Jump to content
Ultimate Subaru Message Board

My EA82T->EJ20G conversion


presslab
 Share

Recommended Posts

I figured I'd start a thread on my conversion. The car is an '88 GL-10 wagon with 4EAT. The engine is a '94 JDM GC8 WRX.

 

The engine (and 5MT which I plan to use in another car) and harness came from eBay, $1800 shipped. The engine was in pretty good shape, although there were a few issues:

 

Dented oil pan. Not a problem, I was able to look in the drain plug hole and the pickup had plenty of room.

Missing intake "resonator". I bought the Apexi metal intake tube meant for a EJ22T.

Broken header coolant tank. I bought a used metal one from eBay for a 2002 WRX. I needed to plug the lower hole and put a new pipe nipple on the other side, and make the necessary brackets to hold it.

Bad coil pack. It didn't look cracked, but caused a huge intermittent misfire. A new one for a SVX worked great.

Bad ECU coolant temp sensor. Cold start was terrible, replacing this fixed the cold start problem. I still have a very small problem starting when warm.

Bad uppipe. The uppipe flex joint was shot, maybe from sitting on the exhaust from the boat ride. A cheap-o eBay uppipe worked okay.

 

I chose the SJR adapter plate rather than swap the 4EAT bellhousing. This worked out fine and saved me some work. It was easy enough to redrill the flex plate, although there is a hardened steel backup plate that required grinding. The SJR plate is nice, my only complaint is that the locating holes for the dowels are not very precise.

 

Stripping the harness was pretty easy. I made a new pluggable connector with 15 pins to interface the new harness with the old one. I had to run a few additional wires for the 4EAT, but no big deal. The radiator fans were a bit tricky, I used a Corolla relay box and wired up two Spal 11" fans behind the radiator to run low & high speed. The A/C cut relay was previously wired before the ECU A/C input, and I needed to rewire it so it was after the ECU A/C input. The digidash tachometer needed a slight resistor mod to get it to work.

 

Coolant lines were not bad either. The hardest part was making hardlines that ran above the radiator for the bleed and the overflow to the header tank. The rad cap on the actual radiator has the lower seal removed. This allows air to bleed back into the header tank. The lower rad hose I used a couple large copper elbows to bend it around to match the stock 2-row radiator. For the top rad hose I used a chunk of the old hose as a reducer.

 

The ECU was (un)fortunately already chipped, running 18 PSI. Hmm looks like this engine has seen some abuse. Oh well, compression test is excellent and it runs good. Because the ECU was chipped, it had a daughterboard installed so I could use jellybean EPROMS. That's good, because both the chip and the stock ECU ROM were way too advanced for our (relatively) crappy 91 R+M/2 octane fuel. I was able to remap the ECU timing and I also added a few other things like CEL on knock, overtemp cutout, launch control, etc. These mods are courtesy of pmugabi, and they work fantastic. Thanks Paul! I didn't end up using Paul's maps, because apparently the fuel in Uganda is worse than ours. But I came up with something that works really well and I've got it at 16 PSI of boost. It seems pretty happy like this.

 

The power steering lines were unfortunatly cut, but I was able to splice my high pressure one on with a steel compression fitting. The return line was easy, just a hose clamp.

 

I already had 3" catback exhaust, and I run the USDM WRX dual cat downpipe. Trying to keep the polar bears alive, ya know. This bolted up pretty good, I had to tweak the midpipe a bit but it's all pretty clean.

 

The engine mount on the EJ is a different angle from EA. I ordered some aluminum wedges from Paul in OZ. No grinding needed on the crossmember. The pitch mount was bent, cut, and rewelded.

 

I spent a fair amount of time just on the intercooler. It's a 2002 WRX one. I didn't want to hack the body up too much so I had to get creative with the hoses. Some silicone elbows, and a new plate to mount on the BPV, and things shaped up pretty good.

 

The charcoal canister was easy, I just hooked up the small line to the hose on the butterfly, and the large line went to the tank. The other fittings on the canister were capped.

 

The throttle cable wasn't long enough, so I ordered one for a Loyale and it fit. It could be a bit longer though... I needed to space off the bracket.

 

My fuel pump was already upgraded, but I decided to play it safe and installed a Walbro GSL392. The input fitting was 12mm and the outlet was a 14mm banjo fitting, with an 8mm banjo barb on the end of it. This is because the pump needs a right angle right out of it.

 

I think that's about it. I hope this helps some else with their conversion questions. Any more questions feel free to ask. :drunk:

 

I'll put the photos here:

https://picasaweb.google.com/102828233271702668239/EJ20G?authkey=Gv1sRgCKes2fW5yuzRlQE#5730347818515918994

Edited by presslab
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Been having a lot of fun lately. :drunk:

 

I've been bumping back up the timing bit by bit from my retarded values. It seems like the midrange can't take as much advance but the upper end can. Kinda a slow process burning ROMs, but at least I ordered more EEPROMs as I gave all mine away.

 

So I welded the A/C hoses only to find the JDM A/C compressor was fubar! I replaced it with a '98 Legacy one but the suction hose was different and I needed to modify the bracket. Luckily the suction hose from the same car worked pretty much bolt-on. Now just waiting on a new dryer, I decided to replace it. The original A/C rocked it, and now it's got an even larger compressor. It's starting to get warm here, the other day it was mid 80s F.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

DooD! Nice! Paddles, and now an EJ20G! Good god that car HAS to be fun!

 

Looks really clean, good job man!

 

Oh, and thanks for the resistor trick with the digi dash, works FANTASTIC! You rock man, yet again!

 

Thanks dude!

 

 

I finally got the A/C working last weekend. It works great! It'll be almost 90F today and I'm glad I got it done in time for summer. I used the ES-12a hydrocarbon refrigerant, like I had in it last time. I don't know if the larger compressor really helps much or not, but the condenser sure gets hot, which is a good thing.

 

The real test of my two-row EA radiator system will be pulling a long hill under boost while the A/C is on. Next time I make a trip over the mountain I'll take note of the temperature. The dual speed Spal fan setup is great too, high and low speeds all working as they should with the A/C going.

 

The one area this engine really shines is under hot conditions. The EA82T worked the turbo pretty hard with it's restrictive heads, and this equates to a lot of hot air. With the EJ20G the engine still has a ton of power when it's hot out. I could notice the EA82T struggling when it was hot, pulling timing and whatnot.

 

So I'm sure I'll be tinkering with it here and there but this pretty much completes my conversion. I'd like to thank everyone for their comments and assistance, particularly Suberdave for the JDM schematics which were invaluable, pmugabi for his ECU mods, and Paul in OZ for his mount wedges.

 

:burnout:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Today I updated my paddle shift code (now it's interrupt driven) and raised the shift points in the TCU. Wow! It's great being able to go all the way up to 7300 RPM now, there is a ton of power up there! I also changed the downshift points so it's much more eager to downshift when stomping the skinny pedal. It will now downshift to 2nd at 72 MPH. :lol:

 

The torque converter lockup maps on my '90 EJ22 TCU are a bit funky, maybe I'll fix those too. Probably easiest to steal the maps from a newer TCU.

 

My temperature gauge reads a bit low I guess, it seems I have the problem that most have had here. I'll poke around in the cluster, I have an idea for fixing this problem.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've had the occasional hard starting problem, and I decided to get to the bottom of it. Long cranking sometimes followed by a puff of black smoke out the tailpipe. Well, the fuel pressure was not holding overnight.

 

I had my injectors cleaned by a popular outfit when I put the motor in, and it turns out they engraved numbers on each injector right where the lower O-ring sits! I've called them and was given a very cold shoulder, but they said they'd look into it.

 

Not holding out hope, though, for them to accept responsibility. I wonder if I can smooth it out without removing too much material.

 

P1000621%2520%2528Medium%2529.JPG

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...
I've had the occasional hard starting problem, and I decided to get to the bottom of it. Long cranking sometimes followed by a puff of black smoke out the tailpipe. Well, the fuel pressure was not holding overnight.

 

I had my injectors cleaned by a popular outfit when I put the motor in, and it turns out they engraved numbers on each injector right where the lower O-ring sits! I've called them and was given a very cold shoulder, but they said they'd look into it.

 

Not holding out hope, though, for them to accept responsibility. I wonder if I can smooth it out without removing too much material.

 

P1000621%2520%2528Medium%2529.JPG

You could probably fill it with a tiny amount of fuel tank epoxy and carefully polish it smooth.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

what tire size and rim size is that on your car and nice clean work !!

 

Thanks!

 

The rims are 6.5x15" from Isuzu Rodeo, and tires are 205/50-15 Yoko Advan AD08.

 

You could probably fill it with a tiny amount of fuel tank epoxy and carefully polish it smooth.

 

Yeah, that's not a bad idea. I'm always leery of using sealants around fuel as it seems to eat anything, but epoxy meant for fuel tanks will probably last a while. However, I've already replaced the injectors and solved the starting problem. But one of my replacement injectors is a bit dirty and now my idle has a lump to it. :-\

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks!

 

The rims are 6.5x15" from Isuzu Rodeo, and tires are 205/50-15 Yoko Advan AD08.

 

wow they look bigger im wondering if my 16x7 et53 225 45 16 will fit under the gl-10 now !

 

do they rub ?

 

 

 

 

what is wrong with your injectors i have those injectors laying around !

Link to comment
Share on other sites

wow they look bigger im wondering if my 16x7 et53 225 45 16 will fit under the gl-10 now !

 

do they rub ?

 

 

 

 

what is wrong with your injectors i have those injectors laying around !

 

In back I can see where the tire hits just the edge of the fender lip, if I rolled it in a smidge it would not be a problem. Although my offset could be a bit more too as there is some clearance inside; the Rodeo wheels have 5.25" backspacing.

 

What gearing are you going to go with? I still have stock 3.7 R&P so I wanted to keep the stock smaller diameter tire. I think the car would even be ok with 3.9 R&P with my tire size, as the highway RPMs are pretty low now.

 

Thanks for the offer on the injectors! I think I have it figured out now, I replaced one of the injectors (the ones to replace the engraved ones) and now my idle seems good! They are 535cc @ 3 bar injectors now too so if I want to turn up the boost a bit I could. :brow:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So it's been around 96 F here the last week, and of course my car is down on power. I was worried about the turbo heat so I put on a '02 WRX turbo heat shield. It fit okay with just minimal trimming.

 

The A/C sucks some power too and doesn't shut off when I floor it. I guess I need to rig a full-throttle switch like the JDM cars have.

 

I want to do something with the intake. Right now it's a "hot air" intake as there's nothing to block the engine heat. Maybe some kind of sheet metal shroud? Like a wall going from the frame rail up to the hood. Or maybe adapt a stock filter setup so it's drawing in from inside the fender.

 

Here is my setup now:

P1000513.JPG

 

What do you guys think?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Look up Turbone's car, he built a box for his intake on his rx out of an old computer case if I remember right. Seemed to work good. I am sure he's got pics around of it somewhere...

 

Since I have been off the board for a while, I just noticed that you improved the shift points on your TCU... You think it will be better for me even though I got 4.11's? Could I get a copy of your ROM? :) My PM box is full, so email me @ harris dot donald at gmail dot com and we can talk about it off board... I need to get a eeprom burner, bad.

 

Good work on your car man, it's freakin' sick! :) Keep up the good work man!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In back I can see where the tire hits just the edge of the fender lip, if I rolled it in a smidge it would not be a problem. Although my offset could be a bit more too as there is some clearance inside; the Rodeo wheels have 5.25" backspacing.

 

What gearing are you going to go with? I still have stock 3.7 R&P so I wanted to keep the stock smaller diameter tire. I think the car would even be ok with 3.9 R&P with my tire size, as the highway RPMs are pretty low now.

 

Thanks for the offer on the injectors! I think I have it figured out now, I replaced one of the injectors (the ones to replace the engraved ones) and now my idle seems good! They are 535cc @ 3 bar injectors now too so if I want to turn up the boost a bit I could. :brow:

 

glad to hear it worked out for !

 

about my gearing i have a sti 6mt which will be 3.900 final gear an diff. i need at least a 225/45/16 tire in the rear most of the power will in the rear with dccd.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Look up Turbone's car, he built a box for his intake on his rx out of an old computer case if I remember right. Seemed to work good. I am sure he's got pics around of it somewhere...

 

Since I have been off the board for a while, I just noticed that you improved the shift points on your TCU... You think it will be better for me even though I got 4.11's? Could I get a copy of your ROM? :) My PM box is full, so email me @ harris dot donald at gmail dot com and we can talk about it off board... I need to get a eeprom burner, bad.

 

Good work on your car man, it's freakin' sick! :) Keep up the good work man!

 

I looked for pics here of Turbone's CAI but I haven't found anything yet. Maybe he will chime in. ;) My buddy was trying to give me some old computer cases just the other day, perfect timing! Something to play with my new TIG welder too, sounds like a nice project. Thanks for the idea.

 

The shift points are to allow use of the 7400 RPM redline of the EJ20G. If your ECU won't do that, it won't even shift at redline it will just bounce off the limiter until you back off the throttle. I'm not sure that will help you much, but I did improve the paddle shifter code too. I'll email you later and you can check it out.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I looked for pics here of Turbone's CAI but I haven't found anything yet. Maybe he will chime in. ;) My buddy was trying to give me some old computer cases just the other day, perfect timing! Something to play with my new TIG welder too, sounds like a nice project. Thanks for the idea.

 

The shift points are to allow use of the 7400 RPM redline of the EJ20G. If your ECU won't do that, it won't even shift at redline it will just bounce off the limiter until you back off the throttle. I'm not sure that will help you much, but I did improve the paddle shifter code too. I'll email you later and you can check it out.

 

Ya the computer cases worked out well. This enough to mold easily, but still think enough that it won't break. Hopefully he will chime in :)

 

I look forward to your email man!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...