Zekeuyasha Posted February 28, 2011 Share Posted February 28, 2011 I have a '90 Loyale wagon with FWD and a 3AT, There's nothing wrong with it but it's a little slow, completely stock EA82. It takes a full 45 seconds to reach 60-70mph freeway speeds and even then I'm pushing 4000 RPMs. Every time I take it on the freeway I say "Damn I wish I had an overdrive..." and it turns out they made 4AT wagons with a %60 O/D What's everyone's opinion of the 3AT I have in there? I've heard people call it a slush-o-matic before and I'm just not sure. I mean, it IS a Subie trans so it can't be ALL that bad. Somone local is selling a 4WD 5MT Loyal wagon but my car only has 67k on it. So I figured I'd go to the junkyards around and see if I can pull a 5MT from a wrecker Loyal if I find one and do a transplant job. What kinds of things need to be done to my car to convert it to manual, how much would it cost and is it even worth it, or a labor of love? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MilesFox Posted February 28, 2011 Share Posted February 28, 2011 I t has been doen millions of times. Totally worth it. Easiest to do if you get all your parts fro one car. you need: pedal box flywheel/clutch/and the flywheels longer mounting bolts trans and shifter, comes out of the car together. you will need the trans mount, and its longer body bolts shifter boot conslole plate, snaps in to the at's console driveshaft left foot! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zekeuyasha Posted February 28, 2011 Author Share Posted February 28, 2011 Thanks for the quick reply Miles, I'm pretty clueless when it comes to the more in-depth stuff like transplants. Thanks for the list of parts, not sure what I'm going to do when I get them but thanks all the same I'm mechanically inclined though and my uncles says I do better than he does, when I got the wagon I replaced the plugs, cables and the starter and that was when I was 13 or something, so I think I'll be able to do it. But my uncle thought it was a bad idea. Thanks for your input, I'll start looking for a clunker to pull the parts from. I'll probably be back once I find it looking for instruction =P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MilesFox Posted February 28, 2011 Share Posted February 28, 2011 (edited) Let your uncle know that these cars are like legos, are all on the same design, and can be built in any configuration with whatever parts you chose. It's really easier than what is expected based on the design of other vehicles. your swap would be all bolt-in with no modifications if you are getting a pushbutton 4wd trans, be sire to follow the vauum lines form the side of the trans, to the solenoids on the firewall, and grab them. You will be able to swap this in and hook up the vacuum, but you might have to make your own circuit to work the solenoids. One is on and one is off, alternately for 2wd or 4wd, and can be operatied with a pair of switches ganged to eachother that when you flip it one way, one side is on and the other is off, vie versa, or use a dual post dual throw type ganged switch Edited February 28, 2011 by MilesFox Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zekeuyasha Posted February 28, 2011 Author Share Posted February 28, 2011 (edited) All right, that makes me a bit more confident doing the job, because he was telling me I'd have to cut a hole in the floor for the clutch pedal or something. Do I need a computer for a manual trans? Or does the computer for the engine not matter in the tranny? Edit: If I get a 5MT with 4x4, and since I just have FWD on my car, can I just let the 4x4 connector sit there and spin without anything attached to it, I don't see why not but I'm not sure. Edited February 28, 2011 by Zekeuyasha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MilesFox Posted March 1, 2011 Share Posted March 1, 2011 plug the vacuum line that goes to the AT and call it a day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MilesFox Posted March 1, 2011 Share Posted March 1, 2011 one more thing, i overlooked your car being FWD. you will need the rear suspension assembly for your swap, which has the rear diif, diff mount, and 4wd trailing arms and rear axles. drill some holes for the rear diff hanger, and fabricate a mount for the carrier bearing. Like i said, if you have a whole donor car, this is the way to go no need to change the ecu or anything else. although you will need to drill 4 holes in the trunk and maket he carrier mount, there are no modifications required to the body to mount everything else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NorthWet Posted March 1, 2011 Share Posted March 1, 2011 Don't expect miracles: Unless you are exaggerating your time-to-speed, then there is something not right with your engine's performance. My 4WD SPFI 3AT had no trouble getting to 60MPH in what seems like 12-15 seconds, certainly no more than 20 seconds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Numbchux Posted March 1, 2011 Share Posted March 1, 2011 although you will need to drill 4 holes in the trunk and maket he carrier mount, there are no modifications required to the body to mount everything else. Don't need to drill them all the way through to the trunk. When I did it on my loyale I just tapped threads into the frame rails. That was about 5 years and 100k miles ago. I never got the driveshaft carrier mounts right. I eventually had an EA81 1-piece driveshaft lengthened and used that. Yea, I absolutely hated the 3AT FWD in my loyale. While the 4WD swap added a good deal of work to the swap, I would still do it again. But you could certainly get a FWD 5MT and swap that in. The car would be much more driveable, especially on the freeway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MilesFox Posted March 1, 2011 Share Posted March 1, 2011 I have a design for the carrier bearing that is universal between ea81 and ea82 bodys. It can be built from flat steel pieces from the hardware store. tke a 12 inch long 2 inch wide lenght of 1/8 thick steel, and drill 2 holes 10 inches from eachother on center. get a 1/4 inch thick piece of 1 inch wide steel, and make 2 6 inch lengths. drill a hole in the last inch. bolt these strips to the carrier. if you see on the carrier bearing, one tab is offset from the other. ne strip will overlap your main piece, and the other will underlap. weld this up while bolted to the carrier. install this assembly with the driveshaft, and butt it up to the body. drill your holes using the assembly as a jig. the holes will come through the floor between the front seat rail and the trans tunnel. use bolts with 2" wide washers from the top, and locknuts on the bottom. The washers will deform to the corner of the seat rail and trans tunnel, securing the head so you can torque up the nut from underneath. this would be the only iventive part of the operation. for the diff hanger, there are holes stamped into the body lready, jus drill through them as their location will be correct for the diff mount. Feel free to ask me questions, as i have converted from fwd 5spd to 4wd 5spd, fwd At to 4wd 5spd, and 4wd at to 4wd 5spd. I have done 5 conversions, and am working on a 6th. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zekeuyasha Posted March 1, 2011 Author Share Posted March 1, 2011 Thank for the replies guys! I think I'm just going to make it easy on myself for now and try to find a FWD MT and just drop it in and bolt it, I don't do any extreme mudding or any of the fun things, it's just my daily driver and I'd like a little less roar on the freeway and some better performance overall. Just what you said, NorthWet, I'm not expecting any miracles. An EA82 isn't anything to win a speed race with, but tying it to a 3 speed automatic isn't making it run any nicer. It was an old granny car so that's why they got the 3AT for her and what little old lady wants to shift? So am I going to have to pull the engine up or just drop the trans from the bottom? This is starting to look like a really big project again...:-\ Can I reuse the CVTs from my automatic? they're only 10,000 miles old... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MilesFox Posted March 1, 2011 Share Posted March 1, 2011 i would pull the engine, sine removit the trans will be much easier. plus you can have the opportunity to do service to the engine. and yes, you can use the same axle if your donot trans is from a non turbo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NorthWet Posted March 1, 2011 Share Posted March 1, 2011 ...Just what you said, NorthWet, I'm not expecting any miracles. An EA82 isn't anything to win a speed race with, but tying it to a 3 speed automatic isn't making it run any nicer... quote]You may have overlooked my intended point: There is something wrong with your engine if your time-to-speed numbers are close to accurate. The 3AT would only account for a second or two or that time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zekeuyasha Posted March 2, 2011 Author Share Posted March 2, 2011 Yeah I was on the highway all day today it got up to speed in 12-13 seconds, it just seems longer when there's an 80 ton tractor trailer coming at you... How can I tell if I don't have a turbo? I'm pretty sure I don't because I don't have a turbo light. Just that intake boot that says "Subaru F.I." on it. were the MPFI engines all turbo and SPFI was just regular? Also I know this is completely unrelated but as I was cornering pretty sharp on the highway and all of a sudden this faint chipping/chirping sound started happening in the engine and when I looked behind me there was this huge plume of white smoke floating around... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NorthWet Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 If yours is an SPFI, than it is not a turbo. All of the EA82 turbos used MPFI and had dual intake ports (it is not practical to port-inject siamesed intake ports). The issue while going through right hand sweepers is a well known fault of the PCV system. The noise is detonation due to ingested oil, and the blue cloud is... well... burned ingested oil. I can't find the recent post by GD about how to get the dealer to fix this, but here is the general idea of how to do it yourself: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=66882&highlight=sweeper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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