GeneralDisorder

They don't ever go out of round that I have seen - not enough to worry about. I have seen as many as 470k on a block and it still had the cross-hatching visible - threw a rod bearing because the main line was so hour-glassed that there wasn't enough oil pressure to the rods. They do eventually get tapered a little bit but not so much that it seems to affect the ability of the new rings to seal or their longevity. The unfortunate reality is that the block is a limited life-span part. They can only be line-honed one time because of the way that process works, oil pump fitment, and moving the crank center-line with respect to the cylinder deck..... and typically the engines don't make it past 300-350k without a bottom end failure due to the hour-glassing effect and the consequences to the rod bearing oil pressure. The more power the engine makes in stock form or in modified form, the less time this process takes - it is the primary reason that engines making 500+ crank HP are usually limited to 30-40k miles of lifespan. Maybe less depending on how much track use they get. Regardless, the only way to know is to measure it is with a (very) accurate bore gauge and mic set, and if it's found to be outside of acceptable tolerances (I have yet to see this on an engine with "normal" wear - excepting things like valve or piston catastrophic failure and the obvious consequences) , then the only solution would be to bore it to the next oversize and accept the unfortunate consequences of having to put a diamond finished plateau hone on it and dealing with the additional break in materials in the oil. It does take a machine shop with a bore plate and a very good understanding of the proper cylinder wall finish to get it "just right" - that is aggressive enough to run in and properly seat, but also fine enough to not overheat and damage the ring tension. In any case no useful work can be performed with a dingle-ball hone. It will not correct out of round or taper conditions because it is not a rigid machine hone, and the surface finish isn't a problem unless one or both of those conditions is also present. And if that's the case.... boring oversized, line honing, decking, cleaning, etc is approaching the cost of new case halves from Subaru. Which are less than $900 wholesale. So if it's all jacked up and needs all that work - you just get a nice shiny new one and don't worry about potential machine shop mistakes, and turn-around times. Not to mention drop-off and pick-up, fuel costs, etc. AND, if you are even considering a new set of case halves.... that makes no good sense either for an N/A engine (we buy them for custom turbo short block builds only), because Subaru of America sells reman short blocks complete with pumps, pan/pickup, and all block plugs, seperator plate, main seals, etc - ready for heads. These are about $2300 and come with a 3 year / 36k warranty when installed professionally. They are BY FAR the best deal going when you consider the warranty, and our success rate using them has been 100%. The cost for these is far lower than I could do one in-house for when you consider all the included parts. As such we virtually never build N/A engines unless we are doing custom high compression. etc. GD

Excellent. Good job.

Probably federal vs California emissions. Just swap the intake manifolds. GD

The rings are lapped perfectly cylindrical and smooth in a tool steel tube at the time of manufacture. They virtually do not require any seating. What little "break in" takes place is kept to an absolute minimum by ensuring the rings are smooth and the walls have a finished plateau surface devoid of any raised wear points. The top ring is a steel nitrided ring and virtually requires no "seating". Secondary compression/oil control is cast iron and these will seat easily with no honing at all. Indeed the Subaru rings are so thin that honing the cylinder is likely to overheat the rings and cause them to lose their spring tension resulting in WORSE compression. Also the wear materials and impregnated honing grit will tear up your bearings and shorten engine life as they mix with the oil and end up through the whole engine. Show me a mirror finish in a used Subaru bore and I'll show you a block that needs to be bored oversized due to excessive wear. There are NO cases where a flex hone is a suitable answer. If the bores have so much wear that all the cross hatching (which are the valley's of the plateau finish) is gone, the bore is SHOT and no amount of honing will bring it back. It would require a rebore to the next piston oversize, and the last step in that process is a proper diamond finish plateau hone. I can produce references from the 80's that were already stating not to hone cylinders on a rebuild unless absolutely necessary if you want to achieve quickest seating and highest ultimate compression. Piston ring manufacturing, and engine manufacturing tolerances eliminated the need for honing on rebuilds back in the 1980's. Things have only got better since then. The reality is - if the bore isn't good enough to run - you need to bore it out to the next piston size. And more important than the cylinders BY FAR, is the line hone. After 100k the line hone takes on all the shape and appeal of an elderly bag lady. With the #2/3/4 main's having sometimes three times the allowable oil clearance. And the best reason of all - I build Subaru engines FOR A LIVING. I do this every day and we build everything from stock to engines making well over 600 crank horsepower. I haven't honed a cylinder wall in 15 years and not a single engine uses oil or has failed to properly seat the rings. And they seat FAST. It has been (wisely) said that on the first revolution of the engine the rings are wearing in - on the second they are wearing out. I will typically do a 100 mile break-in and then we go full-throttle. My engines always exhibit perfect, uniform compression, and the oil changes show no wear materials. The first oil change at 500 miles ALWAYS shows ZERO oil consumption. Oh yeah - and it isn't opinion. It's FACT. Once you have done this as many times as I have - it's not an opinion anymore. I speak from VAST experience. GD

There is no merit to doing this and ESPECIALLY not with a flex-hone. If you are going to do it, it needs done on a power hone machine with diamond hones and it needs to be a two-step plateau hone with an extremely fine finish. DO NOT TOUCH the cylinder walls. Got that? Your fears of ring seating issues are unfounded and based on 1970's era ring and cylinder technology. Which these engines are NOT. What is this "glaze" you speak of? What is it composed of and how did it get there? And what are you attempting to accomplish with roughing up the cylinder walls at random with gravel glued to wire spun up in a drill perfectly suited for mixing drywall mud? GD

If it makes it another 105k with a Chinese cogged..... maybe. I know *Dealers* that will replace the belt and the cogged idler only. Because ultimately the primary failure in the system is the cogged idler - the belt is only replaced because the service manual says it's due every 105k. The reality is that the cogged is THE most important item to replace when doing this job. I would pull it back out. GD

It's not cast - it's plastic. Just looks cast. It's junk. I've seen many running around with tunes and that's (of course) how Subaru sold and installed them at the dealer. Tuning might help, but is not strictly required. GD

Eh - the toothed sprocket is the most common failure item - more so than the water pump or the belt. That is the very last part I would consider replacing with Chinese. The parts graveyard in my lobby has several with seized bearings and some with no bearings left in them. And I've thrown dozens away that were similar. GD

Except for the SPT one. Which was designed to be a bolt-on sold through the dealer parts department. But it's not a performance upgrade for the same reason. GD

Learning to drive a manual is an important life skill. Point out to him that LOTS of females can drive a manual. He needs to learn anyway. Best way to learn is to have to do it or not be able to get where you need to go. GD

2011 or 2012 Legacy Outback with a 2.5 (non turbo ONLY) and manual transmission. Those years are after they fixed the HG issue, but before they went to the FB engine with the ring tension problems. Avoid the CVT transmissions so that pretty much means going with the 5 speed. The tire size thing affects ALL all-wheel-drive cars and trucks. It's not specific to Subaru. It does nothing good for any of them. Don't even consider any other models. Everything from 96 to 2010 has one form or another of HG problems. You don't even want to deal with that. And the CVT's came out in about 2010 and those earlier years are having to be replaced frequently now around 100k give or take. GD

True for GC's and GD's. Not true for GR's. The GR stock MAF housing tops out around 300 wheel. That's why all the intakes sold for GR's require tuning to rescale the MAF. They are by default "big MAF" intakes or they really wouldn't do any good. GD

We actually use a 150 grit cloth backed media. https://www.amazon.com/INDUSTRIES-4245-Emery-9-Inch-11-Inch/dp/B000BPNMZ4/ref=sr_1_cc_6?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1541177698&sr=1-6-catcorr&keywords=ali+150+grit We make two passes - the media sheers down to a finer grit so on the second pass it's much finer than 150 grit anyway. GD

Interesting - but yeah the twin scroll just makes the turbo spool faster - the compressor wheel is still limited being it's a TD04. It's not going to make anywhere close to 300 wheel. Those engines were designed to have turbo power, but be *smooth* in there application of power. Thus the twin scroll and tiny turbo - the idea was to make them feel like a luxury car with a bigger engine - it's not a sports car engine and doesn't have the camshaft profile or the turbo for big power. That said, yes it will definitely be mid-200's with the right intake, exhaust and tuning. If that's the power you want, you will be happy. It won't be "fast" by today's STi standards but it will be fun. GD

We generally go with 7 ft/lbs (10 nm) and blue loctite on the oil pump, water pump, etc. They have a tendency to strip being in old aluminum. We heli-coil them all the time due to previous over-tightening. GD

I will file the area with a small diamond points file and then use some emery cloth and scotch brite. Honestly scratches aren't that big of a deal as long as you ensure no rough burrs or raised edges that will damage the seal. GD

It's kindof a learned skill.... but yeah you will have to grab just the edge of the seal without touching the cam. Turn the screwdriver sideways obviously. GD

Try just using a large flat-head screwdriver, or you can drill tiny holes in the seal, thread in some small screws, and use pliers to work them out. The lisle tool is great for some applications but honestly those applications usually aren't Subaru's. Much like the rear main - shouldn't have touched them. The Viton is pretty much a lifetime seal on a well-maintained engine. Only time I've seen them fail is due to excessive carbon and sludge in the oil - leading to scoring of the shaft and abrasion of the seal lip. GD

I would put the bolt in a vice, and use the cut-off-wheel. Slot the threads 180 degrees apart all the way up the threaded section. Width of the cut-off-wheel, 3/16 depth or as close as you can. Try to keep the edges nice and tight and sharp. Yeah the gasket should be fine. It probably needs more torque than it got with the creaking bolt anyway. GD

Almost certainly going to need a trans. Once they start doing stuff like that and the fluid looks like death - no amount of flushing them will bring it back. GD

300 is no big deal. It's basically stage "2" on an STi. 400 is getting up there a bit and can be squirrelly if you aren't accustomed. About 500 is where things get a bit scary - especially if it's setup right and spools at a decent RPM. Beyond 500 you really can't use it on the street anyway so it's honestly not that much different. Also you break things.... a lot. I just read through that.... a 2.0 with a TD04 twin scroll?? I have never heard of a TD04 with a twin scroll. It wouldn't need to be a twin scroll with a TD04 as those tiny turbo's spool very quickly. Almost to the point that there's very little perceptible turbo lag. You have pictures or a web listing for this engine you got? Because if it's a TD04 I'm betting it's NOT a twin scroll, and even if it was.... that's not going to make anywhere close to 300 WHP. It's going to be more like 260 turned up to the max with that little baby turbo. IMO.... Sounds like this guy has no clue what he's doing. What is he using for management? GD

Any of the dealers in Portland..... our account is through Lithia Subaru in Oregon City. Subaru of America MSRP is 49.95 retail. parts.subaru.com Gresham Subaru is good. Carr Subaru in Beaverton has largest inventory and lowest wholesale pricing for high dollar customers. I have been offered 33% off retail to do my business with them but the distance is too far and I get 28% with Lithia. Having that relationship 1 mile from my shop makes it much easier to run down between deliveries if we need something quick (pretty much a daily). If you haven't run it - just take it back off and chase the threads - retorque it with Amsoil assembly lube. If you can't find anyone up there that has it I carry the assembly lube here at my shop in Milwaukie. It's like $6. GD

That's an EA71 pump. Won't fit. Those seem to be more common. Unlike the 71, Melling didn't make a pump for the 81 that I've seen.

Subaru gaskets are $49.95 retail. About $37 wholesale. Follow the guidelines above. Engine oil will not work for Subaru head bolts - regardless of what the "manual" says about it. GD

There's so many hose joints on that rig - almost no way that could seal. Cute though. I speak from some experience being a former Compressor/pump technician. That would be a nightmare to try to seal perfectly. Doubt you have a HG leak with that many other potential (more likely) leak points. Sounds like you did it right this time. Run it. Should be fine. Heads look good. We don't do any such testing we just send it.... knowing our process is setup for success. GD