Stanley Steamer

StanFoster

Active Member
Joined
Nov 16, 2003
Messages
17,139
Location
Paxton, Il
Aircraft
Helicycle N360SF
Total Flight Time
1250
You all know I tell the whole story whether its good or bad. I had my temperature start to rise the other evening so I headed back to the airport...I have had occasional erratic temps and have changed my thermostat a few times.

I just put in a new one and my friend Dave Patrick and I were just out to taxi and get the air out of the system. It started warming up again...and I shut it off. Dave got out and a little later I started it and he was waving and pointing. I looked out the back and I had steam rolling out my exhaust pipe. I IMMEDIATELY knew I had either a leaking head gasket...or a cracked head or something.

Anyway,,I havent had a second of spare time till today to tear into it.

I thought I would post the sequence of teardown and rebuild on this Stanley Steamer thread. My Friend Dave Patrick coined that phrase and I said " I am going to use it on a new thread.

Heres some pictures......I am not too bothered really. I always said if I ever had to tear that motor down...I was putting it back with custom cams in it. I have talked to several that say it will help me even more. That Ivoprop was a kick in the butt change in performance...now just a few more ponies...:party:

I basically had to move the engine back about an an inch and a half to get that front crankshaft pulley off. I left prop and all on it worked perfect. I tied the rear of the engine off with that yellow rope just in case the CG of the motor prop combo would make it tail heavy. I left the intake manifold and all wiring all connected....and just simply took out the 8 bolts and suspen ded it also about 1/2 inch off the heads with rope.

Fairly quick and simple....and this is a good learning experience for me to do some motor work.

I believe I have had a warped head all along and it just decided to start seeping.


Stan
 

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more pictures of the tear her down.....:yo:


After moving the engine back a little...I used a strap wrench and a breaker wrench to remove the front pulley. Once that off....I was into the timing belt etc.
 

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Glad you found it, and took care of it Stan. Nice work. I'd like the extra ponies!
 
another picture
 

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getting both heads off.


This is cool...the left rear cylinder is the one that leaked out the exhaust. Look how it got steam cleaned! My friend pointed that out to me and I could not believe it.
 

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The front left piston is dirty...the steam cleaned left rear is shiny
 

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heres the right side and nothing wrong here....nothing steam cleaned.:D
 

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another view of the blown side
 

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I was impressed at how much porting and polishing work goes into these Subarus..
 

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view of the bad head...valve side. The valves were steam cleaned as well
 

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Heres my pile of parts. Really wasnt that bad....and now I am checking into the Delta cam gring that Pat Mcnear has been after me to do to this engine.

I will send the cams off....heads off to get ground....and the valve covers will be painted red to mathc the cabin.

Going to make a silk purse out of a sows ear yet.....:D


Stan
 

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Guys: Dont expect me flying for awhile. I want to do this right...plus I have some majopr stair committments. I will be at the mercy of my cam man....head man....and some other projects at home......


I am open to any suggestions. I will be posting a few questions. I learn a lot on this forum....and feel I will be sponging some more information.

Its weird....this really doesnt bother me much. Here it is the perfect weather...etc....but I really dont have a quote "season" to fly. I fly year round....and since my hanger doesnt have any heat in it...I would just as soon have this happen rigth now. Just not at Mentone....please....
 
problemo.

problemo.

Stan,

The head gaskets are not forgiving in this engine. The 2.5 has a hard metal shim coated with a minimal amount of sealant. The sealing compound on the factory gaskets does not take kindly to any overheating situation. Earlier you had a overheat situation and I warned that you might have hurt the engine. I am curious ? how many hours you have since that event ? Some cars go 2,3 months before trouble starts after a good overheat.

Antifreeze is NOT a solvent. Anyone who has EVER tried to CLEAN a USED piston knows how hard it is to get the carbon off, let alone produce a shiny finish.

The carbon is missing on that cylinder is the result of a phenoma that in the old days technicians used to clean the carbon off the tops of pistons. On the early engines, they used forged pistons. On todays stuff not many have em. BEFORE YOU GO POURING WATER DOWN AN ENGINE KNOW THAT YOU CAN BLOW IT UP !!!...cylinder head leakage where coolant enters the combustion chamber is not good to the point you have cleaned the head and piston crown.

There is a degree of disagreement within the subaru crowd weather or not Subaru is factory forged, or just a high grade cast / Hyperutec... TO THIS DAY the disagreement on various engines after race engine builders have examined various engine productions runs remains a mystery and is not totally clear.

All that being said you want to know that you pumped some coolant into the piston ring lands so shoot some wd 40 up and around the piston crown to flush out any coolant on the top ring, any slurry below the top ring you cant do anything about, examine the top of the piston carefully for missing pieces or looking cracks. Hydro locking the engine under the the "steaming process" is possible. BENT CONNECTING Rod is possible. Rotate the engine thru its rotation and make sure the piston comes up all the way in its bore, compare to the cyl next to it for reference when rotating. Yes I have seen bent rods, reducing effective compression ratio, drive techs nuts later with misfire and performance issue all from leaking head gasket damage.

When you clean all the aluminum surfaces you will use a plastic NON METAL scraper. Do not use any rotary resurfacing abrasives or discs. If you can find a shop that can resurface the heads with a milling machine or head resurfacer do it. You will benefit from increased compression ratio with the larger cam. If not just make really, really sure you dont scrape or groove the mating surfaces of the head and the block deck.

Jonathan
 
Cam Sprocket.

Cam Sprocket.

Another Thought.

You will need a special tool to hold the cam sprocket so you can torque the cam sprocket bolt to its required torque.

High Temp High Strength locktite is a good friend on all major hardware on re-assembly.

J
 
Stan, I thought that the SH kit came with good zero to low time engines??? Maybe I was misinformed....enlightnen me:confused:
 
Jonathon: I appreciate the comments. I had the temperature spike on me while I was flying last March of 2006. It only had 15 hours or so and I had a thermostat that was sticking. I replaced it with a Subaru thermostat....and have been running strong since and have 175 hours on it now.

Why wouldnt a klein strap wrench work on putting the cam sprockets back on?

Stan
 
Heres my pile of parts. Really wasnt that bad....and now I am checking into the Delta cam gring that Pat Mcnear has been after me to do to this engine.

I will send the cams off....heads off to get ground....and the valve covers will be painted red to mathc the cabin.

Going to make a silk purse out of a sows ear yet.....:D


Stan


Good on you Stan. I appreciated the in depth pics descriptions etc.

That engine appears to me to be a 165 hp ej-25 SOHC. I have two of those and 3 with the VVT which gives 175 hp.

I look forward to the progress.

Aussie Paul. :)
 
gyro: They do come with low time engines...but that doesnt guarantee people like me maybe not getting the air out of the system...or having a stuck thermostat.

This engine has been running smooth and I feel this was just a quirk. I will get her running and start logging many more hours and having lots of more missions. :yo:


Stan
 
Paul: I will have more in depth pics as this project continues. I have enjoyed this machine too much to let this little blown gasket ruin my day.


Hows the Firebird doing down under?

Take care....and looking forward to more of your progress.

Stan
 
That's the spirit Stan.....

That's the spirit Stan.....

Paul: I will have more in depth pics as this project continues. I have enjoyed this machine too much to let this little blown gasket ruin my day.

Hows the Firebird doing down under?

Take care....and looking forward to more of your progress.

Stan

.. I will put some Firebird details in the Firebird thread.

Aussie Paul. :)
 
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