After what seems like an age, the ‘EJ20’ four-cylinder boxer engine from our rotten (and now cubed) Subaru Impreza WRX is starting to go back together.

In the latest Redline Rebuild episode, Davin has the task of bolting together the bottom end of the 2-litre motor, or what’s known as the short block.

With a moment to explain one of the issues with this particular engine – that it’s not possible to hone the crank journals in a single pass, as the outer pair are smaller diameter than the inners – there is at least a solution, and it’s not long before the bearings can go in, followed by the crankshaft, and then the two halves of the block can go together.

This is one of the really satisfying bits of the build, we reckon, not least because anyone used to working on dirty and oil-covered engines always dreams of fresh components to handle. And someone with Davin’s experience makes it look easy – though rest assured, all the hardest work, like the measuring, is done away from the cameras.

Stopping briefly to remind you to change your oil so your own engine doesn’t suffer like this EJ motor did, the episode then closes with a slight workshop tool modification to get around a quirk of this engine design (your work wasn’t in vain, needle-nose pliers), and each of the pistons being secured to their respective rods.

We’re not quite on the home stretch yet, but if you want to see what’s next for the Subaru engine, head over to Hagerty’s YouTube channel and subscribe – and follow along with all the Redline Rebuild episodes at this link.

Checking our Subaru WRX engine oil clearance and ring gap Our classics: 1996 Subaru Impreza Turbo Engine Room: How Honda unlocked the power of small engines with VTEC

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