Zefy

i just swapped in a 2003 ej25 into my 99 ej22 car. It won't start. i swapped the intake manifold off my old engine and everything plugged in perfectly. the car sputters and started only a couple of time but it would only stay running if i gave it lots of throttle and it would backfire through the intake enough to blow the clasps off the toque box. it was also blowing black soot out the tailpipe and it seems to have fowled a set of plugs. i pulled them out after the short run and it was covered in black soot. i changed the plugs, coil, and wires with no results. The motor is new. the car it was in fell off the truck back in 2003 and it was pulled and put in storage since then. It did have storage oil in the cylinders so i'm guessing that's the reason for the soot and plugs. but backfiring? missing? it feels like an ignition issue. but......? any help would be greatly appreciated!

Your loyal is substantially wider than the brat so I doubt that the same stuff would work. I also don't want to max out the tie rod as it is weaker. With that in mind, I'm sure there is some odd ball combo of inners and outers to give me my desired result however it is physically cheaper and easier to just cut stuff up.

front is easier. sort of... front is expencive... you need a different set of control arms. i got ones from crossbread performance in AUS. They let an ej knuckle/balljoint fit in an old gen control arm. beyond that, you need to either redrill/reinforce the strut tops or make a custom tophat for an ej style strut. i opted for a mishmash of both. Also a standard impreza spring doesn't fit into the tower. So you have to get a coilover style springpack. I am running rally spec hotbits coilovers. next thing you gotta sort out is the tie rod ends. OEM brat tie rods (inners and outers) fit into an impreza knuckle but the toe is all wrong. The tires are driving into each other. So you can swap in EJ outer tie rods. yup, they fit just fine. BUT! now you're to wide... So my solution is to run a modified set of ej outer tie rods (shortened and sleaved) but it is still not enough. So i'm going to shorten a bit of the brat inner rods. The axles are custom xt6 axles. I'm running an RX turbo transmission so i have 25 spline shafts. The shafts were shortened by rguyver. They have the correct inners and correct outers for an ej knuckle (in my case, 2.5rs) and they are the correct length to match the control arms. i'll post pics later.

the stock stuff is a torsion bar setup similar to the ea81 except it is in two pieces. here is one side after i took it out. this one has disc brakes from an RX on it. The diff mounts to a mustache bar just like the ea81's and the gas tank is above it. now you know what you are tripping over.

yup...some of you might remember me hinting at this over the last 3 years. well here it is. so it's all in. needs more bracing for me to be happy but my method seems to work. will update more as it gets done. i hope it works...

i agree with GD and chux that you were looking at turbo headers. They can be modified to work in n/a application but it's really not worth doing. 06+ 2.5i's have a similar design to what you are looking for and they work properly with n/a xmembers. a lot of people like them because they are equal length.

you think it is more work to build a legacy vs. a loyale? Lift kit complexity is virtually identical and beating the wheel wells for more room is the same across the board. And i think i would rather swap a transmission vs swap an engine. and i have done both but not on these cars so i am speaking from experience... just not enough experience. the other big point that i'm quickly realizing by trying to find a car is the legacy is WAY cheaper than a loyale... Don't know why... For instance, legacy fs, fully loaded, auto with 190k km on the clock going for 900. the guy sounded like a scab but w/e... loyale posted yesterday with 200k+ km on the clock for sale for 3k!!! didn't talk to this person as they were obviously off their rocker... REDICULOUS!!! Scott, would you be interested in making me a lift kit or selling the one you have for the legacy? I also hear it has a d/r in it now? Interested in selling the kit for that? Once again, i can't buy the car because it is a *************** to get into canada. But pm me some prices and maybe we can work something out.

hahaha. there is no les schwab in canada... at least i've never seen one... sounds like the folks at your local tire shop are being lazy...

thanks scott for your take. You are one of the few people on here that has built both. now i know the slipping issue with the awd is a concern. that is why i would be swapping in a d/r out of an ea82 with either lsd or locked rear. the control arms (that's what you're talking about right?) are weak but can be strengthened. I've done it a couple times for rally cars. also it is easy to swap in the aluminium sti ones which are wicked strong for fairly cheap. the only real downside i can see to the legacy is the weight. as much as i want to pick up your legacy it would be to hard to bring across the boarder and get proper registration and licensing for it. I've done it once and it took about a year to fully complete. it's virtually impossible with a modified vehicle. i might be interested in the lift/parts off it though. I also want a wagon...

It's been done I think the general consensus is that it is not worth the cost of doing it. Somebody on here has made one that has a better low range than the euro spec cars for way less money. Basically what I am looking for is a dedicated off road machine. I ready have a lifted impreza via forester but I find it rather limiting. Partly due to the cosmetics of the car but mostly due to the daily driver factor. I find the awd very limiting when wheeling (great in every other situation) but it needs true 4wd with a welded rear and no auto. My friend and I have built an 87 toyota pickup and I want to be able to roll with him. Common sense tells me to build a toy but I don't want to be 8g's in debt to do it. So hence my pondering. Loyale or legacy? I've already done one ej swap and I would rather not do it again. A trans swap is waaaaay easier.

I couldn't really find any comparisons between building a rig with a loyale vs. building one with a legacy. Here are some thoughts i had about each. Most of this knowledge is not first hand so i would like everybody to pitch in and fill in the gaps. this comparison is for moderate off road machines. Think about a vehicle capable of holding 28-29" tires. ~4" of lift etc etc... no t-case or solid axle swap monsters here. my first assumption is that most do not build their rigs using the legacy platform because of cost. But the cost of a legacy (at least here) is the same if not lower than an ea82 and they are far more plentiful. upsides to the ea82: -tried and tested methods by dozens of people. -d/r trans outa the box (in most cases) -better approach and departure angles than a legacy -more ground clearance in stock form -uber lightweight downsides to the ea82 -ea82 < ej22... -wheel and tire options limited -limited suspension options -most are rusted out or beaten the poop out of -potentially carbed depending on model. i hate carbs... upsides to the legacy -ej22 reliability ftw! -14 or 15" wheels outa the box -potential for suspension lift (ie. forester stuff) -better axles, higher angles achievable...? -better brakes -more comfortable, better equipped downsides to the legacy -heavy car -bigger car -not as much experience wheelin in the community -awd trans not optimal -no low range that is what i can think of. but what does that equate to when building a rig? for the legacy, a d/r trans swap would be a must along with a ~4" lift with some 28-29 lift. Removing the fatty bumpers and making some tube ones to better the approach and departure angles. A LSD rear or welded and some forester struts and springs for that little extra height. Building a similar vehicle with a loyale i think would end up costing more and it would have the same capabilities off-road. discuss!

pure speculation but there are ej trans with 3.9 in them and i doubt they changed anything so my guess is it's possible. but why? do you want to put the ej trans into your ea81 or something? i think it would be easier to put in the matching 4.111 rear diff than to swap the gears in the trans.

alright it's a little harder than just a quick 'do this' answer but i would like to hear what people do when welding upside down. i have a miller 175 GMAW welder. I use 0.023 wire with C25 on everything. how do you adjust your welding style and settings? i was told in a hurry to turn down the wire feed (therefor lowering the current). when i do that it looks like the wire just melts away into the tip as soon as it arcs. thicker wire to offset the melting and the slow wire feed perhaps? sacrifice penetration...? discuss.

from what i've heard the ej20h isn't a very solid engine. everybody seems to spin bearings with them. i would recommend finding an ej20g motor and swapping it in. you should be able to just swap the long block or even short block if you wanted to take the extra time to do so. these engine can be found EASILY for under 1g CND if you get it without the wiring and all that jazz. then it's up to you to figure out if you want to change the turbo and such. i have a friend in Edmonton that is a JDM importer. he could probably hook you up with something.

do you spin the tires a lot on ice or anything? i've seen them blow up if the driver is revving the poop out of it when there is no traction to be had. for instance i've seen a woman with bald tires try to make it out of her driveway when there was no grip on the back wheels. she would roll a bit with the AWD but once she was on full ice it would slide back down and she would try it again. now this woman figured the correct solution is to push the pedal down harder. the VC overheated and got wrecked. any of this sounds familiar? probably not, but i figured it might be important. any young drivers that like to slide around in the family wagon perhaps? i know i did that...

awesome build. do you have some close up pics of the PnP setup that delta did? Very interested in how it looks. the ej22 heads are so piddly i'm curious to see how much porting can be done.

there is a bit of incorrect info in here. they two strut bolts are 19mm not 17mm. make sure you have a 19mm socket AND a wrench/other racket to hold the other side. also put a mark on the top bolt and strut mounting ears so you can set the camber bolt correctly. the centre nut is 32mm. bigger the breaker bar the better. the brakes do not need to be removed or messed with. just make sure you don't rip out the brake line when you're getting the axle out. also for the roll pin here is a little tip. instead of spending tons of money on specialty punches or worse wasting your money on a punch that isn't long enough just get yourself a junked subaru starter. the long bolts that hold the starter case together are PERFECT for the task. GL with the install!

just because i can, 99 impreza TS with: -04 FXT struts -FXT springs in the front and wrx springs in the rear. -rocket rally short throw shifter -yakima roof rack (yakima tracks w/ landing pads and control towers) and a thule spirit cargo box. -hella 500's and lumax fogs -80/100w upgraded headlights. here i am at the local off-road place. up in the interior of BC at the annual thunderbird rally.

how much does it hit? you can get little wheel spacers for cheap from tire shops. typically 3mm-8mm thickness without adding extended studs. think that would solve the problem? you're going to eat up wheel bearings and most likely hit a bunch of stuff with the wider track.

i have one of the older clusters (out of an 87 rx) with those extra two gauges. if you want it send me a pm. mine is missing the centre picture thing but you could reuse your centre...

what did you do with the spring seat? is it just sitting in there all willy nilly? probably not a problem as a lot of 'coilover kits' do that with collars... i'm also assuming this was for the front? what about the rear? more ea81 springs?

interested in seeing results and pics.

i'm really hoping that it is either early july or late august... i would really hate to miss it. (have gone since 6) not that i should really complain... I am going to germany for my brother's wedding and taking a 'detour' to go see wrc finland.

some tips that helped me do mine. seems obvious, but make sure you have enough room to open up the harness fully. if you start folding over wires it can get confusing and cluttered. i also plugged in everything i needed to keep. intake, maf, alt, ecu, etc. Then i looked at the bits that weren't connected to anything then cut them. this narrows it down to only a handfull of wires that you need save separately.

it's not really a "secret"... it's just i don't want to post up a bunch of false info if it doesn't work the way it should... but yes here is what needs to happen for the front (or what i did). custom shortened 2.5rs axles (from rguyver... 25 spline for RX trans) along with the control arms from australia and shortened 2.5rs tie rod ends. i used the longer 2.5rs tie rods and shortened them because i find it's easier to shorten something than lengthen something. stock tie rods will fit, but are to short. coilovers or something with smaller dia. springs are required for this as impreza springs are to large to fit in the towers without rubbing. Also a stock impreza top mount does not fit through the hole in the strut tower so either you modify stock brat top mounts or use flat mount camber plates. I opted for the second option because i like tasty tasty camber. rear to come... still in the R&D phase. (ie. build it, measure, scrap... refine design... rebuild... etc...) also if anybody has any ideas for the rear i would love to hear them!