Head gasket - Updated

[BlackSTI]

Hooray, nice and shiny reconditioned heads.

Reconditioned Heads

cIEq2Jk.jpg (163.28 KiB) Viewed 3082 times

[BlackSTI]

Engine bay.

[Manaz]

at the end of the day it's a 2.5 Subaru.
NA or turbo, own one at your own risk as it's probably gonna do the HG's

So what is the conventional wisdom with regards to prevention (rather than cure)?

[bass_straitener]

at the end of the day it's a 2.5 Subaru.
NA or turbo, own one at your own risk as it's probably gonna do the HG's

So what is the conventional wisdom with regards to prevention (rather than cure)?

Install a few more gauges, log to your tactrix constantly and check often till you know your confident your tune is stable. And your car is mechanically fine.

Learn to tune, and are able to fix errors or minor issues, smooth tables to ensure you're not triggering false knock.

4 hours for a dyno tune, a road tune or e-tune is not going to be perfect. You need to be able to identify and possibly fix the little things that may have been missed or happen due to mechanical wear etc.

[Manaz]

Install a few more gauges, log to your tactrix constantly and check often till you know your confident your tune is stable. And your car is mechanically fine.

Learn to tune, and are able to fix errors or minor issues, smooth tables to ensure you're not triggering false knock.

4 hours for a dyno tune, a road tune or e-tune is not going to be perfect. You need to be able to identify and possibly fix the little things that may have been missed or happen due to mechanical wear etc.

What about preventative mods to the engine itself? From what I understand the stock head studs are fine (though I note there are plenty of places selling aftermarket head studs that are supposedly "better" than stock), but there's quite a bit of information out there about various types of head gaskets.

[kiahatsiu]

What about preventative mods to the engine itself? From what I understand the stock head studs are fine (though I note there are plenty of places selling aftermarket head studs that are supposedly "better" than stock), but there's quite a bit of information out there about various types of head gaskets.

Stock head studs are actually pretty weak. Upgrading the studs is a big thing on EJ's.

[Manaz]

Stock head studs are actually pretty weak. Upgrading the studs is a big thing on EJ's.

Depending on power targets, or just in general?

[jaydece]

Stock head studs are actually pretty weak. Upgrading the studs is a big thing on EJ's.

Depending on power targets, or just in general?

The stock head studs are made to stretch...so instead of the engine going boom it just lifts the heads(in most cases)...the minute you up in mods and power your putting more stress on the studs...not to mention other parts internally...

head gaskets - I would recommended OEM ( they are pretty good ) or if your keen...get cosworth.....

[Manaz]

That confirms my suspicions, cheers.

I've been looking at the Cosworth gaskets - they seem to be about double the price of the stock ones, but even that's not really expensive.

The Cosworth ultra high performance head studs aren't quite so cheap - but if you're going for big power, they'd make a lot of sense. And for even a mid-range build, their high performance don't seem TOO bad...

[jaydece]

That confirms my suspicions, cheers.

I've been looking at the Cosworth ones - they seem to be about double the price of the stock ones, but even that's not really expensive.

as a basic my budget list would be:

ARP 2000's studs ( minimum )
oem / cossy gaskets
ARP rod bolts ( oem rods are good stock )
pistons cp, cosworth or similar
ACL bearings and end bearings
Killer B oil pick up
STI oil pump
oem water pump
timing belt kit ( oem, gates or similar )
new thermostat

man...this list could go on....

[bass_straitener]

That confirms my suspicions, cheers.

I've been looking at the Cosworth ones - they seem to be about double the price of the stock ones, but even that's not really expensive.

as a basic my budget list would be:

ARP 2000's studs ( minimum )
oem / cossy gaskets
ARP rod bolts ( oem rods are good stock )
pistons cp, cosworth or similar
ACL bearings and end bearings
Killer B oil pick up
STI oil pump
oem water pump
timing belt kit ( oem, gates or similar )
new thermostat

man...this list could go on....

This looks like a list of upgrades you could do before or after a head gasket issue.

Most likely after, given the cost.

[KiDo_Tuning]

Easy one to sort... have the radiator fans come on at a lower temp.

I have an SH9 Forester customer in Canberra who ended up coolant light on(I trigger them at lower temps as they are an ON/OFF rather than a gauge and I lower the radiator temp thresholds) and coolant temps were 98 degrees instead of factory 110+ trigger. Owner took it to Subaru which noted the top radiator hose was hot but bottom was cold. With just over 60,000 on the clock, Subaru doubted it was Thermostat or Radiator and that it was HG's with a $4k fix.

Owner took it to Techworx in Canberra, was a dead thermostat and the actual repair work cost less than Subaru's HG diagnostic labour charge.

Engine saved by the bell(or lower temp light in this case) along with lower coolant temps on the radiator. IF combustion temps rise, the engine is more efficient at transferring the temp into the coolant.

[bigBADbenny]

Hmm intriguing! ^

[BlackSTI]

Hmm intriguing! ^

Hey Benny, just wondering If I can get some advice...

When I get my car back with a new gasket etc., I am looking to get in to monitoring the car (Received my tactrix last week) and am considering the AEM 30-4900 Wideband Failsafe gauge and VBG1 GTBoost (which I believe is the combo you have from what I have read).

I saw you were having issues get the AEM to output to the VBG1, but it looks like you may have this solved? was it a big drama?

Is it also easy enough to log to rom raider / standalone tactrix?

From what I understand the AEM outputs analog to the tactrix as an external sensor.

Any help would be great.

[bigBADbenny]

I've been keeping track on a thread on wrx club
Its all fairly easy once you know how.
It does display on the Vent Boost Gauge but is currently displaying about 1 afr too lean.
I can fix that with a pot or diode or upgrade to the most current VBG1 which is programmable.

I'll have the failsafe relay wired in very soon too.
Its taken me ages to do, due to insisting on nutting out most of the install myself.

I reckon this and a G4 knocklink is a great combo for saving your engine from events that the ECU's built in failsafes cannot catch.