V8 Loyale?

[MorganM]

if youre looking for more power and reliability, i would go with a EJ18 swap over the EJ22,

 

how is the EJ18 more powerfull and more reliable than the EJ22 ?

[Vegablade]

just an idea and was just wondering if it has been done before, i would do it but my lack of fabrication skills and $ makes it hard i know lots of people but they dont have the time. i did get to drive my friends frod ranger with a v8 it was insane couldnt keep the tires stuck. it was stripped down so it was really light. it was so much fun to drive.

[swisscheese]

Back in the '80's many thousands of young men, many with room temperature IQ's, put small block chevy V-8's into their vegas, with just minimal reinforcing of the unibody. Often they kept the stock vega rear-end, but since the tires would break loose so easily, the 3-4 times increase in power was manageable. I think a soob unibody is stout enough with some common-sense reinforcement to handle a SBC. However, I would recommend replacing the driveline, use the chevy tranny and find a solid rear axle at the pull-a-part, something out of a S-10, maybe. I think they are still less than $100. You should be able to re-use the front suspension, just eliminate the drive components. I say go for it. Yeah, you will need to do some fabricating, but how else do people learn but by doing? Go to some V-8 Vega websites for some good info on low-$$$ V-8 swaps. I just happen to have a fuel injected 350 and a turbo 700R4 in running condition and am contemplating making a nice little sleeper out of a EA-82 wagon myself.

[swisscheese]

By the way, I am not that far from Concrete. Just bought some land a little north of Trafton. If your friend is tired of that 383 and tranny being in his way, I will give it a good home.

[subarubrat]

I say do it. The reasons to predicting doom and gloom are overstated. There are more than a few V8 into small car swaps out there and all of them are less rhobust than the Subies, and they don't twist in half or what have you. Consider the Ford Focus or Mazda Miata swaps, they have both proven to be very practical. The other small cars that have a history of V8 swaps would never be able to endure the sort of stress that we place on them with our lift kits, mud tires and off road hammering. The EA81/82 platform is a fine starting point for a small car big engine buld. HOWEVER, you can't go into this cheap and half way. Just bolting in the engine to the crossmember and hooking up a prop shaft to the diff is NOT a proper swap. You need to distribute the load and stress to the shell in a proper way, that is the weak point, not the shell itself. You must have a proper subframe to locate the rear end and integrate it with the shell. Proper materials, proper engineering and proper planning will make this a jaw dropping success. Trying to stuff that engine into an unprepared shell will get you a rolling wreck. Bottom line is this is a $5000 job and not a $500 one.

[SvRex]

The majority of small cars that have a history with V-8 swaps begin life as RWD cars. Datsun Z's, RX-7's, Midgets, Miatas are all RWD, and none of them have IRS.

 

 

The Loyale's axles won't take the power, and the independent rear suspension gets in the way.

 

It can be done. But it is quite a bit more complicated than a car that begins as a RWD car.

 

Keep in mind, the 383 is the engine of choice for the Hot Rod crowd. It is a motor perfectly capable of really motivating 4000 lbs. of steel.

 

Getting the monster to hook up would be the challenge. I'm pretty sure you'd be ditching the entire rear drive, axles, and suspension for a stronger diff, and perhaps a solid rear axle.

 

Don't let naysayers scare you off. Just be prepared that this might not be too easy or cheap. It might be a bit easier to start a project like this with a RWD car.

[robm]

SvRex wrote:

"The majority of small cars that have a history with V-8 swaps begin life as RWD cars. Datsun Z's, RX-7's, Midgets, Miatas are all RWD, and none of them have IRS."

 

Not quite true. The Datsuns have IRS, and use the R180 diff, the "big brother" to the R160 on the Subaru. I am not sure if they kept it when swapping in a V8 or not though.

 

Miatas, too, have IRS.

 

Only first gen. RX-7's were beam axle.

[SvRex]

True, my bad. But they were all RWD.

[colossal_monstrosity]

I guess somebody had to make this thread.

[Subarian]

Back in the 80s one of the car mags (I think it was Hot Rod) featured a FWD olds x-body that had been converted by putting a 455 amidship driving a Toronado FWD unit in the rear. It would be a radical conversion, but anything like a SBC in a Soob is going to get radical anyway.

 

 

I had toyed with the idea of a Mazda rotary in a Subaru wagon. Maybe someday...

[ecky]

I once heard that someone put a chev 350 in a gen one brat. but as the saying goes "believe only half of what you see, and none of what you hear."

[stock90]

The majority of small cars that have a history with V-8 swaps begin life as RWD cars. Datsun Z's, RX-7's, Midgets, Miatas are all RWD, and none of them have IRS.

 

I'll let you stuff that engine into my 81' Celica if i can keep the car at the end... and drive your car while your doing the swap. just for fun.

[dragonwingsubaru]

i have actually considered dropping my 5cyl from my benz into the sooby but havent decided for sure yet

[Tbird Man]

I just got an Idea, how about a twin EJ wagon, a EJ22na up front and in back with the rearmost 4wd output rerouted to the front. you would probiblt need to lock one of the center diffs but that way you would have a twin engine AWD and woulden't have to worry about the drivetrain bolwing up as you have a variable center diff. then you could have a center axle disconnect, put one tranny in 1st and the other in R and do a flatspin (very impressive a twin motor Tibron did that and won "Best Burnout" in a mag comp)

[Subarian]

That "Best Burnout" would have to come with an incredible cash prize to make it worthwhile!

[archemitis]

this thread is still at the top? have i mentioned my er27 makes as much horse power as alot of 80s v8s? 150 hp.

if you want more, get a different Subaru engine

cast iron blocks are for suckers.

[Tbird Man]

That "Best Burnout" would have to come with an incredible cash prize to make it worthwhile!

 

See below \/ \/ \/

[Vegablade]

well i like to see that my thread is still going. my friend is putting the 383 in a 1/2 ton chevy he got and he is taking the 350 that was in it out and him and another guy are putting it into a datsun 1200! as for me if i cant get my subaru running the v8 swap is looking more and more plausable as to my car has been sitting for months and has its own lawn under the hood. like in my sig. if i cant fix it i dont know what im going to do. i will work on it some more tommorow but other wise in not mechanic and might just get rid of it.

 

oh yeah, as for burnouts, my car does awesome burnouts being that it is RWD and with that front e-brake i filled to school parking lot with smoke last year. no-one forgot that its almost been a year and the marks still their. everytime i see someone leave the parking lots spinning their tires, i ask them if they remeber my subaru and they look at the ground and say yea i remember. hahahaha. watch my rally video, i think a little burnout is in it.

[970subaru]

A v8 powered loyale would be sweet and probably a pretty easy swap(relatively speaking of course).

that datsun is going to fly, well under 2000lbs. but those things are POS's even when compared to a loyale(no offense). R160's are strong, lots of BIG power 510's still running them. and you can always go to the R180 as mentioned. an injected 5.0 will totally fit in a subaru, the limiting factor is how high the hood is. I took some measurements a while back for a 5.0 HO, which is a pretty low intake. carbs stick up pretty high.the oil pan would have maybe 1/2" of clearance over the crossmember. but there is room for long tube headers!

there is a guy building a LS1 powered WRX over on NASIOC.

[WoodsWagon]

Go with an aluminum V8, say out of a porsche 928S? hemi heads and all aluminum. I have a car you could buy 3k takes it, the fuel pump crapped out, but it runs f'n great if you pour gas down the throat.

[970subaru]

arent those pretty huge dimensionally?

also may be worth some money if it runs good.

[cowboystrait]

possiable yes lots of mods plus new rear its takin a v8 stickin it in a ford festive or a geo metro:o

[maximumBRAT]

I'm the Girl who stuffed a small block in an MG midget.. (had to cut out the firewall and move it back 6") with a kid i know who's better at the drivetrain stuff, i made the thing fit and did an axle conversion.

 

I say it's possible.