Snowman

I forgot some other stuff that I wanted to check on before doing this. The spfi engine is coming out of a car with an automatic and going into one with a manual tranny, which raises two issues. 1. Do I just bolt on the flywheel and clutch assembly from the MT car, or does more have to be done? 2. Do I need to change the distributor? If so, will the one from the carbed motor work, or should I take the one off of my MT spfi parts car? Or can I just leave that one in there?I haven't checked to see if the spfi distys have any electronic gismos in them that the carb distys don't.

I'm not 100% sure about the laws governing stuff like that. I have heard of several specific examples of cars that could not be sold in the U.S. due to emissions stuff. I don't know if the older WRX was like that or if it just wasn't sold here because it didn't fit the "target market". If I sounded a bit harsh toward JDM engines in my previous post, I didn't really mean to. I'm sure they are good engines, I just wanted to get the point across that they probably aren't as good as stateside used engines, based on my logic and my experience with them. If they aren't yanked at 50K, then why are there so many of them around?

In Whitehorse (Yukon, Canada) they have been using legacys for the past several years as one of their main cars. It makes perfect sense to have AWD in their climate, and a leg. will fit through city traffic a lot better than a Caprice.

I'm running Mobil 1 10W-30 right now, and I change it every 3-4,000 miles. Yes, you CAN run it longer than that, but it doesn't matter how good your oil is, it still gets contaminents in it after a while, and the more often it's changed, the less those contaminents are wreaking havoc on your engine internals.

Used Japanese engines are kind of a coin toss. The reason lies in their previous life overseas. In Japan, when a car reaches 50,000 miles (I think that's the magic number), the engine has to be yanked out and replaced with a new one. The old engines are often sent here because they are still in good working order. Hower, because people know that the engine only has to last 50,000 miles, they usually won't even change the oil. Hence, it is common for these engines to have a modicum of nasty stuff inside, which can eventually cause problems. There are no differences in performance between U.S. market and Japanese market engines for '80s suburus. However, there are some newer models that cannot be imported due to emissions restrictions, and those generally have hotter motors than their U.S. counterparts. I currently have a used Japanese engine in my car. It has worked really well so far, but after two years of running synthetic oil, some of the sludge has loosened up and is starting to get in the lifters. The other issue with these engines, and the reason that I am going to take mine out and replace it with a U.S. market engine, is that they have different emissions equipment and CANNOT pass emissions tests. I found this out the hard way when I moved to a city that requires testing,and now I have to drive my backup/project car until I can switch engines. The moral of the story is: If you want a cheap engine that more often than not will work fine as long as you don't have to pass I.M. and can deal with the accumulated oil sludge, Japanese engines are OK. However, due to the lack of maintenance, they often will not be in as good ofshape as a U.S. market engine of the same age/apparent condition. If you've got the money, go with a rebuilt engine from CCR. If not, check around in junkyards for a low-mileage wrecked car with a good engine in it. Personally, I would only use a Japanese engine as a last resort after my somewhat costly (in the long run) and inconvenient experience with one.

Thanks! I can't wait to do this! Probably the earliest possible time it can be done is during Christmas break, but it probably will have to wait longer that that.

Yeah, fuel lines are a concern. I do have a complete parts car in addition to the car that the engine is coming out of, so I should be able to just take the lines off of there if mine doesn't have them. If I can use my existing fuel lines, will they handle the pressure? There's a big difference between carb and spfi fuel pressure. I think carb cars run less than 5 psi, whereas the spfi cars run 53 psi.

That is SWEEEEEEET! Sorry, I had to put in the banana.

I want to keep the ENTIRE ENGINE as one piece during the swap. Engine, intake manifold, throttle body, sensors, etc. come out of one car and go into another. No removal of manifold or anything like that. I have to swap everything because the Japanese market engine that is in the car right now can't pass emissions.

Unless I am mistaken, you have an ea82. It should say so right on the engine block near the front on the right side. As to your emissions issues, I kinda doubt that it could be burning oil. Does it smell really nasty? Burning oil smells horrid. You probably need to either get your carb rebuilt or get a new one. Before buying a weber kit, make sure that your I.M. place doesn't do visual inspections. If they do, they will probably send you out the door if they see a weber under the hood. I'm currently dealing with emissions issues with my 86, although due to various issues I'm pretty much screwed with my current setup.

In order to swap a complete SPFI engine into a car that currently has a carbureted engine in it, what else needs to be switched? Stuff I can think of: -ECU-where is it located? -engine control wiring harness -fuel pump and its wiring -Y pipe w/oxygen sensor There has to be more than this. Oh yeah, and if I go through with this, I'm gonna do T-belts, oil pump seals, maybe water pump, cam seals, crank seals, cam block seals, valve cover seals, oil pan seal, clean the lifters, and make everything nice 'n shiny.

Uhh.... A apologize in advance for saying this, and it's probably just my extreme affinity for the older soobs, but quite frankly I think it's kinda ugly. The newer subarus just keep looking more and more like other cars that are out there. One of the main reasons that I like subarus is that they don't look like other cars. I like the different look, and that appears to be going away with the newer cars.

I've carried all the tech stuff for the play that I was touring with this summer in my 86 wagon, which included: 2 HUGE speakers 7 stage lights and portable stands audio mixing board CD players light board all the cords needed to control this stuff from 50 feet away and some assorted props and costumes Oh yeah, I also had all of my camping gear and clothes for the two week journey. My brother claims to have had 14 people in an 87 wagon before.

Where did you get your filter adapter from? I tried to put a remote dual filter kit on two years ago, and the part that went on in place of the filter had the threads too far back in it and not quite the right threads, so I ended up having to take it off. Also, watch out for reduced oil pressure. I was running dual PH8As on mine, and the pressure got kinda low, especially at idle, where before I had tons of oil pressure.

I have read about snowmachine turbo kits in magazines. Apparently, they can double the horsepower or something like that if done right. I don't know if they lower the compression or anything else internal as part of the deal. 25hp stock for a 360cc two cycle is pretty resticted. My dad's sled makes 36 hp stock and it's a 300 with a single carb and not the most free-flowing exhaust. It's possible to get INSANE power out of two-cycle motors.

75 hp is reasonable out of that engine, if you have the money. My 500cc snowmachine can be modified to over 125hp. I bet you could get real close to 100 if you put on a turbo kit, some fatty expansion chambers, and dual 40mm carbs. With 75hp, that car would have about the same power to weight ratio as a WRX. Not to mention the fact that being a 2-cycle, the top end is just wicked.

I've towed 14 and 15 foot aluminum boats full of fishing gear many times with my wagon, often launching on steep ramps or where there was no ramp. No problems so far.

I definitely had that in mind, although not at the front of my mind. I'm just hoping to increase the alternator output so that the rpm when the charge is maintained is slightly lower, and so that the battery gets charged up more quickly when the rpms do increase. I think the smaller pulley might spin it too fast, and I do a lot of cruising between 4,000 and 4,500 rpm, so I don't want the alternator to spin too fast.

Sweet! :bday: Thanks

I don't think that there is a bad ground or parasitic draw. It's just the fact that I have 510 watts of additional lighting installed. If there was something wrong, I think it would appear if the engine was running a bit faster, or when I was only running one pair of lights in addition to all the stock systems. I also have, at one time or another, had nearly every circuit in the car turned on with and without the engine running, and both the voltmeter and ammeter had reasonable readings, not indicating abnormal draws. Here is the draw of my offroad lights: 4 100 watt lights= 33.3 amp draw +2 55 watt lights= 9.2 amp draw + any power required to run the relays, switch lights, etc. So we're talking nearly 43 amps when all the lights are turned on. The stock 60 amp alternator can handle that in addition to the stock systems when running above 1500 rpm, but at idle my ammeter is reading a 30 amp discharge with all the lights on in addition to the stock lights, the radio, and the heater on low. So that it why I want to put on a bigger alternator. I would like to find out if a legacy or impreza alternator could be made to fit, since parts are readily available for those cars, whereas finding an XT6 alternator looks like a major feat.

BYB makes lift kits for ea81, ea82, and a few of the newer models (I think). They cost around $300-$400. Go to http://www.ozified.com

BUMP

I bought a new single row rad from Modine a year ago, I think I paid $130 for it, including shipping. They also sell two row rads, which should be pretty good as well, judging from how good mine has worked. Now my temp guage almost never moves once the engine is warm, whether I'm sitting in traffic, going up a steep mountain trail in 1st gear low, or doing 90 on the highway.

What about making some air ducts that would direct air through the rad at speed? Also, either wire the fan so that it can be turned off to avoid the "competing airflow" thing at high speed, or buy a cheap aftermarket fan that blows the right way. By the way, that trike looks sweeeeeeeeeeeet!

I've got a perfectly good ea82 alt on my car, as well as one on my parts car. The issue here is power output, as the stock alternator is inadequate for running my offroad lights at low RPM.