el_freddo

Now you say that Ido, the process sounds like the process to remove the rear suspension subframe... Cheers Bennie

In neutral. Stay there long enough and oil won't be moving around the box, you could damage the input shaft bearing when stationary. Dunno how true that is. Either way if you're moving and sitting in this neutral position you're effectively not in control of the vehicle and could be in danger. Good thing about the neutral position is that Subaru in their wisdom put it there in the first place and added synchros to the high and low range gears. This means we can change between hi and low range on the fly if you know what driving gears you should be in when changing from high to low range Cheers Bennie

No need to do all that. Jack the car, undo the two upper bolts and the lower bolt on the swing arm and remove the strut/shock and spring combo. Removing the tyre can give you more room to work with - and will make aligning the lower mount easier as you're not having to lift as much weight to slide the bolt in the hole Cheers Bennie

To do the cut down you DON'T need the wiring to the rear of the car. But the wiring/plug for the fuel pump is nice to have. Aftermarket wiring can be used too though. First time playing with efi wiring? If so, don't let it get the better of you! Label all engine plugs! Then strip wiring of the conduit to expose all the wires. From here I traced the wires from the plugs back to the ECU, taping those wires together every foot or so (or when other wires weaves through the ones I needed) right back up to the ECU. Then with any remaining wires that we're loose from the ECU they were taped together too/marked as important as appropriate. Enter the wiring diagrams. Those loose wires - trace to the ECU plug, find which PIN number they are (plug diagrams are when looking at the plug from the ecu's perspective back at the plug). Find out what the wire is for and label it. These wires generally stay in the vehicle to be tapped into the L series harness - usually via a fuse panel to protect the two looms from failure cussed by the other loom (that's the theory anyway. I've not had a fuse pop with mine). Once you know what all the wires are it's time to wrap it back up again. I used electrical tape, spiral wrap, then electrical tape after I had the shape I wanted. It can be done in the car (can be painful) or on the floor. Most of all have fun with it and remember your end goal when the going gets tough. If it's over whelming, have a cuppa/read the paper then go back to it with a clearer mind frame Cheers Bennie

I've always used a G clamp to compress the tensioner piston - and have one I the tool kit (need to be self sufficient when 4wdn over here). Cheers Bennie

Sorry, should've said the oil cited was for my ej22'd L... No justy here. We do have one very rusty Sherpa. Cheers Bennie

You can swap diff centres to use your factory axles. I'm sure there's a how to on here somewhere. I hope you like gear oil! Cheers Bennie

The code will be separate issues. Check them out to ensure your engine is running with all ponies from the stables so to speak. Cheers Bennie

Don't mess with those interlock pellet things. They almost did my head in getting them back in - there's a certain sequence to put them in correctly iirc. Love working on gearboxes - I might have my hands dirty in another one later this year... Cheers Bennie

I can change my ej22 timing belt on the side of the road no worries... Not that I've ever had to! I was thinking the other day that I've not recorded when I did my last cam belt change. No noises from the idlers in there atm so I'm not worried about it - early ej22e's are non interference anyway Anyway, many ways to power your subi these days from full engine conversions, efi adaptations or fixing and tuning another carb to your EA - it's achieve to their own and generally personal preference has a lot to do with the final outcome. Cheers Bennie

Nice one mate! It wouldn't be hard to make a frame to bolt between the engine stand and the gearbox (held on by two bolts of the lower side case when sitting on one side), this frame then has a set of horizontal arms to support the weight of the rear section of the box, allowing the box to be secured and able to be split... Thinking I'll have to steal the gearbox on the engine stand trick Cheers Bennie

Thanks Dave! Those pics are tops! With the second pic I don't have those metal vacuum hose lines. But I should be able to sort something out as these hoses will be different on the ea81 charcoal canister. And I'll have to look closer into the EGR pipe in my parts ea81 to see how close it is and check out my later model ea81 that uses the cast plates on the exhaust between the head and the Y pipe. I might be able to swap it over to the other side and make up an appropriate pipe to fit. Or drill the head (not wanting to) or blank off the EGR valve contraption. Time will tell. Thanks again for the pics! I'll be downloading them when I'm on the computer for sure! Cheers Bennie

Nothing bastardised about it - it's just an engine stand with a gearbox mounted to it. Now I'd like to see them split the box... Cheers Bennie

On the SPFI system there's a purge control solenoid. I hadn't thought about what's on the EA81 system atm. Might have to look into that one. Air box: I've got a VL unit somewhere - or was going to us a classic range rover cylindrical air filter. Either will be more than good enough for what I want to do I just need to find both of them then workout which one best suits my application. I'm looking forward to having this sorted in the next month or so between work Cheers Bennie

Cost, good question! It's been 10 years this year since the conversion was done! I shopped around for parts when they were cheap. Best way to do it is get a donor car - then you have just about everything other than the external high pressure fuel pump. You will need the engine harness, ECU and loom, intake pipe work, airflow metre, air of, O2 sensor (in the Y pipe). I had a copper radiator back then and had to have the ports changed. Top one was 45 deg angle to poke towards the engine, lower one to do the same horizontally rather than vertically. An increase in size to 40mm dia will have you using the EJ hoses. The other way to do it if you're this way inclinded: mount a dizzy off the rhs cam at the back of the engine, mod the intake to accept some carby of choice. Or find a factory EJ carb setup - more common over there than they are over here. Cheers Bennie

Yes it certainly would Dave. I need to know how to route the crank case ventilation pipe work, where the purge control solenoid line run for proper fuel tank ventilation and what the small port on the back side of the intake almost above the throttle body is for/where it's plumbed in. Thanks heaps mate! I'm looking forward to having this sorted! Cheers Bennie

Ironic from the bloke that always dissed facebook. Even more ironic is that you won't find me anywhere on there now... Thanks for the idea though. Cheers Bennie

Well you have multiple posts one after the other as if you've just finished one thought/message, post it then start another one straight after as you have another thought/message. Please take this as constructive criticism. And GD, you've changed. You used to give good advice and seem to be a bit of an advocate for the EA81. Now it seems that you'd rather spend a bit of your expensive time to grill others rather than not say anything at all... Back on topic, years ago when I did something "crazy" with an EA82 MPFI conversion into a DL L series (before I knew of forums etc) I purchased a full engine gasket kit that was aftermarket. Initially I found this confusing as it had just about every gasket for every variation of the EA82 - many that I didn't need. Now the disappointing thing is that I can't comment on how well they went as the engine died from overheating when the radiator end tank let go. That freshly built engine was a throw away. Learnt a lot about EFI systems etc and now have an EJ22 - having an idea of how these systems work certainly helped with that conversion. Now I buy my gaskets as needed from Subaru or partsouq. Cheers Bennie

Really? No one? I find that surprising. I'm still living in hope that someone with either an EA82 factory SPFI or an EA81 SPFI conversion will be able to post up some pics! Cheers Bennie

Engine mounts: Hammer the little bump flat at the outer edge of the engine crossmember's mount point and file the engine mount holes outwards. I can't remember how far as I did this about 8 years ago. A set of wedges are good for keeping the engine mounts sitting flat. Wiring is a big one for many. Get this right and you're sorted. If you can bench test the engine and your wiring and all goes well you know you've completed one of the hard parts! If you've got power steering the EJ stuff will bolt right up at the hoses on the engine crossmember. I used the EJ throttle cable and had to modify the hole in the firewall to accept the EJ cable. Otherwise once the wiring is in it's "just" hooking up the required wires for ignition, vehicle speed sensor (if you want), permanent power, backup permanent power (from memory. Some ppl tie these two in together IIRC). I also used the EJ starter wire for the starter trigger - the EJ ECU references this wire to richen the mixture or something to help with cold starting. Keep your EA engine loom and use the coolant temp wire and oil pressure switch wire on the EJ - saves messing with a few more wires. Radiator mods or a replacement radiator will be required. I've heard of ppl using the BRZ radiator - but you'll need a filler neck either added to the radiator or have a remote one fitted into the top rad hose. I've used an N13 pulsar radiator, slid to one side to clear the cam cover with the lower outlet. Works alright if I'm not doing steep slow climbs or driving in +35*C heat Also, while you've got the EJ on the floor, a good idea is to mark an spot to place the EA temp sender on the coolant crossover pipe. Remove the intake manifold and the coolant crossover pipe, have someone weld in a small plate where you've marked for the EA temp sensor. Drill and tap the hole to the appropriate size/thread. This will have your factor temp gauge behave the same as always. This is one thing I wish I did with my conversion. The EJ sensor reads low on the EA instrument cluster. Cheers Bennie

Probably the cam belt tensioner needs replacing. I had a new aftermarket one die within 20k km. Replace with a genuine unit if possible! Cheers Bennie

We didn't get the justy over here so zero parts availability on that front. Last week I got a genuine oil filter and sump plug washer for $21. Aftermarket was $26 - no brained as to which way I went... Cheers Bennie

Well those parts would be in my possession now Jono! Yeah I've seen this setup on our driver's side head. I might even have a pipe to use too if I can sort the hole properly... Cheers Bennie

Touch wood I've not had these issues with the oil pump. I've always removed the crank pulley and have done a pump removal in the car several times. All the best with fitting a new pump! Cheers Bennie

G'day all, I'm working on an SPFI conversion that's made its way to Oz, originally from Alaska! I'm chasing images of the setup for the intake manifold. My kit did not have an intake manifold included, TomRhere was kind enough to sort me out with one - not to put it all together and get the plumbing of the EGR, crankcase ventilation system etc correct. If anyone here that has an SPFI system that's easily accessible, could you please drop the pics below this post or in my other thread in the retrofitting subforum? I'll be especially interested in converted EA81 engines, and I'm wanting to see how the EGR exhaust pipe piece is fitted - I've read about the factory pipe from the EA82 fits to the EA81 - I don't have this pipe so I'm hoping to work something out. I also don't have any exhaust holes in my RHS head... so keen to see what the go is there. Any pics appreciated! And yes, I've done a google image search, no real good ones that are suitable for my needs atm. Regards Bennie