el_freddo

It’s an interesting one @1980ea71Brat! Dunno that I’ll be of much use from here on. The only good thing I can see is that the issue is consistent and not an intermittent issue that can be super painful to pinpoint. To add some confusion - @heartless- I thought closed loop was programmed into the ECU for cold running until warmed up. Open loop then reads the various sensors to run the fuel maps for the given parameters. I haven’t read up on this stuff in ages so I could have it wrong! Hence the confusion comment. See if you can test the temp sensor for the ECU @1980ea71Brat, it could be out of spec but not enough to throw a code. What’s your knock sensor look like too? If cracked, replace it! Double check those O2 sensors and ensure you’ve got them the right way around. When cutting down the loom, anything in there to do with the fuel tank in terms of pressure or temp sensors? If so, I’m wondering if these could be causing issues. Cheers Bennie

Potential wiring issue. Also check the alignment of your timing belt. Ensure the crank aligns with both cam wheels correctly. What’s the fuel return pressure looking like? Cheers Bennie

Ah the pitch stopper rod! That makes sense! So long as it works! Cheers Bennie

What torsion bar did you weld? There’s only front and rear sway bars on this, the rest of the suspension is coil on strut/shock. Cheers Bennie

If he’s not, it’s not a difficult exercise to make your own with some plate, drill bits, some paint, and a jigsaw with some metal cutting blades. The first step is to drill the two holes for the lower studs. These are the reference points that don’t change between the two items being adapted together. Fit the plate to the engine and get an outside line, mark the upper holes for the engine. Fit the plate to the gearbox (will need to drill/cut a hole for the gearbox input shaft to pass through), mark the inside of the gearbox bellhousing (can paint the mating face of the gearbox, push the adaptor plate onto this with the lower holes lined up, everything will be marked for you - same trick will work on the engine too, just do them on opposite sides!). Two ways to do the bolts, one that relies on the adaptor plate for strength (drill and tap holes), the other relies on two bolts being welded together and the plate slotted between the EJ and EA upper mount holes. Screw the welded bolts into the engine bellhousing, then fit the adaptor plate to the engine and you’re set to go. You’ll need to slot the crank bolts for the flywheel to mount too. That’s a quick run down, I’m sure there are other more detailed write ups on how to do this. Cheers Bennie

Hey Rafa, Sorry I missed the acid joke! That EJ20 is the phase two engine, heads are different. But since you’re doing head gaskets anyway, the heads from your original donor engine will bolt on. Just make sure the cooling fluid passages are clear between the block, heads and head gaskets. If your phase 1 heads are corroded on the firing ring, you’ll need to find another set of heads. Cheers Bennie

Why are we diagnosing a spark issue when Heater states the engine will run when fuel is poured down the throttle body? To me this is a fuel delivery problem, and since Heater says the injector can be manually fired with a bypass I’d say there’s an issue with a wire or two between the injector and ECU so the ECU is unable to send the signal to fire the injector, or the ECU injector output/circuit is fried. Not new electrical additions to your L series @Heater such as a head unit or keyless entry? No rodents in your vehicle recently? Might be time to do a continuality check on the wiring from ECU to the injector, only one broken wire is needed to stop the injector firing. If the wiring checks out correctly and you’re getting the correct resistance from the injector, it then points at your ECU. Cheers Bennie

A legacy wiring diagram for the model and year your EJ22 came from helps with the loom cut down. Numbchux’s write up is great to use beside the above diagrams Cheers Bennie

@Rafavidmess- all you really need is the block. Use the intake manifold from your conversion, swap the crank and cam sensors (shouldn’t be needed) and off you go. It would be a good time to do the head gaskets before putting the engine into service, it’ll pay off in the long term. What makes you say the previous owner of your donor vehicle used acid as coolant? If the engine sat for a long time without coolant the passages will form corrosion, that’s normal. I’ve not heard of this causing an issue, just keep an eye out for a blocked radiator if you don’t clean it out the best you can, even then the radiator could block up still. The original donor engine could just be due for its head gaskets to be changed. If it’s been severely overheated the other EJ22 you’re looking at could be the better option. But second hand is always a guess… It’s a difficult situation to be in knowing how hard you’ve worked to get so close to your end goal! Cheers Bennie

Is the gasket also squashed on an angle like you suggest with the ruler? I reckon the installation played a part in the gasket breaking, or possibly the handling of the gasket prior to installing (possibly before you got them). Hopefully the new gaskets will sort out the issue and it’ll be happy days again! The dealership looked after you on the gaskets too! Cheers Bennie

By “They’re” you mean the dealership? Best of luck, I really hope they come to the table to help you out there. Probably the best thing you’ve done is had them do their oil consumption test recently. Fingers crossed! Cheers Bennie

Nice one! I’m pretty sure I did the same actuator setup in my L series. Remote central locking is awesome. Mine was part of an immobiliser kit so it does more than just lock and unlock my doors Anything that adds a bit of luxury to these old rides is mint in my book! Cheers Bennie

Fingers crossed you’ll have this licked! Cheers Bennie

I’ve had new aftermarket CV shafts click the moment the vehicle left the driveway and turned into the street. Aftermarket are certainly not great and they’re not cheap, but they’re available which is the main thing at the moment! Hang on to your OEM shafts while you can ppl! Cheers Bennie

EJ fwd 5spd has the 23 spline diff stubs so you’ve got that sorted if the fugly uses the same I can’t say if that box will bolt in and I’ve only heard that the EJ22E fits between the chassis rail - never seen it or done it myself. Sounds like it’ll be a fun project. Don’t forget if you go carbs you’ll need a dizzy run off the back of the RHS camshaft. There’s a plate that you remove to expose the cam with the slot for a dizzy. Do a search about the dizzy type ppl have used and the adaptor/mount plate they made to fit it all together. You could find just about any dizzy from a late 80’s/early 90’s OHC straight four cylinder (east west orientation engine) that might do the job if you go that way. Cheers Bennie

Awesome and concise video showing the issue @Numbchux Thanks for sharing! Cheers Bennie

G’day lordvec, Do you have any pics you can share with us of the current setup? Add in some questions about what’s going on or what you’re chasing would be good too. The 80’s subforum would be a great place to post these questions as they relate to the EA82. Cheers Bennie

@Brat 1986 - are you asking if an L series 5 speed fits in a BRAT? If so, search the forum as there are many examples of how to do this. It’s one mod I’ve not done as I have other plans for my Brumby (Oz model of the BRAT). Welcome to the forum To help others with your requests/questions, it’s best to add some detail about what you’re doing. Back in the day you would be flamed for this! Cheers Bennie

Welcome to the forum @aKro! Tidy lookI got outback you have there. Do the roads get salted out your way? It’s an illegal practice here in Australia with the small yet highly sensitive alpine country we have (yes it snows in Australia every year, just not the same quality as the rest of the world, we often ski on slush or ice…). I’ve read that many parts of the states salt their roads and the vehicles on those roads pay for it with severe tin worm. Cheers Bennie

Other way around Ido, the ‘93 manual would most likely be 3.7 ratio and I’ve known the outback a to be 4.111 ratio. The ‘93 auto would be 4.111 ratio, I agree with that. But since we’re talking about a centre diff I assume the OP is dealing with a manual gearbox. Match that rear diff and you shouldn’t have anymore problems. The earlier centre diffs seem to be sturdier than the later model units, you might have dodged a bullet there. Also the phase 1 gearboxes are diff stub arrangement - so double check that you have your roll pins in place, not that I think these are causing the issue. It has to be miss-matched diffs for sure! Cheers Bennie

@Numbchux- can you describe what a dropped valve guide looks like with inspection from the exhaust port for us? I’ve never encountered this issue and would be guessing as to what to look for. Cheers Bennie

They’re basically the same and would be the best basis of what you have in your BRAT if you can’t get your year’s FSM. AFAIK their pretty much the same except for rear doors and rear wiper - depending on whether or not your BRAT has the same instrument cluster as that of the FSM. Even then 80% of the wiring will be the same or very similar. What’s the issue you’re chasing? Cheers Bennie

The diff lock light will activate the 4wd light on the dash if you’ve got a PT4wd dash centre fitted. If you still have the original centre instrument panel you can swap it in. Why did you swap the instrument clusters anyway? With the locking diff actuation, Jack one wheel up, start the engine and flick the switch, then rotate the raised wheel until the lock latches - at which point you won’t be able to rotate the tyre. Unlock it before you drop the wheel back to earth Get the pitch stopper rod done before you start driving it, you’ll be surprised how much the engine moves without it! This can cause other issues such as fan belt or pulleys making contact with the rad fans. From memory others report odd issues when driving. I’d totally have one of these if we got them over here! On the NA turbo conversion, it doesn’t have to be expensive. Keep an eye out for a TD04 that’s in good condition, a set of WRX/turbo foz turbo exhaust manifolds (your EJ22 has dual port exhausts?), dump pipe and you’ll need a turbo water pump with the thermostat housing. You can opt to add a factory oil cooler or leave it out, it doesn’t matter. The expensive bits are the oil lines and T piece - these are important to get right. Coolant lines aren’t difficult to do, there are several ways to do those. You can shave the throttle body where the inlet pipe connects to. This shortens it’s overall length by about 10mm - this could be just the amount needed to clear the intake piping to the intercooler from the spare wheel mount - many cut that off but I’d be inclined to keep it in case the vehicle was ever reverted back to stock. Some argue that you’d never go back to original but I prefer to have that option. All the best with the safe arrival of your expected new arrival! Cheers Bennie

I doubt it’ll be a burnt out valve. We had one of these on an old Holden of ours - at idle there was a drop in the strength of the engine’s rhythm and an occasional whistle too. Dropped cable guide sounds interesting - I’ve not experienced this and haven’t heard it being a common issue over here in Oz. I’ve got two EJ251s in the family, one at 370,000km and the other at 480,000km. Both original engines, no valve issues. Luck of the draw? Well the description by DM about the noise occurring after running at temp for a while on the highway along with changing down gears to increase revs and reduce engine load fits with detonation issues. I listed some of the reasons of detonation occurring. I wasn't convinced it was the tensioner as they typically don’t follow temp differences - they just make noise regardless! Hence why I shared about detonation. My brumby does it if it’s a really hot day 35°C+ or I run anything less than 98RON fuel, so I’ve got some experience with how detonation behaves. What I didn’t think about was the vibration issue that goes with it, that’s the baffling part. I’m hoping it’s not a dropped valve guide and that it’s valve adjustment required or something that’s not painful to DM’s wallet! Cheers Bennie

What I’m finding confusing here is that this noise appears when the engine is running warm but then isn’t there at idle. I feel that you’re also saying that revving the engine when in this “warm” state the noise isn’t present. With the temp reference - are we talking full operational engine temp or higher? Is the noise present if you “clutch in and coast”, letting the engine idle? And if you rev it as you continue to coast? If it’s not there at idle and coasting it’s definitely an engine issue. My gut says it’s not an engine component issue, and I find it odd if it’s a tensioner as typically once these start knocking, they always knock, even when revving without load if not present at idle. My thinking is you’re experiencing pre-detonation. Using high revs can reduce this but not always. This could be due to poor fuel quality, filling with the incorrect (lower) octane fuel, low compression, burning excessive oil, running a lean mix that generates high cylinder temps or a rich fuel mixture. So, did you just fill up prior to this issue showing up? What condition/age are your O2 sensors? How much oil does your engine consume? You need to do a compression check too as this could show up a low reading cylinder. When was the last time your valve lash adjustments were done? When that cam belt snapped, any significant marks on the face of the pistons? Cheers Bennie