Resealing the motor
 

Well, since no one wanted to buy my SVX "as is" with the cam seal leaking, I decided to tackle the oil leak and do the timing belt and water pump while I was in there.

But after going under the hood and getting a better look at the oil leak(s), I decided that the valve covers and main seals ought to be done as well, so I figured it'd be worth it to pull the motor and really clean it up.

I pulled the motor last week. Here's the mess I found:

http://www.seccs.org/gallery/Car%20P...g/IMG_1067.JPG

http://www.seccs.org/gallery/Car%20P...g/IMG_1068.JPG

http://www.seccs.org/gallery/Car%20P...g/IMG_1070.JPG

http://www.seccs.org/gallery/Car%20P...g/IMG_1065.JPG

http://www.seccs.org/gallery/Car%20P...g/IMG_1066.JPG

Looks like the valve covers are leaking, the cam seals/plugs, and the power steering pump reservoir. So in my spare time over the past week, I got crazy w/ the engine cleaner, pressure washer, and various brushes.

Much better!

http://www.seccs.org/gallery/Car%20P...g/IMG_1072.JPG

http://www.seccs.org/gallery/Car%20P...g/IMG_1073.JPG

http://www.seccs.org/gallery/Car%20P...g/IMG_1074.JPG

http://www.seccs.org/gallery/Car%20P...g/IMG_1081.JPG

http://www.seccs.org/gallery/Car%20P...g/IMG_1082.JPG

Now I'm just waiting on a few more bits to get delivered from subaruparts.com (I had all the seals, but the timing cover was demolished by a worn crank pulley, so I had to order that stuff up, plus I figured I should do the rear-main once I decided to pull the whole motor) and I can get to work on the seals, water pump, timing belt, and spark plug. Plus, I'm sure there's some more cleaning here and there that will need to get done.

Re: Resealing the motor
 

Now for the question:

I pulled the torque converter in order to replace the main seal between the TC and tranny. What's the propper method to line things back up when putting it back in? I can get it in past the new seal, but it won't seat deep enough to match the gear with the starter. I'm assuming the notches on the TC aren't matching up with the inside of the tranny, leaving the TC about 1.5" short of all the way installed.

It is it just a matter of lining things up better? Or is there some sort of proceedure to ensure the input shaft lines up?

Re: Resealing the motor
 

What a difference that made. It looks great now. If no one answers this post, PM OT or YT with that question and they will help you get your questions answered. Good luck with the project. The engine looks amazing now. :)

Re: Resealing the motor
 

Thanks!

I'm really looking forward to being able to work on the car w/o having to dress up like I'm Mike Rowe. Then again, once the motor is resealed and back in the car... there shouldn't be any reason to have to work on it, unless I do coilovers, brakes, and/or the exhaust, but those are all upgrades... nothing should *need* work at this point. *fingers crossed*

Re: Resealing the motor
 

if possible, could you post a how to for the cam-seals, I want to do mine when I do the timing belt as well, but I would like to see a brief how to quickly before. If one already exists, and someone could point me in the right direction that would work as well.
Thanks,
Joe

Re: Resealing the motor
 

Well, I'm only half-way done on mine, as per the pictures above... i.e. I've removed the old seals, but have not installed the new ones.

I'll take pictures of the bits when I'm home to illustrate, but the short version is:

- drain coolant and remove the radiator/fans
- remove accessory belts
- remove the crank pulley
- remove the timing belt covers
- remove the timing belt and cam gears
- remove the exhaust cam seals (I used a hook awl, kinda like a heavy duty dentist's scraper, to pry them out w/o scraping the cam)
- remove the intake cam plugs (I used a big-old pair of vise-grips and just yanked 'em out)
- install the new plugs (I use some assembly lube on oil seals when installing them... and make sure to seat them evenly, using a big socket and a hammer to tap them in gently and evenly works good)
- install the new cam oil seals (same deal as with the plugs)
- if you pull off the crank gear, you can do the front main oil seal too
- reinstall the cam & crank gears, timing belt, etc
- reinstall the timing covers
- reinstall the crank pulley, and accessory belts
- reinstall the radiator, and fill up/burp the coolant

I believe lots of this is documented in the pseudo-FSM's I've got up at http://www.seccs.org/tech, which should include the torque specs for everything important.

Also, this how-to was just off the top of my head, so if anyone noticed I missed something, please chime in!

Re: Resealing the motor
 

to set the torque converter....

Place the TC on the input shaft and slide it in. While putting constant pressure of the front of the TC spin it about 2 times around. This should allow it to take a proper seating on all the splines and also the oil pump. To double check make sure there is about two credit cards' thickness between the starter ring on the TC and the bottom edge of the bell housing

Tom

Re: Resealing the motor
 

Done and done! Thanks for the tip!

Re: Resealing the motor
 

Looks much better! So, are you still selling it, or have you decided to keep it?

Re: Resealing the motor
 

Thanks for the pictures. It's nice to have such a clear view of the side of the engine.

:(:(Mine currently looks just like your before pictures, complete with all the oily crud on that black frame area (not sure exactly what it's called).

Looking at these pics really makes me eager to get mine fixed up. (Hopefully this spring) :):)

Re: Resealing the motor
 

I kinda think I'm going to keep it. I really wanted to sell it and my race car to buy a new STi, but the race car is an even harder sell the way the economy is going than the SVX. I mean, who's going to want a caged track car if you can't afford to go to the track!?

So, unless I get someone who's an SVX enthusiast that I know will take good care of the car to offer me what I'm looking for price-wise, I'll probably just keep driving it daily. It's a really nice car, and with the oil leaks cleared up, there's really nothing major it needs maintainence-wise, so it's hard to justify getting rid of it. The car is just worth more to me than it is to the "market".

Re: Resealing the motor
 

....were u selling it to give the buyer problems ? :o
nice job on the cleaning, i would do this but before i need a garage:rolleyes:

dont sell it it drives real good. if i compare it to my sunfire

Re: Resealing the motor
 

Certainly I wasn't trying to unload a problem car on anyone! But as anyone with an SVX knows, they do require lots of TLC to keep them in top condition. I figure a new STi requires a whole lot less maintenance than a 14 year old SVX. But now that I've done just about everything common on my SVX, I'm hoping it'll be relatively maintenance free for the next few years. *knocks on wood*

Re: Resealing the motor
 

Before you did the re-sealing job, did it smoke like a mutha(under the hood}???
I just bought a 92 and it`s needing the normal TLC that I see here that they are needing if the priviouse owner didn`t ....When I come to a stop, the smoke is coming from under the hood....
V/C gaskets were just replaced a week ago....
Got a quote for a timing belt, crnk. and cam seals, $399.00 parts and labor....
That`s where the oil is leaking from and blowing back onto the exh....
Thanks,
Paul......

Re: Resealing the motor
 

Sounds like your leak is worse than mine was. I had some oil on the header heat-shield, but not enough to smoke.

Of course, if the valve-cover gaskets were just done, there's the chance that they cleaned things off before doing the work (you'd hate to get all that sludge in the heads when you pull off the covers), and the cleaner and oil residue just got onto the headers and it hasn't all burned off yet.

Re: Resealing the motor
 

Boy that would be sweet...3 or 4 drops of oil on the exh. makes it look like you got a major fire under the hood....But hopefully you are right and it will burn off....I`ve "Gunked" it with 3 cans of the stuff,and a couple cans of brake parts cleaner after that....Found the leak, cam& crank seals....Prolly never been changed 115,000 miles.....Interior and exterior look verry good for that many miles, no rips, tears or dents an body rot..:)Little faded paint....
See ya...

Re: Resealing the motor
 

Did you do the Valve cover gaskets yourself?

I am having trouble getting the part number on Subaruparts.com. I can find just about everything else....

I have also developed a bad leak. I'm hoping new valve cover seals will fix things up. :(

Re: Resealing the motor
 

Here's the parts list from my SubaruParts.com order for the valve cover gaskets. There are two large outer gaskets that trace the perimeter of the cover, and two smaller gaskets per cover that go around the spark plugs, and 10 washer gaskets per cover, plus one valve breather oil separator gasket per cover.

I believe these are all part of the "resealing kit" they sell as well, but that kit also comes with a bunch of other gaskets I already got from my local dealership's parts dept.

For whatever reason my order is taking forever to get shipped... so my motor is still just sitting on the engine stand in my garage as in the pictures above. Once my stuff shows up, I'll get around to doing the gaskets and try to photograph the process for this thread (not that there aren't already a few good how-to threads already on the board).

Re: Resealing the motor
 

Nice job on getting it done. looks really good. :)

Tom

Re: Resealing the motor
 

Update time!

I finally got my package from SubaruParts.com. It required me emailing them and asking why they "processed" my order on the 13th, but still hadn't shipped it a week later. When it showed up, it was packaged in a Jimmy Johns box!? Something tells me my order fell through the cracks then got rushed out the door after they got my email. I've ordered a million times from SubaruParts.com so I'm just going to chalk it up to someone having the random "one of those days" I guess.

Anyway... with my parts in hand I was able to reseal the valve covers, install the main seals, cam seals and cam plugs, spark plugs, as well as swap the rear knock sensor (I did the front a while back, but with the motor out I could finally get to the rear one w/o taking off the intake manifold). I was also going to do the PCV, but even with the motor out, I'm gonna have to get a crows-foot 19mm socket.

Here are some pictures from the work, I'll annotate them later but for the most part, they're in order.

Valve cover resealing parts:
http://www.seccs.org/gallery/Car%20P...g/IMG_1109.JPG

RH valve cover removed:
http://www.seccs.org/gallery/Car%20P...g/IMG_1105.JPG

Tore out the old gaskets... work slowly to prevent them from crumbling apart. I was amazed they were working at all!
http://www.seccs.org/gallery/Car%20P...g/IMG_1111.JPG

New gaskets installed!
http://www.seccs.org/gallery/Car%20P...g/IMG_1115.JPG

Old and new spark plugs:
http://www.seccs.org/gallery/Car%20P...g/IMG_1117.JPG

RH valve cover complete!
http://www.seccs.org/gallery/Car%20P...g/IMG_1119.JPG

I used some hi-temp gasket maker to glue the ignition wire brackets back down, since they were all broken off.
http://www.seccs.org/gallery/Car%20P...g/IMG_1120.JPG

Front main, plus the assembly lube I used to install the seals:
http://www.seccs.org/gallery/Car%20P...g/IMG_1121.JPG

RH exhaust cam seal replaced, plus the socket used to press it in:
http://www.seccs.org/gallery/Car%20P...g/IMG_1125.JPG

New knock sensor installed:
http://www.seccs.org/gallery/Car%20P...g/IMG_1132.JPG

Full gallery of all the pictures I've taken: http://www.seccs.org/gallery/index.p...ne%20Resealing

I also did the LH valve cover, but the pics look pretty much the same. I've still got the water pump to replace, and then the timing gear to put back. Then the motor is pretty much ready to go back into the car! Hopefully it'll be running by Sunday!

Re: Resealing the motor
 

nice job! I'd like to do the same thing but have never worked on anything this low to the ground :) On the other hand, it'd be nice not to have to lift the engine hoist 9' in the air to get the engine out! :lol:

Any hints and tips to pull the engine out? Are the bellhousing bolts easy to access and any hard to reach connectors and such?

Thanks.

Re: Resealing the motor
 

There are four belhousing bolts. They're not too hard to get to, but they're messy if your car is like mine was, with a ton of oil sludge all over everything. There are also brackets on both the lower bellhousing bolts that have clips for the O2 sensor wires on them, don't forget about them when putting the motor back in.

Also, I had a bit of a hard time accessing the TC/flexplate bolts through the access hole on the top of the bellhousing. I ended up having the easiest time with a really long extension and a flex-joint on the socket, then accessing the bolt from the front of the motor with the extensions going all the way under the intake manifold.

Finally, the real crappy part of pulling the motor is doing it w/o bleeding the A/C. I left the compressor hooked up and just rotated it and set it on top of the battery. It's a tight fit as the motor comes out, and my guess is if your seals on the lines are original, all the twisting of the lines will result in a leak. I had already replaced the o-rings in my A/C lines fairly recently when I recharged the system, so I think I got away without leaking, but come to think of it, I haven't tried the A/C not that the motor is back in (when it's 12 degrees out, trying the A/C isn't a natural thought).

Here's what I'm talking about with the compressor:
http://www.seccs.org/gallery/Car%20P...g/IMG_1154.JPG

It really puts a pretty hard twist on the lines.

Re: Resealing the motor
 

To wrap things up:

Over the weekend I finished up the work on the motor and got it back in the car. I didn't take a ton of pictures since I was focused on just getting the motor back in the car and running (I especially wish I had taken pictures of the WRX motor mounts), but I did take a few:

Timing gear all back together. I replaced one of the idlers because it was pretty squeaky... I'm kinda thinking I should have just ponied up and replaced them all... but that's another $150-200 or so. Hopefully I'll get to 300,000 miles before they give out!
http://www.seccs.org/gallery/Car%20P...g/IMG_1144.JPG

New o-ring on the power steering reservoir. No more pulsing in the steering wheel now that the pump isn't sucking air!
http://www.seccs.org/gallery/Car%20P...g/IMG_1147.JPG

Cleaned up P/S pump. I swear, I thought the pump was black until I started scrubbing it!
http://www.seccs.org/gallery/Car%20P...g/IMG_1148.JPG

New o-ring on the high pressure P/S line.
http://www.seccs.org/gallery/Car%20P...g/IMG_1152.JPG

Motor going back in!
http://www.seccs.org/gallery/Car%20P...g/IMG_1155.JPG

Accessories and belts good to go.
http://www.seccs.org/gallery/Car%20P...g/IMG_1157.JPG

All done!
http://www.seccs.org/gallery/Car%20P...g/IMG_1160.JPG

So after getting everything back together and filling all the fluids, the car fired after cranking over only twice. I had to top off the power steering fluid after cranking the wheel back and forth a few times of course. Other than that, there were no issues getting the car running. No fluid or exhaust leaks, and just a little burn-off of the cleaner that was left on the headers.

One thing that surprised me was how night and day the new motor mounts are! Going from basically one worn-out SVX mount (the other was torn in half) to two WRX mounts made a *huge* difference in responsiveness when getting on the throttle. The car feels much quicker, and it even seems to turn better w/o having that heavy-ass motor rolling around under the hood.

Re: Resealing the motor
 

wrx motor mounts fit svx?
Thanks,
Keith:)

Re: Resealing the motor
 

Not quite. You have to do some drilling/grinding and add a spacer to them to get them to fit in the SVX mounts.

TomsSVX has some good pictures in his locker.

Re: Resealing the motor
 

Good job on the motor...Damn it looks sweet all cleaned...I had to chuckle when you said you thought the power steering pump was black, I thought it was too....LOL...
Paul....

Re: Resealing the motor
 

Thanks!

I'm actually surprised at how much more I enjoy driving the car. After all, I really just cleaned up some stuff you can't see with the hood closed anyway... but I think there's just some added piece of mind knowing that I'm no longer leaking oil, and that I replaced the radiator hoses, the powersteering hoses (except for the high pressure line), one of the fuel lines, and pretty much inspected everything else under the hood.

The only thing I'm waiting on is a new o-ring for the dipstick. :lol:

Re: Resealing the motor
 

Thanks!
Keith:)

Re: Resealing the motor
 

Nice job dude! Forgive my ignorance, what's the advantage with using the WRX mounts vs SVX mounts?

Thanks.

Re: Resealing the motor
 

Grand Total $$$ ???? Minus Knock Sensor,Valve Cover Gaskets & spark plugs

Re: Resealing the motor
 

The SVX mounts cost around $200 each, while the WRX mounts are more like $60 each. Plus the WRX mounts are stiffer, stronger, last longer, and are not filled with oil.

Re: Resealing the motor
 

So, total cost of the main seals and cam seals/plugs? I don't remember specifically, but each seal is <$10, so maybe $50?

Re: Resealing the motor
 

So this thread is a little bit old, but I was wondering what exactly you used as a cleaner and brushes to get the engine that clean. I'm getting ready to pull/reseal mine next week and I would like to get it as clean as possible.

Also, how did you get to everything that was under the intake manifold?

Re: Resealing the motor
 

I used Gunk engine cleaner and Oil Eater, and used my pressure washer and a set of detailing brushes (nylon, brass, and steel).

To get under the intake manifold, I basically just soaked it down with Gunk and let it sit a while. Then with the motor tilted at 90 deg on the engine stand and with a big old plastic bin under it to collect the run-off, I just hosed it down w/ the pressure washer.

I used a similar technique on the rest of the motor to get into spots like the spark plug access holes, around the oil pan, etc. Most of the hard scrubbing was on parts that came off the motor for cleaning, like the power-steering pump, which got washed in my kitchen sink w/ hot water, dish soap, and a brass brush.

Since I had to do this in my garage (it was Jan and too cold to do it outside) I think I spent more time mopping up the garage after using the pressure washer indoors than I did actually cleaning the motor. My advice would be to park the engine stand in the back-yard in a kiddy pool. :lol:

Re: Resealing the motor
 

Come to find out all my smoking was from residual oil and stuff from a tran.s replacement.... after about 2 weeks it doesn`t smoke anymore....:)

Re: Resealing the motor
 

A lot of good tips and tricks in this thread. Great job:)