el_freddo

12mm seems quite large! Why not use a liberty filter from the Gen1? It’s mounted in the engine bay. They also fit in the L series efi filter mount if you happen to have one. Cheers Bennie

If that’s the case you might be better off sourcing heats that still retain their hardness/haven’t been overheated. Cheers Bennie

Have you checked the dust shield on the brake rotor? And what are your brake pads looking like? Is the noise a consistent grind, does it come and go or change in intensity with different engine loads or vehicle speeds? Cheers Bennie

Yep, what carfreak said. That’s my understanding and experience too. Cheers Bennie

Yes, sorry Jono, also. My statement was specific to alexbouy’s reply. How are you doing the gearbox crossmember? An old Ausubi forum member that’s a good mate of mine reckons that back in the day he made mounts from the stock brumby crossmember fit the AWD EJ gearbox without the “H” style EJ crossmember. I’m thinking of looking into that when the time comes. Cheers Bennie edit: what box and diff ratio/tyre size are you going to run with?

That sucks when it happens. They should pass on the torch to those that will keep it alive. Cheers Bennie

I’m looking at doing the same but in my brumby, so I too am watching to see what the outcome is Cheers Bennie

@Mitchy - there is a bit of effort involved with a swap like this. But it’s nothing compared to a dashboard swap or removal of an EJ dashboard - a common occurrence went people “drop” and EJ turbo into their non turbo Subaru. This is my second dash install and my fifth removal in the MY platform. It’s very similar to the L series dash removal and install process, as I’m sure it is for the EJ dashboard. I’ve worked out the indicator issue - it was the plug to the indicator stalk cluster. The plug on my indicator wiring had one pin that’s been hot enough to melt the plastic of the plug, changing the pin’s position slightly. With a small tweak with a pair of pliers I was able to seat the plug properly with its mate and I had indicators again. I also located the plug for the intermittent wiper relay canister to live on. It was tucked right up behind the instrument cluster. For now I’ll place the single looped wire plug on there so my wipers will at least self return. Then I’ll go hunting for my intermittent relay canister to fit for my wipers to work with the four position switch - off, intermittent, low, high. Such high level of luxury! The windscreen was fitted yesterday. So now I can focus on getting the rest of the interior back together and sort out the rust in the tray - clean it up and seal the metal. Cheers Bennie

Mitchy, are you aiming for more lift than this, or are you happy with that height? In the before and after pics it’s difficult to see the difference, it looks like it’s maybe an inch or two at best. The lighting unfortunately makes it hard. I do like how you’ve positioned the car on the same angle though! Cheers Bennie

That 4wd transfer case won’t come off until you remove the gear on the back of the pinion shaft for the 4wd action. It’s a bloody stupid design with the pinions haft fitting through a hole only big enough for the pinion shaft. Once this gear is off, the 4wd transfer housing can be removed, then the four retainer bolts in the pinion shaft bearing housing can be removed. After the case half bolts are removed the cases should split apart with some persuasion from a rubber mallet. And I don’t recall any reverse lockout device or 10mm headed bolt on the selector fork in the 4spd box, only the 5 and phase1 EJ boxes. 4spd box = nothing like the 5spd box until you’re at the 4th gear and forwards from there. Even then the concept of the low range is the same but the layout is different. Cheers Bennie

And if you’re pulling the interior from another vehicle you’ll have everything you need for this conversion/swap. Wiring will be under the carpet of the donor, if not in your vehicle, you’ll probably find that the under carpet wiring will plug in under the dashboard somewhere on your vehicle. Cheers Bennie

http://offroadingsubarus.com/macpherson-strut-to-top-wishbone-conversion/ here’s the link to the strut delete I was talking about ages ago - used strictly for racing and jumping HIGH! Strut and spring swap would be so much easier! Even if you built your own spring compressor like what’s shown in the video posted earlier. If you got separate strut and spring orders in, your probably have it all put together by now! Cheers Bennie

Go easy on the throttle - drive like a a grandpa and you’ll extend the life of the 4speed Cheers Bennie

Awesome! I loved my L series in the snow! What I found was the engine would run hot because the radiator was cooling the coolant too low/quickly. A piece of cardboard over half of the radiator had temps sitting where they should. Only difference there is that I’m running an EJ22 - where the thermostat is on the cold inlet side of the engine! Your EA82 will have the thermostat on the hot side so it shouldn’t be effected in the same manner - unless you’re getting a frozen radiator (I’ve seen that happen before in very frosty conditions if you don’t warm the whole cooling system up properly). Other thing to investigate is the possibility of a leaking heat gasket. And do you have true AWD or part time 4wd? The true AWD box has a vacuum operated diff lock solenoid and if it hasn’t been toyed with, it comes with a poor low range of 1.19:1 - good for rallying in low range! If you’ve got the part time 4wd box and a non turbo, you’ll have the good 1.59:1 I really miss driving in the snow! Cheers Bennie

The RXII coupe and the Vortex (XT4) and the XT6 are the sources for these gearboxes. The low range is on the gearbox input shaft, it sits above the front diff before any power goes through to the drive gears. There is no swapping of stub axles or ring gears wth this swap. The ring and pinion swap is for a diff ratio change. By dodgy I meant that it’s a low range that’s not very low. It’s a 20% reduction vs a 60% reduction for the good low range. They’re just ratio changes. Cheers Bennie

If a blocked fuel line - remove filler cap and blow compressed air back into the tank through the fuel outlet line. If this clears the line, pull tank out and give it a good flush. Cheers Bennie

You’re reading about the EJ 5spd box and you’re pulling apart the 4spd unit. They’re different gearboxes! What you’re dealing with there is the part time 4wd engagement system. You need to pull it apart - and remove the rear output housing to achieve this. I’ve pulled one of these apart. It’s not fun - and I don’t have to get mine back together! There’s a process you need to follow to get all of that out properly. You will need to remove all the cotter pins holding bits to shafts etc. Just that I don’t know what this process is exactly. THEN: wait until you get to the pinion shaft - you need to undo the bolt on the end of the pinion shaft. I believe it’s a 34mm bolt. And it’s an offset hole to slot your socket through. That didn’t work for me. The angle grinder did though as this box is junk and I wanted the front diff stubs. Best of luck with it, I’m sure it can be done - you’re at the difficult part atm. Hopefully someone can give you the instructions on how to do it properly! Cheers Bennie

If you have a part time 4wd box it will bolt straight in. You will need MPFI or MPFI turbo front driveshafts as the diff stubs are the larger 25 spline units. Also grab the instrument cluster if it’s available. And the vacuum solenoids that operate the diff lock You will have the dodgy low range in this box (1.19:1 vs 1.59:1) compared to the PT4wd L series box. They’re a drop in interchange job if you want the good low range. Worth the effort! Cheers Bennie

Yes. Your EJ will bolt to any EJ series gearbox, including the 8 bolt boxes (phase 2 - just use the four bolts that your engine has). Cheers Bennie

Dashboard is in. I had a few little issues putting it in, namely around the air vent ducting clicking in properly. But for the most part it’s in and almost everything works. It looks good and I can’t wait to go for a drive. Much better to look at than the original speed, oil/fuel gauges and a clock that didn’t work - I set it to 5 o’clock I’m not sold on the green backlighting, time will tell about what happens here. After finalising this install I need to fit an alternator and an air filter, pay rego that’s overdue, then go for a long overdue drive! Cheers Bennie

Not an abs sensor issue on one of the wheels? But then again I guess that would have an ABS light for that sort of thing. I hope it’s an easy fix. Cheers Bennie

There will most likely be a black box in the drivers kick panel area, six plug from memory. These can become faulty. Although I’ve not personally experienced this. One way to tell if you have this box or not - when you turn the ignition on, does the pump usually run for a few seconds then turn off, OR does it run all the time? If it runs all the time you do not have this box. If it shuts off, you’ve got this box. Also ensure your fuel filters and lines are not blocked. Cheers Bennie

Depends on what you put in. The EA AWD box will bolt straight in but will need MPFI shafts for the larger diff stub output shafts. EJ box will need custom crossmember, tailshaft, possibly gear selector linkages and matching rear diff ratio of swapping ratios. And you’ll need the MPFI drive shaft for the larger diff stub output shaft. When you say “go up the mountains” - does this mean offroad or on the black top through the twisties? Cheers Bennie

Shame you have to move this on. Such a unique car! Cheers Bennie

Correct. Trans swap is involved either way you go. Cheers Bennie