Is this a better title irish44j? 
I am hoping, one day, that I might actually be able to bring this to a GRM Challenge, so I decided to start a new thread documenting the build.
Purchase Price - $500 CAD - $393.98 USD
Is this a better title irish44j?
I am hoping, one day, that I might actually be able to bring this to a GRM Challenge, so I decided to start a new thread documenting the build.
Purchase Price - $500 CAD - $393.98 USD
The first plan is to get it set-up for TSD rallies and rally-X. Eventually I hope to cage it and run Rally Sprints.
The background:
- It has a blown motor. PO mentioned that the timing belt skipped due to seized water pump.
- It has 231k KM's (143k miles) on it.
- PO wanted the nice OZ wheels back 
.
- Shell is in great shape for up here in salt land, with minor rust and obvious signs of undercoating on it .
- The car sat at a local Subaru dealer untouched for almost 1 1/2 years. But when we towed it home nothing was seized up.
- After I bought it, a friend flat-towed it home for me, old-school style. Chain with me in the car steering and using the brakes! We did have a set of towing lights on it. It was still below freezing up here, so I was steering with one hand and wiping the windshield with a rag with the other. (Probably not the best method, but the car had to be moved quickly, as the dealership had threatened to put a lien on it for storage.).
- The previous diagnostic work meant that some work had already been done. Rad is out, timing belt and covers off, etc. So yeah this is coming out:
Got it into my "work" area of the garage using a combination of floor jack, kids and neighbour. Borrowed a friends engine hoist and here is where we are as of today:
Note the ugly winters on steel wheels currently keeping it off the ground. New puppy in the house is reducing work time .
Endless searching of Kijiji and other sites looking for an engine with a bad bottom end and good heads, or a set of heads. Tried rotating the cams just a few degrees. Both cams on passenger side and exhaust cam on driver's side move freely. Intake cam on driver's side - not so much.
Current outlay - still $393.98 USD.
Finally got a little work time in the garage. Wife is working a lot of nights and the new puppy can't be trusted in house without supervision.
Getting everything disconnected. Demerit points for Subaru for location of the back bolt holding on the AC compressor. But its off now. Fuel lines and electrical connectors disconnected.
Working on a deal for a potential engine donor. Fingers crossed!
Tomorrow we ride!!!
Heading out to pick up a parts car tomorrow morning. Wish me luck!
nice....yeah, that title's a bit better 
Sweet find for a great price.
You can tell you live in Ontario from the condition of the pulleys and underhood fasteners, but yeah - that body is really nice. Makes me grateful for the relatively low humidity that's paired with our ridiculous AB salt.
In reply to NGTD:
Did you open that engine?
Yes, it's an interference engine, but 9 times out of 10 it's just a bent valve.
Subie owners automatically think "blown engine" when the timing belt breaks, but that is rarely the case. A valve or 2 is often all it needs.
Nice find! 
In reply to SVreX:
No, I haven't opened it up yet. Still going to!
But today I hit the easy button - I went a haulin'!
Thanks to a friend lending me his rig and my wife's okay (I won't say understanding - she thinks I am nuts!) I now own my 5th Subaru. Unlike the others that have lived on in the hands of other people, this one is destined to have it's heart ripped out, it's carcass pillaged for anything useful and its skeleton hauled to the boneyard. That's right it's an Engine Donor (and soon to be part out). The PO was informed that it has terminal rear subframe and strut tower rot and the car could not be certified.
So I ventured to the wilds of downtown Toronto and the chaos that was the roads around the Toronto Marathon, loaded it while sitting on a side street with the hazards on and the Parking Enforcement officers lurking and headed north!
Bonus points for low mileage engine that replaced the original 40k kms ago (shell has over 300k), with timing belt and new clutch. The car also has a new battery and alternator! It also has a set of alloys with pretty good tires that can go on my project car.
So Subaru #4 will live - once I get some wrenching time (wife's current schedule and the new puppy are killing the garage time).
Drum roll please - purchase price? $500 CAD - $410.10 (obviously the CAD has improved against the greenback!), but I am pretty sure that I can recoup this by selling parts. But for now running total - $804.08
The only sub 1K cars I find around here are Cavaliers/Sunfires and the like with blown engines. And you have found two for under that, total. I r Jealous.
I have had great luck, but I also have learned to strike quick. Here is a list of the 5 Subaru's I have owned with details and price paid:
1- 97 Outback $500 - high mileage local dealer dumped it on Kijiji at 3 pm. I bought it at 4:55. Sold to buy #2.
2- 02 WRX $750 - unbelievable deal from a friend. It was his winter car and I sold it when I realized the rust bug was bad.
3- 07 Impreza 2.5i wagon $900 - bought with a blown motor as a swap for the 02 drivetrain. Realized that swapping it was going to be more than I bargained for (NA to Turbo). Picked up a used motor and swapped it. Sold it and made $1900 in profit.
4- 05 WRX Wagon - This thread's subject. I was also chasing it as a home for my 02's drivetrain, but owner wanted too much. It took me 17 months of talking to the guy off and on before I got it for what I was willing to pay. Finally the dealership where it was sitting with the busted engine told him that they were going to lien it for storage costs and he took my offer.
5- 02 Engine Donor - Local Subaru Forum - found a thread where the guy was looking for help about the problems with getting a safety certificate on the car. Jumped in and made him an offer via PM. He thought it over for a week and then told me to come get it.
Poor rusty WRX, but another good find. At least its parts will live on.
Too bad you're so far away, I would love to snag a PSM bugeye wagon drivers' side fender off you.
Speaking of rusty Subaru's, this is what the underside of that donor looks like back by the subframe mount:
Yea so failing that inspection was not a mistake!!!
Worked all afternoon on Saturday trying to get the downpipe off the car. 221k kms and 10 years - it's not coming off without a fight!!!
All of the bolts and nuts off the turbo. Two bolts on the flange in front of the 2nd cat. Had to attack with the grinder. One is off. The 2nd one still won't budge. It's drill time.
I don't own a torch or a welder, other than a propane one. I might as well try to heat it with the wife's hair dryer!
My dad told me a long time ago, NEVER work on exhaust systems. That is why muffler shops exist. Some days I ought to listen . . . . . .
Well, I finally am free of my wife's awful schedule. She was done on Thursday. It rained all day on Sunday, so I got a few hours of wrenching in.
I swapped a set of WRX front brakes for a set of Legacy brakes. They will fit under 15"rims for rally tires, the WRX brakes will not.
I also freed the clutch fork, as well, as worked on the downpipe. Still can't get the one bolt to come loose, even after grinding the head completely off!
Still at $804.08 USD so far.
Keep it up! Should be a good beast for the challenge.
Well I finally won the battle with the one exhaust stud that would not let go. So the following items got done tonight:
Cherry picker goes into place tomorrow night, pitch mount gets removed, transmission jack will get positioned and then the non-running lump should be out.
After that the 05 will go back out in the driveway and the rusty 02 will get rolled into the garage to get gutted!
Finally some progress!
Hoping that the parts I can sell off the 02 will zero it out, but more importantly free up some cash. I am hoping to pick-up a downpipe and a Cobb AP with the proceeds.
Well I am getting closer:
Unfortunately got a late start tonight and got frustrated. Subaru doesn't put a lifting lug on the RR side of the engine.
Anybody have any ideas. Quick google search says bolt the TMIC bracket back on and use it.
Finally!
The next part of the swap - change positions - 05 to the driveway (had to put the bumper cover and grille back in to keep the neighbours off my back - I should move to the country!) and the 02 to the garage!
Part-out of the 02 is slowing progress. Almost ready to pull motor.
Sold
- LF Door - $100
- Hatch and Rear Seat - $200
Budget $804.08 - $246.06 = $558.02
NGTD wrote: Demerit points for Subaru for location of the back bolt holding on the AC compressor.
Unbolt the intake manifold so you can access the compressor bolts more easily. (It also gives you easy places to attach a lifting chain)
Internet says you can remove the battery and move the A/C compressor over there on its hoses. Knurled says if you do that, you're likely to gink one of the fittings at the compressor and cause it to leak when you try to use the A/C so just disconnect the lines.
Of course, I do have access to A/C equipment, which makes that decision easier.
So I decided to pull the inspection cover on my running engine to take a look. This is supposed to be a timing belt that was changed less than 40k kms ago.
I don't think it was done right!!!
Guessing that I have a bad tensioner or oil pump. Damn!
One more job to do once I have it on the engine stand. Got to hurry up and yank this thing out. Been too busy on the part-out. Time to re-focus.
I have seen a belt that looked like that, a chunk of plastic came off of the crank sensor and was bouncing around on it.
If that is a manual trans engine, it appears to be missing the guards. Automatics didn't have it, but manual trans engines had little fences to keep the belt on the pulleys on the DOHC models. Probably because there is a highly uneven loading on the cam pulleys, and automatics have the mother of all harmonic dampers bolted to the flexplate while manuals don't.
In reply to Knurled:
Yes, it is a 5mt engine. I can probably pull the guards off my other engine.
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