• Registered: 2009-08-06
  • Posts: 68

Topic: Blown f'n Suby head gasket ends our race

Jeeze! Our car has only 187k miles on it and 47 1/2 hours of racing and the bloody head gasket let go at Summit!!!

My question to you other Suby guys out there is: which motor are you running? What are we doing wrong?

cheers

Yeah baby!
#47 Impreza:  2009 Lamest Day; 3rd / 2010 Capital Offense; 4th (with a blown head gasket) / 2010 New England something or another; 60 somethingth, f'n wheel bearing / 2010 Lemons Fall South 77th out a 101 - all 10 feet shot off! Then there was Miami...
  • From: Mentor, OH
  • Registered: 2010-02-22
  • Posts: 207

Re: Blown f'n Suby head gasket ends our race

We are running the EJ22E.  I believe we all (subby powered teams) had head gasket issues. We blew 2 sets.  Engine is getting torn down to see if it was a warping issue or not.  Unfortunately the Subaru engines that are suitable for Lemons are also in the range for being known to have head gasket issues.  Ours only had about half the racing time on it that your did FWIW.

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#34 Save the Tatas Subaru Impreza
2010 Detroit Irony 32nd/Capital Offense 68th/Grand Bull 26th/Rod Blago "FIF"

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  • JThw8
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  • Registered: 2009-06-10
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Re: Blown f'n Suby head gasket ends our race

Yep, EJ22.  To be fair to our motor it was our own fault our HGs blew.  We lost a coolant hose and it was run 2 laps with no coolant before the driver noticed.

Lesson to all us though, bring spare gaskets.  Unfortunately for you guys who still have them in subarus its a much harder process to change them, with the wartburg we can do the whole process without pulling the motor.

http://wartburg.misfittoysracing.com
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  • Registered: 2010-06-08
  • Posts: 13

Re: Blown f'n Suby head gasket ends our race

We will find out how our EJ22E does at the Houston event in Sept.  The engine has a little over 100k on it, but wouldn't be surprised if run into issues given their tendancy to have HG issues.

Refinery Trash
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  • From: Toronto, Ontario
  • Registered: 2009-05-03
  • Posts: 1,114

Re: Blown f'n Suby head gasket ends our race

Have you guys considered retarding the timing? Used to do it in the Stone Age when the head gasket was marginal and I needed to limp through the main....not a Sube though! Also, if it's DOHC, can you open the intake valves a little late? Always wanted to try this to lower chamber pressures but I can't grind those high tech SBC cams...

Jim "Endo" Anderton
30 years of racing and still not Brambilla.....
  • From: Mentor, OH
  • Registered: 2010-02-22
  • Posts: 207

Re: Blown f'n Suby head gasket ends our race

Kinda tough to change timing as their is not a distributor to adjust.

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#34 Save the Tatas Subaru Impreza
2010 Detroit Irony 32nd/Capital Offense 68th/Grand Bull 26th/Rod Blago "FIF"

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  • FJ40Jim
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  • From: Lancaster OH
  • Registered: 2009-05-02
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Re: Blown f'n Suby head gasket ends our race

porkchops22 wrote:

Kinda tough to change timing as their is not a distributor to adjust.

Might be possible to reposition the CKP or CMP sensor.
Or move the magnet/pin/notch that signals the CKP.

Jim C.
If God meant for us to race, we'd all have baggy Nomex skin.
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  • From: Mentor, OH
  • Registered: 2010-02-22
  • Posts: 207

Re: Blown f'n Suby head gasket ends our race

sounds too much like work

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#34 Save the Tatas Subaru Impreza
2010 Detroit Irony 32nd/Capital Offense 68th/Grand Bull 26th/Rod Blago "FIF"

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  • From: north of dallas
  • Registered: 2009-11-29
  • Posts: 264

Re: Blown f'n Suby head gasket ends our race

get the head surfaced at a reputable engine shop. might help

  • From: Mentor, Ohio
  • Registered: 2010-04-19
  • Posts: 208

Re: Blown f'n Suby head gasket ends our race

The coolant conditioner is nothing but stop leak.

Pendejo - There is no such thing as a racing budget and if you can't afford to set it on fire and watch it burn while drinking a beer then don't race it.

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  • Mulry
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  • Registered: 2009-05-01
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Re: Blown f'n Suby head gasket ends our race

And you'll have to dump it before tech anyway. Water only in the coolant system, otherwise insta-fail.

Pat Mulry, TARP Racing #67

Mandatory disclaimer: all opinions expressed are mine alone & not those of 24HOL, its mgmt, sponsors, etc.
  • From: Hayward, CA
  • Registered: 2010-03-23
  • Posts: 1,762

Re: Blown f'n Suby head gasket ends our race

A bad head gasket after 187K mi and 47 1/2 hours of racing. That surprises you?? Its somewhat surprising it lasted through nearly 2 races.

Maybe head gaskets for Subie 2.2l engines are like oil for some cars,. They should always be changed after every race?

I did a bit of searching around on the web and found this thread, which seems applicable. Sounds like you should be running a composite gasket, not the metal/Teflon later Subaru gasket,

http://www.rs25.com/forums/f190/t100250 … ained.html

Or maybe you should spend some big dollars or time and get/make one of these. The V12 Jag guys should probably go down this path too. Get some sheet copper and start cutting. Then anneal it and apply some thin sealant to each side.

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/SCE-S92494

Make: Get some sheet copper and start cutting. Then anneal it and apply some thin sealant to each side. Lots of drag racers use copper HGs.

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  • Registered: 2009-07-13
  • Posts: 23

Re: Blown f'n Suby head gasket ends our race

you know I've heard of 2.5 engines having hg problems, havent heard the same about the 2.2 till now. u guys are making me nervous lol ours lasted one race, and I intend to make it last another

  • From: Mentor, OH
  • Registered: 2010-02-22
  • Posts: 207

Re: Blown f'n Suby head gasket ends our race

best of luck to you.

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#34 Save the Tatas Subaru Impreza
2010 Detroit Irony 32nd/Capital Offense 68th/Grand Bull 26th/Rod Blago "FIF"

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  • Registered: 2009-08-06
  • Posts: 68

Re: Blown f'n Suby head gasket ends our race

Thanks everybody for the info! We pulled the motor and will try Subaru's latest gaskets.

Monger; we have a 2.2, it was very polite and didn't crap the bed until 15 minutes to go in its 3rd race. Let us know how you do.

Yeah baby!
#47 Impreza:  2009 Lamest Day; 3rd / 2010 Capital Offense; 4th (with a blown head gasket) / 2010 New England something or another; 60 somethingth, f'n wheel bearing / 2010 Lemons Fall South 77th out a 101 - all 10 feet shot off! Then there was Miami...
  • From: Mentor, OH
  • Registered: 2010-02-22
  • Posts: 207

Re: Blown f'n Suby head gasket ends our race

They are overall a great motor but you have to keep them happy.  If you look at the head/block seem and the head gaskets look to be swelling then do yourself a favor and fix it now.  We let ours go and ended up cooking 2 rod bearings and bent 3 valves.  Luckily we have until Octobers Gingerman 2 event to get it going again but still, we could have avoided the failure.  We also had an issue with a stuck thermostat at Summit Point and that is where the major problems started.

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#34 Save the Tatas Subaru Impreza
2010 Detroit Irony 32nd/Capital Offense 68th/Grand Bull 26th/Rod Blago "FIF"

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  • Registered: 2009-07-13
  • Posts: 23

Re: Blown f'n Suby head gasket ends our race

I was really impressed when our 2.2 took 15 hours of bouncing off the rev limiter, with well over 200k on it to begin with. we'll see in Stafford how much more abuse it can take

  • Registered: 2009-08-06
  • Posts: 68

Re: Blown f'n Suby head gasket ends our race

Great! If we get ours done by then; we'll see you there!

Yeah baby!
#47 Impreza:  2009 Lamest Day; 3rd / 2010 Capital Offense; 4th (with a blown head gasket) / 2010 New England something or another; 60 somethingth, f'n wheel bearing / 2010 Lemons Fall South 77th out a 101 - all 10 feet shot off! Then there was Miami...
  • Registered: 2010-01-15
  • Posts: 93

Re: Blown f'n Suby head gasket ends our race

the 2.2 is solid. any 4 cylinder with over 100k is looking for a new headgasket / timing belt / water pump / oil pump imho. avoid the gen 1 2.5 liter motors...

  • From: Mentor, Ohio
  • Registered: 2010-04-19
  • Posts: 208

Re: Blown f'n Suby head gasket ends our race

The 2.2 turbo is a solid deck.  The non turbo is still an open deck.  IIRC

Pendejo - There is no such thing as a racing budget and if you can't afford to set it on fire and watch it burn while drinking a beer then don't race it.

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  • Mulry
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Re: Blown f'n Suby head gasket ends our race

JThw8 wrote:

Yep, EJ22.  To be fair to our motor it was our own fault our HGs blew.  We lost a coolant hose and it was run 2 laps with no coolant before the driver noticed.

If you were going to put a water pressure sender in the coolant system, what do you think would be the optimal positioning? Right where the water exits the head? Or on the back side of the radiator? Or maybe right where the water enters the engine?

Reason I ask is that I picked up a water pressure sender and am planning to put it inline with the coolant hoses (to be hooked up to an unused side marker light to use as an idiot light), so I can pick the optimal point for that. Thoughts?

Pat Mulry, TARP Racing #67

Mandatory disclaimer: all opinions expressed are mine alone & not those of 24HOL, its mgmt, sponsors, etc.
  • JThw8
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Re: Blown f'n Suby head gasket ends our race

Mulry wrote:
JThw8 wrote:

Yep, EJ22.  To be fair to our motor it was our own fault our HGs blew.  We lost a coolant hose and it was run 2 laps with no coolant before the driver noticed.

If you were going to put a water pressure sender in the coolant system, what do you think would be the optimal positioning? Right where the water exits the head? Or on the back side of the radiator? Or maybe right where the water enters the engine?

Reason I ask is that I picked up a water pressure sender and am planning to put it inline with the coolant hoses (to be hooked up to an unused side marker light to use as an idiot light), so I can pick the optimal point for that. Thoughts?

I would probably put it right at the outlet side of the system off the head but mostly because we have a hose reducer fitting right there so it would be easy to install it at that point.  I dont know if it really makes a difference otherwise.

http://wartburg.misfittoysracing.com
OTTER: "I think that this situation absolutely requires a really futile and stupid gesture be done on somebody's part."
BLUTO: "We're just the guys to do it."

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  • From: Romeoville, IL
  • Registered: 2009-12-12
  • Posts: 1,117

Re: Blown f'n Suby head gasket ends our race

Try to underdrive the water pump. They tend to cavitate at high RPM, then coolant goes nowhere.

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