on them cut straight through the rags and destroyed the chrome on the shaft. Hopefully I will be buying a rebuilt set so I dont want to make this mistake again trying to swap the springs on to a good set. The nut is pretty damn tight, I guess you put some sort of extension on an allen key but it doesnt look like the short end will actually reach in there. It seems these things weren't really designed for the amateur to pull apart haha.

I have a similar low rpm pre boost pinking issue in my bg gtb. 2 auto sparkies and a run on the select monitor at subaru and still no joy, so I am keen to try re-gapping my plugs. It has nkg platinums in it, would gapping them to .8 possibly work for me? (sorry to hijack)

Na they're not the showa's, anyway heres a couple of pics.

I dont think the STIs are mono tube, they're both bilsteins. I'll take a photo of them when I get a chance surely someones come across them before. They look the same as the yellow BG5 billies but they're pink with STI and Bilstein printed on them and came with pink springs. Had a go with the spring compressors on the old ones but whats the trick to undoing the top hat nut? Looks like you need to get a allen key through a socket somehow?

Both are sticking/seizing but whats the difference between them? I'm not sure what car the STI ones originally came from as they'd already been in a BG5 when I got them. They're alot stiffer than the originals but that might be because they're more stuffed. I had thought they were the same only with a different spring. The STIs are still in the car at the moment but I can see already the top hat nuts on them are bigger than on the old yellows. Are the STI's a better shock or should I get the springs off both and try to determine which are the least poked?

+1

Just pulled this thing out to get to a split power steering hose and discovered the bottom lines are broken/not attached. So i want to get rid of it, but what to do with the lines? Car is a bg5b/ej20r. Having done a quick search it appears one of the top lines is a vacuum hose and the other (with the one way valve) is a fuel tank vent. Can i just plumb these together, keeping the one way valve? I take it the bottom line just vents to the atmosphere under the car and can stay unattached?

+1 My rear demisting stopped working too at the same time as the mirrors

We sell it at the aero club in rongotai, $2.70/litre, just need a suitable fuel container or jerry can.

haha yep, im a flying instructor at wellington aero club

Yea the fronts of the original bilsteins in my bg5 did this and now all 4 of the pink sti struts I put in only a couple of months back have pretty much seized. I'm gonna give this a go in the weekend, will let u know how it goes.

Thats oil, not sure if its from a recent spillage or leaky rocker cover. Theres this sensor right down the bottom of the down pipe or... looks like wires going into the downpipe about half way down but cant really see it with the intercooler still on I think it probably should really go on a select monitor rather than me attempting trail and error, but i've wasted my money twice with muppets that come back to me with "well theres no codes". Anyone can check the codes, but who in wellington can actually check that the sensors are performing properly for a resonable cost?

What is this sensor? Car is 96 gtb. I unplugged it thinking it was one of the O2 sensors to see if my low rpm pinking/crap performance problem would go away in limp mode. However no CEL or any difference in peformance warm or cold.

Both my dads 94 GT and my 96 GTB do this. I might be wrong but I think what you are describing is a normal characteristic of the mighty twin turbo. If you change gear at too lower rpm on secondary and end up somewhere in the range of 3-4000rpm with full throttle it will happen every time. You'll eventually get boost or it'll change back to just primary but it can take a couple of seconds to make its mind up. The different engine note is just because its still in secondary mode, only at a lower rpm so it seems strange. Happens exactly the same in both cars, I'd be stoked if theres a fix but i always thought it was just another face of VOD. It probably wont help you, but you can get it to cycle all the twin turbo system actuators with the diagnostic plugs under the dash (both the black and the green i think), you should be able to hear the difference in engine note between primary and both.

Ok i'll have a go with the carb clean . I have had the cat converter light come on a few times in the past when the car has been loaded up on long trips, i wonder if i should get that removed.

Thermostat was done at the rebuild 20,000km ago, plugs and coils done approx 10,000 ago, fuel filter was done about a month ago along with a new fuel pump. Ive had what I think is the idle control sensor off, but it looked pretty clean. Getting the throttle position sensor off looks a bit more tricky though. Would a go with some of this magical subaru upper engine cleaner be worth a try? Oh and no I havent had exhaust nuts retightened.

I'm trying to diagnose a problem with my legacy that I've had for some time, and before I throw more money into the bottomless pit I'm wondering if someone might have experienced this or could help me out. Car is a 1996 GTB with the EJ20R, which has been rebuilt with JE's and is still running the factory twin turbo setup. Only mods on it are straight through muffler. Problem begins at start up. On a cold start it will rev to about 2000rpm for a couple of seconds then drop back to idle hunting between 600-1000rpm. Once driving (still with cold engine) it will struggle unless I keep the revs at or above 2000-2300, below that it feels like i'm lugging it, and changing gear sometimes it will stall. I can hear what sort of sounds like a sucking noise (but it could possibly be a rattling noise) until i reach that 2000-2300rpm point where the primary starts spooling up and then it goes away. I normally only drive it with partial throttle while its cold, but wide open throttle makes the effects worse. Once warm its low rpm performance is a bit better, it wont stall, but the noise doesnt go away. I can also hear a slight whistling noise on primary boost but its not near as audible. Idle will still hunt but not to the same extent. I recently had all the up/down/crossover exhaust gaskets done at great expence so wouldnt expect it the noise to be coming from the exhaust side of things. Also no current CEL codes, but did have a 31 Throttle Position Sensor a few months back but cleared it and it never came back.