Numbchux

Goodbye you rusty bastard Control arm rust....I've been concerned about this for awhile:

Oh yea....forgot about that. That was a bit of a pain. Required some machining and a sleeve to adapt a WRX pulley to the EJ205 heads.

It's identical to doing an entire WRX swap, just need to tune it for the different engine and suppress codes for the systems not present. It does require a full harness merge. But I bet there are literally thousands of people who have merged a GD WRX harness/ECU into the older chassis. I've done it a few times myself. I even wired a BD LGT for a Link Standalone ECU to run an EJ22t/EJ25d hybrid, we had a hell of a time getting that thing up and running, and a baseline tune done. We later swapped that same engine into a different chassis, and just merged in an '03 WRX harness/ECU. So much simpler....I wouldn't do an EJ Turbo for the street any other way. I didn't get into the details of it because I wasn't sure what the OPs goals were, since they are more modest, it's not really relevant

Well...I've been saying for years that this car would be killed by rust. And it happened......not how I expected, but it was still rust. The oil pan began leaking, and over just one tank of gas (I check at every fill-up), I lost over 2 quarts, which left about 3/4 of a quart. Oil pressure switch wire connector broke and fell off a couple years ago while doing the timing belt job....should have fixed that...so no warning in that fashion. Engine started knocking, I immediately bumped it into neutral and it stalled. Got it home a dropped the oil pan and found a spun #1 rod bearing, and a very deformed rod. Pulling the head to replace the rod quickly snowballs into a $500ish rebuild....and this car isn't worth that. So, the partout has begun. And on Saturday, I'm going to get a Black '91 GT 5MT convertible with 140k miles, no rust, and a bent control arm for $1k. I figure I swap the suspension over, and I've got a better car than this one ever was.

Been done many times..... Usually with a 2.2t block, but they're virtually identical (completely identical, as far as compatibility is concerned). Probably thousands of people putting WRX heads on the 2.2t block, which is almost as close. I've even seen the 25D heads drilled and tapped for oil feed and drain lines for a turbo. I have seen several builds with a 22e block and 25d or 251/253 heads for a budget low-boost build. It seems to be a good way to go about it, puts the compression ratio right in the sweet spot of about 9:1, IIRC. Depending on how much boost you're looking at, the stock ECU might do alright. Those OBDII ECUs are surprisingly smart. I am not a fan of Rising Rate FPRs....I prefer to run 50-60 psi across the board. It's better for atomization, and IMHO gives you more consistent mixtures across the range. Also I'd recommend going to parallel fuel rails to keep your mixtures even across the 4 cylinders. Those 2 mods on a stock ECU should be good for 8ish psi, which will give you pretty respectable numbers. If you're going for decent power, find someone parting out an early WRX, and get the wiring harness and ECU. With the open-source tuning that's available for it, it's almost as powerful as a standalone! Merging the wiring harness is a bit of a bear....but it's worth it!

The 4-lug brake setup is completely different. The brake and suspension upgrade options for 4-lug, are convert to 5-lug. If you want to stay 4-lug, you'll have to be creative. As for routing. I had them go down through the tunnel just like on an EJ car. It wasn't hard, I just used a hole saw, and then cut out between the holes with a cutoff wheel. BUT. It should be mentioned, that I had issues with the cables rubbing on the driveshaft. Now, I had a one-piece shaft (car was a FWD car), so this may not be an issue with a stock 2-piece...but make sure you've got adequate clearance. If I were to do it again, I'd drill through the vertical bulkhead just behind this and go through there.....

Yep, you're right. That's a fantastic example. Now, make some plastic 1/2" wheel spacers that are in no way hub-centric, and tell us how those work. And those probably wouldn't have the same heat to deal with (yes, brakes generate heat. But you have to be going pretty hard to exert temperatures for an extended period of time into the hubs like the engine bellhousing experiences). Refer to GLoyale's post. The studs are the clamping force, that clamping force makes it possible for the surfaces to transfer energy via friction. Bellhousing is the same. I completely believe Scott's number of 7 lbs. That's so very little. You could loose that somewhere else soooo easily. Lightweight battery. Plastic/lexan windows. Bumpers. Sound deadening. Dash. I mean, if you really are building a no-compromise race car..... Then you mention cost. Yes, plastic is cheap. But if that thing deforms almost at all. It's going to very quickly put some weird loads on the pilot bearing and input bearing of the transmission, even the main bearings of the engine. What's that going to do to your budget? How about if it gets so deformed to the point that it begins twisting the bolts in their mounting holes. Remember, lug studs are going into steel. While I agree that the bolts won't break, they are threaded into/through aluminum. It's not out of the realm of possibility that they would break out of the bellhousing on one side of the other. No way would I do it. I just don't have the time to source and replace an engine block or transmission case just because I tried to shave 5 lbs and $100......No way. But, the more I think about it, the more I can picture a broken transmission housing, with a mangled plastic adapter plate, with 4 bolts sticking through it, still with a little chunk of aluminum bolted around each one hanging off the back of your engine. Something like this one: So....bring a camera!

Well...since you didn't bother to tell us what vehicle this is going in....I can't tell you for sure. But I will say, just to be clear. The ring and pinion gear have to match. And the pinion gear is fairly difficult to swap into a different case. So you swap the ring gear to the LSD carrier, and then put the whole assembly back in your 3.9 housing. All the EA82 housings I've had apart were clearanced such that the LSD could be installed without grinding. I did have to grind on an EJ housing once.

Rear diff doesn't effect driveshaft length (at least, not between r160 and r180, I think the same holds true for the r200, but the only times I've seen that done was with a RWD swap, and there are other factors there). It is the 6-speed that requires the shorter driveshaft. Also, I think the 55mm is assuming an EJ chassis, which you do not have, so you'll have to start over on that measurement. IMO....just get your engine, transmission, and diff mounted how you want it, and start taking measurements. I'm betting you'll be best off starting with the stock RX driveshaft and having the front half shortened to match the transmission. You may have to have the rear half shortened as well to compensate for the rear diff (I don't think so, though), and you may also have to do some creative swapping/modifying for the flange between the diff and driveshaft (for example, I know the r180 bolt pattern is larger than the r160, but the flanges can be swapped between them.....some of that might hold true for the r200) That said, the r200 is available in many different vehicles, with many factory ratios available, and even more aftermarket. 3.54 is probably possible....

I'm reading this as rear brakes only....right?? In which case. yes. WRX through 2005 have the exact same rear brakes as any GC (-'01 impreza)

I've seen it done with a Civic, and a Celica. You basically cut the "body" from the floor pan on both cars, and swap the body. So the floor pan, firewall, suspension, and all suspension mounts are all Subaru, with the body of your choice over the top. There's even a guy doing that with a Subaru STi under a Subaru XT.

I also recommend an aftermarket, universal kit. It's going to be much easier to interface with your setup...

+1 for 5th gear and parking brake. There's a little play in it....but it works.

Well.....guess I'm going to find out. Just got my hands on this. '04 VDC, 133k miles, beige leather (oh well....). Salvage title means I'll probably just fix it and keep it, so the 4-cyl one will have the highest resale value.... btw...this one has a VDC Off button..... Dave. Any luck with that VTD diff swap? Does it work without the VDC?

Follow-up.... 1 can of SeaFoam Trans Tune. Drove 100 miles. Drain, fill, drive about 50 miles, drain, replace trans filter, and fill. The problem seems to be completely gone. Also.....the toe was pretty out of whack, front and rear. Alignment shop was (surprisingly) even able to get the rear adjustment bolt to move, and got it back in line. I'll throw some new tires on it this week, and hopefully have it ready for a new home by the weekend.

Some wheeling pictures from this last weekend....I was with a pretty large group, but we kept moving most of the day. So really the only pictures I have are from this one obstacle when everyone was out watching....

As usual....you've missed the point. It'd be cheaper to build a Subaru motor to that, yourself. But that's not what they're offering. Complete kit. Install, turn the key, haul rump roast. Only thing that would be easier, would be another air cooled VW engine.....which will not be anywhere near 400hp

Ah, yea. Outfront does some phenomenal work when it comes to using Subaru motors in.....anything really. The key to that price tag, is this, "Outfront turn-key motors include the motor, adapter with flywheel, computer, fuel pump, air cleaner, and wiring harness ready to install in your car" I'm pretty sure they come with Exhaust and turbo, as well. Designed to be used in a buggy (with the turbo mounted in "front" of the engine like that).

I'm confused..... You can get 500hp for a lot less than that!

Sweet! I love the burnout pictures.

Yea......very little of it is going to work without extreme modification. The front suspension is pretty much similar in basic function only. The control arms are completely different, the struts are completely different, the track width is different so the axles and tie rods aren't the same length (not to mention different on both ends as well). The rear suspension is completely different. Some of the simpler components can be used with modification....but not any more than something from a completely different make. It's been done, there's a guy in the UK that put an Impreza drivetrain under a Brat....but it included fabricating entirely new mounting points, strut towers, tunnels, etc. etc. It was a huge undertaking, and he said he would not have done it that way again.

They're pretty difficult to weld where they are. The sheet metal that you are welding to is very thin, and there's a lot of undercoating. I did that on one of my wagons.....and it was almost as hard as fixing it correctly (weld a nut to a fender washer, then weld the washer in the hole). You can cut into that channel from the interior. Then you'll be able to put a vice grips on the back side, which will make it easier to remove. Then get a big fender washer and a new nut, and bolt it back together.

Several people have done various levels of extreme suspension setups on EA82s, myself included.... If you're really talking about serious time attacking, you'll need 5-lug to get adequate axles, brakes, bearings and suspension. In which case, basically any coilover set for the multi-link EJs can be made to work ('00+ Legacy chassis, and '08+ Impreza Chassis).

Good to know. Like I said, the fluid does not look old. Maybe I'll use some SeaFoam TransTune transmission flush before I change the fluid, and see if I can't get it to let loose. I did not know about the AT Temp light, so that's good to know. Another peculiar thing.....this car chewed up a set of tires. When I was inspecting it before I bought it, I noticed the left rear tire was basically bald. The PO said she bought them all at the same time, and had not had them rotated....so I assumed there was something out of whack. But it drives straight and true, I've pushed it a bit into corners, and I wouldn't guess it's got any alignment issues or bad bushings. Anyone ever heard of binding AWD chewing up tires?

I feel like there should be a definitive sticky on this, or something in the USRM.....I know it's common, but never payed much attention to the discussion. Well....I bought a '96 Outback from my ex-girlfriend, it needs a lot of work, but I know I can rehabilitate it for a profit. 175k ish miles. Stock, original transmission/rear diff (4EAT). Swapped to a '94 2.2 several years ago. It's got nasty torque bind. FWD fuse seems to remedy it (it's also got a badly clicking CV, which got massively worse in FWD, so bad that I did not test for bind). Fluid looks very clean, so I suspect it's been serviced. But I may do it again.... Anyway, I will double-check this stuff, but let's assume that the Duty C is fine, and fluid/filter doesn't fix it. What's the next step.....transfer clutches?