Djuhnk's Minnesota Wagon Build
Djuhnk
Band Wagon
Hi everyone, let me introduce you to my ride! after my 02 forester was totaled last February I started car shopping. Ive always been a Honda guy but have had Subarus for the past few years just because they are AWD. So I started looking for RT4WD wagons across the states... I came across one in Seattle I liked but it didn't have A/C. It did however only have 165000 miles and everything was stock, so I flew out and grabbed it the next week. When I actually got in the car I realized right away it needed a lot of TLC. The door locks in the back were seized shut, the fold down seat knobs were broken off, there was a mouse nest in the air ducting under the hood, and there was a pretty sizable dent in the rear driver quarter panel that was relatively fresh and cracked the paint- didn't see it in any of his pictures.
So I got to work right away tinting the car and replacing my door lock knobs, because I had to break the other ones. (rear quarter panel dent visible in this pic)
Mouse nest!!!
Fast forward a couple months and I got some new enkei rims and Kumho tires for ~$600 shipped and a used set of yakima roof racks
Very versatile vehicle with a hitch, 4wd and SUPER LOW
I Found a used 4WD transmission locally, and grabbed it in case I need it.
Then Winter came and after driving it through salt a few months the very small amount of rust on it and open wounds from the dent in the back panel were starting to get concerning so I decided to start taking her apart and try attempting my first paint job. Im going to do door jambs but not the engine bay. I picked a similar color and I don't have plans for this being a show car or anything so my engine bay can be a slightly different color.
I also have started accumulating parts to go forced induction in the future. and I hope to keep updating the thread as I get more progress.
thats all for now!!
So I got to work right away tinting the car and replacing my door lock knobs, because I had to break the other ones. (rear quarter panel dent visible in this pic)
Mouse nest!!!
Fast forward a couple months and I got some new enkei rims and Kumho tires for ~$600 shipped and a used set of yakima roof racks
Very versatile vehicle with a hitch, 4wd and SUPER LOW
I Found a used 4WD transmission locally, and grabbed it in case I need it.
Then Winter came and after driving it through salt a few months the very small amount of rust on it and open wounds from the dent in the back panel were starting to get concerning so I decided to start taking her apart and try attempting my first paint job. Im going to do door jambs but not the engine bay. I picked a similar color and I don't have plans for this being a show car or anything so my engine bay can be a slightly different color.
I also have started accumulating parts to go forced induction in the future. and I hope to keep updating the thread as I get more progress.
thats all for now!!
Comments
P.S. Rusty exhaust tips +10hp
was doing body work over the winter, here is the car all sanded down
Decided to paint the door jambs, so that meant taking the doors off the car for an inexperienced painter
The biggest dent on the car, trying to pull it out.
start of the bondo
body painted- I used epoxy primer, urethane base and 2k clear coat.
Heres the car mostly put back together
heres the stock 170k mile d16a6 pulled out of the car
heres the block all stripped down and taken apart, I didn't find any surprises, the bearings all were in spec and my cylinder walls were still in spec, albeit slightly tapered, but I decided to run std bore and put no notch speed factory long rods and pm6 pistons back in for 10.5:1 compression
Honed the cylinder walls with 240 grit ball hone- they were pretty badly glazed and the engine was burning a qt of oil per 1000 miles
heres one slight problem I ran into, I didn't realize the long rods were going to send stock pm6 pistons above the deck- this is about 40 thousands above the deck, my head gasket is 48 thousands, which is too tight for things not to get kissy. So I had to clearance the cylinder head in order to make it all work.
cylinder head clearanced so the piston would fit up inside it.
Heres the d16a6 about to get dropped back in
almost there!!!
Well, things are running good, im noticing more torque for sure with the higher compression pistons, plan is to break it in and then stick a small turbo on it and get it dyno tuned. Im breaking it in with conventional oil, and revving it hard and engine braking. suggested by an article in by a sport bike engine builder.
here is a video of it running with the built motor
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vySi4CDFe34&feature=youtu.be
1st step- removing this through passage
Kinda neat they made A/c so plug and play on these, heres the plug locations that go through the firewall, the top is for the ac lines, and the bottom is for the condensate drain
AC evaporator ready to go in
Evaporator installed
heres the evaporator lines as they come through the firewall
heres the compressor bracket, compressor, belt and hoses installed as they should be. What im planning on for turbo clearances is changing the discharge line I am pointing to. It wraps all around in front of the headers, which can make things tricky for installing a turbo. im getting a half sized radiator installed and when that happens I can run that hose directly from the compressor to the condenser without the loop de loop. it'll just take a $35 custom hose and a custom compressor adapter.
Thanks for documenting your progress, it's so cool to see!
Neat door locks.
I had to install a smaller battery for turbo stuff, heres a finished picture of that
Bought a traction bar to make room for turbo stuff. And worked on intercooler positioning at the same time, i thought it might be easiest if i made some mounts from my traction bar for that.
Gotta thread the needle to keep A/C with turbo stuff
I also realized i was going to lose my front motor mount with the new traction bar, and i was gaining over double the HP so i decided that wasnt a great idea. I welded up a mount for the front motor mount, and i also welded up a radiator support so i didnt have to ghetto lean my radiator.
Heres a custom A/C hose i had made so i could delete the OEM loop hose coming off the discharge of the compressor
Time to start making a manifold, step one was turbo positioning, obviously there isnt a whole lot of options while trying to keep a/c and p/s, all while keeping the turbo high enough to properly drain oil.
Realizing about now that i should have bought a cast pre made collector
One of my goals for the turbo build was unequal length runners for either cyl 1 & 3 or cyl 2 & 4. I based that off the firing order of the engine to create a rumble exhaust tone. D series just dont sound great... UNTIL NOW!
All Tacked up
Finished, I realize the wastegate position isnt perfect but its the best i could do, and turns out its working great. boost is regulated fine, and Verified spark plug #3 is same rich black color as the rest of them.
Down pipe & exhaust fabbed up- sucks you cant buy an aftermarket exhaust for these cars. I bought one for a hatch, and the terminal part of the exhaust was routed through the axle area, and i tried to keep that route with a little modification, but it is hitting when i hit large bumps so im in the process of moving it to the stock location now.
After i got a base map made with turbo edit enough to get into boost at 10:1 AFR , i realized quickly that i was having head gasket issues. My Fel Pro MLS gasket was pushing exhaust gases into the water jackets causing overheating and cavitation issues. so i dissassembled the head and bought a new OEM graphite gasket. (kinda wish i would have got OEM y8 MLS gasket instead.) Anyways, i had the head resurfaced, and i decked the block a tiny bit with sandpaper on a slab of flat glass. the blue paint is called layout fluid, and its used to see if you have any uneven spots while you are decking the block.
finished product
New gasket ready to go
All is well now, the new gasket is holding pressure, and the car is very fun to drive, spools up very quickly. the exhaust sound is exactly what i wanted (will post a video of it for you all)
Only having one problem. my radiator is tucked behind my condensor and ive been having problems with my temp starting to creep when doing more than 75mph on the highway going up hills. I'm thinking it has to be an airflow problem so im currently thinking of ways to route air through the radiator in a more effective way.
All for now
Dan
Dan, thanks for all of the info on your build. Were you able to get air to flow into your radiator better? I've been having issues with cooling my Turbo wagon when holding 75mph as well. What brand radiator did you go with? Thanks again.
I havent dug into my issue yet, winter came around so it wasnt a problem. My radiator is a skunk 2 half size.