Overhauling the engine in my very first Subaru and more..
Hello everyone!
My name is Mike, I'm from Miami Florida. Back in December last year, I bought my very first Subaru ever, an Aspen White 2001 Forester L
In the past, I've always had Honda vehicles, but I've always kept an eye on Subarus and always wanted to own one. So after a long time and much search online, I was able to find what imo was a Forester in great condition for its year, with only 114K miles. However, the car would not be without its faults as it had been intermittently overheating by what seemed to be an issue with its Achilles' hill: the infamous head gasket problem. Even though, I had done quiet a few aesthetic mods and mostly suspension work on my previous cars, I had never embarked a job as big as a partial/total engine overhaul. I must admit at first I was a little intimidated.. So I started reading the shop manual a lot and learning about the car, researching here and there, asking others and watching a whole lot of YouTube videos. I went ahead and bought an engine lift, an engine stand and some specialty tools needed for the job along with many other tools which would serve later. And with the help of my father in law, we started taking the engine apart. I am a Radiologic Technologist. At work they were going to throw away a sturdy frame which was originally holding brand new X-Ray equipment which came from Germany. It occurred to me I could turn it into a sturdy work bench and decided to keep it.
I will try to be as thorough as possible showing all my work details and also asking questions as I go along. After all, this is the first time I'm doing this. Hopefully those thinking of doing a similar job can benefit from this thread as well.
I apologize for some of the tilted pics..
The day it arrived home
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X-Ray table frame I took home
![]()
Most of the equipment the frame was holding
![]()
The future work bench
![]()
Then I built a table top for it
![]()
Added a sheet of zinc on top
![]()
Harbor Freight holidays specials
![]()
Tools I used..
![]()
let the disassembly begin
![]()
Since I've never done this before and there are so many connections, we marked all hoses, connectors, sensors, etc with the same numbers for male/female connections
![]()
Engine bay as it was before being removed. All male/female connectors/pipes and hoses were labeled each other with the same number in order to make engine rebuild much easier
![]()
Hello everyone!
My name is Mike, I'm from Miami Florida. Back in December last year, I bought my very first Subaru ever, an Aspen White 2001 Forester L
In the past, I've always had Honda vehicles, but I've always kept an eye on Subarus and always wanted to own one. So after a long time and much search online, I was able to find what imo was a Forester in great condition for its year, with only 114K miles. However, the car would not be without its faults as it had been intermittently overheating by what seemed to be an issue with its Achilles' hill: the infamous head gasket problem. Even though, I had done quiet a few aesthetic mods and mostly suspension work on my previous cars, I had never embarked a job as big as a partial/total engine overhaul. I must admit at first I was a little intimidated.. So I started reading the shop manual a lot and learning about the car, researching here and there, asking others and watching a whole lot of YouTube videos. I went ahead and bought an engine lift, an engine stand and some specialty tools needed for the job along with many other tools which would serve later. And with the help of my father in law, we started taking the engine apart. I am a Radiologic Technologist. At work they were going to throw away a sturdy frame which was originally holding brand new X-Ray equipment which came from Germany. It occurred to me I could turn it into a sturdy work bench and decided to keep it.
I will try to be as thorough as possible showing all my work details and also asking questions as I go along. After all, this is the first time I'm doing this. Hopefully those thinking of doing a similar job can benefit from this thread as well.
I apologize for some of the tilted pics..
The day it arrived home
X-Ray table frame I took home
Most of the equipment the frame was holding
The future work bench
Then I built a table top for it
Added a sheet of zinc on top
Harbor Freight holidays specials
Tools I used..
let the disassembly begin
Since I've never done this before and there are so many connections, we marked all hoses, connectors, sensors, etc with the same numbers for male/female connections
Engine bay as it was before being removed. All male/female connectors/pipes and hoses were labeled each other with the same number in order to make engine rebuild much easier
Only area on the car with rust.. need to clean with grinder very well and weld a piece of sheet metal
