2wd to 4wd conversion

[Subaru_dude]

I've decided it would be more cost effective to convert my 2wd 5spd EA82 sedan to 4wd D/R instead of trying to find a D/R wagon (what happened to all of them?) As far as I know the only thing I really need to alter on the actual car itself is the transmission tunnel (cut a hole for the D/R knob) and drill+tap holes in the body.

 

So far I have:

D/R transmission with shifter knobs and linkage

everything needed on the undercarriage from a S/R donor

 

EDIT: Can I get the axle shaft seals and rear seal for the tranny anywhere other than the dealership? And is it worth splitting the case to replace the front seal?

 

 

Is there anything else I need? I did a quick search but I didn't come up with any sort of list to go by. Thanks for all your help guys.

 

-Jordan

[Durania]

Differential

Mount a carrier bearing for the two piece drive shaft.

I believe the trailing arms are different.

2-Axles

Don't know about an EA82, but might have to alter cluster to illuminate the 4WD light.

 

This is just off the top of my head. If you want to do it Jordan, more power to you. I'm rooting for ya.

[Subaru_dude]

I have all of the undercarriage stuff (axles, diff etc.) on my S/R donor car. I'm just wasting my time looking for a suitable wagon so I might as well just throw the D/R in my sedan. It would look just as awesome as a wagon when it's lifted IMO.

[[HTi]Johnson]

I don't think anything needs to be cut. Anywhere.

 

The beauty about ea82s are, everything is usually there to mount any combination to.

 

If you check out the shifter setup of the dual range, everything is on the arm that the shifter attaches to, all that stuff just pokes up through the tunnel.

 

As for the rear components, I think all the bolt holes are there...don't hold me to it though.

 

I thought there was a write up in the USRM, I couldn't find it.

[MilesFox]

no cutting at all. but if its going into a 2wd body, the carrier bearing mount is not present, and you will have to fabricate.

 

take a 12 incl ong bar of flat 2 inch wide steel . drill 2 half inch holes 10 inches apart on center.

 

take 2 4 inch pieces of flat inch wide steel and make a hole on the ends.

 

you will notice one tab on the carrier bearing is higher than the other. if you bolt the small pieces of steel to the carrier, then slip the 12 inch steel between, the 4 inch pieces will overlap and underlap the main bar respecitvely. butt up the ends and weld it up.

 

now that its welded up put the driveshaft in and jack it up against the body, center it up, and drill thru the holes in the steel

 

use 1/2 wide bolts and 1 1/2 inch washers at tthe top and a flat washer with a locking washer on the bottom. the bolt holes will end up exactly in the corner of the seat suprt and the trans tunnel.

[Gloyale]

I have all of the undercarriage stuff (axles, diff etc.) on my S/R donor car. I'm just wasting my time looking for a suitable wagon so I might as well just throw the D/R in my sedan. It would look just as awesome as a wagon when it's lifted IMO.

 

You will need 4wd trailing arms/brakes/hub. It all pull as one unit. But you will need it. You cannot install the rear axles using the 2wd arms. They could come from any 4wd EA82.

 

I'm not sure, but you may need to move the exhaust a bit too. 2wd they run it right down the middle of the tunnel, since there i no shaft there. Now you need to put a shaft in, gotta move the exhaust.

[Subaru_dude]

You will need 4wd trailing arms/brakes/hub. It all pull as one unit. But you will need it. You cannot install the rear axles using the 2wd arms. They could come from any 4wd EA82.

 

I have some 4wd arms with swaybar mounts on them and new bearings, that's what I will use. And yeah, by looking at it I can already tell the exhaust will have to be moved.

[PoorManzImpreza]

The difference between 2wd and 4wd ea82 bodies is as follows:

 

1: they are missing the sheetmetal associated with the carrier bearing mount on the 4wd driveshaft

 

2: they are missing the captured nuts that allow the diff carrier "Mustache bar" to mount to the body

 

the mechanical bits are as follows:

 

1: Transmission

 

2: shift linkage

 

3: Drive Shaft

 

4: Complete rear subframe including; swing arms, hubs, half shafts, rear diff and Mustache bar. This also includes the bent pipe that the inner and outer arms bolt to and swing on as this has the front mount for the diff welded to it.

 

5: clutch, pressure plate, fork, release bearing and maybe clutch cable (this might not be an issue for you guys but it was for me as 2wd and 4wd 5 speed cars down hear have the clutch forks on different sides of the gearbox)

 

6 Misc. nuts and bolts and long nuts and bolts that pass through the rear diff hanger (mustache bar) and rear frame of the car to replicate the captured nuts missing on 2wd vehicles..

 

there is more.. ask me I've done this..

HTH

Kaz

[bheinen74]

aren't fwd gas tanks different than AWD ones. I know on legacys this holds true.

[DaveT]

aren't fwd gas tanks different than AWD ones. I know on legacys this holds true.

 

Not on EA82 wagons. I converted my 87 2WD to 4WD. I used the parts from a dead 4WD wagon to add the 4WD light in the instrument panel, and the harness to run the wiring.

[Subaru_dude]

Thanks for all the great info guys. As for the exhaust, so I just need to get something custom from the cat back or would the y-pipe get in the way too? And how hard would it be to get to the nuts that would hold everything to the bottom of the car? The one's I'm most concerned with are the ones that would need to be in place to hold the mustache bar in the rear... I can't really tell by looking how I would get to those.

 

So, is this going to be fun?

[Numbchux]

the captive nuts for the mustache bar aren't present. but there are 'divots' (for lack of a better term) on the frame rail where they go. just drill them out, tap some threads in there (it's not just sheetmetal. but use a lock washer and don't overtorque), and bolt it up.

 

the D/R shifter hit the back of the shifter hole in the tranny tunnel on my loyale. but that might have more to do with the RX tranny. either way, a few minutes with the grinder solved that problem.

 

yea, you'll need the whole rear subframe, not just the trailing arms. as the FWD crossmember doesn't have the bracket for the diff hanger.

 

 

I really need to take some pictures of the carrier mounts I made. pretty simple, and no welding required. just used a piece of 1" wide steel, bent about a 90 degree bend in it, drilled a hole in either end. bolted it to the carrier, than drilled holes in the side of the trans tunnel, and bolted them in (had to remove the seats to put a nut on the back of the bolts).

 

 

 

the rest of it is pretty simple. I wouldn't worry about tranny seals if they're not leaking. if they are, the dealer is your best bet, seals aren't too pricey.

[Subaru_dude]

Alright guys thanks for all the help. It doesn't sound like anything too far out of my range of experience so I'll start getting all the parts together.

 

Another thought: My donor car is a s/r with the button on the shifter. I was thinking about having a setup similar to the twin stick but substituting a stick with the button. Using the s/r shifter button to engage 4wd and using the knob to engage hi/lo. So I could have 2wd hi/lo and 4wd hi/lo. Sound like a good idea?

[DaveT]

the captive nuts for the mustache bar aren't present.

 

On my conversion, I drilled up with a long thin bit, through the "divot" holes, through the "floor" in the back. Then used a 1" hole saw to make access holes to drop nuts down onto the bolts. I found some washer face nuts in my boxes of Subaru hardware that matched the stock bolts that hold the mustache bar.

 

Remove the carpet or fold it back from the side before doing this.

[zukiru]

subscribed

 

and if going full time

I don't need any wiring corect?

just make stuff bolt up?

 

oh, and what about a one piece drive shaft?

is there a good reason not to go one-piece?

(I won't be lifting this car)

 

oh and sorry for the highjack! but I am on topic still, yes?

[Gloyale]

Another thought: My donor car is a s/r with the button on the shifter. I was thinking about having a setup similar to the twin stick but substituting a stick with the button. Using the s/r shifter button to engage 4wd and using the knob to engage hi/lo. So I could have 2wd hi/lo and 4wd hi/lo. Sound like a good idea?

 

 

Milemaker13 and I had this thought.

 

I believe it can be done. It would require some machining.

 

But the hard part is adapting the S/R 4wd lingage to the D/R case.

 

Open the inspection plate at the rear of the trannys and you'll see the differences.

 

I think if you removed the 4wd fork from the D/R, and installed the fork from the S/R you it would work. You'd have to grind D/Rs through shaft to clear the S/Rs fork. The S/Rs fork is activated by a lever that comes through the case on the side. Of course, you'd have to drill out the boss on the side of the D/R case for the lever to go through.

[Numbchux]

I think if you wanted to do that, the easiest way would be to hook up the vacuum solenoid to the hi-low selector up on the side of the case, and leave the D/R shifter as is for 2wd/4wd.

 

 

just be careful not to hit that button until you're ready

[Gloyale]

I think if you wanted to do that, the easiest way would be to hook up the vacuum solenoid to the hi-low selector up on the side of the case, and leave the D/R shifter as is for 2wd/4wd.

 

That would require fabrication of brackets to hold the cable. It would work though.

 

The way I was describing would use a combination of the 2 factory designs and parts . Machining required, but not actually any new designing/fabrication.

 

 

Touch of a button, on the fly 4WD is great.

 

As you mentioned, touch of a button, on the fly LO range, not so much.

[MilesFox]

i woulnt try the vac actuation fo rth elo rance since clutching is required and there is a lag in actuation withthe vac system. but if you used the vac system for the 4wd, and the lever for hi-lo, then theroretically, with a divorced actuation such as what you want, you can run lo range in FWD

 

as for the rear diff hanger, drill the holes all the way through the trunk and use some long bolts, since the bottom side is only 3 layers of stamped sheetmatal about 1/4 in thick total. the holes will come through exactly along the edge of the trunk inner wheel well plastic line

 

if you keep the fwd rear struts you will have more lift according to a recent post

 

aside from the transmission itself, all the othe related parts(driveshaft/clutch/etc are all the same for any 4wd 5mt

[Subaru_dude]

i woulnt try the vac actuation for the lo rance since clutching is required and there is a lag in actuation withthe vac system. but if you used the vac system for the 4wd, and the lever for hi-lo, then theroretically, with a divorced actuation such as what you want, you can run lo range in FWD

 

Yeah I was going to go that route for the simple fact that I would hate to accidentally drop it into low when shifting gears, but your reason is good too.

 

as for the rear diff hanger, drill the holes all the way through the trunk and use some long bolts, since the bottom side is only 3 layers of stamped sheetmatal about 1/4 in thick total. the holes will come through exactly along the edge of the trunk inner wheel well plastic line

 

Drilling all the way through would be a good idea, makes it easy to see what i'm looking for when I look in the trunk. Thanks for that advice.

 

if you keep the fwd rear struts you will have more lift according to a recent post

 

I already put 4wd springs and struts in the rear because the 2wd ones were just too soft, but I still have them so I'll stick em on and see how it looks. How about the 4wd springs with the 2wd shocks?

[Gloyale]

 

I already put 4wd springs and struts in the rear because the 2wd ones were just too soft, but I still have them so I'll stick em on and see how it looks. How about the 4wd springs with the 2wd shocks?

 

4wd Wagon springs with 2wd shocks will give you the most height from any factory setup

[Subaru_dude]

alright guys update... almost have the wiring harness for the EJ22 stripped down, just need to pull the engine and tranny and swap it in. I've been low on funds, I need to get a timing belt for the ej22 and probably a water pump for good measure. Hoses too.

 

I've gotten the rear discs and the entire rear sub-assembly all together and now it's sitting on all four wheels. I wanted to run an idea by you guys...

 

I was thinking about taking 2 really long bolts and drilling a couple holes in the top of the tranny tunnel. drop them in, and screw 2 nuts onto them all the way up to the end to keep them from sliding up and down. then screw 2 more on to act as stops for the carrier bearing mount, and finally 2 more to hold it in place. Of course I would use lock-washers or locking nuts. My main question is would the bolts hold up to the forces applied to the center carrier bearing? Or would the tranny tunnel for that matter being that such force is being distrubuted into such a small area? Trying to find the simplest way possible before I go looking for metal to weld or drill.

[DaveT]

I need to get a timing belt for the ej22 and probably a water pump for good measure. Hoses too.

 

Timing belt Idlers & tensioner too.

[Numbchux]

I was thinking about taking 2 really long bolts and drilling a couple holes in the top of the tranny tunnel. drop them in, and screw 2 nuts onto them all the way up to the end to keep them from sliding up and down. then screw 2 more on to act as stops for the carrier bearing mount, and finally 2 more to hold it in place. Of course I would use lock-washers or locking nuts. My main question is would the bolts hold up to the forces applied to the center carrier bearing? Or would the tranny tunnel for that matter being that such force is being distrubuted into such a small area? Trying to find the simplest way possible before I go looking for metal to weld or drill.

 

I'm not sure I follow your description exactly, but, my carrier mount is just bolted to the tranny tunnel. I bent a little bracket, drilled a hole in the tunnel on each side (had to remove the seats...), and used a bolt and nylock nut to bolt the bracket to the tunnel, and then the bracket to the carrier. there really isn't any force on it, just weight. the tranny tunnel has held up just fine for almost 2 years and almost 30k miles. BUT, the passenger side hole was drilled a bit too far forward, which put just a little bit of torque on the bearing. in those 30k miles, that bearing is in pretty rough shape. I will probably have a one-piece driveshaft made in the next month or so.

[zukiru]

I would really like pics of your bracket if you have time.