dptyrob Posted January 28, 2005 Share Posted January 28, 2005 I've got this crazy idea that I can't get out of my head. I have an 89 Loyale fuel injected engine on a 3spd AT. I'm wondering what would be the best way drop that engine into my Samurai. The samurai has a divorced transfer case with an intermediate shaft, so I'm wondering if it wouldn't be possible to use a dual range subaru tranny and just use the rear output to power the sammy's transfer case. That would also give extra gear reduction if it would work. I just wonder what kind of longevity a person could expect to get from the tranny if used in this mode. If that's not a feasible idea, how difficult would it be to mate the subaru engine to the samurai drive train? Obviously there would be some necessary exhaust work, engine mount placement/fabrication, tranny mounting, and wiring work to be done, but I'm thinking this thing is do-able. Anyone have any thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bushbasher Posted January 29, 2005 Share Posted January 29, 2005 I dont see how you could possibly fit the heads in between the frame rails. I thought of this briefly once but dumped it for that reason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dptyrob Posted January 29, 2005 Author Share Posted January 29, 2005 I dont see how you could possibly fit the heads in between the frame rails. I thought of this briefly once but dumped it for that reason. I would think that the intermediate shaft would give you the latitude to elevate the engine a little bit to where the heads would be above the frame rails. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bushbasher Posted January 29, 2005 Share Posted January 29, 2005 an ea82 is really frickin wide man, I think if you got out and started measuring you'd realize how silly it would be. I'm betting youd have 4" of head coming out each inner fender. an ea81 would be skinnier but its still pretty wide. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
85Sub4WD Posted January 29, 2005 Share Posted January 29, 2005 If you did an SPFI conversion on an EA81 engine, you could probably get the power and the fit. Have you thought about putting a weber carb on the Samauri engine?? Be careful because I know there are stability issues with the Samauri anyway, and putting an engine even higher is not going to help. If the Samauri has a Hitachi carb, then the same kit used to convert Soobs would probably work on it. Japanese cars are almost always undercarbed, and the Weber would definately provide a boost. Just a thought. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dptyrob Posted January 29, 2005 Author Share Posted January 29, 2005 I've thought about the webber. There are so many places a person can go with mods that it's hard to figure out where to start. I want to do gears and lockers. I want to do bumpers and a winch. I'd love to do a 16 valve 1.6, or even an 8 valve. The 8 valve would be super simple and would help a good deal. The 16 valve engine would be the most desirable, but you pretty much have to get an entire donor vehicle, tear out the dash so that you can harvest the ECU & harness, then send the harness off for modification, modify the gas tank/fuel pump, modify the exhaust, buy the adaptors, and do a slight body lift. It just eats me up to think about having to go buy another engine that I don't know anything about, when I have this perfectly good subaru engine sitting here. And I like subaru engines. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baccaruda Posted January 29, 2005 Share Posted January 29, 2005 semi-related.. i've heard that turbo EA82 axles are good upgrades for stock samurai axles... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dptyrob Posted January 30, 2005 Author Share Posted January 30, 2005 semi-related.. i've heard that turbo EA82 axles are good upgrades for stock samurai axles... That might be, if a person were converting to independent suspension. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
who1981 Posted January 31, 2005 Share Posted January 31, 2005 A little while back, I bought a Samurai that someone converted to an Isuzu diesel... I have learned that anything is possible in a Samurai, whether it’s driving up narrow tree-lined mud covered motorcycle trails or swapping out ANY part of the drive train for anything else ...these lil’ suckers are versatile! BTW, I have a ea82T that needs a wee bit o' rebuilding...out of an XT.. the turbo makes goodly amounts o’ torque, and would be nice enough in a sami. Also today, coincidentally, I’m thinking of putting the engine out of my freshly wrecked Legacy (RIP:rolleyes:) , into the $250 XT that the aforementioned engine came from. And keeping the locking center dif ea82 5spd. Perhaps at some point we may be of assistance to each other...If you want to have a look a my Samurai or ea82t, just let me know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dptyrob Posted January 31, 2005 Author Share Posted January 31, 2005 I would really like to drop the subaru engine in on the sammy tranny. I just don't know how I could get the two to mate up and I also haven't done any eyeballing or measuring yet to see if it would fit down in there, as wide as it is. I'll just have to start plotting and scheming as time allows and see what I come up with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
s'ko Posted January 31, 2005 Share Posted January 31, 2005 I guess the main question you have to ask yourself is will the soob engine give you the level of performnace as a suzuki swap. If the gains are worth the extra work and headache, then go for it. (Unless you just want to have one b/c that's what you want.) We off-road soobs b/c we want to. Even though Jeeps and other 4X4 rigs have more aftermarket support and performance goodies. We believe that the extra time and effort to mod a soob by lifting it or other DIY mods are worth it. If you are going to do a swap like this and are going EFI, an EJ engine would be just as complicated and give you more power and aftermarket support. But then again you have the EA82 motor handy. Just take measurements and then determine if you have the skills/money to get what's needed done. BW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bushbasher Posted January 31, 2005 Share Posted January 31, 2005 That might be, if a person were converting to independent suspension. people have actually been machining suzuki axle shafts to fit into the star of an ea81 outer cv joint, then machining the stub of the cv cup to go into the samurai hub. The result is that a sammy toothpick axle can handle up to 35" tires. Of course housing reinforcement is needed so you the axle housing doesnt bend when you go that big Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dptyrob Posted February 1, 2005 Author Share Posted February 1, 2005 Well, today was the first chance I've had in the last week or so to just get out and tinker, though I had some other stuff to do and not a whole lot of time to just dally around. However I did go ahead and measure the subaru engine and the engine compartment on the Sammy, and I just don't think I'm going to put myself through all of that. The subaru engine was about 30 inches wide, which would force met to cut the inner fenders on both sides, and then there's still the little matter of the steering shaft being in the way. So, I guess I won't be going for it. That's really disappointing because I love the subaru engines. I think it would have been a good engine for the Sammy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sweet82 Posted February 8, 2005 Share Posted February 8, 2005 Those little Sami engines seem to do ok. Even competition rock crawlers have the stock 1300's. I wouldn't call them powerful but when geared properly they seem to go where you point them Good Luck, Glenn 82 SubaruHummer 01 Forester Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
archemitis Posted February 18, 2005 Share Posted February 18, 2005 you want to loose horsepower and reliability? start talkin ej22, its narrower, more reliable, more hp,same wiring issues will have to be dealt with. wont a geo storm motor bolt in? they have 150hp out of a na 1.8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Porter Posted February 18, 2005 Share Posted February 18, 2005 I would really like to drop the subaru engine in on the sammy tranny. I just don't know how I could get the two to mate up Aside from the obvious problem of fitting the engine in the bay, the engine to tranny linkage is the easy part, LOL! Get a local driveshaft (CV) shop to make you a high speed CV linkage in the right length. It would be expensive for the type of links you'd need but it's probably the only way to do it. You'd also have to fabricate some kind of carrier bearing for the end that mates with the clutch, so it can't walk free. Sounds like a headache. [edit] Oops... missed your above post. Glad you whipped out the ol' tape measure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bushbasher Posted February 19, 2005 Share Posted February 19, 2005 since the t-case is divorced there'd be no reason to try to mate another engine to the stock tranny since that little tranny is tiny and weak anyways. Just use the transmission that comes with the swapped motor and make a custom shaft from the tranny to the t-case. Some good swaps I've seen are toyota 22r or 22re out of a toyota pickup/4runner/80's Celica, mazda 13b rotary (that was a frickin insane ride ) Theres also the 8v sohc1.6l from a chevy tracker/suzuki sidekick, and the 16v dohc 1.6 from some other suzuki (geo storm or something I think. Swapping between suzuki products is the easiest, everything bolts together, sensors work together, same shaft splines etc etc. I followed a writeup on Pirate4x4 about building a turbocharged 16v pushing 250hp in a 1700lb samurai Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iluvdrt Posted March 8, 2005 Share Posted March 8, 2005 That might be, if a person were converting to independent suspension. No, not the whole axle, the birfields. The outer part of the suby axle (hub side) has all of the same spline counts and diameter as the stock sami axles. They change out like a u-joint. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dptyrob Posted March 8, 2005 Author Share Posted March 8, 2005 No, not the whole axle, the birfields. The outer part of the suby axle (hub side) has all of the same spline counts and diameter as the stock sami axles. They change out like a u-joint. Neat. So if a person was to crack a birfield on their sammy, then they could just take one off of a EA82T? That could save some $$$$. They change out more like a CV joint than a u-joint, don't they? I think the FSM even describes the birfield as a CV joint, and that's exactly what they reminded me of when I was repacking mine here a couple of months ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iluvdrt Posted March 9, 2005 Share Posted March 9, 2005 From what I understand, yes. I think you have to grind it down a little, but That is what I have heard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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