Subafreak

What the????? Wow! That is just......Wow! I dont even know what to think of that.

Well if you run an EA82 turbo tranny you can use any Legacy, Imprezza, SVX, WRX, Forester front axle up untill the years they started doing the internal axle stub thing. But that gives you alot of options, all you need to do is use the matching spindal. I would recomend against the STI stuff and most of us dont want to run 18" wheels are pay to replace a set of Brembo pads. The SVX brakes will fit a 15" wheel if you find the right one and will stop like hell. Also the SVX spindals use a ball joint desing where the shaft bolts through the spindal and the ball joint bolts to the control arm with 3 bolts, making it easy to mount them to a custom control arm. And with the wider front track you can use the bolt on camber adjustable EJ style struts with a little custom upper strut mounting plates.

Well we're a pretty crafty bunch so there are alot of cheap posibilities. Just think that every evolving generation of Subarus usually got longer and stronger axle shafts....well longer anyway Most notably the svx being one of the widest Subarus ever made and not being to hard to find parts for. Also the STI being about the same width. The Tribeca obviously is very wide with some beefy axels but not cheap or easy to come by yet. Most of these axle upgrades will involve having to change the spindals but if we're talking about custom building control arms anyway, why not?

Yeah, thats basicly the same as the STI struts. I just want to get them together so you can see the differance from the fronts to the rear.

I admit i was a bit sceptical about replacing the bullet proof EJ22 with a 2.5L given there reputation. But the guy i work with (the shop forman) who has been working on and expirementing with Subarus for 30 years praised this engine configuration so i took the risk and am loving it so far. I suppose if you wanted to go crazy you could upgrade the rods and pistons and maybe even use an STI block, but this build is all about low cost easy to resourse parts. If it was about the most bad a$$ motor swap for off-road i would drop in a turboed 3.6L Turbos arn't bad for off-road, i had a turboed EJ22 in my Loyal and it was ok, better on road but most of that cars limit off-road was due to gearing anyway, and that motor ran great untill the fuel pump got weak and fried cyl #3. My motivation on going with the EJ22/25 hybrid was the fact that the car is a Legacy so it's already wired for the EJ22, I dont have to worry about leaning the motor out of over boosting it, and basicly all i was doing was sticking a 2.5L block between everything that was already there. Seems easy and worry free and low buget, and everthing thats been done to this car has been kept to the low buget theory. If this thing ends up left out in the woods for a couple days i dont want $10K worth of parts sitting out there. On the other ideas of porting the heads or installing big cams. Well porting the heads would probly be a good idea but the whole reason this motor works the way it does is becouse the cams. It's still a non-interferance motor, most of it's high compression attitued and low end tourqe are becouse of the cams that are in the heads. The cams are operating for a 2.2L doing everything faster than the 2.5L bolck. Valves close sooner building more cyl pressure, between that and the cyl head pent roof angles makes this motor do what it does.

Im sure most of you have heard of the EJ25 block with EJ22 heads hybrid motor. If you have a EJ22 swap already you've got all the hard work done, and i can tell you it is a worth wile swap. It gives you the power of the EJ22t with the down low tourqe you need for off-road and non of the complications or possible failiers of a turbo swap. Now EJ25 blocks have are not known as a great block, between there piston slap and a strange tendancy to throw a rod thru the block. I dont know why i have seen so many with rods sticking out but i assume it has to do with poor maintinence. The piston slap is a known issue but is ussually with in normal limits and can always be made better with the updated coated pistons. The EJ25 block we put in the monster Legacy had stuck piston rings from lack of oil changes. All we had to do was clean the ring grooves out and replace the rings and now it sounds and runs great. Thw simple build is to use an EJ25 series I block, with the DOHC heads on it. Then you get the headgaskets for that block and match them up to your EJ22 heads and drill the coolant passages from the headgasket into the heads. Then you will need to carefully drill the two small holes through the headgasket for the exaust valve coolant port for the EJ22 heads. Bolt it all together with your EJ22 acceroies and drop it back in. I wish i had taken a couple of pics when we were doing this, but trust me you will have so much more crawling power and acceleration it will feel like you just dropped in a big block.

A suggestion on the cheaper side, STI rear struts have about twice the travel of most any front strut and they are easy and cheap to come by. Most people end up changing them becouse of the clunking problem that is just caused by dirt build up in the seals and the heavy spring rate the STI's use. you can get ahold of a set of these, clean the seals out and cut and weld to suit your application and spring use. The best part is they are inverted for streaght and you can remove the insert when your doing the fabricating as to not harm the seals and valves and can just change the insert when they where out, not having to refabe a new strut everytime it needs replacement. With there heavy valving combined with a more comliant spring should make them an execlent cheap resource for an off-road strut. I plan on making a set for the monster Legacy soon.

Looks much better with the new tires! I enjoy the pics, looks like the same guages i had just mounted in a different spot. (used to be on the dash). By looking at the engine bay pics it looks like they swaped everything over from the old car, it even still has the vacume controls for the dual range tranny and diff lock. As for the suspension lean it may just have a worn out spring. I know they had to change the rear swing arm crossmember becouse it broke in half when they ripped one of the swing arms off, they may have built the rear lift uneven. Is it leaning in the front or back?

The car did have an LSD in it before, but they may have changed it to match the ratio of the tranny they put in it. THe only way the marker lights should be able to get power with the car shut off is through that switch on the column. I would strat there to see if the switch is damaged. Sorry to hear about your loss, thats a horrible way to go. I hope you new years gets better.

The frankentranny was a Duel range AWD with centerdiff lock tranny out of an 88 Rx, i chopped off the bell housing and welded an EJ bellhousing on to it so i could bolt it up to the EJ22T with the EJ clutch. It worked really well but i think the last guy that had it blew it up. Ditto on the parking light switch. I never had any electrical issues with engine wiring harness or any other part of the car, but then again it's almost a compleatly diffrent car now from the sounds of it.

As far as pther info on the car i cant be to sure. As you can tell it used to be on a compleatly diffrent body. As far as i know the only things left are the lift kit and the wireing harness for the 2.2L and the roof rack. I'm pretty sure the tranny i had in it got destroyed. What kida tranny does it have in it now? It also had a crazy exaust setup in it that used half a turbo housing, does it still have that in it?

Try this for a link to what the Loyal used to be. http://www.subaru-svx.net/photos/user.php?Subafreak|8894

Haha, sick! I was wondering if that car would ever end up on this forum. I build that Loyal like 5 years ago, well i belive the lift in it is still the one i built. It got sold to two people around me befor getting sold off on E-bay. I used to be under a gray body wagon and had a duel range AWD tranny out of an RX with a 2.2L turbo motor in it, But i recognise that roof rack. It did have 30x9.50 under it but whatevers on there now looks a bit smaller? Awsome to see it's still going and getting wheeled!

90 Legacy wagon 2.5L HO hybrid motor Home made snorkle and diff vents Sti LSD rear diff and axles LSD front end Sammi t-case Home made 6 1/2" lift 33-9.50-15 BFG At's

Wow! Thats gotta be one of the best chop jobs iv'e seen. Looks like it belongs that way, and most of the body panels are still stait!!!! Mine looks like ive been using trees and rocks to make it smaller.

LOL! Never really did a build up on it, we wanted to make sure it was gonna work first and not just crumble apart on the trails. The only evolution it went thru was getting the STI rear end. As far as crazy torque and power.......It's running a stock 150K 2.2L with a bad blown headgasket. Im pretty sure the only reason it moves it the reduction in the Sammi T-case.

Thanks. I always knew it was capable, just never had a camera around in a cool enough wheeling spot. This thing has never let us down (except when the axles kept breaking), It always goes thrue everything we take it to. Did find out that LSD's are no substitute for a locker, but it still works really well.

Happy Trails

Found the coolest new wheeling spot! And it's not far from where we live...about 10mins down the road. Fortunatlly my wonderfull girlfreind felt more comfortable out side the car taking pictures wile i attempted to roll it on large rocks, so she got a bunch of wheeling action photos.

Well i was having problems with it over extending before, becouse we extended the lateral links. The inner cv would skip just out side the cup and then pop back in. With this new rearend we kept everything at stock length to prevent this problem. I was acctually more concerned with ender extending the axles (that they would be crushed together under full droop) But that dosnt seem to be a problem either. I swapped the broken axle out this weekend and found that it shattered the inner cv cage. Like i had said in a previous post i think the axle was damaged when i got it. I had a clicking sound from that side from day one and with the new axle in it i dont have that click anymore.