In the beginning it was just an everyday Forester...
This section will be a dedicated day by day, month by month, year by year recollection to my Forester build. If you are looking for a bit of story with my mods this is the place to be. Alongside the story I will link the diys, products and reviews to help you find them. Enjoy the read!
Having a purpose built STi for the auto-x courses I found myself looking to retire it from the daily grind. With a short commute to work a modestly priced car was in my mind. Something in the 2-3k range, Subaru and a wagon. The vehicles that made the short list were Impreza Outback sports, Saabarus, and blobeye Impreza wagons. A 04-05 Forester Xt was a very sought after car but from my searches it appeared even the NA Foresters were well out of my range.
After viewing plenty of cheap Subarus that were overpriced and probably not worth saving. I stumbled upon a listing on a dealership that they had just received a 2006 Forester XT and it was priced to move. By the time I had contacted them they had told me it was already unloaded onto a smaller local lot due to the mileage. Luckily they passed the number of that lot to me and shortly thereafter I was to head down to check it out. After a quick test drive and look over he decided to tell me the not so good news. They had worked on it over the weekend but were having trouble fixing the overheating issue, but it seemed to be doing well during the test drive.
Seeing that the rest of the car was in great overall mechanical shape I decided to take it on for what appeared to be a steal of a deal. Thinking the worse it could be was a head gasket but being a dohc turbo motor that was hopefully unlikely.
Stopping by my friends house after buying it. It was quite dirty and we decided to wash it before I took it home.
First off we needed to check out the cabin filter. I know these cars are known for having forgotten filers hiding behind the glove box. Well here is mine in all it’s glory. Pretty sure it was in there from day 1 and now removed at 196k! Really nasty… But I am also sure it caused some damaged to my blower motor bearing, make sure to replace these often!
A month later it was doing everything I needed it to do, heading back and forth from work, allowing my Sti to sit around in the garage and helping me move larger items than I had ever did before. Quick, quirky and a car I always wanted to own it was an exciting time. But the overheating seemed to come and go during stop and go traffic…
After a few tests a definitive answer was still not on the table. Even a chemical test in the coolant didn’t show the exhaust gases that were surely pumping through the radiator and coolant system. But one chance drive home had me opening the hood after a drive to find coolant being pushed out of the overflow reservoir. This was sign I needed to know it was time to get to work.
A checklist of goodies was soon on the plate for the headgaskets that were in need of replacement. First off I went ahead and purchased a Subaru full gasket kit and new Ngk plugs to have everything on hand for the repair. I went ahead and picked up a set of Iag aluminum half moon seals so I wouldn’t need to ever buy those again. I had also noted when looking under the hood that crank pulley was seperating and another oem unit was ordered.
Gaskets on gaskets! The Subaru complete gasket kit is a beast.
New radiator hoses and thermostat were also on the list due to the overheating issues, the radiator was notably new, making me think that was one of the repairs that was tried before I purchased the car. Turn in concepts FU cam bolts were last to arrive but well needed.
Turn in Concepts Fu cam bolts also come with an awesome sticker and a sweet dino.
With everything in hand my second go around on pulling my own Subaru motor was go. It was right around the time of the year where I generally take a week off work, which was nice to take your time and enjoy the work.
The engine pull went fairly straight forward, remove all connected hardware and bolts. Attach your prefered lifting apparatus and give it the old heave-ho. With the motor out and unassembled it was easy to see that the cylinder 1 had been where the leak had been from. Had the heads machined and checked over, for their age they were in good shape, so back on they went.
Engine removal.. Just part of every Subaru owners life…
No engine! So much room for…. A repaired engine!
Breaking the old cam bolts free was not an easy task.. Glad I figured out a much easier way to do it after this. Easy cam bolt removal diy link!
The darker area is the failure point, Headgasket gases pouring into the coolant system. Nothing lasts forever right?
The head side of the leak from the head gasket.
Popping on the new timing belt, tensioner, pulleys ect. Gates belt kit.
After that was completed the engine with 198k went right back into the Forester and started right up. Back to regular everyday service that it was purchased for. During this I actually found the driveshaft had a clicking u-joint that then began to seize up. Causing the car to hop away from stop lights. A used driveshaft was obtained and installed, which fixed that problem.
So far after just under two months of ownership I had replaced the driveshaft and resealed the whole engine… Could be worse right….?
What will the next chapter of this cars life entail… Stay tuned for the next installment of as the Forester turns..