el_freddo

G’day Harrison, What you’re aiming to achieve is not for the faint hearted. This is a project for sure, and you’ll experience many ups with some very low downs - to the point you’ll be ready to burn it. An aftermarket engine management system could be the easiest way to go if you’re wanting to drop a turbo engine in it. Otherwise learn how to read multiple wiring diagrams and cut down the turbo management loom yourself - or find someone to foot for you. The S-GT also an impreza of the same era? Asking because if it is, get one that’s written off and basically do a body swap - as in swap all the drive train and wiring in yours for the donor’s. If you’re using factory wiring cut down, you’ll have to pull the dashboard out. Aftermarket management should be able to be done without pulling the dashboard. You will need a tuner to dial everything in to ensure the engine doesn’t self destruct with the aftermarket management. AWD stuff I can’t see any issues with swapping the rear cradle etc. Someone more in the know than me will hopefully correct me if I’m wrong. I didn’t realise Subaru produced front wheel drive vehicles this late in the piece. Are you sure it’s not AWD? Cheers Bennie

So remove the throttle return spring?? Cheers Bennie

I can send you the part numbers of the seals. Plenty of RHD vehicles around that the seals would be needed for. I should be able to pull them from the VIN I have stored on my account with the OS parts site. But making stuff for locally available seals to fit is a good way to go about it if you can pull it off. The dudes in the Jeeps, are the LHD or custom RHD orders (probably taken off the line for our market!)? In Australia our rural posties drive RHD vehicles, they just scoot over to the opposite side of the road to put the mail in the mailbox. It’s common practice here. The only LHD type vehicles we have here are dual control rubbish collection trucks. I’d say they’re driven from the LHD position 90% of the time… Cheers Bennie

You won’t get check engine light issues for a transmission swap. Your NA Subaru is probably a part time single range 4wd. The AWD versions don’t have a push button for AWD, they’re always mechanically driving all four wheels with a push button on the console to lock the centre diff for the 4wd mode. Being that your turbo wagon is auto you might find the diff splines are the same as the NA manual box, only because it’s an auto. Diff ratios, if the stickers on the back of the rear diffs are the same you’re good to go. If they’re missing just swap the rear diffs over, they’re a direct swap and easy to do in the L series. Instrument cluster centre with the auto settings can be swapped out for the manual one, then work out the wiring pins for each light to work properly. Might need to re-route some wiring from the auto shifter to the manual gearbox for reverse and the 4wd lights. You will need to bypass the auto start inhibitor switch so this isn’t a problem when starting. That’s all I can think of atm from the top of my head. Cheers Bennie Edit addition: there might be a vacuum line from the intake to the auto to block off. Not 100% sure on the turbo models, the NA definitely has one so keep an eye out for it

This might help: http://www.rslibertyclub.org/forums/archive/index.php/t-102810.html Hopefully you might find a DIY write up on these sorts of swaps to make sure there are no changes between the models of Liberty/Impreza/WRX for fitment. I can dig up some AUDM VINs to run through partsouq for part numbers or general comparisons between different generations of the Liberty/Legacy platforms if that helps you find a suitable replacement. The drive to Canada could be a goer for gathering several racks if you can afford the extras - but that’s a lot of effort and fuel with driving! Could be the quickest way out of this situation too - grab two or three racks, shove one in to keep you going, build up a good one to swap in later, have spares to do the same with the one put in as replacement no1… Let me know about the VINs as I’ll have to do some digging around for them on the web cross referencing regos to get the VINs Cheers Bennie

That engine in the impreza is a super mean package from what I’ve been told. I think there were two that were done over here at one point. Dunno what happened to them though. I hope the VSS wiring is a simple fix for you. Cheers Bennie

^ what @heartless said. Can’t swap panels between platforms. I’m not even sure if impreza bonnet can be swapped with the equivalent year forester. Gut tells me no. Front ends are not interchangeable. Some mechanical parts *might* swap over but this would depend on what part you’re wanting to swap. Why do you wan to swap the impreza bonnet onto the legacy anyway? Cheers Bennie

You need to quote distance to fuel put in the tank until it was full. For example, our family bus just got 1254km to “a tank” (two actually). Breaking that down we put 158L of diesel into the main and aux tanks. That further boils down to 12.6L/100km 7.9km/L). Not too bad for a 2.5 ton vehicle that’s 18 years old with 380,000km on the clock. Put that up against my Brumby. It got something around 450km “to a tank”. It’s fuel usage was 8.6L/100km (very stoked - 11.6km/L). But it’s got a 55L tank vs the 170L of the family bus, and I don’t run either of them dry as that would be very inconvenient :p Cheers Bennie

Steptoe is onto something. Injectors are batch fired in pairs. Can’t remember exactly which ones are paired together though. Cheers Bennie

Can’t help you there. I thought you were asking where the location of the fuse box was. Put up a wanted ad in the sales section of the forum. Cheers Bennie

Oh wow, I didn’t expect the seals to be completely different! I hope you manage to get something back together to get you going again. You’re still using a Gen1 on the postal route? What about shipping a RHD Liberty wagon from Oz? Crazy idea I know but it’s newer and RHD that you seem to need. Just the $$$$s are the killer in this economic climate! Cheers Bennie

The phase 2 are “better” because the cases are stronger and the gears a couple of mm wider on 1st and 2nd. I can’t remember if they widened 3rd to 5th too. Cheers Bennie

There’s a brown box with three or four fusible links in it, mounted to the side of the radiator overflow bottle. Internally, the fuse box hides behind a removable panel above the driver’s feet near the driver’s door. Pull that panel off to reveal the fuse box. That panel will have the diagram of fuses on the back of it so you know what’s what Cheers Bennie

When it refuses to start, do you have voltage where it needs to be? Eg: at the ECU power wires, ignition coil, do you get spark when turning it over when hot and not wanting to run? If you have spark does it try to fire up with some start ya bastard or aero start sprayed down the intake? Cheers Bennie

Direct swap. Will need to ensure the rear diff ratio matches the gearbox ratio. Swap the centre console to accommodate the dual range lever. Everything else will bolt in the same. Fair effort on the ‘87 with its history!! I’m guessing it was only a roll onto its side type of rollover? Down here anything that involves the roof in a rollover is an instant ticket for a write off - unless you know someone who’s really good at re-grafting a replacement roof and pillars to your ride. Not a common thing to happen here. Cheers Bennie

Have you seen the size of the air inlet on a Gen1 air box vs the diametre of the rest of the air intake between the air box and the engine? There’s a huge difference between the two, thus theory would have it that the air box inlet would be a restriction of some sort. How much for an NA? I don’t know and wouldn’t know how to test for that. But an air inlet to the air box matched to the engine air ducting between the air box and engine must reduce any restrictions in the setup. This includes deleting all the air ducting and boxes inside that front guard too. All of these changes will make things noisier, who doesn’t love a bit of induction noise? Cheers Bennie

Didn’t miss read - just miss represented what I was trying to convey. In my experience after loading up the two first rounds of torque settings, when you back off the full 360°s in two rounds of 180°s each, the bolts end up finger tight. This might not happen for you for whatever reason but it did for me on two different engines, reusing the head bolts each time. This is what I was trying to say in my original message. Cheers Bennie

And “Wait Awhile” Western Australia is a BIG place! @PostalLeggy - the Gen1 was quite popular here. We just don’t see them that often in the parts yards anymore, they’ve had their peak time already but aren’t yet “rare” enough for one to be stripped out the day after it lands in the parts yard. So the few examples you see will sit there for sometime until they’re turned over due to time in the yard. I hope the LHD parts can be used in the RHD rack to solve the issues you’re having or trying to resolve! Cheers Bennie

@PostalLeggy- there *should* be a reed switch setup built into the instrument cluster inline with the speedo cable. This is how Subaru did it in the EFI L series models. If there is no sensor hooked up to the system that would make sense as to why it’s not holding the set speed. Cheers Bennie

Hey mate, RHD racks are not unobtainum! In self serve parts yards we still have the odd Gen1 pass through, they’re typically Granma spec too - so sad to see! I’m sure later model steering racks will fit too - many in the early turbo Subarus fit other racks from later models that are “quick turn” easily enough. I don’t know if there are other mods required to make them fit but it can be done. This will open up your options, the hardest part is shipping them to you after suitable low km units are found. Getting stuff into Oz is generally cheap, getting it out is typically not ;( I’m typically good at sourcing parts but hopeless at shipping them… and I now live even further away from the parts yards I used to frequent regularly - I’m about 2hrs away from the closest self serve yard in Melbs and about the same for the one down G’town way (Geelong). pick-a-part.com.au and jollysupullit.com.au are the two sets of parts yards that I would visit. I don’t see this being difficult sourcing the racks needed in RHD spec if you wanted to. You’d just have to be patient with me to find the time to get down there between family commitments etc Cheers Bennie

What year/EJ25 engine are we talking about? I follow the FSM - on the two EJ251s that I’ve done HGs on following the sequence in the FSM (and using the MLS HGs as per GD’s recommendations, they’re going very well without any issues thus far. That part about backing off the head bolts x degrees as referenced by ocei77 will most likely remove all torque or tension you put into the bolts during the steps prior from what I recall. All the best with it! Cheers Bennie

Stock air box and paper filter will move more air than your NA could ever need. What could benefit is making the intake hole into the air box larger, and scoop air from the front of the vehicle like later model cold air intakes do… how to achieve that on the older Gen1 is anyones guess atm - but I’m sure it’s been done before on an RS or other Gen1 turbo models that use the same air box Cheers Bennie

Many have done the Lock up switch mod and not reported cruise control issues. I’d be looking into how you’ve hooked up the VSS as this will be required for the cruise to work, in these earlier Legacy’s the sensor is in the back of the instrument cluster, unless you have the turbo SS model where it will be on the gearbox if it’s electronic speedo like our Aussie delivered RS turbos are (the SS is the US version of the RS and early JDM GT, except US SS was only available in sedans I believe). Anyway, side track there. Why not hook up an aftermarket cruise control system? Much easier than trying to retro fit a factory setup. I’m hoping we can get to the bottom of this one easily enough! What year is the cruise control “ecu” module from? And did it come from an auto or a manual? If from a manual it’ll need a clutch switch bypass - probably just a wire across those pins to say the clutch is always engaged (pedal is at rest position). Cheers Bennie

All of us started somewhere with our mechanical knowledge so stick with it. Same goes for the girlfriend thing too, it helps if they’re into cars a bit though If you were being sarcastic, well played, if not, the above still stays as it is Cheers Bennie

There are two different types of six speed - one that’s a different design to the 5spd and is considered the “proper” six speed because of its strength. The other is a split case 5spd with a sixth gear built onto the back of it. If you’re after performance the proper six speed is the way to go. The best is from the STi from what I understand. As for what you need depending on what box you have, I’ll leave that up to those that are in the know. Cheers Bennie