81 replies to this topic

[Numbchux]

2 words......pitch stopper.....what are you guys doing for this.

I didn't even think of it, but when I got everything dropped in there, I realized on EJ cars, it's attached to the tranny, and EA cars, it's attached to the engine. well, I'm using neither of these. can I get by without using one?

[Knichol]

2 words......pitch stopper.....what are you guys doing for this.

I drove for a year without one and didn't notice any additional wear on the mounts. I just added it just 'cause. I cut an EA82 shorter and mounted it to the top of the transmission.

[suberdave]

on mine i used the stock WRX stopper. if you have an EA trans you need to find a stopper purch from an XT6 or a XT w/ spider intake. or the WRX one may fit on the EA trans.

-=Suberdave=-
www.suberdave.com

[baccaruda]

I have an XT pitch stopper and bracket on my wagon.
I grabbed a Legacy pitch stopper at the parts yard and found it to be the same length as the XT's, although the Legacy had a thicker rod.
It almost lined up with the slot on the bracket. Instead of slotting the slot a little more (it would have been close to the rear edge of the bracket and I didn't want it to be too thin), I had a 1/2" added to the length of the rod, and it fits fine.

on mine i used the stock WRX stopper. if you have an EA trans you need to find a stopper purch from an XT6 or a XT w/ spider intake. or the WRX one may fit on the EA trans.

-=Suberdave=-
www.suberdave.com

[fbh]

I really miss my metalworking days. If I got my Subie when I was still at school and doing metalwork, I woulda had an ER27 in there LONG ago :horse:

[WoodsWagon]

Engine mounts:

EJ22-EA82

Mine lined up in the stock holes in the crossmember, but they don't sit flat on the crossmember because the metal of the mount is larger than the flat area on the crossmember. I'm going to cut the mount back some to make it sit flat.

Oil pan on EJ seems to stick down further, like mabe 1.5 inches. I'm going to have to build a hefty skid plate to counter that.

[WoodsWagon]

The whole pitch stopper setup worked on mine. The legacy mounting bracket bolts right up to the EA tranny. The legacy stopper rod just fit, but I also have the 3" drop blocks on the engine crossmember.

I cut the engine mounts to fit and it seems like it will work fine.

The oil pan is a big concern. I will be getting another one and another pickup tube to modify. I know I'm going to smash that sucker in on accident. It stickes 1/2" lower than the lowest point on the crossmember.

The fittings between the hard lines leading to the Power steering rack (EA82) match the EJ ones, you will have to bend the lines a bit, but they will thread into the flex lines leading up to the pump. This connection is down on the crossmember right by the passenger side axel.

The EJ radiator is too tall for the EA body. You'd have to chop the front off the hood to make it fit, and everything would be floppy. No good.

A custom airbox will be needed. I'm jamming the EJ one in that corner for now, but it looks bad and is loose. I tried modding the EA box to fit the EJ MAF, but then the intake hose wouldn't fit. The EA MAF also looks like a really bad restriction.

[suberdave]

radiator fits with some work. cut some of the core support out and make it sit on the lower ledg rather than the upper one. then mount the fans on the front. they work better out there anyhow...

i made brakets for the lower nubs to fit into...



and i had to cut bits out of the top of the core support for it to fit.



-=Suberdave=-
www.suberdave.com

[WoodsWagon]

Do you get more body twist with the crossmember notched? I hadn't thought about lowering the bottom of it.

How low does your oil pan ride?

[WoodsWagon]

Just got mine running. WOOT!

Started first try. Right now, I'm using the ignition key to start the car, and the EJ ignition switch is turned on by a screwdriver. It runs nice, loud as hell, I only have two 1' long headers on it. The wiring is a mess, and I'll spend the next couple of days tidying it up and interfacing it with the EA dash.

I'm using the EA82 SPFI fuel pump and it seems to be working. Not sure about WOT at high load, not going to do that untill the rings have broken in.

This engine has more pickup at 1/2 throttle than the old one did at full.

[ShawnW]

The Ej22 (90 Legacy) exhaust rubs on the cross member on mine. What are you guys doing to fix that?

[88HatchMonster]

The Ej22 (90 Legacy) exhaust rubs on the cross member on mine. What are you guys doing to fix that?

I made a small cut in the right side pipe so I could shift the cat away from the crossmember and then had to shorten the left pipe in two places.

[Numbchux]

my '92 legacy y-pipe fits almost perfectly, I just had to bash a little on the heat sheilding on the back of the piping right by the ports on the engine side to keep it from hitting the crossmember....but that's into an EA82

[baccaruda]

I will be doing the same thing this weekend. It's funny, having enough experience with wrenching, you know exactly what kind of noise to expect from certain things... this would make a high pitched squeak at all times... definitely not acceptable!

my '92 legacy y-pipe fits almost perfectly, I just had to bash a little on the heat sheilding on the back of the piping right by the ports on the engine side to keep it from hitting the crossmember....but that's into an EA82

[ShawnW]

I made a small cut in the right side pipe so I could shift the cat away from the crossmember and then had to shorten the left pipe in two places.

Not a bad idea! Is it double walled pipe or single?

[WoodsWagon]

See where the dimple is on the back of the cat? If you cut a hole in the heatshielding right above that, it takes most of the contact away. Mine still rubs where the strut rod mount is, but it's not bad enought for me to do anything about it. I welded the flange from teh EA82 cat onto the EJ one so that I could use the EA second cat and exhaust. The EA pipe at the flange almoast fits inside the EJ cat pipe if you cut it's flange off. I heated the EJ pipe till it was glowing and just pounded in the flange with it's stub of pipe. It seems restrictive, but it's ok for now. I alo had to do lots of patch work on the EJ header. Frickin rust. This job reminded me how bad I suck at welding.

[88HatchMonster]

Not a bad idea! Is it double walled pipe or single?

It's single walled.

[subieman]

I have a OBD II out of a 95 Legacy I would like to swap into my EA81. Anything I should watch out for thats diffrent between the OBD I and II??

[s'ko]

flywheel adapting.

Well I am not sure if this has been covered but I just took a crack at modifying my EA81 flywheel. So far so good.

I was skeptical at first.. but when I test fitted the EA flywheel, it slips right onto the crank shaft. It fits nice and snug. I actually had to use a bar to pop it off. So the crank shaft keeps it centered.

The holes on the EA flywheel are too small for the EJ flywheel bolts. I took a green grinding bit for my rotary tool and hit the holes. It's actually really easy to do. After doing about 1/2 of the holes I took it out to my EJ. Based on what I find, the diameter of the EJ Crank shaft holes is smaller then the EA81. I plan to ream the holes a bit more oval towards the center of the flywheel. Is this what other people had to do?

Anywho. Just thought I would cover this bit as people have raised concerns about the DIY flywheel mod.

BW

[torxxx]

exactly how much bigger do the EA82 flywheel holes need to be? I'm thinking if someone has a drill bit size, that might make it a little easier than using a grinding bit

I too will be doing the conversion in the near near future. got my adapter plate, got my EJ22 with 80,000 miles on it (out of a 94 Impreza sedan).

I got my wiring harness out of a 92 Legacy wagon MT, but I think I will use the impreza harness since its newer and the car has less miles and NO rust.

[baccaruda]

The holes on the EJ crank are the same size, but they're a little bit further out from the center. They are also uniformly spaced, whereas the EA series crank/flywheel has one hole that is off-center relative to the rest, so that the flywheel can only be installed one way - this insures that the timing marks are where they need to be. The EJ series of course does not use timing marks...

I chose to have my flywheel balanced after its modification. Not all swappers have done this... my cost was $30 FYI.


My solution to the exhaust, after pounding the crap out of a few select spots and considering taking my grinder & flap disc to selected areas of the crossmember, shall be to obtain extra flanges from the parts yard and weld them to the tops of the Y-pipe's flanges. This will drop the whole Y-pipe about a centimeter, giving all the rough spots the remaining clearance they need while also allowing for some twist when the driveline torques.

[Numbchux]

about the flywheel, I did mine myself. with a dremel and grinding stone bit.....and just got the motor started last night, but revved it up to all of 5k rpms, with zero vibration!

I have to admit, even with 88hatchmonster's reassurance, I was pretty nervous about modifying the flywheel, but it turned out great! I just used the flexplate from the EJ22 (donor car was an A/T), and kept modifying the holes until I could drop the bolts through all 8 holes. then walked over to the engine, lined it up, and bolted it in! worked like a charm!

[s'ko]

[quote name='baccaruda']The holes on the EJ crank are the same size, but they're a little bit further out from the center. They are also uniformly spaced, whereas the EA series crank/flywheel has one hole that is off-center relative to the rest, so that the flywheel can only be installed one way - this insures that the timing marks are where they need to be. The EJ series of course does not use timing marks...

I chose to have my flywheel balanced after its modification. Not all swappers have done this... my cost was $30 FYI.
quote]

Good tip.

I think the difference is that I have an EA81 flywheel. Going to keep my EA81 tranny and go w/a centerforce clutch.

BW

[88HatchMonster]

I think the difference is that I have an EA81 flywheel. Going to keep my EA81 tranny and go w/a centerforce clutch.

BW

The important part is the pressure plate. Get one for an XT6. You'll also need to get a throwout bearing for an '85 Nissan 720 pickup to run that PP with an EA81 4spd.

The stock EA81 clutch plate is more than adequate when paired with an XT6 pressure plate.

[Numbchux]

just put the first 60 miles on my loyale post-swap....and it's AWESOME!!

I was cheap, and used my virtually new EA82 clutch kit that was in my lifted wagon....and it is not strong enough to hold everything the EJ22 can give! it's enough to get me around, but I can't use more than 1/2-3/4 throttle, and it still accellerates quite a bit faster than my legacy or any EA82 car that I've owned ever did!

also, there wasn't even a hint of vibration from the flywheel! very smooth running, even up to high-rpm.



I've got a few good diagrams, including a FSM and ECU pinout for a 92 legacy. I'd be more than happy to help in the making of a write up for this swap, much like the SPFI conversion manual