TEXT FPO - Driving Sports TV

48. Tap the piston into the bore with a rubber mallet. Do not use
a metal hammer. A rubber dead blow is also acceptable. Once
the pistons are in, insert the wrist pins (reverse of removal) and
install retaining clips. Be sure to replace the retaining clips. Then
reinstall the inspection plates. On the two rear plates, reseal with
Fuji Bond.
51. Prepping the head gasket. You will need new head gaskets.
We used stock STI metal gaskets sourced from the dealer.
Before laying the gasket down, prep it with some copper gasket
spray. This will help the gasket seal and fill in any imperfections
in the material.
54. If you use stock head bolts (be sure to get new ones) the
process is a little more complex. Use the same pattern but do
the following:
- Tighten all bolts to 22lbs in the proper order.
- Tighten all bolts again to 51lbs in the proper order.
- Back off all bolts by 180-degrees in reverse of tightening order.
- Tighten all bolts to 29lbs in order.
- Tighten all bolts by 80-90-degrees in order.
- Tighten all bolts by another 40-45 degrees.
- Tighten the center bolts by another 40-45-degrees.
The reason for “radiusing” the head bolts is to make them stretch
a bit so that they don’t lose clamping force when they are finally
tight. If you do not radius the bolts, they can stretch and cause
head gasket failure.
49. With the pistons in place, rotate the whole assembly over to
make sure nothing is binding and that the rings are seated and
not hanging up. It should turn over smoothly since you used motor
oil to drop the pistons in. You used motor oil, right?
52. With the studs installed and the gasket sealer tacky, you can
lay the heads down on the block.
2007 LEGACY GT PROJECT
50. Installing the head studs. We decided to use ARP head
studs for our engine. They provide more clamping force than
stock head bolts and can be reused if you have to do a rebuild.
53. With the block in place, install the ARP nuts and then torque
the studs down. The ARP torque sequence is simplified over the
stock sequence. Torque from the inside out, starting with the top
middle stud, then middle bottom. Then move to the left top, right
bottom, left bottom, and then the right top. Torque all the nuts
until you start feeling tension (barely hand-tight). Then torque to
36lbs in sequence. Then toque to 72lbs again in sequence.
SubIESpOrt MagazInE 59