Silverbull3t Posted January 3 Share Posted January 3 Hi all Been a little while since I visited this forum, don't hold it against me! Thought I might show the process I went through to EJ swap my 81' wagon. It's not a detailed step-by-step instructions, but maybe the photos etc could give a bit of inspiration to anybody else contemplating or in the process of doing a similar conversion. This was done over the course of a year (!) wasn't meant to take that long but there were unforseen hurdles. It's been back on the road for 9 months now and has done plenty of miles in that time. A cross country trip and a few camping trips with many more to come. Planning to do a camping trip every month this year, that's my new-years resolution! Anyway the "old" engine was the venerable EA81S twin carburettor engine. This had around 30,000 k's on it (<19,000 miles) since it was rebuilt. It was fun and sounded great but just made too little power for how much fuel it consumed. I also wanted something more modern. The new engine was an EJ20 from an early 2000's Forester that I bought for $250 a number of years ago. I had no donor car, no ECU, no dash wiring or any of that. I decided it was too hard to source all of that stuff and I don't have room to store a parts car so, I went the custom ECU option with a Haltech Elite 750. This made the wiring job so much simpler in my mind. I had other reasons for going this way as well, too many to go into here. This was my EJ after I got back from rebuild by a very reputable local place. It was "blueprinted" as they say, new bearings and everything you'd expect of a rebuild. They didn't touch the intake manifold though as I discovered later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silverbull3t Posted January 3 Author Share Posted January 3 This engine had the 6 wire stepper motor IACV which my ECU could not handle. So I went to the local wrecker and got an earlier throttle body that had the 3 wire servo IACV. Cleaned it up and got everything moving nice. I believe the middle sensor was MAP which I didn't need so blanked off that port. My engine adapter plate has threaded holes at the top so I didn't need to make the adapter bolts (that use elongated holes in the adapter plate) I got my EA81 flywheel professionally machined on the bolt pattern to bolt it to the EJ crank. Used my old clutch which is L series. Just needed to elongate the engine mount holes in the engine crossmember and it dropped straight in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silverbull3t Posted January 3 Author Share Posted January 3 (edited) The fuel system was the biggest headache of the whole swap and took the most time. I wanted to use an in-tank fuel pump for a few reasons. I also wanted to increase my tank capacity from the puny 45L I had. Since I have a 2" lift kit I figured I could increase the tank height by 2" which would allow me to use a weld-in fuel pump kit from Raceworks. So I miraculously came across a 1980 model wagon at the aforementioned wrecking yard which had the same 45L tank as my old one. It was more rust than car but the fuel tank was salvageable. Long story short I cut both the tanks in "half" and welded the top from one onto the bottom of the other but 50mm or 2" taller. So I only had one weld seam going around instead of 2 had I welded in a 2" strip. The weld-in fuel pump kit also had some difficulties as you can see in the photos. It all worked out in the end and doesn't leak. Another big headache was the fuel return line since my did not have one. I ended up making one from aluminium hard line to run inside the car next to the factory supply line. This worked out quite well in the end. I made a couple of spacer blocks to space the fuel tank down 2". The filler neck worked fine as the rubber elbow had enough length in it. Edited January 3 by Silverbull3t Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silverbull3t Posted January 3 Author Share Posted January 3 (edited) For the coolant temp and oil sensors I used the old EA sensors to keep my 6 gauge dash working properly. I put a sensor adapter in-line with the heater hoses for the old coolant temp sender. The oil pressure guage sender I got an adapter made so I could thread it into one of the oil gallery plug holes on top of the engine block, under the throttle body. The old EJ 3 wire coolant temp sensor was binned in favor of a bosch 2 wire sensor that the Haltech could use threaded into the same hole in the coolant crossover pipe. The heater tap below is a highly modified London taxi heater tap. It was too much work and does not work 100% right, would not recommend this swap. Edited January 3 by Silverbull3t Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silverbull3t Posted January 3 Author Share Posted January 3 The engine wiring was the next biggest job after the fuel system. I don't have a large hole + grommet on both sides of my firewall e.g. under the wiper motor like later model cars have. So I decided to enlarge the hole that the choke cable used to run through and got a new grommet to run the Haltech wiring through there. The loom is actually quite thin and was able to fit through this hole, not many wires are needed to run the engine. I used the standard EJ engine harness connectors on the bellhousing. After chasing electrical gremlins with the decrepit old EJ engine harness, I re-made that from scratch too using all brand new plug and pin kits for the OEM connectors from iWire (in the USA!) and high temp TXL wire. Used Raychem heat shrink mostly with some braided sleeving and Hellermann Tyton cloth loom tape (good stuff!) The manifold got a clean up too, and new injectors as the old ones were hopelessly gummed up with old varnish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silverbull3t Posted January 3 Author Share Posted January 3 Other bits and pieces; the pitch stopper rod needed a custom bracket made for the engine and I modified the old EA rod to suit. The radiator I got the outlets modified in the usual way. I'm using 2 x 10" SPAL radiator fans on the engine side plus a tiny 6" or so fan on the front side just to help the A/C a bit. For the power steering I used the EJ pump, modified 1 hard line so I could use my old EA hoses and custom mounted a later model remote reservoir next to the manifold. The A/C was a big PITA to get the hoses right since the place that did the engine rebuild put a different compressor on there. Which meant the hoses I had from the old EJ compressor no longer fitted. Went down a rabbit hole of finding out just how many differen compressors Subaru used on these engines (hint, a LOT of different ones) eventually found the right ones. Then I had the same place that did the radiator make some new rubber hoses to connect the EJ compressor to my EA A/C system. Don't have any photos of this part. For the exhaust system I got an off the shelf stainless UEL header for an Impreza for $600 and made an adapter piece with a catalytic converter to join to the rest of my DIY exhaust system. Theres a wideband sensor for the Haltech right before the cat. The exhaust uses V band clamps throughout, makes servicing so so much easier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silverbull3t Posted January 3 Author Share Posted January 3 I think that just about covers everything! Only thing left to do was get it dyno tuned. This took 2 different attempts; the first time was plagued by fuel pressure and electrical gremlins. After this I made the hard fuel return line to get more flow back to the tank. Also when I made the new engine loom that goes under the manifold. The 2nd visit was trouble-free and I got a whopping 60kW at the front wheels or 80hp Still this is plenty enough to light up the 27" tires and have the open front diff torque steer the car if I floor it from a stop. The gearing in the 3.7 ratio L series 5 speed is all wrong for 27" tires. I'm waiting on a 3.9 ratio gearbox rebuild which should make it nicer to drive I think. This will be going into an EJ gearbox casing so I can do-away with the adapter plate and use a full EJ flywheel and clutch. This is still in progress. In any case it drives much better now and uses less fuel than the EA81 twin carb. Highway cruising is a breeze, I can stay in 5th gear for most hills. And the absolute best part and one of the reasons I did this whole swap; no more oil leaks on the driveway! Fire away with any questions you might have. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silverbull3t Posted January 3 Author Share Posted January 3 And maybe I've put this in the wrong section of the forum, sorry mods! If it's possible to move it then feel free to do so... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
88SubGL Posted January 4 Share Posted January 4 That sounds like an awesome build. It would be nice to see pictures of the rest of the car. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silverbull3t Posted January 5 Author Share Posted January 5 (edited) Sure thing! Brief run-down: My parents bought this car new in 1981, been in the family ever since. It was handed down to my brother and then me, both our first cars. I drove it for a couple years then took it off the road more than 10 years ago for a full bare shell restoration with upgrades. Been back on the road close to 4 years. It's now got a 2" lift kit + 27" tires, touring wagon dash/center console, power steer/air con/power windows, entirely new wiring loom designed and made by me, L series 5 spd, air adjustable rear shocks, 5ch sound system with sat-nav. The list could go on...I'm constantly working at improving and upgrading things. The front suspension will be next as its way too stiff. New gearbox coming soon etc. Here's from a recent camping/fishing trip with the 4WD club It's my daily driver and gets pushed into service for vaious jobs... Right after I got the new 15" wheels Edited January 5 by Silverbull3t 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
88SubGL Posted January 5 Share Posted January 5 Nice car. Vintage looks with EJ power, awesome! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
573417h Posted Sunday at 09:15 PM Share Posted Sunday at 09:15 PM Love it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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