Picked up a CHEAP '85 Subaru turbo engine with mildly blown head gaskets that I can put in my DD '85 wagon. I have everything needed to do the swap, and I'm wondering what I should go in and do while I have it apart to do the head gaskets. I've owned a few turbo cars before (Saab, Audi) but never really modded one. These EA82's in particular are known for poorly flowing heads that are prone to cracking. I have a rare set of 360cc plug-n-play injectors for the engine, other aftermarket is limited to copper head gaskets, cams, and intercooler set-ups. Aftermarket turbo uppipes are unobtainium, and ARP heads studs run about $700 a set due to the bizarre threading. Subaru guys basically say that you're wasting your time if you don't o-ring the block, run studs, dramatically port the heads and run cams, get a better uppipe, run cylinder temp monitoring, etc...which seems a bit excessive to me.
Everyone talks about EGT and A/F and all this stuff. I get the basic principles of trying to keep from running lean and the utility of a wideband O2 setup but I am trying to gain a deeper understanding of what I need to do to keep the thing from blowing up. Basically I want to build a reliable ~170HP turbo engine suitable for a DD without breaking the bank. I have lucked into most of the parts I already have (complete turbo engine, spare turbo, spare turbo heads, 2 turbo harnesses multiple N/A engines and a ton of other misc parts) so I'm doing pretty good on the budget so far. What should I do while I already have the heads apart and off the block, and what should I be looking at as far as monitoring equipment?
