EJ18 (95) into a 96 lego L sedan (both auto awd)

[johnceggleston]

i just picked up a ej18 from a 95 impreza auto w/ <100k miles. i'm planning on putting it in a 96 lego L sedan auto trans. i've read a couple of threads which were going from ej18 to ej22 and i think i know what is going on.

 

i have removed the ej18 intake w/egr and plan on installing the ej22 w/ egr intake. this seems pretty straight forward as long as i route all of the hoses correctly. i also noticed i need to ad the knock sensor to the ej18 block.

 

but there are some hoses /ports on the heads at the exhaust ports that i cant identify and don't understand. i plan on looking at the opposed forces web site to see what i can learn.

 

can i just blank these off??

 

any help would be greatly appreciated. thanks guys.

 

passenger side hose thingy.

 

passenger side connection at exhaust port on head.

 

driver side head connection, doesn't really look like it ties into the exhaust, too clean.

[subaru360]

It's air injection. Just remove all that junk and block off the port under the passenger side valve cover.

[idosubaru]

John - i've done this swap (except into EJ25 since mine is an LSi), call if you have any questions but it's really easy. 40,000 miles on it over the past few years.

 

the EJ18 manifold and hoses are convoluted - like 360 said, strip the EJ18 completely down, remove everything and bolt the EJ22 stuff to it. block off any holes that are left over. i even blocked off the EGR but they don't care about the CEL in this state so it doesn't matter.

 

My EJ18 was dual port exhaust (i thought they all were?) and EJ22 in 96 should be single so you *may* need an exhaust manifold. i used an EJ25 exhaust manifold (since it was already on the car).

 

knock sensor hole is already there, just thread it in place and bolt the manifold on like you already found out it seems.

 

it ran fine on my EJ25 ECU. i swapped in an EJ22 ECU and noticed no difference at all. the EJ18 ECU i tried was completely different and doesn't plug in.

[wtdash]

Learn something new every day! I thought 'air injection' was an '80's thing.

 

Isn't the '95 EJ18/Auto an OBD1? That would (help) explain the ECU differences. I'm 99% sure the '95 EJ22/Auto were OBDII.

 

Let us know what the MPG is.....curious if it's better or worse.

 

TD

[johnceggleston]

i got the y-pipe with the engine.

 

the ej18 is obd1 but if you remove the intake and wiring, you end up with a long block that is almost identical, except for some extra holes, to the ej22. so when you bolt on a ej22 obd2 intake and harness, presto change-o, it becomes obd2.

 

i'll let you know how it goes. work is busy now, yea, so it may take a while.

[SubaruFred]

Learn something new every day! I thought 'air injection' was an '80's thing.

 

Isn't the '95 EJ18/Auto an OBD1? That would (help) explain the ECU differences. I'm 99% sure the '95 EJ22/Auto were OBDII.

 

Let us know what the MPG is.....curious if it's better or worse.

 

TD

 

AFAIK the only OBDII compliant Subaru in 1995 was the SFJ2.2VJGFEK

Legacy with AT. Since the difference between OBDI and II is primarily the ECU, wiring harness and diagnostic interface I can't see how a OBDI engine could work with a OBDII ECU without changing the ECU and wiring harness.

 

http://www.obdii.com/connector.html

[Olnick]

AFAIK all EJ22 Subies were OBD2 in '95. My Legacy L with MT is.

[idosubaru]

mine gets 30-33 highway in flat land (but i converted mine also to FWD automatic). drops considerably in the mountains to 25-26 highway due to the lack of power climbing steep grades.

 

OBD stuff has nothing to do with this swap.

 

wtdash mentioned that because of the ECU comment i made - it has nothing to do with swapping the blocks. you could start another thread if you don't understand, otherwise it might confuse someone trying to do a swap.

 

what you don't realize that you're suggesting here is "if you don't change anything, the car won't work."

 

an engine is not OBD anything - the electronics make something OBD, not the mechanical stuff. if you swap *blocks* and not electronics then OBD doesn't matter. he's bolting all of his existing electrical stuff to a new block...so it doesn't matter what OBD it is, because it's getting the same stuff that's already on the car.

Edited March 13, 2011 by grossgary

[johnceggleston]

first, i'm taking it on faith that it is a 95, i have not checked the vin yet. but even if it is a 94 the swap should be the same.

 

second, it has a cable driven speedo not a speed sensor. my 95 lego L has a speed sensor, so there is a difference between the USA built and the japan built auto trans of that year. chances are good that that the JDM ej22 is obd1 and the USDM is obd2. i'm pretty sure this is the case.

 

finally, engine blocks and heads are not odb compilant. the electronics they hang on the block are. so if you strip off the obd1 intake w/ the harness, and bolt on the ej22 obd2 intake w/ harness there are very few differences between the two.

 

and my research shows that all ej18s have an egr system. which means they all have the threaded port on the driver side head. mine certainly does.

 

 

Subaru in 1995 was the SFJ2.2VJGFEK

i don't know what this is. ??

[SubaruFred]

mine gets 30-33 highway in flat land (but i converted mine also to FWD automatic). drops considerably in the mountains to 25-26 highway due to the lack of power climbing steep grades.

 

OBD stuff has nothing to do with this swap.

 

wtdash mentioned that because of the ECU comment i made - it has nothing to do with swapping the blocks. you could start another thread if you don't understand, otherwise it might confuse someone trying to do a swap.

 

what you don't realize that you're suggesting here is "if you don't change anything, the car won't work."

 

an engine is not OBD anything - the electronics make something OBD, not the mechanical stuff. if you swap *blocks* and not electronics then OBD doesn't matter. he's bolting all of his existing electrical stuff to a new block...so it doesn't matter what OBD it is, because it's getting the same stuff that's already on the car.

 

I didn't realize that this swap could be accomplished utilizing all of the original OBDII sensors, intake, MAF sensor, injectors, etc. In that case the only change will be the ECU seeing reduced load due to the reduced MAF to the smaller engine. In theory this could affect the ignition timing a little or cause AT shifting issues since the ECU is calibrated for the larger engine's MAF. The knock sensor will still offer protection against spark knock should the ECU advance the timing too much. I don't even know if the Soob ECU handles TCU functions as it does on my Scion.

 

Anyway, I actually know a great deal about Toyota/Scion OBDII engine management systems but very little about Subarus so I'll just watch and learn.

 

 

 

 

 

first, i'm taking it on faith that it is a 95, i have not checked the vin yet. but even if it is a 94 the swap should be the same.

 

second, it has a cable driven speedo not a speed sensor. my 95 lego L has a speed sensor, so there is a difference between the USA built and the japan built auto trans of that year. chances are good that that the JDM ej22 is obd1 and the USDM is obd2. i'm pretty sure this is the case.

 

finally, engine blocks and heads are not odb compilant. the electronics they hang on the block are. so if you strip off the obd1 intake w/ the harness, and bolt on the ej22 obd2 intake w/ harness there are very few differences between the two.

 

and my research shows that all ej18s have an egr system. which means they all have the threaded port on the driver side head. mine certainly does.

 

 

i don't know what this is. ??

 

As long as you can keep all of your original sensors, I suppose it should work. I assumed that the intake, throttle body and possibly the fuel injectors might be different but it sounds like you have that covered.

 

"SFJ2.2VJGFEK" is a partial VIN (engine family) I got from a list of OBDII compliant 1995 autos. I posted a link to it at the bottom of my post but here it is again. It may be incomplete.

 

http://www.obdii.com/connector.html

 

 

Good luck with the engine swap.

Edited March 13, 2011 by SubaruFred

[idosubaru]

I suppose it should work. .

i've done it, so no need to guess or wonder.

 

EJ engines are very similar -all sorts of stuff interchanges. it's a huge list i won't begin to recount, blocks, heads, all sorts of seals, sensors, are interchangeable between EJ18, Ej22, and EJ25.

 

I assumed that the intake, throttle body and possibly the fuel injectors might be different but it sounds like you have that covered.

the intake manifold is removed (and the TPS, fuel injectors, all of that is on the intake manifold). oil pressure, CTS, cam, and crank sensors are left in the block or you can interchange them, they're the same.

[SubaruFred]

i've done it, so no need to guess or wonder.

 

EJ engines are very similar -all sorts of stuff interchanges. it's a huge list i won't begin to recount, blocks, heads, all sorts of seals, sensors, are interchangeable between EJ18, Ej22, and EJ25.

 

the intake manifold is removed (and the TPS, fuel injectors, all of that is on the intake manifold). oil pressure, CTS, cam, and crank sensors are left in the block or you can interchange them, they're the same.

 

I'm convinced.

 

Thank you for the info on the EJ engine family.