wagonist

Loyale 2.7 Turbo: The climate aircon unit I had suited an 85, Series 1 model. It looked identical to the pic you posted for the RX II Turbo 4wd except that the entire face of the push button area was grey, with a black line outline of the "switches". The digital temp readout was orange (where the fans switch is for the early models & the "air recirculating" switch on the later one. Looked a heck of a lot better with the wiper switch still in position instead of that blanking plate for the removed fan/AirCon switch. The JDM "half-cut" I bought (for A$1000 in 1998!) was from a fully optioned RX turbo sedan. Climate air, cruise control, front fog lamps, headlamp washers, variable intermittent wipers, digital dash, trip computer, power mirrors, rear wiper (yes for a sedan), 3AT part time 4wd. Only problem was that it only has 85 000km on it. So when it clocked over 100 000km 1 year later, the odometer got stuck. 14 years without the 1st digit rolling over was too much Had to pull the speedo cable to home (another 300km away in the Aus outback), then remove & dismantle the cluster to fix it... There was no dual range automatic. They simply used the same digital cluster in both the manual & autos, hence the light is there. The Digital cluster picture you've shown is from a manual trans car. The gear selector display is always there on both, but the autos have a box around the number/letter that show which is currently selected.

Why is there a 1" stress on the axles? Sounds like the kits there are 2" blocks on top of the suspension & 1" everywhere else. The majority of kits here lift everything by the same amount. Yes, this leaves the engine/trans/diff at the same height above the ground, but the 2 points of the lift is to get bigger wheels under the car, and this gives the increased suspension clearance, and then to increase the entry/departure angles. If you're going to go rock-crawling, then the extra 1" height would help, otherwise you can drive around any other hazards. I've had 215/65R14 tyres on Peugeot rims (so stick out further) which only just rubbed (on the inner guard) when I had a 2" kit.

Which Toyota Crown?

the 4wd system & the suspension height system are not linked in any way. Which buttons have you got for 4wd? red(?) one on the gearstick below the lockout button & another "4wd auto" button on the dash? or just on the gearstick? if you have both, which one are you pressing? cos the "4wd auto" button will only put it into 4wd when: a. the gearbox kicks down a gear b. the brakes are pressed c. the wipers are turned on the one on the gearstick puts it directly into 4wd regardless

I'm trying to get mine lower also. But as the interior & other parts are not currently fitted, it looks like it's got a lift kit Got some lowered springs on XT parts to try. Get a spare set of springs & start cutting them to see what happens. I'd also suggest getting some coilovers made. Suspension shops here will custom fit the threaded sleeve to existing struts/shocks. That way you can keep some spring height, but still wind it down. I think I'll end up going this route.

If you already had a 5 speed, then the rear diff would already have matched the trans, so you could still do it by my method. But if you still have the 4 spd, then I'd definitely be doing it my way, because you'll want the front diff in your new box to match what you've got currently. It's still the same procedure for an EA81 trans. Other wise, you may as well buy a matching "pair" (ie trans & rear diff) from the same car, then you'll know for certain.

Does your rear diff still have a sticker on it? The front & rear ratios will be the same. That is as long as someone hasn't done some mucking around with the rear diff Cracking it open? You only need to remove the drain plug. It's designed to be removed so the oil cane be changed. If you've recently changed the oil, then let it drop into a clean container, and simply reuse it. There will be transmission listings someone on the net. But there's a heap of different trans options, and we all know that the internet is always right, correct Personally, I'd rather be exactly sure.

EA82 won't fit between the chassis rails without modifying them. Simplest swap would be anything that already had an EA81 engine and a dual range gearbox.

I only suggested doing the suspension part for if the splines are sticky on the CVs. I know you guys in the colder climates have issues with rust. We have issues with dust in there instead Pre 88s seem to be ok with the shaft movement because they've got floating CVs on both ends of the rear shafts, later ones only have them on the inners.

jack up each rear corner drive out the CV pins remove the bottom bolt for the shock absorber onto the suspension arm pull down on the suspension arms to give enough travel for the drive shafts to be reomved reverse up onto car ramps undo & remove the 4 bolts for the tailshaft put an old cushion or mattress underneath the diff now don't lie under the diff undo the rear 2 bolts undo the front bolt let the diff drop Getting the new diff up is the more difficult part

I've thought of using a wiper motor instead of the vacuum solenoid. If the light is coming on, this should mean the sleeve is moving far enough, as the sensor is on the trans. If you're getting a grinding noise, sounds like you've either worn out the dog teeth, or you're using it on too hard a surface & the trans isn't being allowed to slip for the front/rear shafts.

Yes, put in a different gearbox, then you'll also get low range. The engagement system relies on square teeth. They need to mesh exactly to engage, which means the 2 halves need to be rotating at exactly the same speed. There is no synchromesh on this like the gears.

If it's one that's supposed to match an EA82, it doesn't matter which year. The only 2 things you need to check are the front diff ratio & the low range ratio. For the front diff: Remove the trans sump plug, then you can see the bottom of the front diff. Mark one of the teeth with some kind of pen, then slow rotate the internals. Make sure the car is in neutral, and it's not in 4wd. have one of the wheels jacked up. There'll either be 39 or 37 teeth. (same procedure for EJ boxes) Not sure how to check the low range ratio, sorry. BTW, have you checked the tailshaft? The centre bearing can flog out over time. Even though there's no load on it, it's still always spinning.

On the Loyales, etc, it's that "brass" one hanging out to the left. On those cars that don't need the VSS, Subaru just didn't install the screw that connects the circuit board to that. Not sure if this is the same for the earlier EA81 models. BTW, don't fully believe the statements above about all signals being the same. In my PM to you, I said I'm installing a 2004 model 2L Hyundai Elantra engine into my 98 Hyundai Excel (Accent) X3. The Excel has a cable driven speedo with a VSS wire from the spoeedo head to the ECU. The Elantra has an electronic speedo with a sender screwed into the gearbox instead. These 2 produce different type of waves (I think 1 is square & the other is a sin wave), along with different peaks, so the signals are not compatible. I'm not saying that this is the case for Subaru, but it may be worthwhile checking further which signal your EJ ECU needs.

You can buy senders that will screw into where the cable fits into the gearbox, & then you screw the original cable into the other side of the sender.

Factory Subaru rubber rear spoiler to suit a Touring wagon. Only one I've ever seen. Uploaded with ImageShack.us Uploaded with ImageShack.us I've also had one of the digital climate control Aircon systems to suit an early "L series"

A bit obvious, but is the clutch cable outer sheath secured so it can't move? I've once had one of those springs in the clutch plate come out & get jammed between the pressure plate & clutch plate. But this is extremely rare and due to a manufacturing fault

If you can, also try to get the axles that suit an 85-87 turbo, part time 4wd, 3 spd automatic. These are thicker shafts (and I think bigger CVs, but not as big as the manual turbo 25 spline), but are still only 23 spline. I think these are the same shafts as on turbo, full-time 4wd manuals. (well, I've swapped them over before) Do you have a suspension lift? Are you towing? What kind of driving do you do?

Yes, it is vacuum controlled. There should be a hard line running up over the top of the bellhousing. Trace it and make sure it's getting a clean vacuum signal.

Why is it getting hot? air flow through the rad blocked? needing to run the engine at high revs (which will be less of a problem with the EJ22)? current rad is blocked?

Blue was the most common colour over here, cos it came white the white & silver painted cars. I wish I could find a single range console in black, but I know these don't exist at all.

As above, there should be another flat washer of a few mm thick between the cone washer into the hub & the castle nut. If you don't have these, then you won't be able to get the castle nut tight as it will run out of thread.

Which digital dash have you seen online? There were 2 different factory options but it depends on the year model. If you want to use these, your best bet would be to replace the loom in at least the dash with the matching one, but you'll probably be best to change the complete car loom. digi dash is more 80s spec, than 90s

And if you do the EJ rear diff swap (by using a series 1 EJ diff cos it has the male splines), then use the EA inner CVs on both ends of the EA shaft to get the length. Get a good idea during the next year about how many times you actually use the Low range vs just 4wd. With the extra torque of an EJ22, you may find the low range is unnecessary, and just having AWD will be enough.

Being a ski instructor, does this mean that you load up the car a lot? Otherwise, I'm trying to figure out why you'd want to change out a good (in terms of condition) engine. And if you're wanting to change it out anyway, then don't bother treating this engine so well There are bellhousing adapter plates available to mate up EJ engines to EA boxes, but these move the engine forward slightly. The neatest way is to swap over the front casings of the gearboxes (ie use EJ gearbox casing on the EA box internals), although I understand that dual range EJ boxes are thin on the ground over there In terms of suspension, if you can get hold of the "RX turbo" stuff in terms of springs & struts, these work really well on dirt roads. A lot of the rally guys in the 80s (when the RX turbo won 3 Aust rally championships) weren't changing the suspension from the factory setup. To fit a rear swap bar, you're going to need to change the rear arms as the 4 mounts are welded to them. These are only on the turbo models I believe (but there might be some high spec NA models over there that got it also). Wagon arms will have the extra bump stop, sedan/coupe arms won't. Although you can cut off the bump stops off your existing arms & weld them onto something else (I've done this because we didn't get any turbo wagons in Aus). Or weld the swaybar mounts onto your arms, but this is more work and harder to line up. I would recommend not fitting anything bigger than RX bars (front & rear) to your car. XT stuff will cause it to be too stiff over the rougher ground, causing more sliding. And fit matching bars. The front bar on cars without a rear bar is smaller, so fitting a rear bar with the standard front one can cause some oversteer issues.