1980ea71Brat

On to the next chapter. -Steering Wheel removal - I am struggling to get this one apart without damaging the wheel. If anyone knows what the proper tool is that I can rent to get this off please let me know. I have already started to damage the nut and threads a bit (nothing I cant fix yet) and I don't want to ruin it. -Dash removal -Get wiring all sorted + maybe EA wiring thin out. -Heat core removal + repaired? The previous owner of this car had bypassed the heater core, and I can see that one of the copper inlet pipes is slightly crimped (so codswalloping easy to mess these up). I decided I will take out the core and try to get it repaired or tested at a professional shop so I can avoid a catastrophe down the road. I live in Montana - I NEED the heat. Future items still on my list to do: -Re-upholstery I have new seats for the car and I am going to get them upholstered in the original or near to correct patterns from the old RX interior. I have all that saved on shelf. -Torshion Beam engine mount - I don't know how to weld so I have to get that sorted still -Battery tray - I cut out the old one because of rust, I have a small hole to patch in the wheel well too -Other rust repair - There is a small hole under the car, might have this professionally done (doubtful but we will see) -Driver side door won't open from the inside -replace interior lights while dash is apart. -Transmission mounts/fluid/shifter linkage - it all feels a bit sloppy and could use a refresh -Repaint / windshield seals / trunk lid replacement ( I got a newer trunk lid that doesnt have rust). I am sure there are a bunch of other things I need to do too like brakes and suspension... tires.. but yeah. plenty to do, slow and steady.

Lastly I got the power steering lines in but they are too long to flow naturally with the rest of the engine cavity. I am going to get these shortened correct at a shop in the future after the car is sorted enough to make real journeys. And then I also got the rest of the exhaust on it (up to the 2nd 02 sensor) and I took the car on it's maiden voyage!. No leaks so far from anything. Nothing too crazy just a couple miles to the gas station and back. Satisfied how everything has worked out so far.

Finished the radiator install. And despite what people said online, the lower hose and upper hoses were a nightmare to get sorted without kinks. The bottom hose I ended up using a 1 1/4 steel pip insert plus two other hoses to get the right angles without kinks. Doesn't appear to leak - so at least that is actually sorted.

Been a little bit since I posted, I managed to get those four items taken care of. The throttle cable fought me till the end, but I realized a really simple way to get the L series one to work. I needed just a centimeter of space maybe so I just bent the bracket in the direction I needed - Problem solved.

I also finished installing the fuel system, and rewired the fuel pump. And now I have a runner! It starts and idles off the tank gas and so far I haven't had any leaks. Was a huge success this weekend. I still have a lot of progress to make, next few items I will be working on, probably in order: - Throttle Cable - Radiator/Coolant hoses - Power Steering - O2 sensors + Exhaust (bare minimum to get both sensors working) Much more after those few items.

Here's some pictures of the progress I made this weekend. All the surface rust from the rear diff back has been sanded, cleaned, painted and sealed. Couldn't be happier with the results.

Minor updates for this project: I got my new to me gas tank and fuel sending unit. They both came out of a 91 loyale with only 120k on the clock and they appear to be in great shape. This memorial day weekend I will be cleaning up all the surface rust at the back of the car and where the tank was, and then sealing it with POR 15. Unfortunately there are a few pin holes here and there but its mostly really solid under the car. A couple minor cancer spots that aren't obscured by the gas tank that I will get to later. Once that is done, I am going install the new tank, replace the rest of the rubber lines, fuel filter, and get the whole fuel system working again - and hopefully get the EJ22 to run off the tank! Only concern left is weather or not I fried the fuel pump when that fuel line exploded. But that's the goal for this weekend. I got the parts car out of the garage today, hoping to have that taken away to wreckers sometime next week - I really hope I didn't forget to pull something off the 96 legacy!

Just an update - The gas tank I ordered out of a 91 loyale seems to be an exact (or exact enough) replacement to my 87 gas tank and the fuel sending unit looks identical. Also, I had to replace the cluster in mine because the fault was actually the gas gauge itself, and not the sending unit. Hope that helps someone out there.

Well I will let you know. Because I just ordered a fuel tank from a 1991 loyale for my 87 RX. So I am going to swap the sending unit at the least. I already swapped in the tach unit and it worked just fine with my 87 sending unit. To clarify my 87 sending unit only works intermittently. But the gauge read full when fully lift and empty when fully lowered. But I will find out if the 91 sending unit fits in a 87 tank

Thanks for the insight Bennie. I am going to try and work on that throttle cable next I think. I was out of town for a week but I finally finished the fuel gauge diagnostic. The cluster itself was bad, and not sending 12v out of the right half. everything else was working properly besides that. Replaced the cluster with one out of a loyale and the gauge started working correctly. Now to decide if my I want to reuse my sending unit or if I am should try and pull a used one. The sending unit works.... but the resistance readings are kind of intermittent and the float feels loose at the point of contact. This project is going to take a while to finish with my availability but one small thing at a time and it will get done.

Does anyone have any good pictures showing how the stock throttle cable is used? unfortunately their are rivets blocking access to the RX cable area and I'm not so sure I want to drill those out. (why the hell did they use rivets and not screws???) The only reference I have found says that the stock throttle cable is just barely long enough, but it looks like it will kink and bind if I try to use the legacy cable routing.

Gas tank.... Because I know that if someone asked me what they should do, I'd tell them to drop the tank and clean it. The car sat for 20 years and its a given that at this point its going to have garbage and junk in the tank. No sense in clogging anymore fuel lines or fuel pumps. Start at the source and work your way back to the engine. Also, the fuel gauge doesn't work either, and I'd like to fix that. Unfortunately the fuel sending unit has been discontinued for what seems like 20 years, so I will have to find a used one from a junk yard, or try to fix this one. Either way, this is probably going to be my only progress this week. Today I am letting the nuts soak in penetrating fluid for 24 hours before attempting to remove them. Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to test it.

Yeah the clutch issue was really weird because its obviously a 4x4 version but rock auto/orileys must have their parts directory wrong for the RX. Or because they are all based on the Leone, it just shows the 2wd as an option. I'd be surprised if I can find a metal heater core these days lol seems like I am 10 years too late to find parts for anything. I might have to hit you up once I get to the A/C part. SJR labeled the wires for the A/C but I don't know exactly what I am going to need to make it run. I want to scrap the 96 Legacy ASAP but I don't want to leave anything I need on it later. Speaking of - one of the problems is also the fuel cable. apparently the cable on the loyales is long enough to not need to swap it, but on the RX there is no way to route it how the EJ was done. The EJ throttle cable is visibly longer so I will have to pull that and swap - never done a throttle cable, it doesn't look fun. Alternator is a square unit from the 96+ era! luckily I shouldn't have an issue there. it looks like the previous owner replaced it at some point. Well.... The good news is the car runs and has constant spark. I got it to idle using throttle body fluid just fine! However, after I got the fuel pump to work and replaced that disintegrated fuel line, fuel pressure was no more. Now I know fuel pressure problems could be several things: - Fuel pump - Fuel filter - Clogged lines - Fuel Pressure regulators So naturally I started with....

I have done some research on this and it seems the part number 85111GA153 has been discontinued across the board for basically all 1994 leones and older with the analog gauges. My question (not to steal this thread) is can we adapt a universal fuel sending unit to our tanks? Has anyone used a different make and model part as a replacement?

Pull through line is was gave up the goat. I picked up replacements for both leads though for preventative maintenance. The lines look to be original

As you can see, I haven't mounted the ECU yet lol. Mostly just trying to get it sorted before I wire anything in permanently.

Bennie! Thanks for reaching out! I would LOVE to do an ej22T conversion to keep it turbo - but the old dual range AWD trans might not be able to hold that kind of power. Plus the cost of these is going for 4-5k these days! My constant power is directly wired to the battery with a new 30 amp fuse inline, and my turn key power is at the old coil wire with a 15 amp fuse inline - I completely agree and I think I am going to switch it to the Black/white wire at the ignition key. The main goal at the moment was to get everything working correctly before I went full bore on it. All the crank and cam angle sensors are plugged in correctly, and none of the timing marks have changed. The engine was swapped directly out of the running 1996, WITHOUT any updates or changes to the engine. I wanted to minimize my possible errors as I worked towards getting the chasis running. - Once its running and all wired up, I am going to look into my rebuild options. I haven't tried any starter fluid yet.... and the reason is because my fuel line burst over night! literally after I got it pop off once or twice, I called it a night and the next morning the fuel pump line was rotted and leaked over a gallon on the garage floor lol... I got some new hoses today, and I haven't felt like crawling under where the gas has spilt. Great tip on the pitch stopper, I swapped over the ej22 pitch to the EA trans like you said, now I just have to get the old pitch stopper shortened. Let me tell you, finding that RX was pretty surreal. Pretty unique model here, from what my limited research has pulled up, only 2600 coupes made here in the US? Agree, I don't plan to rip any tires in it. My main goal is to get the EJ22 running for availability and maintenance, from there I have a complete interior that needs light restoration and a few rust areas to take care of. I will probably try to make some serious progress again this next weekend when I get those fuel lines swapped out. Thanks again!

Working on solving the spark issue tonight, maybe hooking up some of the other wires will help with that.

This is from when I started the wiring. Reused the old alternator wiring for this

The issue was with the clutch alignment tool. There is a 21 spline clutch and a 24 spline clutch - for some reason, Oriley's and Rock auto think the RX uses the 21 spline clutch, but its actually the 24 spline. I bough a new 'XT' alignment tool which also has a 24 spline clutch. I also finished up a bunch of other odds and ends, pictures to come later. My current problem is getting the wiring going. I go the wire harness from SJR, but I am not sure where to tap the Black and red wire from the fuel pump relay. I only have the switched voltage hooked up, the constant voltage, and the ground. Everything else is not plugged in. I tried tapping the black and red wire into the blue and into the gray wires leading to the fuel pump relay and neither worked to power the pump when switched power to on. If anyone is reading this that knows something I don't, I could use a little help. The solution was my switched voltage source was not correct. I have switched to the old coil voltage. This gets full voltage at turn key and drops to 9v-10v when cranking. The blue wire was the correct power wire for the fuel pump and I can hear the pump turn on when the engine turns the key. My new problem is spark. I am getting 12.4v at the coil, and this drops to 9-10v when cranking. I think this is enough, but the engine is not wanting to start or kick off, just an occasional pop. Hopefully I will get this sorted tonight.

Unfortunately there is either an issue with the clutch alignment tool or the splines on the transmission. I am going to hopefully find out which this afternoon after work. My goal by the end of this weekend is to get the engine set in and mounted to the transmission. Then I will probably look into modifying the torque beam, and a few other miscellaneous items. Maybe the radiator, or the A/C. I read in Numbchux's guide that you should ditch the A/C, but my preference is to keep it if possible, we will find out.

Well... One thing led to another and last night I finished installing the clutch and the EA power steering lines. Then I decided to see if I could drop the engine in

For those wondering, I am reusing the RX clutch and pressure plate, they are at about 50% life. My primary goal is to get this conversion working 100% and then worry about clutches/rebuilt engine. Installing and removing these Subaru Engines is easy enough to do. I also reused the RX flywheel bolts. The EJ or RX bolts appeared to be the same length and thread pitch. No locktite, again this is mostly just for mocking up.

SJR Fly wheel bolted up, I just got my alignment tool from Rock Auto. This weekend I will be converting the power steering lines to EA, and potentially installing the new EJ into the engine bay.