el_freddo

Looks like it’d go like a cut snake! We need more pics of this thing once it’s outside! Cheers Bennie

Ok, got pics! This pic shows just how long the L series AWD locking centre diff pinion shaft really is: The EJ pinion shaft ends behind where the second straight splined section is. The OBX LSD is up front. The L series low range side gears are sitting where they would be with both cases joined together. You can see how close this comes to the LSD housing. You might also make out the shaving of the LSD retainer bolts, if not, here's a better pic: Locking centre diff, you can see the dog clutch in front of the diff: Here's my first modified pinion shaft with it's very crappy weld job. Apparently it spent the first part of its life behind an STi turbo engine in a brumby. I guess my little EJ22 L series was too much for it in some soft sand at Lancellin when it let go (we were loaded up for our trip out west). No shaving of the crown wheel in this pic. In this pic you can see the shaving on the outer edge of the teeth on the crown wheel: Low range oil feeders for cooling of the low range gears on long hill climbs - works a treat, I have no whining with my low range: For the EA application that's probably about all the pics I have to share. The others that I have are specific to mods required for the EJ dual range. All of the above pics are of my L AWD locking centre diff gearbox with a phase 2 (8 bolt) EJ gearbox I hope that answers a few things for you IROCDUDE89! And I understand if there's any wet undies, really though, it's kind of expected Cheers Bennie

That’s right! So your mechanic probably didn’t check that or remove the flex plate from the donor engine. I’ve also seen a cream coloured plastic plate as well. Cheers Bennie

1988 was a good year: I’m not sold on the drugs being good fun! But I do agree about the collecting of cars and parent’s lectures... I just wish I lived closer to m&d’s place where most of my cars are stashed! It’s pretty awesome of you to collect, fix and “re-home” these awesome Subarus! Gotta keep them alive so the aftermarket parts industry keeps making bits! Cheers Bennie

Just make sure that RX box is AWD if that’s what you want. Over here it was pretty rare for an RX to have an AWD box! I know they’re standard in the RXII coupe. We didn’t get them over here Cheers Bennie

Yeah fair call. I forgot about that detail! Cheers Bennie

Why would you be doing ANY work in the car? That’s just nasty and seriously painful! Maybe you’re right about the journal passages etc, it was ages ago we pulled an engine down just short of splitting the block in this fashion. @Souperoo - was the tensioner a genuine item or aftermarket? We had an aftermarket one go bad within 10k km. Replaced it with a good used genuine item and it’s gone the whole distance of the timing belt change interval without issue. Cheers Bennie

Ok, we need to clear a few things up here: - firstly. When talking about these gearboxes we need to decipher them as PT4WD or FT4WD/AWD licking centre diff gearbox. - the EA81 PT4WD gearbox (I’m 99% sure) is fitted with the 1.447:1 and is mounted differently in the gearbox to that of the EA82 gearboxes and the EJ dual range gearboxes that you don’t have. - the pinion shaft on the FT4WD (locking centre diff gearbox) is THE LONGEST Subaru have produced to date. - EJ pinions do not fit without modifying them with the locking centre diff pinion in the mix. I’m not even sure if it’s possible to modify two EJ pinions to make the required length of the EA locking centre diff pinion box. - the locking centre diff gearbox came in two ratios - 3.7 and 3.9. Dual range and single range were both available. Pinions and ratios from the PT4WD WILL NOT FIT! - If you want a DUAL RANGE box you’ll need the AWD dual range gearsets. To make a dual range box from a single range box either requires another AWD dual range box (EJ or EA) or to do a super dodgy and match the lower AWD gearset with an upper dual range PT4WD gearset of the same ratios. Not the done thing. - the OBX front LSD will fit. With the low range you will need to shave the retainer bolt heads on an angle. I also recommend rebuilding this lsd with the spring and cone washer kit available online. - the diff centre in this locking centre diff box is OPEN. An lsd cannot be added to this diff. BUT - with an EJ AWD ring, pinion centre diff (with the factory LSD) and marched housing to the centre diff, and the EA dual range AWD gearsets you can effectively build an EJ dual range gearbox - in an EA case. The EA AWD gearset will fit on the EJ pinion and work with an EJ centre diff. Custom tail shaft, gear linkages and gearbox xmem will be needed. - PT4WD gearboxes are only “good” for their decent/awesome low range options that can be easily fitted to the L series AWD locking centre diff gearbox - no factory EA box came with a front LSD - the AWD locking boxes are rare and spare parts are in the form of other AWD locking boxes Once home and on the computer I’ll post up some picks of my build with the EJ cases, L series 1.59:1 dual range, 4.111:1 diff ratio and shaved crown wheel, locking centre diff and auxiliary oil feeders to help keep low range cool. @czny - I don’t know the process used. What ever is used in mining drilling equipment is what was done to my shaft. I’d expect that other parts of the pinion shaft will break before this weld job does. @IROCDUDE89 - sorry dude, NOT for sale. Plus shipping would practically double the cost! You be better off buying a low km EJ dual range and drop the DCCD centre diff setup in along with the 1.59:1 low range. Cheers Bennie

That’d be the easiest way to go. You’ll find these in the Gen3 Liberty RX and the Outback models. There’s also the EJ253 engine in the mix there somewhere too. I don’t know if this complicated things or not. Cheers Bennie

Unless design has changed in the EJ25 block, you can remove rods without splitting the case. Heads and sump needs to be removed. A pita but doable. Main bearings require the block to be split New rings while you’re there and you’re good to go. Cheers Bennie

Mine was a custom job. The 4.111:1 ring and pinion came from a forester box or a dead wrx single range box. I don’t know what this would cost as I purchased my initial 4.111:1 modified L awd pinion shaft with its matching ring (crown) gear. That wasn’t the best work, and a few years later I sheared off the weld - turned out it only had 2mm of penetration. I was visiting mates 3500km from home, so wasn’t exactly a convenient time for this to happen (better than the middle of the Nullarbor though!!). Through the Subi mate’s network someone knew someone else that owed them a favour - and we got a new shaft made up from the broken one, and the job was done properly this time! The shaft was beveled, had a male stub on one piece and a female section on the other to help mate and centre the two parts together, these were pressed together. Then a specific welding process was used to fill the beveled section with layers etc. it was a very deep weld and a slow one to complete. Then a “cap weld” was done to finish the welding off. This cap weld was then machined flat to the height of the rest of the shaft. Bloody artwork!! It had a slight bend in it - about .1 thou - but then we worked out that the lathe has .04 of free play in the clutch so it was probably a lot closer to dead straight A’s humanly possible. No vibrations so all is good! The most astonishing bit was that the floor manager of the workshop allowed the work pro bono! So a couple of slabs of beer were promptly arranged! To work the cost out though I had a welder and a machinist working on the shaft for close to five hours. It didn’t seem to take that much time while we were there! But it was a bit of involved process - and having the two experts there collaborating with each other sped up the time that it may have taken if I were doing this at home at a local shop. It is well worth the effort, but consider going the 4.44 R180’s are much easier to find in 4.44 and air or elockers are available for this diff - of course mods must be done to make either fit though! That’s my next project!! Cheers Bennie

Agreed with FerGloyale. I believe there is the FT4wd box in 3.9 ratio but it’s a difficult one to find. If you want a better diff ratio the only way to do it is to customise the pinion shaft. I’ve got 4.111:1 in mine and it works a treat. I do wish I put in the extra effort/coin and got 4.44:1 though. If you do got for a 4.xx ratio you’ll need to also shave the crown wheel to clear the larger L series low range gears. Mince you’re running one of these boxes there’s a coupe of “rules” to keep the centre diff happy: 1) always run tyres of the same make/model with the same pressure! 2) once on anything remotely loose/slippery LOCK THE DIFF! This will reduce the possibility of one axle spinning faster than the other. Locking the diff in these situations will prolong the life of the diff (which is hard to find in good condition these days!). Cheers Bennie

I’m looking for a 4.111:1 ratio r180. They literally don’t seem to exist. Unicorn poo?? I know they can be found in the front of the Datsun 720 4w4, but they run two ratios and aren’t exactly plentiful either! Side topic. Sorry! Cheers Bennie

@czny it helps to tag @GeneralDisorder in your thread as this will throw him a notification, Just the same as you’ve been notified of the mention I’ve used here In my opinion, there’s nothing wrong with the EJ22 heads for this setup. What I presume GD was saying is that there is a better combination that gives better power etc. But ultimately, you’ve got to work with what you’ve got - or are willing to get. EJ22 heads may flow less and mean less overall power, but it’ll still move a vehicle at the end of the day... Cheers Bennie

To keep costs down I carefully purchased my engine from a parts yard. It had 127k km on the clock. Turned out the clutch was completely toast. Then I “bench” test as I wanted to make sure my wiring worked properly - and to assess the head gasket situation as I really didn’t want to do that job already, mainly due to cost. Here’s the first start up, exhaust mid section poked out under the rear door of our shed: Worked a treat! These head gaskets survived a 5min run at 4K rpm in soft sand on a beach with the temp gauge at 120*C (mechanical temp gauge plumber into the coolant out pipe in the heater circuit). I also froze the block in the first week of moving up to the snowfields - the replacement coolant didn’t have any antifreeze properties in it! Head gaskets survived after some very careful engine start, runs free seconds, sit a few seconds, start, run a bit long etc and repeated this until the radiator hoses were liquified. Then drove it to the season staff carpark where it was a much more sheltered. Left it to thaw out then swapped the coolant out. Four years later they let go! Anyway, bit of a long story there! I guess I’m saying enjoy the exeperience. Make some informed decisions and that’ll help with a successful conversion Cheers Bennie

Excuse my ignorance, is that a metal bush replacement for the rubber bush? If so I’ll be keen to know what sort of rear end noises you experience. And have you retained the upper rubber mount on the strut? Cheers Bennie

From what I’ve read (not made a frankenmotor - yet) if you want to use the ej22 heads the 99 EJ25D is the bottom end to use. The reason for this has something to do with the block basically being the stronger EJ251 block but with the EJ25D pistons. The crank and rods are basically the same from what I can gather. Bolt all that together and your EJ22 management should handle the job well. Just run the best octane rated fuel you can get your hands on Have fun! @GeneralDisorder - what years is the EJ257 found in? Cheers Bennie

@sparkyboy - they’re the original “Scorpion” rims by scorpion Subaru back in the day. There is a very similar rim available nowadays that’s based on this rim. Can get them in black or white and are probably very light compared to these rims. I’m really digging the look of the brumby with these rims now! Cheers Bennie

Everyone is for their first! Don’t focus on the number of wires and how they’re jumbled up. You need the following wires: - permanent power (fused) - back up power (fused) - starter wire (use the EJ’s starter setup, you just need the wire to the starter and the other to trigger the starter circuit (fused) - fuel pump wire (fused from memory) - vehicle speed sensor wire (VSS), hook into the speed sensor in the back of the instrument cluster - AC relay wire (good if you’re going to run AC) - thermofan relay or cut off wire (earth switched) From memory that’s it. The rest of the wiring plugs into the ECU or the engine and sensors etc. Cheers Bennie

The LSD was an option on the vortex. The RX turbo got it factory. Cheers Bennie

All good mate! imageshack photobucket Theyre two suggestions. Others may know of more... Cheers Bennie

Buy a whole vehicle - ensure it’s running! Pull the harness and cut it down to just the engine management wiring. Test run this with the engine still in the donor vehicle. If it’s starts and runs without any codes you’re good to go with the rest of the conversion. The gearbox and driveshafts aren’t touched unless you fit the EJ AWD box. Cheers Bennie

New boots: The “other one” (offroad L series) is partially covered in mud atm. Cheers Bennie

I’ve only known the rear glass in the tail gate to be rubber mounted. No glue used until the legacy era. Cheers Bennie

That’s your issue. Use a tyre calculator thingy and you’ll get two different rolling lengths/circumference/diametre. Not by much but it will count. Just like putting the wrong diff ratio in the rear end. One set of axles is trying to rotate faster than the other one. It’ll run just fine in 2wd, no doubt about that. But in the slippery stuff either the front end will drag the arse end around or you’ll have a tail happy arse end that’s trying to get past the front end - much like a highly excited dog running around. Cheers Bennie