sparkyboy

@jonathan909 right, thanks to anyone who read the book i wrote up there, but this is always such a fascinating discussion. I wouldn't call it ranting, just an invite for a rebuttal. My dad has the same viewpoint of the IC engine for a long time but far more extreme than GD. He says the govt. will just come and take peoples cars and ban gasoline so enjoy it now! Haha My rebuttal is "well if they want to just come and take Amercans chevelles and pick up trucks, they really should take everyone's guns away first." Then crickets chirping lol! We always throw out extreme arguments for fun, but often wind up making a good point. Yeah, transportation will always be quite a dillema and can certainly be debated for hours and pages forever until a couple of less refined people bring up politics and strart flinging poo and get politics and a some people banned from usmb. There never will be a perfect solution to the problem, and the best approach will obviously be a combination of technology. Someone out there has designed some crazy engine that can run on sea water, but is afraid the CIA will kill him. Haha! The trendiness is kind of a problem too, electric cars and trolleys and what not have been around just as long as the IC but have always been an "inferior" technology , at least from a practical standpoint. I think the first electric car came out in 1903 or something when the IC engine was just a baby too, but as time went on the big boys were putting those all aluminum big block chevys while the electric motor has evolved to fancy golf cart. It's fun to speculate on the future about such huge issues. But I'll never argue in favor of the IC engine (at least unprovoked haha) again if one can either win the 24 hours of Le Mons, or best of show at the SEMA show. Automotive history is so fun and fascinating, at this point unfortunately comparing electric and gas is still comparing apples to oranges, or apples to crab apples at least. And why must electric cars either be a little hippie machine like a prius or some outrageous contraption from futurama that costs as much as several houses? They can't just slap some electric motors into an existing body? Two years ago i was at cars and coffee in December toys for tots has a toy drive and Brendan Frasier (the actor) was showing his Fisker Karma, a $500,000 supercar. This thing has like 2000 horsepower on tap from 4 electric motors (one on each wheel) but looks like a stretched out lotus. He's a super nice guy, but his attempt to burn out was truly pathetic, i was watching people leave, but i would have given almost anything to be behind him in my Subaru and do a much longer and smoker exit. In case anyone is wondering the dude donated a trailer full of game boys and games for the kids.

Oh boy! I finally get to debate @GeneralDisorder! I have read a lot of your clever retorts over the years on this forum but have never really disagreed with you until now, I would like to argue your points on the internal combustion engine being a thing of the past one day. Comparing the IC engine to the horse and buggy, and the electric motor to the gas engine of the horse pulled carriage days is easy for anyone to understand, but it's not exactly an apt one. a) The horse was the best mode of transport for who knows how many thousands of years before the IC engine, but the infrastructure in place to support such a mode of transport was minimal in comparison to everything put in place to support cars and trucks. All you need is some hitches and water and a store for tack or wagon parts haha. Additionally, by the time a far superior alternative to the horse came around, there certainly weren't two horses for every person like there are currently for cars and people, so it was much easier to drop the horse to a novelty since cars could use the same roads mostly, but it took decades until everything was right enough for a regular guy to buy and maintain a car. It seems that electric cars don't face the same challenges as the IC cars did to become established, but they need to put in a LOT more charging stations, but i think it will take hundreds of years before the IC engines are naturally wiped out by a "superior" mode of transport. If ever! Yes the electric cars of today have such impressive acceleration that you have to get a top of the line muscle car or super car to beat one in a drag race, but...so? I don't see any electric cars competing in the 24 hours of Le mons. They would be a joke in that race and simply can't compete at that level of performance. I know, one set a record at pikes peak hill climb, but until you can recharge or change the batteries reasonably fast enough to compete then they simply aren't on the cutting edge of performance. Or engineering as far as I'm concerned. 1000 horsepower in a street car on pump gas is already available and is almost yawn inducing for that deep pocket crowd. b) The horse suffered the fate (or fortune) of being unable to be improved past a certain point that nature allows. I don't need to tell someone with your automotive knowledge that the IC has loads of innovations yet to be made. Tiny direct injection turbo engines seem to be the next trend, and alfa romeo is toying with the pneumatic/electric camless valvetrain. Having such a large number of possibilities of overlap and duration means you cam theoretically have your engine that idles like a honda you can rev to the moon? An impossible concept until recently. That will allow max power and efficiency. The electric car seems to keep running into technological barriers that have to be overcome, but they have improved greatly over the ev1 first gen prius and other alternatives. c) The electric car seems to enjoy an almost celebrity like approval from people of great influence, (govt.) while gasoline powered things have a slowly growing stigma because they are "worse" for the environment. Did the man pay anyone for buying a gas car instead of a horse? And i don't see any books or public tours of politicians calling electric cars "unsafe at any speed" despite that some early teslas suddenly burst into flames like Maureen McCormicks. But it's rare, like getting rear ended in your pinto! Elon musk himself (or some brass at tesla) understands that electric cars' impact the environment is often understated. Lithium mines and huge power plants for an even bigger electrical grid aren't exactly good either, and as a joke and maybe a nod to insiders, if you have one of earlier built model 3s, you can punch in a code like a video game and get a hidden drawing of a unicorn with the caption "electric cars are good for the environment because electricity comes from unicorn farts" but they used the image without permission so they had to stop. Hot Rod magazine called 1969 the year of the electric car, in response to a motor trend article about electric cars back then. I see more than a few first gen priuses for sale for $500 because the batteries are dead and cost around $10,000 for a new one, and that's a hybrid battery, so are you really saving any money in the long run to maintain a first gen prius? Obviously not, and questions like that can only be answered with time and millions of miles from thousands of units. I find it funny that the geo metro got better gas mileage than the early prius. The metro xfe got 60mpg! As far as manuals go, i see them being phased out already. Supposedly the mid engine corvette will not have a manny trans available at all. So high end CHEVY guys will feel the pain that that porsche guys have felt? Why? Honda on the other hand offers the six speed on the accord sedan, a dead playform thanks to crossover. But you know some goof with money will have one in a garage for a clutch pedal and some high amounts of boost that night so a tesla with...?? won't beat him...how do you improve the performance of an electric car besides, suspension, less weight, or cranking up the motor, battery size or voltage until the risk for a fire is just a nagging concern? I don't see any tesla or prius based performance magazines! It will be interesting to see, they don't build them like they used to will always be true. And exxon already knows how to make algae into gasoline if they already have tv commercials about that, then it's in a safe until the day pumping crude oil isn't profitable so they have to use it all for roads, and plastics!

Good info there @fergloyale I have an ecu from a 99 forester that i compared to my 95 and the pin locations on the ecus are completely different, but the connectors are the same with the exception of color. If it were an emergency and i needed to match the connections with the proper pin so i could use the forester ecu with my 95 leggo harness, i would have some work to do, but it's possible to remove or add whatever you need. If something is screwy or acting weird you can take the little rubber piece out and connect the pin to the wire that way so there is no doubt. Sometimes there is corrosion you can't see, but this is rare with an ecu since its under the carpet. But if you happen to run into a problem where the headlights hi and low beam, running lamps don't work at all, but the passing light (pull back on the combo switch for hi and low beam) DOES work, don't pull out any relays, combo switches, hair, guns, liquor or hammers to start smashing s**t there is a white connector by the clutch that is exposed to a lot more corrosive effects and will not appear to have any problems, but it is just one pin at the corner that fails and you can't see it unless you look really close. I have seen it happen the exact same way twice. That's just an example of wiring wackiness to be aware of with our wacky rides. Another reason i have found the 90-94 harness a bit more straightforward because it is separated into four sections but it's mostly reading a pinout, labeling a wire, then trimming the fat. If you run into any nonsense with the two wire start/ three connector end you can just add the third wire and run it with the sheilded to the engine, and removing one almost always means grounded. Like the CA id for example is grounded everywhere else Oh one more thing, do not lose the brown double diode on the alternator pigtail, if you hook it back up backwards or without one, you will have spark but out of phase or something silly like that so the engine won't start, but will have all 3 things needed to run but won't, so save you a little confusion if you were unaware. Obd2 does not have that diode, and it's the only one on the entire obd1 car. Happy wrenching! And cutting, cursing, and taping. And smiling ear to ear like an idiot once the old vw starts purring with wiring all over the damn place and using two batteries! I love a vw with a ej. I almost bought a beetle for my swap but some stars out there aligned and an xt came my way

Yea whatever the situation calls for, and suits your driving style. Engine braking on long downhills, pop into n in the city, and hitting that perfect heel and toe downshift on the highway off ramp, then using that odd skill on a road course. I like to step on the clutch and select lower gears as necessary approaching a stop and coast if nothing weird happens, but i have the option for engine braking if someone slams on the brakes. That has helped me stop in time to avoid an accident in the snow. It's kinda funny how often this question comes up on this forum, i have been on my second gen camaro forum for like 15 years and never seen this question once, and i read all the off topic threads and all. Guess it's because that forum is 1970-81 camaros.

Correct me if i am wrong here, but won't any 90-94 wiring harness work? The pinout says 90-94, and turbo car shouldn't matter. You can just add or subtract (or ground) pins as needed like for at/mt trans, turbo, or Calif. ID. Do it while trimming. Anyway cheers man! These swaps are fun! I have an ej22 (obd2) in my 86 GL and doing the swap again on my 85 xt, that wiring harness is obd1. It's oddly therapeutic to step away from part of a project like body, suspension, or engine work and sit down with with a pinout and wiring diagram, some wire cutters and a knife, good tunes and some brews. A little 420 if you are like me. I just cut my obd1 harness last weekend because i needed a break from body and interior work on my camaro. I am sure that you are familiar with busarus youtube channel, but he has links to loads of pinouts. I would love to put an ej22 in a bug or westy, in fact i almost bought a bettle for my extra ej22, (dune buggy!) but my xt came my way instead.

Well that is not exactly r.i.p! Putting her out to pasture maybe. Just make sure you come back for her when planned. I know you said you replaced everything, but the most violent vibration i have experienced was on my sube, and it was a loose motor mount. Not the 14 on the bottom, but the other nuts holding the rubber part together. Have fun on your motorcycle trip!

I once replaced all the bushings and what not on my camaro chasing a tiny vibration fron 65-70 mph. She needed it anyway, and i had some lowering springs i wanted to install... My problem? A slightly out of balance tire, but yours does sound like driveline? My 86 GL had a tiny shake in the highway due to a loose motor mount, it felt like it was coming from behind the trans while driving. Get her up on 4 jackstands and grab that stethoscope and get back to us! And yea switch all the axles and keep the good ones, i use the cheap ones (like $45) with the stainless steel looking cup and i get about 10,000 miles on an over cambered homemade 2" lift and suffers from some smokey ej22 burnouts.

Exactly. If i would have just glanced at the stupid thing before installing! I took the time to lap the valves with that two part compound and all that other nonsense. I thought i was the man, but i had egg on my face. Luckily they sell single head gaskets for like $15 and you can reuse the bolts And i did learn the easiest way to install the timing belt from that ordeal however!

What is your opinion on the airtex pumps? I saw a buy one get one free, but $200? That's for a high boost v8 or inline six huh? Or for putting an engine on a dyno? The pump on my 95 ej22 is from an 80s Ford pickup truck so yea any old stinkin pump will work with these. Nothing beats carby with block mounted pump. I sucked my in tank filter (sock) into the fuel line once and that bastard was clogged solid... So roadside fuel line replacement? No, tow truck? No. Gas can full of gas and a 32 oz. Gatorade bottle. The rubber line into the pump is right there. Got me about a mile, the bottle fit perfect on the a arm. Drive a bit, stop and refill, repeat. And she got me home that way. The plastic they use for those bottles can handle gasoline.

There ya go, i knew one of these crazy cats already had one in an L body

Man i think i have all you bozos beat. I have told this story before but... My first ej22 swap and first top end rebuild on a subaru i mixed up the intake and exhaust valves! I'm sitting there blaming the wiring for my engine running on two cylinders! Lol! Luckily I did a compression test and when i pulled the head i saw something that i must have done drunk, cause i don't remember that! Super luckily this was a clandestine pre-test start because I was so confident that i was going to bring my girlfriend at the time who very reluctantly let me take the ea82 out of "our" project. I would have been in the doghouse had she heard that mess, the ej22 actually revs up pretty smooth on two cylinders! By the doghouse i mean the one in my 77 g10. I came clean in the end and showed her the video. We had a good laugh

If you're going that far with the six speed, then what's another few yards with a custom trans tunnel? I like the way you think about beating it first though... Unlifted brat? Six speed? Over the dual range? Come clean man this is for road racing huh? So she's gonna have a cage anyway...

That would be way cool if that works! Why wouldn't it? Why can't subaru distributors use one of those digital boxes like msd to alter the timing? Does it have something to do with the timing changes the computer makes for efi? Ea82t is four wire? The only distributor i have ever messed with was the gm hei for the inline six. Two wires is nice. That distributor is cool, truly no maintenance! I have these old as$ plug wires that work better than new ones lol! They are like 30 years old at least! Forgive my ignorance on most things ea...i wanted to do the ej swap so bad i only got as far as the timing belt...don't worry the engine went to someone not trying to hot rod a damn subaru wagon haha! I'll never scrap one, I'll give it away first. In fact i have some bedtime reading here...more like bedtime, reading

I suspect the fuel pump is an spfi or something, i had it on a cheap gauge and it read around 36 psi under boost. and i understand she needs around 43.5 (!?) Psi at full boost. My next step would be to get a real boost gauge. Why is it a pain to spool up the turbo with no load? (In n?) That's how i read fuel pressure but i need to tape it to the windshield and recreate the issue and see what the gauge does... Good times man. But i am keeping the flat hood hopefully i can get a bumper mount a t a intercooler! Na ej22 makes more power anyway and i can take my swap stuff off my gl for a quick and dirty swap

Right. Thanks for the tips boys! Mine is the 85 with the flapper style maf and i tested the two i have for resistance. I did suspect the maf, and i jb welded little cracks. I guess the loyale turbo and xt have a way different intake since the loyale is the hot wire maf. But i will test with a smoke machine before moving forward. I do have the pressure release (bov?) venting to atmosphere instead of back in because I love the psssh sound. Will am aftermarket bov make it extra loud? He hee. This is my first turbo project and would love to boost my ej22 for my xt so i can start wrecking transmissions . Might as well find some turbo pistons lol oh and an lsd or two. I want to slam and autocross my xt on the 13s. But please offer any advice you have to a boost rookie. And i have the fsm, it tells you to "apply shock to the engine" which means smacking with a hammer to test the knock sensor!

Well, unless the intermittent issue of the car feeling like she hit a wall under high boost and going into limp mode is caused by something else like insufficient fuel pressure. And the knock sensor in the car has been messed with, someone rewired a new one in and i can't confirm if it works by hitting the engine with a hammer. Besides if i break something its ej time she does only have a little over 100,000 miles but she has had a rough life so far.

A lot of the sube guys and e30 guys for that matter carry a spare pump but if this happens again, find a person willing to assist and start smacking the access panel with a fist (side of hand karate chop motion, not a punch with the knuckles) or an open palm, or better yet a rubber mallet while your helper turns the key. If noone is around connect the test mode connectors under the dash (black on obd2?) to cycle the fuel pump thrn go back and start hitting, and praying to Pleiades This trick has worked for almost a full year on a bmw lol! The last time i was on my way to Loveland pass to pick him up because the pump on his 325ix seemed to have finally gave up the ghost. But he called me after 20 minutes of hitting and the old girl got him home. I was all ready to put him up on subaru 4hi game too

Hmmm, mine must be different or hooked up wrong. All i ever get is a steady blinking light when i hook the green connectors together? But i did get a bunch of codes with a scanner that i cleared out and all seems good in the flat world. I seem to recall my 95 and 96 doing the same thing with the cel.

I love those old 70s and 80s hippie repair manuals

My camaro did the headlight flickering thing and it was the alternator connection. Does your problem depend on engine rpm? Like if you step on the clutch and rev do your headlights flicker more or less? Mine flickered less with more rpm and dimmed and flickered more at low rpm. My problem actually was a bad positive cable in combination with a shaky alternator connection. Maybe check that if you confirm that the alternator isn't overcharging.

Way cool man! With such low miles and arrow straight sedan body what you paid is below market here in CO, yours would be listed for $3 and I'm not kidding. Probably sell for $2500. The 2wd might make a difference here, but i have seen later loyale wagons for sale for around $1500 and those have closer to 200,000 miles, but often beaters, and so much more common than gls, especially sedan. Throw some subs in asap and tape adapter and just mash the gas on those onramps lol! You have about 130,000 miles to go with easy maintanance before most would even consider the ej swap. But there are the resources to keep the L bodies running forever I would just buy another one if you want to go 4 wheeling, but these make great econo boxes for around town. My dad made it over mosquito pass in a 2wd ea81 when i was a kid and that is 4wd only! Oh and thanks for the compliments! For shows, used motor oil makes the bumpers and trim look brand new, even better than commercial tire black.

When you try to start a car with a broken timing belt you get one long whiiiiirrrr sound instead of the rrr-rrr-rrr with the compression sound since there is no resistance from the valvetrain the crank is easy for the starter to turn. And no compression sound cause the valves stay closed As soon as you hear it you will know that something is significantly wrong, and might be accompanied by additional valve smashing if one got bent enough to stay down or broke a piece off, and your engine is newer than 96. FYI Subarus have always been easy to replace fuel pumps on. What you paid is reasonable, but you can buy a new pump and install it yourself for about half if you are into that kinda nonsense. All the soobs i have seen have an access panel (like yours I'm assuming, you didn't specify year) or external pump. I would spend the difference on organic grass fed steaks lol!

I was going to suggest there are people who will trim your harness for a fee, it seems worth it if $250 and shipping is worth less than your time. Obd1 and 2 are esentially the same trimming wise. As far as the cel for fuel pressure sensor, i don't see one on the pinout are you referring to the atmospheric pressure sensor (pin 23?) I'm thinking that is for later obd2 maybe the phase 2? That might be one of those sensors that dosen't trigger a cel except for read memory but it should be easy enough to simulate the voltage and then delete it

My completed obd2 what a pita! Bmw s52 wngine harnesses are already more or less separate, and I understand that gm harnesses for ls engines are pretty straightforward. Good times! Nice part about subaru ecus is that I understand they are low boost friendly. You have to get a megasquirt for beemer to even begin to think about boosting an s50 or s52. The m20 has a beast bottom end but still can't boost on the factory ecu. Hehe

@fergloyale Very cool man. I might be a little biased because the first harness i trimmed was an obd2 and that involved a learning curve by a true efi rookie. But looking back i had fun and learned a lot so i flew through the obd1 What i mean by easier cel is you just have to hook up the green connectors and count the blinks. You can't do that on obd2?