Dual range impreza -- first impressions

[zyewdall]

I picked up the Impreza with the new 5 speed dual range transmission last night, and took it home in the storm. It's awesome.... but needs a bit more work

 

1997 Impreza Outback Sport, EJ22, completely stock except for the transmission/drivetrain.

1987 5 speed dual range transmission from a GL

Custom axles and driveshaft (Imp axles with GL inner cups, lengthened driveshaft.

SJR EJ-EA transmission adaptor plate and redrilled EA flywheel, XT6 clutch.

CCR in Denver did the swap for me.

 

I love the gearing of having the low range. In deep snow (dragging the entire bottom) it has the power to just keep going instead of stalling, and if you do stop on a snowy hill, you can let the clutch out at a reasonable rpm, instead of having to rev it way up to keep from stalling it. Good at crawling nice and slow (haven't tried any steep hills yet, just deep snow, as that's what was available last night

 

Ground clearance still sucks.... I got it high centered on a driveway that an old landcruiser had bashed through all the 2 foot drifts -- all four wheels off the ground. This afternoon I took the old stock GL wagon up the same road -- almost identical snow tires on both too, and it did it with just a little squirming -- it must have at least 2 to 3 inches of clearance on the Impreza. Time for some Forester struts....

 

Pictures coming soon.

[bratman18]

Nice!!

[Sonicfrog]

Yep. Gotta love the GL's!

[lostinthe202]

What did you do about your speedo? How far off is it?

[mountaingoatgruff]

What did you do about your speedo? How far off is it?

 

does the imp's speedo cable thread into the EA82 trans?

 

if the imp was a 3.90 diff car to begin with (no mention of rear diff swap so i'm assuming it was) the only thing throwing off the speedo would be the tire size, right?

 

i don't know how accurate that is, i'm just asking for the sake of my own curiosity.

 

i'm also curious about how they rigged up the d/r shifter. pics for sure.

Edited January 8, 2010 by mountaingoatgruff

[lostinthe202]

 

i'm also curious about how they rigged up the d/r shifter. Pics for sure.

 

+1

[A DOG]

That is like my ideal car. Im sure it has mad torque in 4lo. A big tip is making a cold air intake for the EJ22. You can get adapters at some auto places and make a cold air intake for like 35 bucks. It wakes up the 2.2 ALOT!!! Pics of the interior would be awesome.

 

Also about how much was the swap in total? i really want to do this one day. I can do the install work and all the labor but parts wise how much?

[zyewdall]

Pics of the shifter and the engine.... can't really even tell in the engine compartment. The GL shifter is a little farther forwards than the stock imp shifter (nuetral line is more like where 1-3-5 used to be), but works fine once you get used to it, and the 4wd hi-lo shifter sticks up right behind it... I think that Terry might have done some custom linkages to get it right there. I need to figure out the boot situation, as now it's just a slit cut in the stock boot, and you can see the tranny through it

 

Pricewise, it was $395 for the transmission adaptor (redrilled flywheel and EA-EJ plate) from SJR. About $130 for the XT6 clutch kit, $100 each for the two custom axles in the front, and $135 for the driveshaft lengthening. I supplied some of those components, and Terry at CCR got other ones. I had the dual range transmission already, and if I'd also had an EA flywheel for SJR to redrill instead of buying a whole one from them, it would have been a little cheaper. All told, I've got about $3,200 into the project now (including buying the Imp with a blown transmission and clutch) including Terry's labor, but not including the snow tires or the dissassembled '82 GL with 14" pugs that I traded to Terry to reduce the labor charge. Not bad considering that the imp bluebooked around $3400 here if it hadn't had the bad tranny, and I'd gotten tired of the '82 GL sitting in the yard waiting for an EJ22 swap that was probably never going to happen If I'd done the work myself, I could have done it alot cheaper... but I didn't have the time or facilities this fall to do it so I was happy to have him do it.

 

[zyewdall]

Oh, on the speedo, I think the cable from the impreza was just threaded into the GL transmission. They were both 3.9 final drive, so it should be right on except for the slighlty larger tires (195/75/14 instead of the stock 205/65/15 IIRC). I'll check it with the GPS today.

[moosens]

Sure is an attractive modification to me. Something I'm certainly interested in for personal pleasure.

 

Now,throw that same drivetrain into say a '70's Coupe ....mmmmmmm.

 

Thanks very much for this post. Enjoy it!

[mountaingoatgruff]

thanks for the pics and update.

 

how's the mileage? i'd imagine it should be slightly better than with the AWD 5MT but i'm curious if dragging around the selective 4WD system might negate that.

[Gloyale]

Sweet.

 

Now all you need is Outback struts and a HighGuys 3 inch lift!

[zyewdall]

Well, gas mileage is awful on the last tank -- around 19mpg. It got 25mpg on the last tank on the toasted 5MT AWD before I blew it up. Check engine light it on continuously, so I suspect something is screwed up that's causing lower mileage. It's also feels like it's a little less power than the old legacy wagon (I was driving both of them yesterday). Too bad you can't easily pull the codes on the new ones like you can on the older ones...

[xbeerd]

Any updates on the setup? hows it working? better gas mileage?

 

I am looking to do this same mod/swap

[Ratty2Austin]

Sweet!

 

I just begun my D/R swap on my wagon.... 98 legacy brighton wagon!

 

I have the SJR adaptor plate and redrilled EA82 flywheel... I also have a pile of stock legacy axles and some rear DOJ cups (23 spline)

 

I will have pics of the progress posted in my waterwagon 3 build thread

[jmoss5723]

Are the transmission mounts in the same locations on the EA and EJ series trannies? What modifications, if any needed to be made in that respect?

[Loyale 2.7 Turbo]

This is your Answer:

 

...5 speed dual range transmission from a GL
Custom axles and driveshaft (Imp axles with GL inner cups, lengthened driveshaft.
SJR EJ-EA transmission adaptor plate and redrilled EA flywheel, XT6 clutch.
CCR in Denver did the swap for me...

 

You need an Adaptor Plate, or buy an EJ Dual Range Transmission from Latin America, Asia, Australia or New Zealand... unless you be Lucky to find one of the very Few Dual Range EJ Transmissions for sale in USA, like this one:

 

~► http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/144426-ej-dual-range-trans-for-sale/

 

Kind Regards.

[jmoss5723]

This is your Answer:

 

 

You need an Adaptor Plate, or buy an EJ Dual Range Transmission from Latin America, Asia, Australia or New Zealand... unless you be Lucky to find one of the very Few Dual Range EJ Transmissions for sale in USA, like this one:

 

~► http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/144426-ej-dual-range-trans-for-sale/

 

Kind Regards.

 

Thank you, but I suppose I should have been more clear. I meant how the tranny mounts to the car, not to the engine.

[ivans imports]

I raised my impreza by using outback struts all way round had to change the rear control arm front mount plate that was all came up 2.5 inchs and can run a 15 tire now

[Loyale 2.7 Turbo]

Thank you, but I suppose I should have been more clear. I meant how the tranny mounts to the car, not to the engine.

 

You're welcome!

 

Now I understand ...  ... 

 

You'll need the front crossmember from a manual trans EJ.

 

It must be Modified by Drilling or Notching, to accept the D/R mounts.

 

Kind Regards.

[jmoss5723]

You're welcome!

 

Now I understand ...  ... 

 

You'll need the front crossmember from a manual trans EJ.

 

It must be Modified by Drilling or Notching, to accept the D/R mounts.

 

Kind Regards.

 

Got it. That's easy enough.

[monstaru]

Got it. That's easy enough.

And, Or, you could have searched the forums, google, or another search engine to have found a thread on these things.

The interwebs is a whole wide world.......it's amazing.

cheers

[el_freddo]

Diff output stubs can be swapped for the EJ units.  Problem is pulling the EA 5spd PT gearboxes apart is a PITA to do.  Worth the effort in my opinion - you can use off the shelf drive shafts then.  It's also a good time to drop a front LSD in there

I kind of find this funny as in Australia we're using adaptor plates to mate EJ engines into the EA vehicles.  I only know of one EA gearbox being fitted into an EJ vehicle and that was a FT4wd locking centre diff unit to a H6 - went well until the incorrect use of the centre diff wore it out (unlocked on sand).  Otherwise it went very well!

Cheers

Bennie

[Gloyale]

Diff output stubs can be swapped for the EJ units.  Problem is pulling the EA 5spd PT gearboxes apart is a PITA to do.  Worth the effort in my opinion - you can use off the shelf drive shafts then.

 

 

 

What is so hard about the PT boxes?  They come apart just like the AWD ones.  Many people think you have to disasemble all the 4wd transfer guts but you don't. 

 

Remove the 10mm lockbolt on shift rod, and the whole rear transfer section slides right off.

 

 

We use adapter plates for new engines in old rigs too.......but since we don't have D/R ej boxes.....if you want to wheel a newer car, you gotta use the old EA boxes.

[AdventureSubaru]

Forester strut/spring combo swap yielded about 3 1/2 inches of lift on my 97 OBS (with 3/8 HDPE spacers) It easily clears a 28 inch tire. Got great ground clearance now. Looks like it was made to be that way.