The Green Machine

[573417h]

At that price it might be worthwhile, lots of the ex CN parts have dramatic improved in recent years, id take a gamble lol, especially if its the last real piece to the puzzle.

[KiwiGL]

Clutch is tired and slipping under heavy load, both front wheel bearings need doing, has a slight knock at startup... Thinking about giving this EJ swap a crack.

I have:

Carbed EJ22

EJ 5 speed FWD box

First gen Legacy front hubs, calipers, struts, shafts

Looking at the swap info, will need to modify front control arm to take an EJ ball joint. Will probably need to use EA82 control arms to make it wide enough to use the Legacy shafts too.

For the rear end - how does one go about 5 stud swapped a FWD rear end. Does the legacy FWD stuff bolt on? 

Any help is welcome.

[el_freddo]

Don’t take this as gospel, just a memory of what could be a nasty rumour online about EJ conversions into the fugly series. 

Measure up the width of the chassis rails to ensure they’re wide enough for the EJ22. I wouldn’t want you to be knee deep in the project only to find the engine doesn’t fit without major modification to the recipient vehicle! I recall a fella shoe-horning a DOHC turbo into one of these and had to do loads of mods to make it fit. From the convo around that, the feeling I got was that even a SOHC EJ22 isn’t an easy task to fit. 

What’s the diff output stub spline count? If it’s 23, why can’t you retain the factory front shafts? 

Personally, I don’t like offset track width front to rear - just check out the last land cruiser models for what I’m talking about. Yuck! 

As for the 2wd rear end, it could be a case of finding a set of wheel bearings that fit the EA stub axle and the EJ 2wd hub. Hopefully the stub axle is the correct length for this sort of swap. After that it’s how to graft/mount the EJ backing plate. The other bit is finding out if the 2wd hub is separate to the drum (I believe all 2wd EJ Subarus were rear drum, but I could be wrong about this). 

I hope this helps, I dare say you’ve got some research ahead of you. 

Cheers 

Bennie

[KiwiGL]

On 1/18/2023 at 10:29 PM, el_freddo said:

Don’t take this as gospel, just a memory of what could be a nasty rumour online about EJ conversions into the fugly series. 

Measure up the width of the chassis rails to ensure they’re wide enough for the EJ22. I wouldn’t want you to be knee deep in the project only to find the engine doesn’t fit without major modification to the recipient vehicle! I recall a fella shoe-horning a DOHC turbo into one of these and had to do loads of mods to make it fit. From the convo around that, the feeling I got was that even a SOHC EJ22 isn’t an easy task to fit. 

What’s the diff output stub spline count? If it’s 23, why can’t you retain the factory front shafts? 

Personally, I don’t like offset track width front to rear - just check out the last land cruiser models for what I’m talking about. Yuck! 

As for the 2wd rear end, it could be a case of finding a set of wheel bearings that fit the EA stub axle and the EJ 2wd hub. Hopefully the stub axle is the correct length for this sort of swap. After that it’s how to graft/mount the EJ backing plate. The other bit is finding out if the 2wd hub is separate to the drum (I believe all 2wd EJ Subarus were rear drum, but I could be wrong about this). 

I hope this helps, I dare say you’ve got some research ahead of you. 

Cheers 

Bennie

Yes, will need to talk with a certifier re getting the rails cut.

Diff output is 25 spline on the box I have - it's a legacy one. Might see if I can get an Impreza one though (or just split it and chuck in an LSD and 23 spline shafts).

From the Legacy service manual I have, they did actually do a disc brake rear end with the 2wd model. Might have to try track a setup down...

I think I'll probably just throw my spare clutch in, replace the wheel bearings, and call it a day for now.

[KiwiGL]

Haven't done much with this one lately, just been enjoying driving it mostly. I did pick up a big valve hydro lifter EA71, so will work on fitting my EA81S twin carbs to that instead. Hopefully a little more power and revs, and avoids the need for a cert as it's still an EA71. Though unfortunately it's a side starter motor and I suspect it may be a fatcase EA71 as well, so I don't think my top mount bellhousing will fit. Might need a new gearbox.

PFA (repost I know, I'm terrible at taking pictures)