el_freddo

Mitchy, are you aiming for more lift than this, or are you happy with that height? In the before and after pics it’s difficult to see the difference, it looks like it’s maybe an inch or two at best. The lighting unfortunately makes it hard. I do like how you’ve positioned the car on the same angle though! Cheers Bennie

That 4wd transfer case won’t come off until you remove the gear on the back of the pinion shaft for the 4wd action. It’s a bloody stupid design with the pinions haft fitting through a hole only big enough for the pinion shaft. Once this gear is off, the 4wd transfer housing can be removed, then the four retainer bolts in the pinion shaft bearing housing can be removed. After the case half bolts are removed the cases should split apart with some persuasion from a rubber mallet. And I don’t recall any reverse lockout device or 10mm headed bolt on the selector fork in the 4spd box, only the 5 and phase1 EJ boxes. 4spd box = nothing like the 5spd box until you’re at the 4th gear and forwards from there. Even then the concept of the low range is the same but the layout is different. Cheers Bennie

And if you’re pulling the interior from another vehicle you’ll have everything you need for this conversion/swap. Wiring will be under the carpet of the donor, if not in your vehicle, you’ll probably find that the under carpet wiring will plug in under the dashboard somewhere on your vehicle. Cheers Bennie

http://offroadingsubarus.com/macpherson-strut-to-top-wishbone-conversion/ here’s the link to the strut delete I was talking about ages ago - used strictly for racing and jumping HIGH! Strut and spring swap would be so much easier! Even if you built your own spring compressor like what’s shown in the video posted earlier. If you got separate strut and spring orders in, your probably have it all put together by now! Cheers Bennie

Go easy on the throttle - drive like a a grandpa and you’ll extend the life of the 4speed Cheers Bennie

Awesome! I loved my L series in the snow! What I found was the engine would run hot because the radiator was cooling the coolant too low/quickly. A piece of cardboard over half of the radiator had temps sitting where they should. Only difference there is that I’m running an EJ22 - where the thermostat is on the cold inlet side of the engine! Your EA82 will have the thermostat on the hot side so it shouldn’t be effected in the same manner - unless you’re getting a frozen radiator (I’ve seen that happen before in very frosty conditions if you don’t warm the whole cooling system up properly). Other thing to investigate is the possibility of a leaking heat gasket. And do you have true AWD or part time 4wd? The true AWD box has a vacuum operated diff lock solenoid and if it hasn’t been toyed with, it comes with a poor low range of 1.19:1 - good for rallying in low range! If you’ve got the part time 4wd box and a non turbo, you’ll have the good 1.59:1 I really miss driving in the snow! Cheers Bennie

The RXII coupe and the Vortex (XT4) and the XT6 are the sources for these gearboxes. The low range is on the gearbox input shaft, it sits above the front diff before any power goes through to the drive gears. There is no swapping of stub axles or ring gears wth this swap. The ring and pinion swap is for a diff ratio change. By dodgy I meant that it’s a low range that’s not very low. It’s a 20% reduction vs a 60% reduction for the good low range. They’re just ratio changes. Cheers Bennie

If a blocked fuel line - remove filler cap and blow compressed air back into the tank through the fuel outlet line. If this clears the line, pull tank out and give it a good flush. Cheers Bennie

You’re reading about the EJ 5spd box and you’re pulling apart the 4spd unit. They’re different gearboxes! What you’re dealing with there is the part time 4wd engagement system. You need to pull it apart - and remove the rear output housing to achieve this. I’ve pulled one of these apart. It’s not fun - and I don’t have to get mine back together! There’s a process you need to follow to get all of that out properly. You will need to remove all the cotter pins holding bits to shafts etc. Just that I don’t know what this process is exactly. THEN: wait until you get to the pinion shaft - you need to undo the bolt on the end of the pinion shaft. I believe it’s a 34mm bolt. And it’s an offset hole to slot your socket through. That didn’t work for me. The angle grinder did though as this box is junk and I wanted the front diff stubs. Best of luck with it, I’m sure it can be done - you’re at the difficult part atm. Hopefully someone can give you the instructions on how to do it properly! Cheers Bennie

If you have a part time 4wd box it will bolt straight in. You will need MPFI or MPFI turbo front driveshafts as the diff stubs are the larger 25 spline units. Also grab the instrument cluster if it’s available. And the vacuum solenoids that operate the diff lock You will have the dodgy low range in this box (1.19:1 vs 1.59:1) compared to the PT4wd L series box. They’re a drop in interchange job if you want the good low range. Worth the effort! Cheers Bennie

Yes. Your EJ will bolt to any EJ series gearbox, including the 8 bolt boxes (phase 2 - just use the four bolts that your engine has). Cheers Bennie

Dashboard is in. I had a few little issues putting it in, namely around the air vent ducting clicking in properly. But for the most part it’s in and almost everything works. It looks good and I can’t wait to go for a drive. Much better to look at than the original speed, oil/fuel gauges and a clock that didn’t work - I set it to 5 o’clock I’m not sold on the green backlighting, time will tell about what happens here. After finalising this install I need to fit an alternator and an air filter, pay rego that’s overdue, then go for a long overdue drive! Cheers Bennie

Not an abs sensor issue on one of the wheels? But then again I guess that would have an ABS light for that sort of thing. I hope it’s an easy fix. Cheers Bennie

There will most likely be a black box in the drivers kick panel area, six plug from memory. These can become faulty. Although I’ve not personally experienced this. One way to tell if you have this box or not - when you turn the ignition on, does the pump usually run for a few seconds then turn off, OR does it run all the time? If it runs all the time you do not have this box. If it shuts off, you’ve got this box. Also ensure your fuel filters and lines are not blocked. Cheers Bennie

Depends on what you put in. The EA AWD box will bolt straight in but will need MPFI shafts for the larger diff stub output shafts. EJ box will need custom crossmember, tailshaft, possibly gear selector linkages and matching rear diff ratio of swapping ratios. And you’ll need the MPFI drive shaft for the larger diff stub output shaft. When you say “go up the mountains” - does this mean offroad or on the black top through the twisties? Cheers Bennie

Shame you have to move this on. Such a unique car! Cheers Bennie

Correct. Trans swap is involved either way you go. Cheers Bennie

You guys are kind of stuck in America if you like the dual range. With those wheels you should be alright to pull that speed. For a period of time it probably won’t be fun. You could drop in the RXII AWD dual range box, swap the low range to the good L series version, swap the diff output stubs while you’re there too. Fourth ratio can’t be swapped without swapping 3rd as well. One side of the gearing (I can’t remember off the top of my head if it’s the top or bottom set) are cast/“stuck” together. 5th gear is a Lone Ranger and can be swapped independently - and the EJ phase 1 5th ratios are a direct swap. In the RX box you might find those ratios a bit more user friendly for what you want. These ratios are “wide” as opposed to the NA set that are “close”. The AWD box has the same internals as the EJ internals with the exception to the dual range - which makes single and dual range internals NOT interchangeable. I’ve got the RXII AWD box behind my EJ22, 4.111:1 diff ratio (not an easy swap but possible with a machinist!), turning 27 inch diametre tyres, matched speedo. I put in a different 5th ratio that turned out to be too short (same as what you’re running now - 0.87:1 - I wanted 0.78 from memory, the box I think came with 0.73:1 - which I should’ve just tried in the first place.). So you’ve got some options, but they’re limited if you’re married to the dual range. If dual range doesn’t matter, you’ve got loads of options from the EJ box series. Cheers Bennie

This is happening Stock brumby dash up top. This is the ONLY factory available dashboard and instrument cluster for the brumby in Australia. The lower dashboard and six gauge analogue cluster is from some touring wagons (most are digital), Coupés and the GL sedan. And of course it’s all Lego So this will be in soon. EJ wiring loom is being laid out for future use too Cheers Bennie

The ‘99 still had the EJ22. But with a small change in the valve setup it became interference. Externally the engines look the same. Cheers Bennie

Yep, same boot, almost the same issue as what you have there. A few more months (maybe) and it would’ve gone the same way as yours. The other three boots up front are fine - because they’re not located near the exhaust! I’m lookig at making a heat shield for the boot to help increase its life expectancy. I hope that repaired shaft does the job for you Cheers Bennie

There’s a permanent power wire, then there’s an ignition “ON” wire. You now need to find and check that ignition wire. Some of the SPFI conversion documents could provide you with the ECU pinouts to help find the ignition wire. I can’t remember if the SPFI ECU has one, but the ignition relay could be dead too. Worth looking into anyway. Cheers Bennie

Correct. The blown fuse you found - has it blown again? If so I’d start looking for any wiring that’s “aftermarket” that could be creating a short. It could even be the ignition switch shorting out and blowing the fuse. There are many reasons why your engine isn’t running, and that blown fuse is a good place to start interrogating the wiring. I really hope it’s an easy fix. Make sure the fuse you’re using is the correct rating. Anything more and you could be in for trouble. Cheers Bennie

Another solution for the manual: http://subarugears.com/ I’m thinking there’s a reason why no one has a reverse cut gear for the auto. Either no one has worked it out (not possible) or there’s a very simple solution that doesn’t require modified parts. The reduction gear on hub idea is probably going to be the best option after working out the rear section of the auto box as FerGloyal discusses in previous posts. Cheers Bennie

I would say the issue is the O ring in the head gasket that holds the oil pressure to the head has let go, it’s now leaking oil into the coolant gallery. That’s a head gasket job to fix that issue. Cheers Bennie