el_freddo

You’ll need to use the forester heads and intake on the EJ22 block. Plug and play doing this from my understanding. If the foz was an EJ251 you’ll be down on power. A properly maintained EJ251 is a great engine in my book, almost up there with the EJ22. Thinking about it you might have an EJ253, someone will know for sure. Cheers Bennie

The Original Owner may not have know about the EA82 SPFI adaptation to the EA81, or couldn’t get the parts to do it. I’ve heard a similar thing over here in Oz - we didn’t get the SPFI. I’ve only heard about this, never seen it, apparently some fella(s) adapted a Holden Camira EFI system to the EA81 or EA82. It was most likely a TBI unit - I heard it was a common conversion for other 1.8L’ish 4 cylinder engines. I’ve thought about the same thing from the Nissan Navara 4 cylinder petrol engines for the EA81, maybe one day... I guess the Original Owner was working with equipment they knew would work, or that they knew they could make it work - and they’ve obviously got it sorted. Since you have the mega squirt tune, it could be worth your while keeping the setup as is and just run it. Cheers Bennie

Tesla swap would be mint! I’ve seen a doco about Amon in the states that do it all sorts of old and high end vehicles. Insane amount of torque on hand. From what they were saying the circuitry needs some trickery to manage the batteries or something. It was an interesting viewing. Sadly I can’t remember the name of the program, but the host was driving a silver bug converted with what I think was a Tesla unit via the gearbox for an authentic driving experience. Cheers Bennie

That’s a crazy amount of dedication and effort for an engine that many, including myself, would’ve binned! Have a bit more faith in your work! I guess having a low expectation won’t be so disappointing if it does leak, smoke, not run! Make sure your valves are correctly adjusted. The first time I fired up my EA81 after a semi similar build, it was only running on one bank properly as the other bank’s valve gaps were too tight and not making full compression. It smoked heaps too, my heart sank - I forgot that I oiled the cylinders during the slow rebuild, once this burnt off she was smoke free! This is what came with my brumby many moons ago. One small bit of pitting at the top of cylinder 1 or 2, can’t remember now... We drained out about 15L of an oil and water concoction! This engine dropped an internal Welch plug and dumped the coolant into the engine. I’m still driving this engine, so with the work you’ve put into yours it should run fine, unless the carb etc needs further attention. Cheers Bennie

After cracking into some log splitting on my dad’s repowered log splitter using an EA81, I thought I’d post a pic and ask other forum members what they have as a piece of home made machinery with a Subaru engine, or what have you adapted a Subaru engine to? Pics are a must! ^ this is Dad’s home made log splitter. We built it when I was in primary school about 30 years ago from a crashed Mazda 808 and a high volume low pressure ram from a Drott bull dozer. It’s got a matching hydraulic switch lever from the drott. The rest was fabricated by Dad, using the Mazda’s 1.4L inline four as the power plant. Several years ago after sitting for more years again, we went to fire it up and found the engine was seized. We’ve got a few Subaru parts cars at his place now, including one Kellogg’s cornflakes spec Brumby with complete drivetrain. He used the EA81 with the bell housing from an EA82 auto to adapt the hydraulic pump to the engine. Wiring transferred over easily. It’s quite a neat swap and it still works a treat. Best bit is if this engine has an issue we have spares to swap around etc. This thing will split the toughest wood we have in our area - the River Redgum. That stuff can pop when it splits and shoot the wood off the splitter! Most of our wood is White Gum, Manna Gum, Grey Box or Stringy Bark. The Manna Gum and Grey Box can be hard to split too. The log splitter sure as hell beats swinging the axe! We also have a small bobcat that runs a two cylinder Sherpa engine, that’s an ongoing project and parts are very hard to come by for that one... So, what have you got adapted to or built around a Subaru engine? I hope you enjoyed the read. Cheers Bennie

Sounds like there might be a fault in the wiring for the oil pressure gauge. Could be a loose joint/connection somewhere or possibly a dodgy sender unit too. A mechanical or quality electric aftermarket oil pressure gauge is a good back up to have, or just a good addition to the “too late” idiot light. Cheers Bennie

I recall GD saying somewhere that the 2005 models are the ones to skip as they have a different turbo to other models and this makes for an expensive fix when it fails unless you go aftermarket and a tune etc. Cheers Bennie

That crossed my mind too. Cheers Bennie

You guys must have some crappy aftermarket parts over there. I’ve always used aftermarket ball joints, tie rods, tie rod ends etc and haven’t had any issues other than when the expected wear and tear catches up with them. I’m sure I could go down to my old local parts shop and order new ball joints etc. probably about $AU20 each. Run them until they’re dead - which usually involves lots of abuse offroad until a boot tears, if I don’t pick that up it’s what kills them pretty quickly! Cheers Bennie

Yeah we have four cars in the family too. Expensive hobby! We have Ruby Scoo, my L series off-roader, doesn’t get used much now our family expanded; Redback Brumby and our two DiD Gen3 Pajero/Montero/Shoguns as the family buses. Both lifted, main bus setup more for off-roading/touring... and I have an RS turbo Gen1 Liberty/Legacy in the build that will be put to club rego once it’s done (whenever that is! It’s a complete fixer-upper-er!). I’d like to take one something like that now that I’ve seen yours, but I’d also like a classic round nose mini panelvan, moke or to get my old Holden Torana on club rego... One thing at a time though, lots of projects to keep me busy in the mean time! Cheers Bennie

You might need to set up a relay - triggered using the wiring for the ash tray light or illumination light for the heater controls/cig lighter. Then run a separate power wire controlled by the relay to the headunit’s illumination wire. This should get around any negative earthing issues etc and have the function work as you’re wanting. Cheers Bennie

All sorted then! You’ve got the car’s illumination stuff sorted and the stez works as it should now? Lucky you didn’t damage the headunit! Cheers Bennie

Yep, it’s a fun job... got anything else you’d like to say?? Cheers Bennie

Merry Christmas “Old school” Subi nuts, and to the other Subi nuts out there too! It’s snowing hard down here Seriously, it’s shorts and Tshirt weather even at 33 minutes to Christmas Day! Stress less America, you’ll get there Best wishes and I hope you get some Subi bits etc from the big man! Cheers Bennie (ps: not wanting to turn this into a Christmas thread! Thought the pic would be good shared here!)

Awesome. The EA81 will do the job and just keep going if you keep the fluids up to it. It won’t be fast though. The EJ22 will be all of the above with some added speed ability too. Still no WRX but a good load of usable torque to help move things along. Got a pic of your EFI setup? Being EA81 I think you’ll find no advantages to throwing coin at an aftermarket engine management system... Cheers Bennie

Out and about the other day Cheers Bennie

Sounds like someone had modified the wiring some time ago, or you have wire damage from rats etc. You’d be best to trace ALL wiring from the back of your brat to the front to find out where the issue is. It sounds like someone had tapped a power wire for the indicator and reverse light from the brake light. This circuit is broke when the globe is removed. This had me thinking the issue can’t be too far away from the tail light. Got a trailer plug fitted? Look into this too as it could be the source of the issue, not uncommon for someone to bugger that job up. Cheers Bennie

Or it’s a set of EA81t heads on an EA81 NA block, although running SPFI would negate the need for the EA81t MPFI heads, so I guess that’s out. I’m keen to see what you’re working with as it sounds very interesting and it’s got me intrigued! Cheers Bennie

I love the strut bar setup! I actually like the shape of that one, maybe I’ve come round on them. The back end looks better than the EA81 and EA82 sedan rear ends I reckon. So what’s the plan then, tidy up and rego it? Do you have a cheaper club rego scheme over there for car enthusiasts? We have one here, some ppl unfortunately abuse the system. We can only hope they’re busted doing it. Anyway, cool find and it must have been priced just right to leverage the money from your wallet! And I love it how you’re working out how you have three of these now Cheers Bennie

Sorry, I read the GL-10 bit and immediately thought of the L series EA82 model, not the EA81 models. I’ve found the easiest way to sort this out is to always grab the wiring behind the dashboard that matches the instrument cluster you’re wanting to use. These wiring looms are interchangeable plug and play swaps. This is how I go from the factory three gauge cluster in the brumby/brat to the longer six gauge cluster (with matching dashboard so it all fits). Our brumby/brats down here didn’t come with the fancier instrument cluster options like many US delivered brats had from factory. At the end of the day with a bit of work it’s all Lego All the best! Bennie

What you’ve done is crossed an earth switched wire with a positive switched wire. This will do your head in. The specific wire could be any of your power sources or the illumination wire if your head unit came with one. This is the wire I would suspect to be the issue. Work out which wire and we’ll go from there as I’m not 100% what the fix is. Cheers Bennie

Other way to do it is DIY the pinouts by tracing each pin behind the instrument cluster back to where it comes from. Cheers Bennie

Hey Rafa, my EJ conversion is in my L series, not my Brumby/brat/MV. But it can be done. Cheers Bennie

Could be a shot CV joint up front or a worn out front hub spline, allowing the cv shaft to spin in the hub. Or a front shaft may be removed for some reason with the hub held together with the remains of the outer joint with the stub axle piece. Cheers Bennie

I always dip my lights then give the oncoming driver about three generous seconds to reciprocate, then my big lights go back on until they decide to dip their lights. I’m not out to just blind ppl, they need a fair chance! I’ve had one or two occasions where the oncoming vehicle has dazzling LED light bars that are that shite even (for them) for their driver that they simply don’t see the lights of the oncoming driver until they’re basically already passed! Very frustrating! And yes, I hate the cool white of the LED lights - try driving in fog with that crap! No thanks. I’ll stick with my power hungry halogen lights Cheers Bennie