sublute

Hello, I was following the Haynes instructions to let the pressure off the fuel lines. They say to run the car until it stops with the fuel pump electrical connector pulled. I have never done this in the past on my Loyale, but decided to do it this time... I now realize this is just a step that can be skipped... I am getting plenty of pressure from the fuel pump. I did use assembly lube on the camshafts, so I probably could have skipped the turning it over to bring the oil pressure up. It must have really dumped a bunch of fuel into the cyl's Earlier today I took #1 spark plug out and connected it to the #1 wire and laid it on top of the intake manifold. I got a spark, but it seemed orangish and not a really great one. It was hard to see through the windshield and it was a little sunny today.. It's supposed to be blue, right? Is this because of the fouling? These are new NGK platinum plugs. I just took out 3 of the four plugs, used compressed air on them, unhooked the gas in line, cranked the engine a bit, put the plugs back in and cranked a bit to clear gas. I then hooked the low voltage lead to the coil back up and got a little sputter hear and there. After a while I thought I should hook the fuel line back up again and try. No go and the battery is drained. It's on a charger right now... I do have the spark plugs that I took out before putting in the new NGK OEM platinum ones. They are the exactly the same. Maybe I should try the old ones??? Could I have ruined the new plugs with gas? or will they dry out after a while and be usable again? I don't know anything about gas fouled plugs. I'll see what I can find...

Yes, the plugs were really wet!!! I pulled 3 of 4 and cranked the engine with the fuel line plugged to clear the cylinders??? I blew out the plugs with compressed air and just came to the computer to get the torque spec for the plugs... I hope this works... I'll let you know.

Ok, I got really paranoid that I got the timing belt on wrong and took off the camshaft covers and rotated the engine several times until the marks on the belt aligned. It seems like all is right... I've been going over it in my head and reviewing the photo's I took before I took the belt off. The reluctor was aligned to the mark on the sensor and the camshafts geared pulleys were aligned properly and I didn't move it during the rest of the work. Do you think I fouled it with gas when I was turning the engine over to get oil pressure up and curculate it? I did take a while for the oil pressure light to go off ???1 min of cranking???? I did try to really floor it for a while when cranking. Maybe I'll do as you suggest and take the plugs out and dry it out and retry starting.... Pulling the plugs are such a PITA on this car.... Thanks again for everybody's help during this whole process.

OK, I pulled the spark plug for cylinder#1 and there was fuel on it... Does this point toward timing??? I was cleaning around the throttle bore and the throttle plate with gum-out when the intake manifold was off. Could this have damaged or clogged any component? TPS or Idle air control selenoid? What next?

OK, so I have to figure out if fuel is getting to the injectors and into the cylinders??? I'll check the injector wiring... Sorry, my 3 year old daughter wanted me to put this in, but like the general trend of the day, it is not dancing right now....

No, I don't have a noid, but I'm starting to feel like one because the car won't start....

OK, I disconnected the fuel line and put a container there... getting plenty of fuel. I pulled #1 plug wire and stuck an old plug in there and I'm getting spark... What could be the problem? I'm scratching my head and cursing...

Fuel pump question???? In your (collective) experience, when relieving pressure in the fuel lines before disconnecting the lines from the engine, how long does the engine run with the remaining fuel? When I disconnected the fuel pump at the beginning of this process, the car would immediatly not start. I'm wondering if the fuel pump is/was marginal. I'm about to go back to it to find out why it doesn't start. Electircal or fuel, right? It turns over, but doesn't fire. Ignition coil was replaced 35K ago...Also, a recently replaced fuel filter... Also, I need to check to see if it could be related to the Viper 500 security system installed???

OK, I got everything back together and cranked the engine without the coil connector to bring up oil pressure. I then connected the coil and it turns but doesn't start, not even a sputter. I'm scratching my head trying to figure out what the problem is. This is very frustrating. Any ideas? I need to take a break now and come back to it fresh in the morning. I'm also recharging the battery a bit. I can't see any connectors that are dangling....

Hello, I think the TC was properly seated. I say this because I could rotate it with my finger when the engine was together. When the engine was out, it would rotate freely and was seated with the tab surface in a proper position of 1/4" proud of the transmission/ engine mounting surface. It is in park and I can't shift it unless the battery is in and I turn the key. Can the transmission pump be tested by somehow checking the flow to the radiator cooler? I understand the pump is not properly engaged if the TC is not seated properly. I just have to put the radiator and air doo-hickey back on and fire it up. I will turn the engine a bit to lubricate before hooking up the coil.

Thanks for the reply with the photos. The TC did not come out when I pulled the engine and I'm fairly sure it was not pulled out while I was putting the engine in. I was trying to be careful of the bottom studs on the bell housing. At one point, they were resting on the edge of the TC but I don't think they pulled it out when I repositioned the engine studs into the trannie holes??? I was going slowly with the positioning. Does the TC have to be spun to reseat it or does it just slide back with a little pressure. If the TC is not seated properly is there any sound when you rotate it? The TC spun freely when I was putting in the bolts. There was just this rachet or tick-tick-tick sound when I was rotating the TC with my digit through the inspection hole and I didn't seem to be able to rotate it clockwise. I slightly greased the pilot with engine assembly grease before assembly. The assembly hole used to be the timing window for the flywheel on my old Subaru MT's...

Hello, I just put the engine back into the car and I have a question about the torque converter seating properly. I went to bolt the flex plate to the torque converter and I was going in via the timing cover and of course the two didn't align. I realized that the torque converter could be rotated easily by my finger through the slot in the flex plate. The only thing that concerns me is the torque converter made a ticking sound as I rotated it counter clockwise and I couldn't rotate it clockwise. Does this mean the torque converter needs to be re-seated? I don't think I pulled it out while putting the engine in, but I didn't check while I was putting it in. How much movement does it take to unseat it? Does this mean I should pull the engine and reseat the torque converter? Thanks, I'm going to read threads about this and try to figure it out, but now I've gotta back away from the tools...

Thanks for the reminder about the rear main seal. I will read the threads and be careful. I can see marks on camshafts and front crankshaft where somebody made marks when removing and replacing seals. There were no leaks because of this, but I'm going to clean and scraped areas up as best I can before seating seals there. I'll use the drill and small screw method to pull the rear seal. I might measure the seal seat depth from the edge first and turn a wooden seat setter to replicate this?? Of course, I'm sure cooler weather that has set in doesn't help with working with seals...

I'll use oil on the threads. I should be getting the bolts by tomorrow. I'm still going to replace all of them. I really don't think the engine has been apart. I have the repair records from 60K on and the only "big" work has been the timing belt. The oil seems to have been religiously changed. The machinist commented on how clean the heads looked while pointing out a head in contrast from the never change it school... Waiting for parts is such a pain... I really want to have this car back together and give it a run... Again, thanks so much for everybody's help. I'll keep you posted as work progress and I hope there will be questions from here on in.

I was very careful to clean the threads and ran the bolt in and out to see that it was a smooth run, but judging on how the bolt felt when the second one gave during the second "ultra careful" run. I feel fairly sure the bolts were fatigued. When they broke loose during taking it apart, there was a lot of flex before the bolts gave. I think I was lucky that none broke then.. The second bolt that gave at a little over 12Nm just felt like it just twisted off, no snap or drama. I was able to back it out while it was still attached to the shank, then just bent it to break it off. I really think this is metal fatigue. Do you think there is any problem if I do a slight lube with oil, like the head bolts, them when I install and torque the new ones? I wouldn't want them to come loose because of this??

Wow! looking through this thread really brings back memories of my first car a 1971 FF-1 station wagon. I cut my car work milk teeth on this car. I owned the car from 1976-79. Getting parts for it was an adventure at that time. There was no real fan powered defrost, just the heat. It relied on car speed for the defrost. That was the big design flaw in my mind... The suspension was great! I used to jack the rear end up with the 8mm Allen wrench for heavy loads. The oil leaked out of the transmission during a long trip and the syncro's died. That was an adventure for an 18 year old Subie newbie. I found a junkyard trannie and some small garage changed it for me. It looked like rocket science to me at the time....I'm now in the middle of a head gasket job on a 96 OBW... That trannie change looks so simple in hind sight. The inboard front brakes were neat... I could tie large diameter short rope lengths on the tires to function as chains . I was almost tunneling through the snow during one blizzard. Well, that is exagerating. The snow was starting to come up over the hood... Finally the throw-out bearing failed and I/we bought the first (and only) new 1979 DL wagon. On to an 81 GL wagon, a 79 DL wagon, 2-84 GL hatchbacks, 89 Justy RS "Dinkie", 87-92-92 Loyale wagons driving as one... and finally somebody gave me a 96 OBW with blown HG (current project) Good luck, This kind of restoration fascinates me... What kind of mileage did the 1100cc engine get. It has been so long....

Hello, First a middle bolt broke. I extracted it, then a rear bolt broke at arount 12 Nm. I was slowly upping the torque as I tightened in sequence. The front two reached 10 Nm and I just continued with the mid/rear. I have the proper values for the front and mid/back from the Subaru manual. I think it is 10 Nm for the front and 20? Nm for the mid/rear. I was thinking of lubing them just like the head bolts. Remembering how much it took to break these loose, I'm not surprised they are fatigued??? There was a bit of flex before they cracked. I'm just going to replace them all and feel safe...I can only imagine a camshaft getting loose at speed. I found a replacement yesterday, but I don't know how many they have in stock... $1 ea insurance, but the parts bill is really adding up

OK, I drilled an accurate pilot hole in the stub and started drilling with a left-handed 1/8" bit. The stub easily backed out as the drill bit "bit " . I suspected the bolts were stress fatigued after the first one broke off, but this was confirmed when a second one broke well befor I got it to spec'ed torque. It's time to replace them all... This board has been such a fantastic help with this project.

OK, I've cooled down and read up on screw extraction. It's time to find some left handed drill bits. I hope I can find them locally, tomorrow... I have a straight flute extractor, but on advisement, I'll use that as last resort. I'm going to grind a flat on the sub surface stub and get a good center punch point and start drilling. Wish me luck...

ARGHHHH!!!! one of the camshaft cap bolts snapped off while I was tightening it down!! I was going through the sequence as described in the manual and "tick". I remember they were fairly hard to break loose when I was taking them off. Looking at the long shaft, it makes sense. This was the first camshaft to be installed and I'm going to be paranoid with the rest. One thing I can think of is I was pulling the cam down a little bit with the bolts. I must be sure the other cams are seated in the lower(head) ways before torquing. I guess I will have to drill it and try to easy out it??? These are hardened bolts?? and if that messes up the threads, helicoil it??? Do they make helicoil this small? Any advice would be welcome....( I am so PO'd) time to back away from the tools...

Hello, I cleaned up the engine block with 320-400 W&D backed by wooden blocks. I am a musical instrument maker and can true a block of wood to good tolerances with a finely tuned plane. I also kept track of the trueness of the block with a ground straight edge. I got what I thought was a pretty good surface. I also dressed the head surface a little after reading about surfaces for MLS gaskets. I cleaned up and did the torque sequence for each head. I will hope for the best and hope that this will last for the rest of the cars life.... We'll see... I'm putting in the lifters and camshafts now and have to make sure they are in the proper positions before torquing the keepers.

Thanks for the explanation...

What is decking? thanks

It is not gasket, but corrosion where the old gasket was. It is below the surface that has a shine.

Hello, I've been reading about the MLS gaskets and their needing almost mirror surface? Then, other opinions in threads mention gaskets needing something to "bite" on. Here are some photos of the engine block that I'm preparing. Do the corroded area's need to be cleaned up more? There seems to be outlines of the old gasket and some corrosion there. It's not reall too deep. I really don't want to redo the gaskets anytime soon... Opinions?