910GL

So I got really busy and haven't made any further progress... Driven it a few times to work and back over the past few months and the tranny hasn't grenaded (yet)... So far so good. I've had some issues with my DD (04 Forester) so thats taken up most of my wrenching time. Hoping to get some stuff done in the coming weeks.

Not too much progress since my last post. I haven't finished the A/C, so it pretty much had to relax in the garage all summer and I've driven my Forester. I drove it to work and back the last 3 days now that it's starting to cool off and it's been running great; although I've been babying it with all the new parts and trying to get the clutch broken in. One thing I've noticed is that it warms up and gets to operating temp super quick with the single row EA radiator, but as soon as the ECU turns on the first 11" fan, it stays right at this temp. The temp drops when driving and the fan will cut off, but at idle it pretty much runs constantly. The second fan has yet to come on, but I don't have the A/C hooked up yet either. Ran two mechanical gauges for oil pressure and water temp, it the temp shows about 195° when the first fan turns on and that's pretty much where it stays. So I wouldn't recommend that fuel pump to be quite honest. It is annoyingly loud. I can hear it whining inside and outside the car while it's running and it drives me nuts. It is also overkill pressure-wise, but here is the link to it (I *think* this is the one): https://www.oreillyauto.com/detail/b/precision-fuel-pumps-4492/performance-16477/fuel-system-16571/fuel-pumps---electric---universal-17799/22d5b8966e1f/precision-55-to-65-gph-electric-fuel-pump/e16135/5354887 I actually ordered a replacement Walbro fuel pump which I ordered in June but was back-ordered on Summit and didn't come until late August. I haven't gotten around to swapping it out yet, but from what I've found, this may be the closest match (pressure and flow rate) for a universal external pump when compared to the stock internal pump on the Legacy donor car. https://www.summitracing.com/parts/VPN-F30000271 That's about all I got for now... Next things on my list are mounting my ECU (putting it in the glove box... It's just kind of laying in the passenger floor board atm), get the AC done, and then get my quad headlight assembly installed and body work at some point...

Good deal. I'm not really after additional power with the exhaust work, just tone.

So an update after 5 days straight of trying to get this thing put back together... The motor would crank and run, but wouldn't rev past 3200 rpm or so... and after a few seconds just studder and die. I spent HOURS maticulously changing every old crusty vacuum line, checking and double checking the airbox for cracks, and cleaned the MAF because it felt like it was running super lean. My next step was going to pull the throttle body off and clean it - thinking maybe it was getting stuck partially open, but then I had an epiphany... So the car was carbed before, so when collecting parts for the swap I ordered an aftermarket EFI fuel pump for a GL from Rock Auto (yes I swapped all of the rubber fuel line sections for FI grade all the way from the tank to the motor). I got it in the mail, put it in temporarily for testing and threw the box away (I'm an idiot). After looking, I can only assume that Rock Auto sent me the carb fuel pump (the dumb thing doesn't even have the part # stamped on it)... so after two days of troubleshooting vacuum leaks it was the fuel pump! So it's either the wrong pump... just a bad one... or I fried it somehow... I just know for sure that it wasn't supplying enough fuel and/or enough pressure. After doing research on here, I noticed a bunch of folks were running inline fuel pumps from early Ford F-Series vehicles from NAPA. Well, our local NAPA wasn't any help in getting one so I found one with similar specs from O'Reilly - think its rated at 40-50gph at 80psi... Tossed it on and VOILA, motor runs like a top! Also, during all of my testing I had all of the dash removed except for the gauge cluster and could not figure out why my alternator wasn't charging my battery... Some more USMB research and I found out that the charge light has to be connected to complete the circuit... and the charge light in my car is on a secondary light panel just below the gauge cluster... plugged in that section of indicator lights and another VOILA, battery is charging... however, my fusible links started roasting. I had spliced in my EJ alt wires directly in to probably the last 6" of EA wires going in to the fusible links. I'm going to swing by O'Reilly on my way home and just grab all new 8 or 10 ga. wire and some new fusible link wire and replace it all. Whats left: - Brazing the new EJ A/C compressor-side fittings onto my EA A/C lines - Connecting the ECU A/C wires into my A/C Switch and A/C Relay on the car - Making some brackets to hold my temporary power steering lines away from my axle (still need some stock EA82 3rd gen power steering lines... Check my "Wanted" ad here on the forum if you have some!) - Permanently mount my ECU and main/fuel pump relay - Weld my exhaust together - sucks because I had made an entire new 2" exhaust for the EA82 a couple years ago, but now I want to go bigger for the EJ (2.25"). So I made the front section with 2.25" with a reducer to 2" so I have the option of swapping out the rear with a 2.25" setup later without having to mess with the headers or the new front pipe I made up - Wire up and install my new quad-headlight setup - etc etc etc...

And yeah, I was able to do this as well with the EJ25. Juuuust enough room to slide the radiator in, and then install the fans. Didn't have to notch the frame so that's a plus!

I see now what you're talking about with that PS pump bolt, I could have easily fit another full 11" fan in there after flattening it out... oh well. I think the 9"/11" combo will keep it cool enough. I got my harness tied in to the car this weekend and put the motor back in. Plugged it all up and put it in test mode and all the relays worked (straight blade SPAL fans are LOUD!). I don't have my alternator wired up yet or the lower radiator hose finished, but I decided to try to crank it just to see if everything was working. After fixing a bad ground at my fuel pump that made me scratch my head for awhile, it turned over and ran for a bit... I don't have any of the sensors plugged in yet so it ran rough, I just wanted to see if it was getting fuel and spark and all that so I'll call it a success. So I'm on the right track... hopefully I can get the interior wiring all cleaned up this week and then I have a few random things to finish (return power steering line, lower radiator hose, AC lines, tap a new hole for O2 sensors) and take it for a spin! Then once I get it running and back on the road I'll tackle some body work and do my quad DL headlight swap sometime this fall. Progress...

I have read that a lot of folks who do this swap will ditch their AC, and install electric pusher fans on the front of their radiator in place of the stock ones. I did a bunch of measuring and found that I have just over 2.5" of clearance between the inside of my radiator and the timing belt covers on the EJ in most areas. The power steering pump pulley bolt is the closest point at 2". I decided to get some SPAL low profile, straight blade puller fans for my setup (at the fan motor they are 2.05"). I have an 11" for the driver's side, and I went with a second 9" for the passenger side (it will mount towards the bottom to clear the power steering pulley bolt). I went this route because I need to keep my AC and didn't want to remove my hood latch for pusher fans that would have to blow through the condenser before hitting the radiator. The issue is this: there isn't enough room to get the EJ in with the fans installed on the radiator, and it would be a humongous pain to try and mount them after putting the motor in (there's barely enough room to slide the radiator in and out with the motor in place). So I decided that I will notch out to top section of the front crossmember above the radiator, and then weld some bolts and fab some brackets so I can make this section of the crossmember removable. This way I can install the fans to the radiator, and then place the whole assembly into place with the motor in. Then I can just bolt the top section of the crossmember back in place. I'll be using the EA radiator. I was planning on wiring both radiator fans to a 3-way SPDT switch (stole this idea from Gloyale that I saw from another post). One "on" position will run both fans with the ECM control, middle will be "off" and the other "on" position will just be a direct ground. I was going to run the second 9" fan on a different relay on a second temp sender so both fans would stagger on and off at different temperatures, but I just decided to keep it more simplified. Anyone have any input on what works and what doesn't for electric fans on an EJ swap? I'm not 100% committed to this idea... Here's how I have my fans mocked up on my old radiator (I have a new one on the way because this one is pretty beat up)... the green paint spot is where the power steering pulley bolt is, so this is why I went with the smaller 9" fan on the passenger side. Combined, both fans are advertised at around 1400 CFM.

So today I got most of what I had left to mockup before I pull the EJ back out. I had to tweak the passenger side exhaust manifold section more; the flange for the stock up-pipe (which I won't have) was too much of an upward angle for me to turn down to clear the cross member. So I cut the flange off at a more parallel angle and made up a midsection of exhaust pipe to tie in to my existing system around where the EA cat used to be. Should work out pretty well. I have a local machine shop filling my stock EA flywheel bolt holes and then milling to the EJ pattern, and then resurfacing and balancing it. Both places I took it to were completely against just oblonging the holes like I've read that a lot of people do... So I just had the guy fill and mill it. I was able to modify the stock EJ airbox bracket and got the box mounted on the throttle body and got it to sit in a generally "stock" location. But I couldn't get the filter housing section to fit in the EA, so I picked up a MAF adapter/gasket off ebay and attached a generic 3" cone filter to the end in place of the filter box. I need to find a way to support the MAF/filter section, but here's how it looks.

Thanks, I'll definitely check that out if it leaks! Brett

Thanks for the info, I was trying to research what it was for - all I could find was that it had something to do with "atmospheric pressure" so this makes a lot more sense now. I suppose its not AS critical in my situation (I live at the coast and this car doesn't travel much, so no elevation changes) but I still want to get it hooked up. The switching solenoid is still in the harness so I'm good on that end. It looks as though both A and B terminate at the fuel tank pressure sensor.

Copy, thanks. So lets hypothetically assume that the plug for the boost sensor was inadvertently cut out of said harness for the swap (the switching solenoid is there). Am I reading this diagram correct to rectify this situation? (I'm a hydraulic mechanic by experience; I am no electrician - hence why I had someone else trim my harness). Tie terminal pos#1 into terminal pos#2 of the B21 connector Tie terminal pos#2 into terminal pos#26 of the ECM Tie terminal pos#3 into terminal pos #3 of the B21 connector Or I guess I could just run all three back to the ECM? Thanks Brett

Yeah after staring at it for awhile with a beer in my hand, I think I'm going to keep the T. I just snagged a brass one from Lowe's and then put the stock idiot light sender on one side and the mechanical pressure gauge line out of the other. I concur that it is easy to see in this spot and pretty easy to get to by just swinging the alternator or removing it. I just threw some teflon tape around the fittings and torqued em down. If it leaks, I'll look into some kind of sealant.

Figured I would post this here because its relevant to my donor motor and not to the car its going into. From a 99 Legacy EJ25D with auto trans. Putting this motor into a GL, do I need this or is it "fine" to just cap the vacuum from the intake which feeds it? Both number 1's in the FSM: Thanks in advance, Brett

Yeah the EA motor did, and I wanted to retain that sound. I wanted the larger diameter pipe of EJ headers, but the ones from the donor car where more equal-length and had funky bends going into the cat that I didn't want to mess with. So I opted for the WRX style that has cyl 2/4 route around the front of the oil pan instead. I just have to hack off the flange that normally connects to the up-pipe and weld a straight pipe to the rear section that I have already put together. It worked out well in my head, we'll see how it goes when I get that far. And in hindsight you're right, using another stock port for my aftermarket oil pressure would have eliminated another place for a potential leak. I have to pull the EJ out after I get everything mocked up so I may still go that route, good call.

Luckily the front bolts lined up, I just had to tweak the rears... But they are still able to slide WAY more forward then would ever be needed.

Bennie, Thanks for the reply. I replaced every section of supply line with EFI grade: all the way from the tank to the intake manifold (think it was like 5 or 6 different sections). I was back there anyway swapping the fuel pump. I also replaced the return line and evap lines in the engine bay with EFI grade (just the sections from intake to firewall). There are several sections of return and evap lines back at the rear of the car that I haven't swapped. Think these are good? They shouldn't be under pressure right? My thought is to leave 'em. Thanks: Brett

https://www.sjrlift.com/collections/engine-swap/products/wiring-harness-thinout-ej-swap Not affiliated in any way, but I just paid him to thin my harness. Pretty quick turnaround.

Swapping from carb'd EA82 to EJ. I've read that I need to upgrade the fuel lines in the process. Do I need to replace ALL of the fuel lines on the car or just the supply lines? (Are the return/evap lines ok to leave?) Thanks Brett

Oh yeah, side note: I realize those ADF lift blocks aren't in "correct." I cut and extended them from 2" to 3" and welded the tops back on wrong so they don't face the front anymore. The angles are right. I also stole the leather seats out of the Legacy which matched the dark blue interior of the GL nicely. Just had to grind/weld the rails from the GL seats to the Legacy ones. Turned out pretty good.

So this catches the story up to "now." A couple other minor things I'm doing for the new motor: I'm putting some WRX headers on it (because I like the unequal length header sound), and put an aftermarket aluminum thermostat housing on it because the headers are going to be close. I had to cut the exhaust manifold flanges off the stock headers and weld them to the WRX headers to drop them down another 1/2" or so to clear the thermostat. I had to source some longer threaded rods to mount the thicker manifold flanges. Also put a "T" on the oil pressure sensor to put on an aftermarket sender, and also an aftermarket water temp sender to run some aftermarket gauges. I did a lot of research regarding the stock pressure plate/clutch setups and was unable to source an XT6 setup. So I took a risk because I hadn't seen anyone else going this route -- but I got a SPEC stage 2+ clutch/pressure plate setup for an EA82T and we'll see how that works. I'm also adding power steering -- the GL was manual steering, so I bought a rebuilt EA82 power steering rack and will be getting some hydraulic hoses made up to mate the EJ power steering pump to the EA rack. I tossed the motor in to the GL yesterday to start test fitting all of the random hoses and whatnot while I wait for my flywheel to come back from the machine shop. And this is where I'm at today (disregard the battery tray - it was a little rusty so I just shot it with some random blue paint I had laying around):

So I got the motor back from the machine shop and meticulously reassembled it step-by-step from the FSM (again, first time doing this). Replaced all of the seals, gaskets, o-rings, timing belt, pulleys, oil pump, water pump, and most all of the bolts. I painted the intake manifold in some blue wrinkle and it was about ready to go.

Spent more hours than I care to admit ripping this Legacy apart to get the wiring harness out. To save some time I just boxed the whole thing up and sent it to Scott at SJR to trim down. Also had him make an adapter plate. I ripped the EJ25 all the way down to the crank, and took the block halves and heads into a local machine shop for some work. Redid the valves, cleaned them up real nice and everything else was in spec. This pic is before the shop work obviously...

I literally looked for a decent EJ22 car here in southeastern NC for MONTHS. They're like unicorns apparently; and I was about to give up and live with the EA82. After some more research I decided to just find an EJ25 and try that as they're much easier to source. So I found a wrecked and thrashed 99 Legacy Outback with an EJ25D and bought the whole car for $200. Yes, I'm going to use the EA D/R manual transmission. Will it grenade? Possibly, but I'm fortunate enough to have other cars to drive so if I need to do an EJ transmission swap at some point, I'm fine with that.

Alright so the Weber setup ran well enough, much more throttle response and gas mileage increased (was previously getting 16-17mpg, now up to 21mpg on average - still terrible, but whatever - pretty sure these numbers are skewed as the odometer is way off because of the much larger tires). But it was still going through oil. I had also replaced all of the seals in the AC lines and recharged it with a retrofit kit and the compressor spun right up and blew ice cold. However, it wanted to overheat as my secondary electric fan would never kick on. I spent about a year driving it after changing the head gaskets, lifting it, and doing the weber swap. So I started researching an EJ swap because if I was going to pull the motor completely to do the rear main seal, an EJ was going to take it's place.

I'll pause here and mention that before doing all of this, I had literally no clue what I was doing. I do my own regular maintenance stuff (oil changes and all that) but I am no auto mechanic. I learned enough about mechanics and whatnot from spending 5 years in the Marine Corps as a hydraulics/airframes mechanic; but I will reiterate that I am by no means competent. I take stuff apart, look at manuals and here on USMB to figure it out and do my best to troubleshoot and get it back together. This is a learning process for me, so if you see anything concerning please let me know; I am all about constructive criticism.