Seized Timing Belt Pully

[chook]

Hey all just an update on my incredibly yellow lemon of a 04 GT, i bought the car about four months ago for $24000 and after replacing the ECU, Fuel filters, spark plugs and oil, due to salt water corrosion (about $3500 for parts and laybour) last wednesday a bearing in one of the timing pulleys seized, bending and breaking other pulleys and tensioners also due to salt water corrosion.

Subaru put about $800 worth of new timing kit in and found that it had resulted in at least 12 bent valves. They quoted around $7000 for a new top end but it may be that the block is stuffed and even the turbo if i had any metal bits coming out the exhaust.

I've been hunting around for other motors but they are not easy to come by and i think i would much prefer a reconditioned to a second handy, I found one place that offers complete engine exchange for around $8000 and for the same money they can chuck in the EJ25t i havent got a itemised quote yet but as i'm looking for a performance upgrade this might be a good excuse.

Has anyone heard of swapping the EJ20t to a EJ25t? or does anyone know of other options i should consider?

I'm going to have to spend some serious dollars to fix it and i doubt i could then sell it for anywhere near what i paid for it so i just want to make it really f*@king fast but still safe and reliable.

I'm super stuck with this one so any advice would be freaking awesome,
cheers in advance,

CAM.

[kiahatsiu]

I'm going to have to spend some serious dollars to fix it and i doubt i could then sell it for anywhere near what i paid for it so i just want to make it really f*@king fast but still safe and reliable.

I like the cut of your jib. I don't have a real lot of experience tooling around with ej20x's, but me thinks you want to send you heads of to a guy named TK in Adelaide. He can be found on performanceforums and seems to know his craft. I understand, and don't quote me on this, that the heads will pretty much bolt up to a 2.5ltr block/bottom end/ middle bit, what ever Subaru people call them.
Got to wonder what else has been damaged though.


edit..... http://www.performanceforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=67247826&highlight=subaru+motor

[LibertyTas]

I thought EJ motors were clearance motors (ie valves always clear pistons regardless cam / crank angles)? Please correct me if I'm wrong though!

If this is the case I would like to know how the valves got bent?

[parso_rex]

Man your not having much luck at all Is there any way you can chase this through the dealers. Its a flood damaged car isn't it ???
You really need a long motor all your other stuff will shit itself soon alternator wiring loom starter solenoids sensors and so on. I think I saw a post form you with electrical probs already too
I'll PM you a bit later with a place to try for a complete motor They are in WA and might have a lib motor , heaps of STI and others but thats no good to you.
Bare 04,05,06 short block is $3.1K from subaru atm. You then need heads dual AVCS in the 04 and unlike any WRX/STI so your a bit screwed
Tony knight in SA can do your heads but he's into extreme mods so not required for a simple rebuild of the heads

[parso_rex]

actually heres the link

http://japanesewholesale.com.au/

I was at a dealer with a workshop the other day and the guys was proudly showing me his flood damaged Merc 4WD that he'd picked up for basically nothing. He'd ripped everything out including the loom and reckoned it was fine and was in the process of putting it back together. I pity the person who gets scammed with that one. they should be on an RTA database if written off like that

[GTSPECB STI]

I recommend speaking to Fats at Japanese Wholesale as well

[chook]

I thought EJ motors were clearance motors (ie valves always clear pistons regardless cam / crank angles)? Please correct me if I'm wrong though!

If this is the case I would like to know how the valves got bent?

as far as i know they are free running motors meaning the valves clear the pistons however when the cams are so out of timing the valves can actually hit each other, please correct me if i'm wrong

[smythie]

that's likely

[chook]

Man your not having much luck at all Is there any way you can chase this through the dealers. Its a flood damaged car isn't it ???
You really need a long motor all your other stuff will shit itself soon alternator wiring loom starter solenoids sensors and so on. I think I saw a post form you with electrical probs already too
I'll PM you a bit later with a place to try for a complete motor They are in WA and might have a lib motor , heaps of STI and others but thats no good to you.
Bare 04,05,06 short block is $3.1K from subaru atm. You then need heads dual AVCS in the 04 and unlike any WRX/STI so your a bit screwed
Tony knight in SA can do your heads but he's into extreme mods so not required for a simple rebuild of the heads

Hey mate thanks for the heads up, it's currently at a mob in sydney where they are taking it apart to see whether there is any damage to the bottom end, they've had a really good look over the car and the rest of it is in really good nick apart from the lower control arm bushes, they said there is no other evidece of salt water corrosion or even discolouration on any of the aluminium parts or electrical components.

i haven't received a fully itemised quote yet but for fully reconditioned heads about $3700 for a EJ20t long motor $8000 or for a sti EJ25t bottom end with fully reconditioned GT heads $7000.

just waiting for a call and they'll let me know the full extent of the damage.

[parso_rex]

Let us know the quote, that sound way too expensive for head reco. I've got contacts for motors in Brisbane too plus a few in Syd for engine work. If you were going to spend 3.7K on heads then you could get a fully reco'd ported set from Tony knight done on his CNC machine for the same $$. The WA place is good most of the new stuff is from Subaru test cars or it used to be. I've bought long STI motors from WA for $5K plus other stuff likes heads suspension, alternators oil pumps etc
Good to hear about the rest of the stuff though

I had a mates timing belt let go at like 30K Km and it didn't hit I thought they would as the WRX ones do but the STI's don't. I assumed the LGT's were the same low comp as the STI but then I've seen others quote the GT as having 9:1 so I don't know. His car is alright though apart from the silly tune which is being fixed for a bottle of scotch and use of the boat

[chook]

Well the car's now up and running and i'm pretty stoked with the end result, apart from the price tag, i've spent about $10k which has included 100 000km service, timing kit, lower control arm bushes, brake pads and machined rotors, top radiator tank, fully recon'd GT heads and fully re-manufactured 2.5STI block all completed with genuine filters and gaskets ect.

Still running it in but already pleased with the low down torque, the turbo lag is no where near as obvious any more but i can't rev it as hard as the 2.0lt.

As for the old motor, twelve valves did hit the pistons and damaged the crank so as for a free revving motor i now have no idea, hopefully now i have a reliable car that should last me a very long time and as for any mods i don't think i'll go as crazy as i was at first, maybe just some coilovers and some new rear muffs, does anyone know if you can still get a set of quads from phat?

Thanks for all the advice, i now don't know weather to hang out in the 2.0T or the 2.5T section, thanks again.

[parso_rex]

good to see your back in action and the 2.5 is good heaps of off boost torque too.

did they remap to suit the 2.5 ?? Hope so

[kiahatsiu]

Hey, awesome, mine just snapped a timing belt too. 1200km after 100000km service. Farking sweet!

[parso_rex]

Hey, awesome, mine just snapped a timing belt too. 1200km after 100000km service. Farking sweet!

did they just change the belt ? that can happen when they don't compress the belt tensioner properly

[chook]

Hey, awesome, mine just snapped a timing belt too. 1200km after 100000km service. Farking sweet!

bugger dude let me know if you want the same place and i'll pm the number.