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giving up on the XT


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well all, I'm running up the white flag. After almost a year of dinkin around with the 87.5's electrical system, I am giving up. So, I have found a 94 Loyale AWD wagon that needs an engine and since I had just rebuilt the engine in the XT, I figure I'll just swap them out and part out the XT. I have a couple of questions tho. Since both are sticks, is everything the same (clutch disk, etc)? Plus I assume I will have to swap out the intake on the XT with the single port intake on the wagon or has anyone done a MPFI swap into a SPI system?

 

thanks all

 

Bill

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"87.5" is terminology typically reserved only for turbo vehicles. the loyale is not a turbo, are you trying to swap a turbo engine into a non-turbo vehicle or something else?

 

hmmm, EA stuff does have variances in clutch - but i believe it's just FWD and AWD?

 

depending on clarification of above information the XT will have a FT4WD transmission, i'd personally swap that in place of the PT4WD trans if i was already doing all this work.

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you didn't mention whether turbo or not?

 

to swap the MPFI would require a full on engine swap, but it does bolt up and everything. but it'll need the engine wiring harness, body side wiring harness, and ECU.

 

To make it more annoying the XT ECU is in the trunk so might be simpler to cut the plugs and try and splice together what you need.

 

Whether all the pinouts are available to retain some of the stock loyale wiring and make it easier i'm not sure - but you have some wiring work ahead of you.

 

An EJ swap would be the same amount of work with only one extra step of an adapter plate (unless you swapped to an EJ trans too).

 

Too bad you can't track down the issue you have. :mad:

Good luck, it's annoying trying to decide i'm sure.

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if you mean is the 94 a turbo it is not. The XT is not either. The XT wiring is what I'm running away from so to carry it over into the 94 would be foolish in my opinion. I still have the DCOE weber and a 2 wire distributor I could put on it, but is it worth it? I tired of chasing ghosts with the existing wiring. Getting power ot the tach would be next if I go that route. I don't know...Its like giving up on an old friend

 

Bill

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Remove the harness from the XT, strip it, and repair all it's gremlins. It's the only way you will win with XT's. The wireing has such a long run to the trunk that they typically have more wiring issues than other models.

 

Otherwise - you aren't easily going to fit the Weber to an MPFI engine. You will have to make custom manifold adaptors, etc. The heads/intake are not what any of the adaptors are made to fit. Not to mention the Loyale is setup for SPFI which is miles better than a Weber anyway.

 

Square peg - round hole..... no matter how you look at it really.

 

GD

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Sounds like there's no easy option if that's what you're after. Probably simpler to just get another EA82 or swap the loyale heads onto the XT block.

 

What I think would be fun, and easy, would be to swap the Loyale harness onto the XT intake. Then just install the SPFI injector in the intake somewhere and bypass the MPFI injectors. That sounds like a fun project for me but i'm the wierdo with all the castrated Subaru's too. :lol:

 

if you mean is the 94 a turbo it is not. The XT is not either.
I already explained it all above, I meant the XT. There is no such thing as an 87.5 non-turbo XT. Yours is either an 87 or 88. The 87.5 designation is specifically for Subaru's goofy compilation of the unicorn - the FT4WD XT Turbo - the only XT Turbo with differing bumpers, intake, hood, etc.

 

So by saying 87.5 I thought you were referring to the turbo model.

 

You could cut the connectors and rewire. Probably end up saving you some time removing the nasty mess. Rather than all day removing the harness you can have he connectors out in 2 minutes. Then splice what you need.

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I already explained it all above, I meant the XT. There is no such thing as an 87.5 non-turbo XT. Yours is either an 87 or 88. The 87.5 designation is specifically for Subaru's goofy compilation of the unicorn - the FT4WD XT Turbo - the only XT Turbo with differing bumpers, intake, hood, etc.

 

So by saying 87.5 I thought you were referring to the turbo model.

 

I had always heard that the 87.5 was for the funky distributor/ECU/etc used on the late production 87 XT. I know that my car is a late May 87 build and has the black round plug distributor. I have seen early 87's with the old style and the 88 with the new style and neither will swap out to the late 87 ( I have tried - made a harness/pigtail to swap them in). Same for the ECU not being interchangeable...I have tried (88 anyway).

 

Bill

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I know that my car is a late May 87 build and has the black round plug distributor. I have seen early 87's
MY proceeds the year of the vehicle - so you're talking about all 1988 stuff here.

 

A 2000 Subaru will have a 1999 build date etc, with some minor variance logistically speaking I would guess.

 

The 1987.5 XT Turbo was a beast unto itself, literally only made for a half year, never to be sold again (in the US anyway).

 

pardon the side track, we got it figured out that it's a non-turbo 88. hope you find a good solution between your available cars. guess this means we'll loose an XT member on the xt board. BOO!

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I had always heard that the 87.5 was for the funky distributor/ECU/etc used on the late production 87 XT. I know that my car is a late May 87 build and has the black round plug distributor. I have seen early 87's with the old style and the 88 with the new style and neither will swap out to the late 87 ( I have tried - made a harness/pigtail to swap them in). Same for the ECU not being interchangeable...I have tried (88 anyway).

 

Bill

 

Those disty's and ECU's ARE interchangable. Thing is, in 88 they switched 2 pins on the ECU. The reference signal and the pulse signal wires on both SPFI, and MPFI ECU harnesses were reversed. 88 and after they all stayed the same.

 

Thing is, you have to swap the (IIRC) green and white wires on the disty harness. You could swap the 2 pins at the ECU also, but doing it at the Disty harness plug is easier.

 

Here is the original thread where I made this discovery. http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=101483&highlight=disty+interchange I really should submit to the USRM, but I want to get scans of the pages up first. anyhow the info on that thread is correct as far as pin #s and wiring colors. Reply to my PM if you need more specifics.

Edited by Gloyale
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