[Mailman]

Success! I did a successful test start today. I started off by priming the engine. It initially didn't want to prime, but I followed a suggestion from Flatiron's Tech Talks to remove the oil filter, then crank until oil came out of the oil cooler. Then I reattached the oil filter and it successfully primed. After priming, I hooked up a Tactrix cable and changed the injector latency and flow values to match the tables for 07 STI 565cc injectors, which this engine is now using, and deleted the TGV codes. It fired right up on the first try!

 

[bue car]

Love it!

 

[Stew3223]

Congrats on the first fire! That's a big milestone.

 

[Mailman]

I wired up the radiator fans using iWire's recommendation to splice the RS fan plugs on to the GD radiator. I used a Koyorad 02-5 WRX OEM replacement radiator with Four Season's WRX fans off Rockauto. It also has an OEM coolant overflow bottle and pipe. It was a tight squeeze. I had to cut some of the radiator fan support off to get it to clear the headers and oil cooler coolant pipe, but it's in there now. With some trimming on the radiator hoses everything lines up nicely. Now that everything looks so fresh, I couldn't put my yellowed windshield wiper fluid bottle back in there I found a less weathered one off a junkyard 96 L. After some scrubbing and a bleach bath, it looks good as new. The engine bay is now put together and I took it for a short test drive. It moves! I'm working with an e-tuner Shinji Tuned who provided a basemap for break-in. After inspecting the map, it has very conservative timing, injector, and fueling tables, and the WGDC has been zeroed out. Despite that, the car still feels fairly quick. There's an issue with the idle which is causing it to pulse RPMs. I suspect the IACV needs a cleaning and new gasket, something I overlooked when rebuilding the engine.

And finally, here's a short clip of me driving off. That Cobb TBE is loud as a MF but it sounds soooo nice:

 

[bue car]

Sexy beast


.. the car

 

[b2finity]

so clean, so clean. I hope one day mine is as clean as yours!

 

[Stew3223]

The car sounds and looks amazing! Awesome progress man, how exciting.

 

[mike-tracy]

Sounds really good

 

[Mailman]

Inconsistent idle has been fixed. I originally tried cleaning the IACV, but that didn't help much. The IACV internals seemed to be seized up, so I just ponied up for a new OEM unit. Another $280 into the money pit and now it's idling smoothing around 800 RPM. I took it for a longer drive today and things went much better. The only issue I have right now is some lurching in 1st gear when revving above 2500 RPM. I'm thinking it could be the lightweight flywheel or maybe a boost leak. Ideas?

 

[bue car]

Granted I don't drive it much and rock my '93 cable daily, however, my '17 BRZ lurches in 1st a bit too, rather annoying yet I don't stay in first much so there's that...

 

[Mailman]

Last weekend we went up to Boxerfest. The event setup was roughly the same this year as last, but there were quite a few more cars in the show. After Boxerfest, we went to the GC8 meet and saw a great collection of fellow cars. Here's some pics that my wife snapped:

 

[bue car]

Mmm so much sexy

 

[Razor7]

Nice! That's a great looking swap.

-TC

 

[Mailman]

I'm still working with my etuner to get the tune dialed in. I'm still dealing with some stumbling when accelerating in 1st gear, and some throttle fluctuations when cruising around 2500-3000rpm, especially while driving downhill. I reverted from the lightweight flywheel back to OEM. I also replaced the throttle position sensor and re-adjusted the throttle cable to spec. All that smoothed things out slightly, but the issue persists. Not sure if its clutch related or fueling related (FPR?). It feels like the engine drops power just for a split second, kind of like taking the foot off the gas as puting it back on quickly. I've also had issues doing 3rd gear WOT pulls where the engine shudders for a second or two before catching its self then accelerating normally. Here's a video where you can hear the engine cut back in around 3400RPM. I pinged my etuner for his thoughts, but I'm curious if anyone else has any ideas.

 

[bue car]

I'm leaning toward the fuel map, see what the tuner replies with.

Put the LW back on haha

 

[scampbell2x]

Fantastic thread! Just read the whole thing, thank you so much for sharing!

 

[Mailman]

I know everyone thinks de-badged is cool, but how about re-badged? 😁

 

[b2finity]

Looks oem ish!
Personally I prefer it without the Subaru letters.

 

[Mailman]

I go back and forth on badging preference. I ran de-badged for three years after the paint job.

 

[Pitcherman]

I go back and forth on badging preference. I ran de-badged for three years after the paint job.

The badge looks great.

I know the feeling on going back and forth on badges too. Some days I want to do a full GT300 Cusco livery on my 04 and some days I want all the badges gone.