Swapping '88 SPFI EA82 into '86 turbo GL wagon

[MSteven]

I bought two Loyales described in the title.

The turbo motor is toast, and I am 3/4 of the way into swapping the '88 SPFI motor into the wagon.

Much to my distinct pleasure, I find the wiring harnesses for the motors are different.

Square vs. round pins for one thing. I've pulled the harness off the turbo motor,

and need to find out what I'll need to do to get the throttle body injector to fire correctly.

Since the harness I'm using came from the turbo motor, it's multi-port FI and the '88 motor is throttle body injected.

This should mean that injector firing impulses will not be correct since they were spread out to 4 injectors.

 

The guy I bought them from can't find the Chilton's manuals for them, and till he does, or I order replacements, 

I'm at a standstill.

Will I have to swap the ECM (or whatever Subaru calls the "computer") from the '88 to the '86 wagon?

It seems like that should work, but it also entails finding it. Where is the ECM located? Under the dash?

 

Any other tips to finishing this swap?

 

Thanks for your time and effort in advance.

Mark 

 

[Bantum]

Yep, you'll need to match the ECU ( Engine Control Unit ) to the engine you are using. It is normally found mounted somewhere to underside of steering column in the L series & yes you should get the manuals specific to your car / engine to work out the intricacies.

Can't hurt to do a bit of reading on here to see what others have done previously, it's a great resource of readily available info - that is if you can find it ...

Cheers, Bantum ...

[MSteven]

Thanks for the reply.

 

I bought these without looking into it very far, my buddy that I bought it from was going to do this swap but ran out of time and now has other things occupying his time. I'd always liked the '88 2 door coupe the motor came from, and after he put a used turbo into the '86 GL wagon and then having a seal blow out and seize the left camshaft in the head, they have sat. The '88 has succumbed to the rust demons, including brake lines and some mounts, the body's a junker.

This isn't going to be my daily driver, more of a woods driving/fishing/hunting rig. Don't want to tear up my nice F-150 driving it in the woods, well not till it's 10 years old or so anyway!

 I do intend to look through the threads for more information. 

 

With your last sentence, are you inferring the search function on this forum doesn't work very well?

Edited March 25, 2016 by MSteven

[Bantum]

Yeah - something like that ...

 

For my own research, I find using Google is the best for finding most of the good info that might be buried within pages of otherwise irrelevant stuff, just means it takes a bit longer to find it though ...

Ciao, Bantum ...

[DaveT]

You want to swap the wiring harnesses from dash to engine. You want factory service manuals or online of same. You need full schematics. Definitely need to swap the ecu.

[firehawk618]

You want to swap the wiring harnesses from dash to engine. You want factory service manuals or online of same. You need full schematics. Definitely need to swap the ecu.

You need to swap the whole dash harness also.

[wagonist]

Not sure about the lhd models, but for the rhd the engine loom is joined in the main loom, which is one piece through the whole car.

My suggestion is to strip absolutely everything out of the 88 and do the job as if you're using the 86s body as a reshell