Engine Build Progress and Questions

[longassname]

the piston pin puller for the 3 liter doesn't work for us. It looks like that's what the # they found they thought might be the # that superceedes the eg33 pin puller is actually for. As long as I have it on hand I dropped it off at a machine shop with an eg33 pin and instructions on how to make a tool much like it except to work for the eg33 with both stock and after market pins.

[TomsSVX]

doing the math that CP is asking me to do for the piston ring gaps I have come up with a .025" gap for the 1st compression rings... After test fitting the CP rings in the block it has occured to me that ALL of the rings will need to be filed and there is not even .010" in them right now. SO for everyone else building their own engine... you are going to need a piston ring filer.

Tom

[longassname]

Anybody seen a fixed bore pisting ring compressor for 3.819? It is yet another tool which the fsm says they make but probably actually stopped making in 93 when nobody was buying the car.

This adjustable-fixed compressor is looking good.
http://store.summitracing.com/partde...5&autoview=sku

[longassname]

Anyone have a piston ring filer they like better than this one?
http://store.summitracing.com/partde...5&autoview=sku


Also, you don't have to run out and buy a piston ring filer to do a build. You can give your rings and half a dozen ziplock bags to the shop that does the hone and have them file them

Originally Posted by TomsSVX

doing the math that CP is asking me to do for the piston ring gaps I have come up with a .025" gap for the 1st compression rings... After test fitting the CP rings in the block it has occured to me that ALL of the rings will need to be filed and there is not even .010" in them right now. SO for everyone else building their own engine... you are going to need a piston ring filer.

Tom

[longassname]

If you want to do it yourself and really make the job easy Summit has a combo with the ring filer and a squaring tool for putting the rings square in the cyllinder to measure the end gap. Looks like a pretty cool time saving set up. You really do want to get your rings square in the cyllinder when you measure the end gap so if you don't have a set of calipers definitely get the combo.

http://store.summitracing.com/partde...5&autoview=sku

[longassname]

As long as we are plugging Summit Racing's tool selection.....
This is the most economical bore guage I've ever seen:

http://store.summitracing.com/partde...5&autoview=sku

[longassname]

The machine shop didn't get my piston pin puller done so I'm going to make my own this weekend. I'm pulling a crank out to send off for the machine work for my forced induction built engine.

Someone asked me about forged pistons for NA recently. I don't know if he's actually going to get them or not but yes I can get them made. They won't be from the same forgings as the current pistons are but then they don't need to be either. I'll leave the gas porting out too since there is no need to increase the cyllinder/ring wear if we don't need to seal huge amounts of power/cyllinder pressure. I'm thinking a compression ratio around 9.5. I don't know what the gas is like everywhere but the stuf they are selling in florida now is really knock prone. I think for my na car I would just as soon not fight the knock prone gas and go ahead and use pistons that work well even with regular. If i can get a few like minded people in on an order we can knock the price down a little.

[cdigerlando]

Man I tried getting those pesky piston pins out. Yuck! I thought of some really smart ways to do it but no way. The circlips were easy with a small pair of needlenose pliers. I need to bug someone at subaru to lend me theirs.

Pulled the heads off this weekend. Everything looks pretty good. Must be the ring lands. Just need to disassemble the springs and I'll be ready for some head work and new valves.

My water passages were pretty nasty. so was the head gasket. The block definitely needed a good scrubbing. Need to cold tank everything.

[mikecg]

My father managed to pop the farther (from the access hole) circlip out using a long flat head and a twisting motion. once the two outside pistons wer lose, the middle piston could be done from inside the chamber of one of the other pistons. Once you remove one set of pistons, you can simply unbolt the rods on the other side.

[cdigerlando]

Well the pin is loose from its original location. The problem is it cannot get through the end of the piston. Probably years of oil coaking has caused the hole to neck down slightly. I was thinking of running a dremel with some super fine grit sand paper at low speed to open up the hole a bit. Then it should slide out. I hate to do this though. I was also thinking of chucking the block in the back of the Forester and taking it to the dealer. The system I devised to remove the pin really put a lot of force on the pin. This pin remover must be pretty beefy.

I would definitely like the option of selling or giving away these pistons, rods, and pins. So I don't want to destroy them.

The circlips fit perfectly in the new pistons. I will probably buy some new circlips, though I doubt it is that necessary. They are less than $6 for a set new, so what the heck.

[longassname]

The gasket and seal kit includes new circlips.

Originally Posted by cdigerlando

Well the pin is loose from its original location. The problem is it cannot get through the end of the piston. Probably years of oil coaking has caused the hole to neck down slightly. I was thinking of running a dremel with some super fine grit sand paper at low speed to open up the hole a bit. Then it should slide out. I hate to do this though. I was also thinking of chucking the block in the back of the Forester and taking it to the dealer. The system I devised to remove the pin really put a lot of force on the pin. This pin remover must be pretty beefy.

I would definitely like the option of selling or giving away these pistons, rods, and pins. So I don't want to destroy them.

The circlips fit perfectly in the new pistons. I will probably buy some new circlips, though I doubt it is that necessary. They are less than $6 for a set new, so what the heck.

[cdigerlando]

Originally Posted by longassname

The gasket and seal kit includes new circlips.

Thanks. I'll be getting that kit so I won't need to get them.

I spoke with subaru. They have a box of tools for piston removal. The part number for the 3.3 liter tool did not seem to be there, but I'll take a look at what they have and see if it will work.

[cdigerlando]

Jason at Bob Dance Subaru was real nice and let me take home 3 pin removers and some circlip removers. I had to take part of one and mate it to another but got it to work. Removed two pistons. Tomorrow I will do the rest. The pin removers are only going to work on the outside pistons. For the middles I'm going to use a long wood dowel. This should work fine since I can get both of the circlips off on the center and come through the side with the dowel. I may try to remove the center circlips with my small needlenose pliers, just to see if it can be done that way without specialty tools. Did not see any ring land damage yet. In fact the only problem that I see is the water passages were nasty. We will see though, I still have 4 more pistons to go.

Take Care

Chuck D.

[cdigerlando]

Cracked ring land in cylinder number 6. Cylinder looks fine.

[cdigerlando]

The bolts holding together the block halves were so corroded I had to hammer a 7/16 in to get them off. Got all the bolts out, but the block will not separate. Seems to be stuck at the top front seam. Going to eat 4th dinner. Will try again tomorrow night.

Later.