SmokeyTheGL Posted June 9, 2017 Share Posted June 9, 2017 Hey everyone! So this is my first post, and I'll be the first to admit that my knowledge is VERY limited. Here's the jist of the situation. I have a 1989 Subaru GL wagon that was given to me as a graduation present. He has been serving the family dutifully for years now, but is getting a little tired. I plan on spending the fortune I'm sure it will cost to get the dual range transmission fully rebuilt, but the engine is still lacking. Anyone who has owned this car knows that it really deserves to be a diesel. If nothing else, it's severely lacking in power, especially with the Toyota steelies that are on there right now. I have heard that people have put WRX engines in this car, and am wondering about the feasibility of that, versus other engines. I don't need an insane power boost, and I definitely want to keep the transmission. Like I said, in a perfect world I'd love to make him a diesel, but I realize that may be impossible. Thoughts? Suggestions? Has anyone tried a Golf TDI engine? (I realize that it would be a deviation from God's greatest gift to man, the boxer, but it might be an interesting project). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
987687 Posted June 9, 2017 Share Posted June 9, 2017 There's a thread on here somewhere someone tried to fit a TDI into on. They posted pictures, and it wasn't really possible. I can't find it now, though. I imagine the first time you hit the go pedal with a TDI you'd rip all the gears out of the transmission... ea82 makes what, like 95 ft/lbs of torque? TDI makes somewhere over 200? You'd need a driveline upgrade. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ferp420 Posted June 9, 2017 Share Posted June 9, 2017 They put those tdi diesels in to there busses to it will definitly fit sideways there about the same phisicle size as the boxer the 2.5d has around 165 lb of tourque and there infront of alot of ea transmissions i dought a tdi is gona pop the trans with the power curve of that diesel it should be just fine the biggest problem would be engine speed subie engines turn 6-7k verses the tdi what 3k so driveabuility might be a issue maybe with a 3.7 finnal drive it might work but i dought it would reach freeway speeds but it might there are gearing calculators outhere that would.give you a better idea of whats going on but why go through all the trouble when a ej swap is so much easyer and everything plays nice seeing as how its just a exstremely upgraded version of the original motor and lots of threads about it and alot of suport here onnthis site Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SmokeyTheGL Posted June 9, 2017 Author Share Posted June 9, 2017 They put those tdi diesels in to there busses to it will definitly fit sideways there about the same phisicle size as the boxer the 2.5d has around 165 lb of tourque and there infront of alot of ea transmissions i dought a tdi is gona pop the trans with the power curve of that diesel it should be just fine the biggest problem would be engine speed subie engines turn 6-7k verses the tdi what 3k so driveabuility might be a issue maybe with a 3.7 finnal drive it might work but i dought it would reach freeway speeds but it might there are gearing calculators outhere that would.give you a better idea of whats going on but why go through all the trouble when a ej swap is so much easyer and everything plays nice seeing as how its just a exstremely upgraded version of the original motor and lots of threads about it and alot of suport here onnthis site Alright! That's exactly the kind of information I need, so thank you. The main reason for wanting to go diesel was that I have a 79 diesel VW Rabbit, and the torque is just insane for the engine size. I thought that would pair quite nicely with the subie High-Low optional 4 wheel drive. I want to build something that's capable of highway speeds, but loves to crawl in the lower RPMs. That being said, I think an EJ would probably do the trick for that, but just haven't done a whole lot of research into it yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jsyme Posted June 9, 2017 Share Posted June 9, 2017 Hello SmokeyTheGL and welcome to the forums. I would LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! to put a diesel in my car! However, The aforementioned EJ swap, or the EA82Turbo is the right answer to keep motor mounts and radiators in the same place. Moderate to Heavy Subaru modifications are required for this swap to Diesel. Parts costs in Colorado Springs for diesels are still outrageous and their owners are still too proud of them. Anything with a German name stamped on it is two to four times more expensive then locally sourced parts. They can keep 'em. Personally I have this exact same car and I intend to do a EJ2.2L from a donor car once available. I keep my eyes peeled for a "mechanic special" or wrecked or "rear end damage" in the classifieds/craigslist. The 1979 VW Rabbit had two motors available: the gas and diesel, the gas engine producing 95hp and the 1.6L making all of 45 hp but a truck load of torque. This is not the Jetta TDI as you know. One maybe better choice would be to just drop in the GL-10 turbo EA82 into the same car. It'll twist the wheels right off too. In either case, EA82T or EJ2.0 or EJ2.2 the clutch is the weak link and should be using the XT6 stock clutch to handle the extra twist. Research this forum for all the specs and look for these folks: <incomplete list> numbchux: -Matt “Chux” Alexander, bumblebeast Summary: If you want a cheap to drive great little car keep the diesel Rabbit and keep it alive another 30 years and give it your son. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveT Posted June 9, 2017 Share Posted June 9, 2017 I wouldn't swap in an ea82t. Hard to find, more parts are nla. Less reliability. Same amount of work to put an ej 2.2 in it, and you get more power than a turbo without the loss in reliability in the engine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ferp420 Posted June 9, 2017 Share Posted June 9, 2017 Ea82t would be just as much work as ether of the other options the only reason to run a ea82t is to keep your rig is in clasic condition nonreason to put them in anything other than what they came in Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SmokeyTheGL Posted June 10, 2017 Author Share Posted June 10, 2017 Wow! Thank you everyone for the awesome feedback on this topic. It sounds like the EJ 2.2 is the way to go, especially for someone of my skill levels. Not to mention that I get to keep this beautiful marvel of engineering that is the High-Low transmission. That being said, I've also considered taking the stock engine thats in there right now, and boring out the cylinders for a couple more HP in the mean time. On a scale of 1-"you should probably just go to hell already to save some time", how bad of an idea is that? Would it be better to try and fit a turbo on and call it macaroni? And finally, in reply to Jsyme, don't worry! I have no intentions of tearing into this VW. It's a heaven sent daily driver that gets up to 50mpg, and is so reliable that I could probably rob the engine and it would still find a way to get me where I needed to go, and back again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveT Posted June 10, 2017 Share Posted June 10, 2017 The EA82 doesn't have any area to bore out cylinders other than something like .02 or so for wear. Still would have hte flow limitations due to everything about the heads. Lots of $ for little gain. Adding a turbo would be the same as putting in an EA82T. New ECU, all the sensors, wiring, tuning, and reliability loss. Plus all the time and $. The cooling system is just big enough for the stock EA82. The EA82T was really edgy. Reliable and lowest cost, keep it stock. Want more power and keep the engine reliable, EJ. You might have to be careful with the power, as now your asking the driveline to handle 40% more than it was designed for. Well, maybe 20-30%, since it could have had an EA82T. Side note, EA82Ts had bigger CVJ cups and DOJ cups on the axles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SmokeyTheGL Posted June 10, 2017 Author Share Posted June 10, 2017 The EA82 doesn't have any area to bore out cylinders other than something like .02 or so for wear. Still would have hte flow limitations due to everything about the heads. Lots of $ for little gain. Adding a turbo would be the same as putting in an EA82T. New ECU, all the sensors, wiring, tuning, and reliability loss. Plus all the time and $. The cooling system is just big enough for the stock EA82. The EA82T was really edgy. Reliable and lowest cost, keep it stock. Want more power and keep the engine reliable, EJ. You might have to be careful with the power, as now your asking the driveline to handle 40% more than it was designed for. Well, maybe 20-30%, since it could have had an EA82T. Side note, EA82Ts had bigger CVJ cups and DOJ cups on the axles. Awesome, thanks Dave. That's more or less what I had assumed, but I figured it was worth an ask. You bring up a good point with the CVJ, and DOJ cups. Is that something that could swap onto my GL if I found them with little wear? Also, as I mentioned before, I plan on rebuilding the transmission (almost entirely for peace of mind), so while I'm at it, what all do you think will need to be replaced in the name of security? It's fairly high miles, but I'm not sure exactly how many as the odometer stopped ticking a while ago. I assume he thought it was unimportant as he doesn't plan on stopping in this century. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveT Posted June 10, 2017 Share Posted June 10, 2017 The axles, you'll have to search for used. In the 90's I always bought the turbo axels from scrap yards, re booted them, and ran them on my 4WD 3AT wagons. A FSM has a chart with the different axles for different models - some are interchangeable, some aren't. I'm still hunting for boots so I can rebuild a few I have, so they are ready for my cars the next time I need to swap one. The non turbo ones, boots are easier to find. In no case do you want aftermarket axles. I don't know the manual trans well enough to know, but once you have it apart, you'll be able to see wear on whatever. I have a 5spd DR 4WD transmission here that needs a good home. It was working when I removed it, I think it was under or around 150K, and I have a new clutch kit for it. Been stored indoors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ferp420 Posted June 11, 2017 Share Posted June 11, 2017 (edited) You can hop up the ea82 but its alot of.work alot and its not cost effective to pay someone to do the work for the gains you will get Almost easyer to install the ej22 and has more power stock than you will ever be able to get out of a ea82 Edited June 11, 2017 by ferp420 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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