1992 VR4 #71/1000

[JDM253DSM]

Honestly, bro, you should try figure out what the noise is before you make a big decision like getting a different car or doing an engine swap.

Yeah I'll try to do that. Its not always making the sound BTW. Only when it idles

 

[iceguru1114]

Yeah I'll try to do that. Its not always making the sound BTW. Only when it idles

I'm not a big fan of doling out advise without all the data, but one piece of info you might find handy is that, if it is indeed an engine noise, one thing that drops significantly at idle is oil pressure. Anything in the engine that requires oil pressure to operate quietly could therefore be suspect ie) hydraulic lifters, hydraulic tensioners etc...

 

[iceguru1114]

Got a bit sidetracked with another restoration project:



More coming on FUBAR soon

 

[iceguru1114]

iceguru1114 updated 1992 VR4 #71/1000


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[iceguru1114]

iceguru1114 updated 1992 VR4 #71/1000


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[GST with PSI]

This is a great build. I love to see Galant VR-4s in capable hands instead of being destroyed by hackjob owners. I'm looking forward to your future build progress. Awesome work

 

[iceguru1114]

This is a great build. I love to see Galant VR-4s in capable hands instead of being destroyed by hackjob owners. I'm looking forward to your future build progress. Awesome work

Thanks man. Honestly, I've looked very closely at your build, and that's very similar to what I'm going for.

 

[GST with PSI]

I've looked very closely at your build

Lol. Which one? I've got more Galant VR-4s than I have sense

 

[iceguru1114]

Lol. Which one? I've got more Galant VR-4s than I have sense

Definitely the white one that was featured on the home page a few months back. Super super clean (and awesome) Nothing too crazy, but very well done and still perfectly suitable for the street, exactly what I'm going for.

 

[iceguru1114]

Powder Coating Adventures (part 1)

I got a bit sidetracked from the engine build here, but I when you find a deal and things line up for time and money, sometimes you have to pivot and allow yourself to ride the tangent.

Time for powder coating adventures for the wheels and valve cover...

Picked up some Enkei wheels from an EVO (in a WRX, blasphemy, no?):


Learn from this facial expression that chemical stripping of the Evo 8 wheels DOES NOT WORK!!!:


Caved and took the wheels to an industrial blast shop, luckily this powder coating adventure was a group effort so the cost was split up amongst friends:


Valve cover received the same treatement:


Got the appropriate amount of metallic flake gunmetal grey:


Dropping off all the powder coating parts at my local powder coating corner store:


Two days later:


My buddy's SSR's for his GTO came out looking Creme Fresh. The EVO wheels look pretty good too:


The valve cover looks pretty good too, but there's more work to do on that later to make sure everything is clean in the breather:

 

[iceguru1114]

Breather System (part 1)

This part of the engine rebuild marked the beginning of sweating some of the finer details of an engine build. As luck would have it, I was designing a breather system at work at the same time I was trying to figure out what to do with crankcase gases for my 4G63, so I was able to carry some things I learned at work over to FUBAR.

Valve cover breather cleaning commenced. All you have to do to start is drill out the rivets:


In hindsight, I should have removed the breather prior to powder coating. When breather was removed, more support for the name 'FUBAR' was found; remnants of a dirt dobber nest inside the breather, I thought this complemented the moth nest in the cylinder head rather well:


After some elbow grease, I got to this point:

The dark spots are where powder coating baked onto the valve cover with the breather in place. No one will see it, and there is nothing that is going to drop out of the breather into the oil system to ruin the engine

Toying around with some ideas to re-attach the breather:

If anyone knows of a good high-temp epoxy for metals that has worked in this application, I'm all ears because I'd really rather not use fasteners here if I can avoid it.

I did some experimenting with a few different types of adhesives:


Long story short, neither epoxy or liquid metal works worth a damn in tension. Furthermore, Epoxy is completely unsuitable for high temperature use.

In the end I decided to go with fasteners and some semi-permanent thread locker along with some RTV:

I'll probably pull the cover after a few miles to makes sure these fasteners are staying put.

 

[iceguru1114]

Manifold Cleanup

Started in on cleaning up the air handling components:


Intake came with a black paint job I didn't really care for:


I like the raw aluminum look:


Note to all, ebay headers are terrible!!:

The carbon buildup is clear evidence of a severe port mismatch and, thus, severe flow losses.

I picked up (and cleaned up) a 2g manifold to replace the ebay headers and the cracked 1g manifold I had to choose from:

 

[iceguru1114]

16G Turbo Rebuild

I was lucky enough to have a 16g that came with the spare engine. Since this will be an autox car, this turbo is pretty perfect. However, it was in desperate need of a rebuild:


Another garage hack, makeshift t-wrench for removing the compressor nut without damaging the turbine shaft:


Turbo also had a cracked exhaust housing, so I picked up a new 7cm housing:


I also picked up a new wastegate diaphram/actuator:


There's an entire thread on rebuilding these turbos, but this is what some of the guts look like:


Everything after cleaning and the wheel assembly after dynamic balancing:


A little trick for getting the compressor cover installed with a new o-ring that wasn't covered in the 16g rebuild thread:

Went in without any fuss using a couple of clamps and spacers

Finally got the turbo rebuilt and slapped on the engine:

 

[iceguru1114]

The final engine prep required re-threading a few studs on the cylinder head on cylinders 1 and 4:


The cylinder 4 stud after the repair:

Someone had done this before me (improperly) and punched into the oil gallery, so this stud repair involved helicoil and liquid metal

Cylinder 1 thread repair required special care due to the broken stud:


I used my old 1g manifold as a 'honing plate' and an appropriately sized center drill to get started:



I finished up with a series of drill bits until the stud was completely drilled out:

The final repair used a timesert instead of a helicoil to get the threads right due to the amount of material that was removed in the repair.

The engine is now starting to get impatient:

 

[iceguru1114]

iceguru1114 updated 1992 VR4 #71/1000


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[ERJ-145 driver]

Nice build, this makes me want one.

 

[iceguru1114]

Nice build, this makes me want one.

Go for it man, I'm sure down south you could find a clean one that's not totally rusted out.

 

[iceguru1114]

The engine is now starting to get impatient:
View attachment 288363

Now the engine is starting to get REALLY impatient:

Time to dive into the chassis once I finish up some Subaru work so I can get 'Rex' sold.

 

[iceguru1114]

iceguru1114 updated 1992 VR4 #71/1000


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[iceguru1114]

I haven't made much progress on FUBAR lately because life, but, I did want to post up a few updates...

First of all, I picked up a donor car to help push the chassis aspect over the finish line. I'm sure this is becoming common these days:


Next, the garage received a serious upgrade to help me power the tools I'm going to need to finish the job:


I returned to the engine for some unfinished business. Started by protecting for an upgraded crankcase breather system (catch can setup):


Found a McMaster check valve with a very small cracking pressure that is good for lots of boost/heat/oil etc. and integrates nicely into my NPT/AN line setup without having to resort to hose clamps:


Rebuilt the throttle body as completely as is possible for a garage job:

 

[iceguru1114]

Radiator Support Replacement

This really marks the beginning of the most massive part of this project. I've learned more about bodywork than anything on this project and just about anything that can be reasonably accomplished by a DIY'er has been done on FUBAR. The first step was to replace some of the most badly damaged bodywork.

Finally started diving into the chassis. Here's a before picture:


Lots of spot weld cutting required to remove damaged sheetmetal:


Damaged area successfully removed:


Engine bay about 90% gutted including subframe, front suspension, ABS, sensors, harness, etc...:


Donor car pre-removal:


Donor car post-removal:


Interior about 50% gutted:


Next big step will be prepping engine bay for paint

 

[miliman13]

Love the vr4's.
Great thread, looking forward to more.

 

[GST with PSI]

It's awesome people are really putting in work to restore these cars. Financially, it's just not worth it, which is why I can really appreciate builds like this.

Looking great, keep the updates coming!

 

[iceguru1114]

It's awesome people are really putting in work to restore these cars. Financially, it's just not worth it, which is why I can really appreciate builds like this.

Looking great, keep the updates coming!

Thanks man, you're right, I'm definitely not doing this because it makes financial sense . But, the GVR4 community is a group of DIYers, so I feel at home in this crowd. I'm having fun with it, I'm learning new skills, and hopefully I'll get a running car out of it someday that I literally built from the ground up. What more could a gearhead ask for?

 

[iceguru1114]

Love the vr4's.
Great thread, looking forward to more.

Much appreciated. I will definitely keep the updates rolling in as they happen.