jrettenmayer

The EJ is in and running in my 86 GL wagon. When I did the harness, I ended up cutting out everything related to the engine, then splicing it all together instead of what seems to be the most popular way and just cutting out everything NOT needed...except that I forgot to cut out the stuff for the cooling fan. Was planning on just running some electric fans (and I may still do that, except that I have the EJ fans that fit the EJ radiator I'm using, and it all goes in so nicely....I'd like to keep my EJ fans if possible. They have three wires running to each - I just need one of them to function for now, as I don't have A/C. How do I power it? I located the connector I need for the larger fan - one black wire, one Yellow/Red, and one Green/Black. My diagrams show the latter two running to an "A/C Short Connector". Located it. It looks to me like it just ties the two wires together. Do I need this connector? I have the main fan relay, and I understand how to power that, I think. One side to the battery with a 20 amp fuse, the other side to the Yellow/Red wire on the fan. And on the low voltage side of the relay, one side to accessory power and the other side to the wire from Pin D17 on the ECU. Is this all correct? Does the ECU ground d17 and trip the relay to turn the fan on? Why three wires instead of two into the fan? And...how do I turn the Legacy fan into a pusher rather than a puller? Thanks in advance!

Just an update for those interested/who may someday experience similar problems. I finally got around to pulling the EJ out. I noticed that the fingers on my pressure plate were concave when viewed laterally. I removed the new pressure plate, thinking that maybe I had the friction disc in backwards and thus it was sticking out and engaging the pressure plate "early"... anyway, the fingers were in far enough when it was bolted up that the throwout bearing did nothing...and the clutch felt really stiff. Well, the friction disc wasn't backwards. Back to square one. I took out a micrometer and measured the step height on two different ea82 flywheels. The were about 0.030 in. different, but the one I was using was cut deeper, so that eliminated the possibility of the flywheel being cut too shallow. Hmmmm...only one possibility left. I looked at the new pressure plate, and the old. The new one was thicker than the old one. I measured - about 0.050 thicker. Ok....now we're getting somewhere. I cleaned up the old PP and mounted it up, and lo-and-behold the fingers were where they were supposed to be - basically flat. Took it off, remounted the new PP and same story. Concave fingers. Long story short: NAPA was gracious enough to fix their "oops". The took back the PP and the clutch disc (that apparently was for a 2wd?) and gave me the right one. Haven't had a chance to try driving it yet, as it's all still being hooked up again, but the clutch pedal at least feels normal now. :banana::banana:

Did you remove the two nuts holding the motor mounts to the front crossmember?

Pin c10 or c16 or something like that (the wire is black with a blue stripe) comes off the ECU and splices into the tach signal wire that should be coming from your coil. On my EA82, it was yellow.

Oh believe me... I feel pretty dang silly. "Doh!" is right. I guess I won't know for a few days here, as it's cold as sh*t here right now and it's the end of the semester for me, which means lots o' tests for the next few days... Stay posted - I'll let you know if it is possible to put the disc in backwards or not. The best part is: I remember reading the instructions saying something like, "The friction disc is directional - make sure the side with 'flywheel side' goes towards the flywheel" or something along those lines. Doh!

GD - I looked and I see how you think putting the disc in backwards isn't possible - but I think it is...and I found another post on here by a guy with the exact same problem and I am having...new clutch, feels like garbage, won't disengage...his disc was backwards. Makes sense to me now that I think about it - I do remember it being tough bolt the pressure plate down - tougher than I thought it would be. And I'm sure that the concave shape of the fingers on my pressure plate is because the disc is pressing on the friction surface of the pressure plate and forcing them in. Which is why I have my cable adjusted almost all the way in and still not enough to disengage the clutch, but enough to practically hit the tranny housing. *sigh*...another day spent in the frigid weather of Montana in December trying to pull the engine for a stupid mistake...I betcha I don't make this mistake again!

Couple thoughts/ideas maybe someone here can help me answer... First, how close should the throwout bearing be to the fingers on the pressure plate when the clutch pedal is not depressed? Touching? If i "snug" up the cable adjustment nut according to GD's write up on cable replacement, the throwout bearing is always touching the fingers of the pressure plate and spinning...which also makes the pedal feel the stiffest, too. I was hoping that maybe there was just some slack in the cable (there was, but it didn't solve my problem after I removed it). Next observation: looking at the fingers on the old pressure plate I removed, they appear to be slightly convex (pointing at an angle away from the disc like this: disc---> |) <--- fingers). On the new pressure plate (from NAPA...not the dealer), the fingers look to be flatter or even a bit concave towards the disc. It's hard to tell because I can only peer down around the fork when I remove the rubber fork boot. When the clutch is depressed, the fingers on the pressure plate DO move, and I can see it moving in the right direction to take the pressure off the clutch disc....just doesn't seem to be enough. Also, I noticed the fork is real close to hitting the transmission housing (~1/8" or less even from contact)...It doesn't seem to be hitting now, but worries me a bit. Anyone else that's done an EJ swap experience similar issues? Also, if anyone might have a picture of two of their throwout bearing installed correctly and perhaps the clutch setup before it went into their car, that'd be terrific, just for a comparison. Thanks!

Hmmm...ok, you sure about that? It will at least slide onto the input shaft either way, but you're saying you can't bolt the pressure plate down if the friction disc is facing the wrong way? That doesn't leave me with many ideas then...unless the flywheel is cut to the wrong dimensions or something. What are the chances the adapter plate is interfering and I'm just not getting the movement of throwout bearing I need to disengage the clutch? I'm assuming since so many others have done this conversion that that isn't really even an option. Transmission shifted great (nice and smooth) before conversion, and shifts nice and smooth when the car isn't running.

Springs on the clutch disc face which direction?

Hmmm...hoping to avoid that, but... Another question: When the pressure plate goes on, I tightened the down about 1/2 turn at a time in a star pattern - it felt sort of like it was spring loaded or something - I attributed that to the pressure plate doing what it's supposed to and putting pressure on the clutch disc and perhaps to friction on the plate by the alignment pins on the flywheel. Is that friction or spring-loaded feeling to be expected?

Idle is resolved, but this clutch issue is killing me! I'm positive the clutch was installed correctly - flywheel side of disc facing flywheel - and I checked to see that the release bearing was smoothly moving on the input shaft. It engages the pressure plate (I can't really say how much, but I did see the pressure plate move - what appears to be correctly so that pressure is taken off the clutch disc). Still grinding instead of going into gear. What could be the problem? I didn't measure the step on the flywheel before it went in...I guess I assumed NAPA knew what they were doing. I played with the cable adjustments some more and that didn't seem to do anything. Even tightening up the adjustment so there wasn't any free play - thinking maybe it wasn't pushing on the pressure plate enough - didn't do anything besides make the pedal feel real stiff. Any ideas?

Hi all, Two things maybe someone who knows better than I can help me solve. First: Got the EJ running (seems to run well - it starts easily, anyhow). After it was running for a minute or so, I revved it up a bit, and when the RPMs settled down, they settled around 2,000 or so, which I'm assuming is a bit too high. Now, it's really cold here, so perhaps the car is just warming up? I let it run like that for a few minutes and it didn't seem to step down at all. Next - I can't seem to get my clutch to disengage, and just wondered where I should start looking. I've never replaced my own clutch until now, but I'm pretty sure it would be tough to install it incorrectly...properly torqued everything, lightly greased the trans. input shaft...it all went together real smoothly. If i try to put it in gear while the engine is running, it just grinds. I didn't push it. Any suggestions? I did adjust the linkage as it was pretty sloppy after I put the engine it and hooked the cable up to the release fork. Maybe I just adjusted it incorrectly... Thanks for the ideas!

Well, I feel silly...apparently, when I put in the electric fuel pump, I forgot to take the clamp off the feed line from the tank I used to keep fuel from pouring all over me. That's why it kept sounding like it wanted to fire but wouldn't. In any case...it's alive! :banana::banana:

Turns out the problem was two little things - battery connections were loose (doh!), and the battery sucks. I put a different one in, and it turns over reliably now. Hasn't fired up yet. I hooked the red/yellow wire (pin c10 from the ECU) to the black/white wire coming off ignition switch so it will get 12V only while cranking. The car keeps sounding like it wants to fire, just hasn't yet. it's been sitting dry for a few months, so I'm sure it just needs to cycle a bit. I haven't checked to make sure I got the fuel lines correct, but I'm guessing since it keeps sounding like it wants to fire up, it is getting some fuel.

Ok...wired things up - the engine turns over, but hasn't started yet. It's a bit strange...I think my battery is a bit weak or something, but the voltmeter says it's good, and the charger I put on it says 100%. Here's what's going on: Sometimes I get power, sometimes not. The chime that says the key is in in ignition chimes (mostly), but I don't always get my dash lights coming on or anything happening at the starter. Right now, I have the wire from the EA harness going to my starter, as I didn't seem to have power to the red/yellow wire from the ECU that plugs onto the back of the starter. Both ignition and fuel pump relays click over when the key is in the ON position, and I can hear my fuel pump kick on at this time too. I don't think I have any loose wires, as I crimped and soldered everything I spliced into, and all my fuses and fusible links are in good shape. Any ideas? Also, still wondering what I can eliminate from the EA harness. Thanks!

Anyone?

Yep, the lines are on the left side of the car. Given that winter is fast approaching in Montana, I'm just trying to get it running right now! I do have an SPFI parts car I got the pump from - perhaps if I have any fuel issues, I'll change the tank/lines next spring...

Oh yes....also, does the fuel pump (black/red wire) need to be fused?

So, I've got the EJ in place in the 86 GL wagon. I managed to fit the legacy radiator in there, got the power steering all hooked up, fabbed up the pitch stopper bracket and a new fuel filter bracket. I figured out how to fit the EJ air cleaner top to an EA bottom, so the MAF is in place...now, I'm down to the wiring... I think I've got that handled, too. At least hooking up the EJ harness. What I want to know is (for those of you who've installed into a carburated car) what wiring can be removed from the EA? Can I just cut off the old connector that went to the 1.8L and tape those wires off? How about the two smaller wires that went to the alternator (not the big white one, but smaller two - I think one is black/white and the other is white/red)?

Doh! Makes sense... How about cooling fans? After I cut down the harness...I don't seem to have a main fan relay (it's in the legacy fusebox)- did you hook up fans through the existing EA harness? I am beginning to understand what is meant by "the devil is in the details"...

What color were the wires you tapped into coming off the ignition for the constant 12V and "Ignition On" to power the ECU and the relays? I've got 5 thick wires going into my ignition switch, all black with another color (red, blue, yellow, or green...and one other I can't remember right now). Or...alternately, where is the best spot to tap into the constant 12V and IGG ON 12V behind the firewall? Thanks!

Does anyone know if the return line gets a pressure regulator? As I understand, the EJ has inline regulators, so the regulators on the car can be removed...but how about the return line? I don't remember if it had one or not.

Does anyone know if the return line gets a pressure regulator? As I understand, the EJ has inline regulators, so the regulators on the car can be removed...but how about the return line? I don't remember if it had one or not.

That's a great idea!

Work for what? EJ swap? I think so...as long as they are the right length. Between a Legacy and an EA I didn't have to buy any new lines...