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My EJ frankenmotor into my 89 XT gl SWAP


redXTwedgie
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redstuff002_zpsabf45e82.jpg

 

Car is a 1989 XT

Engine Block is 97 EJ25d

Engine Heads/wiring/ECU/manifold are 95 Legacy 2.2

Cometic Head Gaskets and Delta Cams

EA82 Flywheel w/LUK XT-6 clutch set

 

Here are some photos to get caught up:

 

http://s1284.photobucket.com/user/aljezulu/library/?sort=3&page=1

 

Grinding the flywheel was very easy with a Dremel egg bit.  1/4" with 1/8" shank.  Took about an hour of grinding to do all the holes.  

 

Dan (Gloyale) trimmed down my harness for me.  I have two factory EA electric fans to run in front of the radiator.

 

As of last night, the EJ motor is in the bay and bolted to the trans.  Now the fun begins.

 

My first issue will be the throttle cable.  Its way too short to reach the TB.  Is the Loyale one long enough to reach or the Legacy?

 

Also, I will need to be closing my hood and it looks like the oil filler tube and dipstick are too tall.  Is this a wedge-only issue with the EJ swap?

Edited by redXTwedgie
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Oh, you know what? WHOOPS. :rolleyes:  I don't think I have the mounts dropped into the X member holes yet, so that might go away.   But maybe not, because it was kind of tall. 

 

It would be nice to have some time to work on this.  An hour here and there is about all I have for the time being.

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Today I only had time to drop the motor down onto the crossmember and install the power steering pump and alternator.  The oil filler tube does still touch the hood, but not enough to be a bother.  I have a list of stuff to get at the JY tomorrow:

 

EJ power steering lines

longer throttle cable

EJ alternator wires

PCV and hose

 

That should be everything else I need, short of a fabbed up catback of sorts.  I have a WRX catback that I may see if I can have bent to fit.

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The EA PS lines will hook up to the EJ pump.  If anytrhing just get the lines that go down to the crossmemeber, and hook into EA lines.

 

And I think your throttle cable can be made to work too, might have to bend the bracket on the EJ intake that holds it.

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The EA PS lines will hook up to the EJ pump.  If anytrhing just get the lines that go down to the crossmemeber, and hook into EA lines.

 

And I think your throttle cable can be made to work too, might have to bend the bracket on the EJ intake that holds it.

Both my EJ pump and EA lines have a female fitting on the end, so it won't connect w/o some fitting.  Yeah, I'm just grabbing pump to Xmember.

 

The cable barely reaches the throttle body, but needs to be long enough to go all the way to the front to pull it to the front.  It doesn't look like anything can be reversed on the linkage or TB. I'll try to put a Legacy one on there.

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Sweet.

 

I was just talking with my GF about trying to come up soon to check out the progress, and pick up the old engine. 

 

never heard of a filler tube issue.  Sure it doesn't clear?

No problem Dan, just name a time and I can set it out for you if I'm not around.  Next weekend would def be better for progress checking because there will be more progress to check. :D

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Today I had some time to get some stuff done.  I made it back from the JY with everything on my list.  I installed the EJ PS lines.  They fit very nicely.  Then I installed the Impreza throttle cable that I grabbed.  It's at least twice as long as the XT cable.  I had to fabricate a bracket to make it adjust correctly.  But it came out great.  I also hooked up the fuel lines.  I made some new coolant lines to and from the heater core.  I installed the lower half of the EJ airbox in place of the EA one by drilling some holes through the bottom and screwing it in. It'll do for now.  Then I hooked up the rest of the intake and most of the vacuum hoses including my new PCV.  Next will be the radiator hoses.

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Sounds like you sorted the throttle cable issue, BUT, for other readers... I have used the EA throttle cable in 2 separate swaps without any issues. on the lifted car it went with out any thinking because of the drivetrain drop. In my blue car, i routed the cable under the intake manifold and back up to the throttle body and it fit just fine. There isn't a ton of slack, but there is adjustment and enough free-play to not cause any binding or other issues.....

 

Edit: Both of these swaps are in loyale wagons, although I don't believe the XT's were unique in any respect to the throttle cable....

Edited by obk25xt
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Sounds like you sorted the throttle cable issue, BUT, for other readers... I have used the EA throttle cable in 2 separate swaps without any issues. on the lifted car it went with out any thinking because of the drivetrain drop. In my blue car, i routed the cable under the intake manifold and back up to the throttle body and it fit just fine. There isn't a ton of slack, but there is adjustment and enough free-play to not cause any binding or other issues.....

 

Edit: Both of these swaps are in loyale wagons, although I don't believe the XT's were unique in any respect to the throttle cable....

"I routed the cable under the intake manifold and back up to the throttle body and it fit just fine".  

 

Mine didn't even reach the intake manifold.  Just barely reached the throttle body.  It only came out of the firewall about 18".  About 2 feet shorter than the Impreza one that reaches over the radiator.  I'm pretty sure the Impreza one is identical to the Legacy as well.  

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I only had time to install the factory exhaust header today.  It fit with no issues.  It does sit down maybe an inch lower than the EA system.  I imagine the OBX sport EL header will sit similarly low.  I'll probably just stick a 2 1/4" glasspack on there with a short section of pipe temporarily until I can build a real catback.  

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For the radiator hoses, I used the Gates Flex-n-fit hoses.  The top one is 25300 and is 12" long.  The bottom one is 25302 and is 15.5" long.  Both fit very nicely and make this part of the swap really easy.  And they were only 14 bucks each.

In hindsight, the 25302 would have worked fine for the top one as well as the bottom one.

 

 

I have the wiring about halfway done.  Will be turning the key tonight or tomorrow. B)

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Well, it's cranking but not starting.  I have the following connected:

 

3 wires for the alternator

 

Fuel pump relay to fuel pump/pump grounded

 

ECU is powered with 12+ by red 

 

and gets ignition power at yellow

 

Igntion is grounded

 

I rebuilt my starter and it cranks over real well, considering its high compression

I can hear the fuel pump and smell gas up front.  .

I will double check all my engine connections.  Seems like its just not sparking.

 

Where does one connect the starter signal wire?

Edited by redXTwedgie
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Well, it's cranking but not starting.  I have the following connected:

 

3 wires for the alternator

 

Fuel pump relay to fuel pump/pump grounded

 

ECU is powered with 12+ by red 

 

and gets ignition power at yellow

 

Igntion is grounded

 

I rebuilt my starter and it cranks over real well, considering its high compression

I can hear the fuel pump and smell gas up front.  .

I will double check all my engine connections.  Seems like its just not sparking.

 

Where does one connect the starter signal wire?

 

Starter signal wire connects to the starter solenoid trigger wire.

 

You can tap in at the starter with a doubler spade.....

 

Or at the Ignition switch connector on pin 5 (the one by itself on the edge)....

 

Or at the ECU connector, pin 24  *Black/white strip wire.    

 

*xt wiring doesn't always match the book.

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I checked the voltage and the ECU is getting powered up.  I plugged in my OBDII reader and it gave me a TPS signal for the disconnected TPS cable.  I plugged it back in to no avail.  The ground from the ignition(with the big coil of connections and cuts and eyelet) is connected to the intake manifold just behind the PS pump.  I didn't find anything else in the wiring that needed grounding.  The other side of the manifold is grounded via the EA plug below the coil.  It actually did start for just a second as I was releasing the key.  But it wouldn't restart after.  It sounded good for the second, despite being sans catback.  There is a distinct smell of gas while cranking.  Does the ECU need chassis ground through the mounting bracket?  I've tried it both ways.

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I checked the voltage and the ECU is getting powered up.  I plugged in my OBDII reader and it gave me a TPS signal for the disconnected TPS cable.  I plugged it back in to no avail.  The ground from the ignition(with the big coil of connections and cuts and eyelet) is connected to the intake manifold just behind the PS pump.  I didn't find anything else in the wiring that needed grounding.  The other side of the manifold is grounded via the EA plug below the coil.  It actually did start for just a second as I was releasing the key.  But it wouldn't restart after.  It sounded good for the second, despite being sans catback.  There is a distinct smell of gas while cranking.  Does the ECU need chassis ground through the mounting bracket?  I've tried it both ways.

ALL RIGHT!!! :D  :D  :D

 I reread my post and noticed that the one time it started was when I released the key.  So I moved my 12V switched power from the clock(DTOH!) to an unused plug under the hood and BINGO!  Fired right up.  Gotta run to work now, but I'll start on a make-shift exhaust and get this badboy out on the road soon.

 

 Big Thanks to Dan! :)

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Well, I'm driving the car around the neighborhood and all seems well.  I haven't romped on it yet bc I can' find my knock sensor and my catback is about two feet long.  Its loud, but sounds real good.  I'll be running a 2 1/4" catback with a glasspack/bullet muffler for a resonator and then a muffler with mandrel bends in between.

 

Is there a way to connect to the temp guage w/o going into the combination meter?

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Is there a way to connect to the temp guage w/o going into the combination meter?

 

Go to the original EA engine connector in the engine bay.

 

Tie the Purple(?)EJ wire into the Yellow/Green wire for Temp gauge.  "T" in a resistor(270 ohm) and connect that to ground on the intake to correct the swing of the needle.

 

 

You can also tie the Green(?) wire into the Yellow/black wire for Oil Pressure.  It will work backwards though.......when all is good, the gauge will be below zero.  If the OP drops off, the needle will peg to maxed out.

 

 

(I may be confusing the EJ wire colors, but purple and green are the OP and TEMP wires from the EJ harness.....go by whatever we labeled them)

 

You will also want to ground out all most of the Black/red, Black/yellow, etc....wires at the EA engine connector......the Digidash and trip computers will need those wires to be grounded.

Edited by Gloyale
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redstuff005_zps97d17e5f.jpg

 

So far, so good.  I'm getting on it and the clutch is holding the franken-torque just fine.  Exhaust sound is really growing on me.  I'll have to do an exhaust audio clip.  But i'm definately going to open it up to 2 1/4 and probably run two glasspacks inline in place of the stock resonator and muffler.  Car pulls hard in all gears.  Even 5th at 50mph.  Reminds me a lot of my SVX that I converted to 5 spd.  But it will only get better as the ECU gets everything dialed in.  I'd say the whole swap was much easier than I thought it would be.  Definately worth it! :)

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