1WD Foz's

1WD Foz's Foz

Howdy guys and girls,

Im new around here and thought id start a journal to document my hopefully awesome adventure modding my 98 FOZ.

It all started about 7 months ago when i came up with the idea of buying a second car for my wife and I to use for our 1 hour long drive to work, giving our Honda a rest.
Initially i was looking for a cheap Land-rover discovery also thinking we could use this to do some camping and light 4x4ing on our days off, but quickly realised that a Discovery would eat my money in fuel alone so started looking for a cheaper alternative.
Then i noticed a nice looking 98 on gumtree for $2000 no reg no rw, 189k
and seller says clutch may be due.....
I hesitated in calling him for about 3 weeks as i just wasn't sure about Subaru's or Foresters in general, then one day noticed he dropped the price to $1000
So i gave the guy a call and went and looked at it.... $900 was his lowest and the clutch felt fine.
I drove her home (with a permit).

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Booked her in for a Rw the next week and listed defects found was:
~Replace wiper blades
~Rectify R/H tail light and stop light
~Replace drivers seat belt
~Secure spare wheel
~Secure battery
~Replace and bleed brake fluid
~Replace clutch & brake pedal pads
~Clean and rectify oil leaks
~Replace L/H inner cv boot
~Replace front & rear sway bar link bushes

So i did what i could and got mechanic to do the rest.
Next week i had rego :monkeydance:

I drove it around for a couple weeks and started to notice that if i put my foot flat.... some times it would slip, so i looked up clutches on ebay and took a gamble with a relatively new melbourne based brand "Blusteele' as they had crazy low prices, $250 new ,shipped, with 12 month warranty.

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Blusteele-Clutch-Kit-for-Subaru-Forester-S10-2-0Ltr-SOHC-EJ20J-98-02-w-WARRANTY/182301956674?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649

I had it sitting there for when the Foz needed it and it wasn't long until i got the car bogged (in my front bloody yard mind you) :rotfl:
and the clutch was ruined after minimal attempts of getting out with road tires.

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look at the damage to my Neighbours front lawn :redface:
luckily it only cost a slab to recover.

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The truck that pulled me out :rotfl:

So i threw my car at the same mechanics that did my rw and they installed my clutch!!
Also had my flywheel machined and they found a leak in my rear main seal so replaced that while they where there....awesome!!

My wife and i started exploring how far down the dirt track this little foz could take us in places like Lerderderg State Park & LaL LaL & Bungal state forest. whilst we stuck to the chicken track mostly... I realised fast this was a capable little beast.
Next thing to go was me rear left shock...... i knew it was coming tho, and taking it offload didn't help a bit :shrug:
So I ordered rear KYB's and standard Kings springs from Archm-suspension in Bayswater as they had the best prices and the boys down there are really nice.
you can find them on ebay

https://stores.ebay.com.au/archmindustries/

So i had them Installed and straight away what a difference it made, the rears must have been so saggy before cause it looked lifted when i picked her up lol

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New rear kings springs and kyb shocks

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Old ride height :rotfl:

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New ride height

Then it was time for some new tires as i had a few issues with the old ones
I went with 4 x Yokohama Geolander G015 AT in 205/70/R15's

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The last issue i had was the speedo died, subaru wanted $350
wreckers cost $10 and i got 2 :rotfl:

And im trying to figure out what this loud noise is coming from my rear passenger wheel area, it comes and goes ,sounds like a loud grinding noise majority of the time around 90-100ks.

1WD
 
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Click to expand...
Hahahahaha It’s part of the foresters diy side awning.
I was so happy with myself when I figured that out [emoji23]

1WD
 
Hey 1WD.

Cam tensioner has nothing to do with it being an auto or a manual. It would pay to get a new tensioner pulley and re-use the tensioner itself. Use a G clamp to slowly compress the piston. Then use a new pop rivet or a pop rivet tail to hold the piston in place. Then fit it all together and sort the timing. Job done.

Alternatively swap the tensioners to run the factory setup from the EJ20, this will make future cam belt replacements easy using the vin. You will need to swap the tensioner mounting plate to do this. Once again, Lego! The only thing you won't have is the guide piece, but it's probably not needed anyway...

Cheers

Bennie

PS: EJ22 intake manifold gaskets will work too!
 
Engines out [emoji23][emoji1360][emoji1360]
It put up a good fight but I won.
One thing I’ve learnt about removing Subaru engines is I hate the 2 engine mount bolts closest to the cabin [emoji28]

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The sensor I’m pointing to above has me confused lol
On the EJ20J there is no sensor here , but instead a cap going over what looks like a hole where a sensor could go on the left cam, but as seen above the EJ22E has a sensor.
As the EJ20J never had a sensor I’m guessing the ecu doesn’t require one so do I need to delete the sensor using the caps off the old motor ? Or leave the sensor in place knowing it won’t be connected?
Or do I need to swap the left hand cam assembly from the old motor to the ej22?


Cheers

1WD
 
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Plug the hole. Don't worry about swapping cam wheel from the 20, it's not needed.

Which two bolts closest to the cabin are you referring to - the two top bell housing bolts?

Cheers

Bennie
 
Ahh awesome thanks for clarifying that mate

The engine mounts under the engine have 2 bolts each, of those 2 the ones closest to the cabin are nearly not viewable and next to no room to undo the bolt lol

1WD
 
Do them from under the engine crossmember. One stud each side ;)

Easy az bro :lol:

Cheers

Bennie
 
LOL I wish easy az

took me 1hr to get just those 2 bolts :lol:

1WD
 
The lower bellhousing nuts are usually a pain to undo because you have the CV directly behind them. A nice long ratching breaker bar made it a piece of cake
 
I managed to get the lower bell-housing bolts off with my torque wrench and a deep socket, it was a tight squeeze with the cv though, like you said.

1WD
 
Started yesterday off with another trip to Subaru to pick up my flywheel bolt and o rings.
Got the torque converter off yesterday and this is how it looked behind
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Rear main seal is fine !! No seepage at all
Plus it has the metal separator plate which is awesome.
I did a fair bit of cleaning on the engine yesterday, much more to do today lol
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Degrease degrease degrease [emoji23]

I would have got a lot more done but I wrecked my back yesterday dragging the old engine while on the hoist round the side of garage, problem is I don’t have concrete so the engine hoist wheels got caught on every little rock.

1WD
 
Good time to slip in a D/R gearbox.. ;)
 
I’ve had one since I got the foz [emoji6]
My 5 speed D/R is sitting in the foz waiting for me to hurry up with the EJ22 lol

The torque converter I removed was from the EJ22 liberty which was auto.

1WD
 
Hahah all good man
Least I have one right [emoji6]

Cleaned the engine some more today, I did an ok job, could have been cleaner but at least I can see everything a lot easier now
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EJ22 after a pressure wash ^

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EJ22 after a degreaser bath [emoji23]

Replaced the coolant pipe O rings
And managed to get the flywheel back on.
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Coffee break [emoji28][emoji23][emoji1360]

1WD
 
Nice flywheel stopper mate ;)

Once the cam belt is fitted you'll be off and racing.

Also the rear main seal is recommended to replace while the engine is out. But if you're happy to take the risk on it lasting before another clutch replacement is required then go for it. I would pull the gearbox rather than the engine for the clutch or rear main. Less stuff to remove and no liquid systems to mess around with.

It's looking good though. Metal oil separator plate was expected and "delivered" :mrgreen:

Keep up the good work, updates and especially pics ;)

Cheers

Bennie
 
Hahahahaha I’m glad you like my flywheel stopper [emoji6][emoji23]

I think I’ll take the risk with the rms for now as it looks really good and low k engine, that’s a much better idea to pull the gearbox rather than engine when the rms or clutch is needed... less work, I would have probly pulled the engine [emoji23]

Cheers heaps for all your help mate, would haven’t been able to do this with yours and everyone else’s help and advice
I’m just going to research the best way to do the whole cam sprocket swap/ re time thing, so I don’t stuff it all up
But yeah once I get the 2 sprockets on and the belt back on and the tensioner all set then I e just got the clutch and the sensor swaps then I’ll install engine back in foz and add the intake and all the other bits and bobs.
Got the timing cover off to get my first look at the timing gears condition and correct me if I’m wrong (clearly have been before [emoji23]) but it all looks brand new.

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Cheers

1WD
 
That is one schmic-o clean engine!!

I'd reuse that timing kit. It's a non interference engine so you could literally carry a second hand kit with you if something goes astray in there.

And since you don't have a cam sensor you DO NOT need to swap the cam sprocket. Just the crank one needs to be matched to your ECU. So that will reduce the pain of swapping the cam sprocket over ;)

So really it looks like you've got:
- crank sprocket to swap
- install timing belt
- crank sensor swap
- knock sensor swap
- install clutch

- install ej22 into foz
- install foz factory intake onto ej22
- hook up cooling system, throttle cable, hill holder, air intake, exhaust, fuel lines, auxiliaries and fan belts
- adjust clutch if necessary

Then fire her up!!

So by my estimations, you should be done by lunchtime tomorrow :poke:

Your exhaust manifold/extractors/headers - UEL or EL? Go the UEL if you can, it'll "release" the subi beat :monkeydance:

Cheers

Bennie
 
Ahahah thanks man, I spent ages cleaning, but it could go a lot more..... I just gave up :lol:

Yeah ill reuse the Kit, Ive got 1 spare belt that I can carry until I get the rest of the kit as spare.

Thats awesome news, one less hassle lol :monkeydance:
All I have to do is plug the hole (haven't gotten the cap off old motor yet)
El_Freddo said:
So really it looks like you've got:
- Crank sprocket to swap
- Install timing belt
- Crank sensor swap
- Knock sensor swap
- Install clutch
- Install ej22 into foz
- Install foz factory intake onto ej22
- Hook up cooling system, throttle cable, hill holder, air intake, exhaust, fuel lines, auxiliaries and fan belts
- Adjust clutch if necessary

Then fire her up!!
Click to expand...

you make it sound so simple :lol: but yes thats sums it up nicely


El_Freddo said:
By my estimations, you should be done by lunchtime tomorrow :poke:
Click to expand...
Tomorrow at any stage would be a godsend :lol:
As long as I can have all the timing lines all lined up before I remove the belt then Ill be able to install the crankshaft sprocket properly and understand how to put it all back together again in time.

To install the crankshaft sprocket I'm guessing it will need a thump or 2 to house it properly on the crankshaft, for this I was just going to use some wood to protect the sprocket, this way I can use a mallet.
Apart from the timing gear my only other concern is lining the engine up so that everything works.


El_Freddo said:
Your exhaust manifold/extractors/headers - UEL or EL? Go the UEL if you can, it'll "release" the subi beat :monkeydance:
Click to expand...

I only have UEL for the EJ20, so if that will fit the EJ22 then ill bolt it up, otherwise I have the standard EJ22 exhaust manifold that will have to do till I get something better.

Kevin said:
Oooooo! Timing belt porn - lookin' great!
Click to expand...

:rotfl: Thanks Kevin, things are starting to come together, not trying to push my luck but Im looking to get that bullbar fitted in the next 2-3 weeks if all goes well , lets hope its as easy as I think it will be ;)

1WD
 
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Does anyone know what this hard hose is that connects to a T piece ?
I broke it on both engines
So need a new one [emoji30]

1WD
 
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