GL Gauge Cluster Needed to run EJ22?

[SaltyMike]

I've been working on my EJ22 swap in my 82' Brat for the past couple of months now and had a question about wiring the vehicle speed sensor. 

For those who have not seen my previous posts, my Brat is a DL (no T-Tops, single range 4 speed manual, and gauge cluster without the tachometer). It no longer has the 4-Speed in it and instead a D/R 5-Speed out of an '86 wagon I believe. I've been told that in order to make the swap work (the EJ and the 5-Speed), that I will need to get the GL gauge cluster with the tachometer. Finding this gauge cluster isn't difficult, but rather it's the GL dash that is hard to find, at least in decent condition. Getting a GL cluster would require me to get the dash as well because it will not fit in my DL style dash. On top of that, that would be another project in itself doing the dash swap. With this being said, do I have any other options besides this? I've been told that people in the VW community who swap in Subaru engines run speed sensors off of the CV shafts, but since Subarus don't have bolts for the CVs this isn't an option. 

[el_freddo]

A fella over here out west uses a GPS unit for the VSS. I don’t know what’s involved but it’s worked well for the many conversions he’s done. 

You could run a magnet and pick up setup on the tailshaft or one of the drive shafts. The EJ doesn’t care too much about how fast it’s spinning from what I understand (unless it has a speed cut), it mainly needs to see if it’s stationary, accelerating, cruising or decelerating to operate the engine properly. 

The only reason they say you need the GL dash that’s longer than the DL one is because (from my understanding) over I the US you guys got a VSS built into the speedo - I thought it was all EA81 speedos but it seems it might only be the GLs. 

The other way to go is to use the factory EJ VSS and use the EJ instrument cluster in place of the DL cluster. It fits quite well, you should find some pics online of this conversion easily I’d say. Biggest problem is wiring it in if you’ve already cut the loom down.

Cheers 

Bennie

[SaltyMike]

On 4/1/2023 at 5:16 AM, el_freddo said:

A fella over here out west uses a GPS unit for the VSS. I don’t know what’s involved but it’s worked well for the many conversions he’s done. 

You could run a magnet and pick up setup on the tailshaft or one of the drive shafts. The EJ doesn’t care too much about how fast it’s spinning from what I understand (unless it has a speed cut), it mainly needs to see if it’s stationary, accelerating, cruising or decelerating to operate the engine properly. 

The only reason they say you need the GL dash that’s longer than the DL one is because (from my understanding) over I the US you guys got a VSS built into the speedo - I thought it was all EA81 speedos but it seems it might only be the GLs. 

The other way to go is to use the factory EJ VSS and use the EJ instrument cluster in place of the DL cluster. It fits quite well, you should find some pics online of this conversion easily I’d say. Biggest problem is wiring it in if you’ve already cut the loom down.

Cheers 

Bennie

Do you think it's all at all possible to swap out the back portion of a GL dash for the speedomter into the DL dash? 

[idosubaru]

I’ve driven EAs and EJs without an instrument cluster. It’s very weird to do so but they ran and drove fine without one.  I wonder why that’s possible but you need it for a swap?

[el_freddo]

Not interchangeable from what I’ve seen with the two clusters a part at different times. 

The VSS just refines the running of the EJ and reduces fuel use I believe. It will run without it and I doubt it would throw a code either. 

Cheers 

Bennie

[SaltyMike]

On 4/2/2023 at 6:49 PM, idosubaru said:

I’ve driven EAs and EJs without an instrument cluster. It’s very weird to do so but they ran and drove fine without one.  I wonder why that’s possible but you need it for a swap?

I've been told that running a EJ22 without a VSS signal will put the vehicle into limp mode. This may possibly be an issue with just the phase 2 EJ22s, which mine is (donor car: 1998 Legacy).

[SaltyMike]

On 4/1/2023 at 5:16 AM, el_freddo said:

A fella over here out west uses a GPS unit for the VSS. I don’t know what’s involved but it’s worked well for the many conversions he’s done. 

You could run a magnet and pick up setup on the tailshaft or one of the drive shafts. The EJ doesn’t care too much about how fast it’s spinning from what I understand (unless it has a speed cut), it mainly needs to see if it’s stationary, accelerating, cruising or decelerating to operate the engine properly. 

The only reason they say you need the GL dash that’s longer than the DL one is because (from my understanding) over I the US you guys got a VSS built into the speedo - I thought it was all EA81 speedos but it seems it might only be the GLs. 

The other way to go is to use the factory EJ VSS and use the EJ instrument cluster in place of the DL cluster. It fits quite well, you should find some pics online of this conversion easily I’d say. Biggest problem is wiring it in if you’ve already cut the loom down.

Cheers 

Bennie

I did a little searching around for Brumby interior shots. Correct me if I am wrong, but it seems like all of the Gen 2 brumbys and possibly Gen 3's with the EA81 had the gauge cluster without the tach, which is what my DL has. The only difference is it seems that you guys got a clock all the way to the left of the cluster, where as that area on my DL cluster is simply labeled "Subaru". They must all be the same cluster minus the clock difference, hence why they all don't have a VSS built into the speedo. 

[idosubaru]

11 hours ago, SaltyMike said:

I've been told that running a EJ22 without a VSS signal will put the vehicle into limp mode. This may possibly be an issue with just the phase 2 EJ22s, which mine is (donor car: 1998 Legacy).

Don’t recall year/model.  I remember being surprised XT6s ran fine without an instrument cluster when I had a ton of them so I did it with later EJ (or possibly EZ) and they drove fine to work.  It’s odd driving not knowing if check engine light tripped, speed and engine temp. 

some folks on vanagon forum mentioned sometimes it takes awhile for issues to show up with a lack of VSS so maybe I got away with it for a lone commute to work?

Which I say because the Subaru vanagon conversion folks have to deal with this often maybe you could see what they say if you strike out here?  
 

Let us know what you find. 

[SaltyMike]

2 hours ago, idosubaru said:

Don’t recall year/model.  I remember being surprised XT6s ran fine without an instrument cluster when I had a ton of them so I did it with later EJ (or possibly EZ) and they drove fine to work.  It’s odd driving not knowing if check engine light tripped, speed and engine temp. 

some folks on vanagon forum mentioned sometimes it takes awhile for issues to show up with a lack of VSS so maybe I got away with it for a lone commute to work?

Which I say because the Subaru vanagon conversion folks have to deal with this often maybe you could see what they say if you strike out here?  
 

Let us know what you find. 

I was first made aware of this through a friend that has done this swap on their bus. Definitely seems to be a more prevalent problem over there. When I get to this point in my swap soon I will post here what I found. 

[el_freddo]

@idosubaru- the EJs have their VSS on the gearbox from the Gen2s IIRC. So depending on the models you tested in a run without the instrument cluster, they may have been fine. 

The XT6 ECU is probably too dumb to do much about not having a VSS to reference… 

@SaltyMikethe brumby only came with that cluster you found online. Our units were never factory delivered with the longer cluster and dashboard, they came in the coupes (I’d love one of these but hen’s teeth now), some sedans and the touring wagons which went to the digital dash at some point. 

Afaik none of our MY/EA81 clusters came with a built in VSS like the MPFI L series vehicles did. 

Cheers 

Bennie