SuBaRiNo

I have a few more videos i am currently working on... i will get them up as soon as they are done and let u guys know. Dave

Most know that i have done this conversion. Im over here in Australia with one of only a few Hatch backs. Car is an 83 Hatch with an ej22 engine. Gear box is an ea82 dual range 3.9 ratio box. Adapter plate is 12mm thick ally and done the same way as most are doing them now. Most recently mods are... upgrading the exhaust to a 2.5 inch with a straight through ultra flow muffler and a resignator. Exhaust headers were changed to different length pipes with the cat removed. Sounds much meaner than before. Also have recently got a 3.9 LSD rear diff (clutch pack type) and turbo disk rear brakes. These have been 2 very good mods that i recomend if you can find the parts. I could fill this page with the rest of my mods but i better keep it short. I am more than pleased with the performance gain i have got from the engine conversion and highly recomend it. It's good to see several people making there own adapter plates and realising it's not as hard as it looks. I have a lot of pics both of the conversion and of recent pics of my car that i update often. Link is http://community.webshots.com/user/subarino Dave

Does it after a slow crawl though water about 2 foot deep. It has only done it once before without touching water... and that was starting it up one morning when it was cold. But nothing other than in water for the last month. I thought ej22 lifters were hydrolically adjusted automatically... i could be way off on that. Also i don;t have an oil guage but maybe that should be one of the next things i install. Dave

Yeah loud lifter tick is what i mean... but maybe only one of them. Doesn't seam to be a water in the oil.. there is no sign of it and it is odd that after a minute or so the noise goes away. Dave

I have an ej22 engine in my hatch that is my offroader. Since having the head gaskets replaced i have noticed that doing some of the more extream water crossings i find that the car develeops a loud lifter noise for about a minute after i come out of the crossing. I have noticed that my timing belt covers are in not as good condition as before with some small cracks and gaps. Could this problem be caused by water getting into the timing belt cover and interfearing with the electronically adjusted timing in some way or something more sinister?? Thanks in advance Dave

It would have been a red wagon... i have never seen a red hatch in Australia... or any hatch other than mine for that matter. Dave

uncoolperson ... that would be great if your coming down this way. When you know some specifics let me know and we can arrange an offroad outing in your honour. Dave

Dave

Thanks... i have never heard of these class rating before. Another thing... with thoughs with a tow hitch on your hatches... does it bend up under the metal sheeting that is behind the back bumper... or is there simply a hole cut in it for the tow hitch to come through? Any links to some rear photos of hatches with tow hitches at all? Dave

You guys are refering to a class? Is that the tow rating of it? Dave

Sorry over here they are called tow bars. Some photos would be great. Dave

Hatch has a 3 inch lift.. The major mods are shown in my signature. Im not sure if the engine has been modified but the exhaust is a full custom job. Half the footage was made with my old exhaust and half of it with my new exhaust. You may be able to hear the difference in some of the clips. Dave

Thanks for the input guys. Was a good result considering it only took a few hours. Im surprised it looks ok on full screen. The quality was drastically decreased to allow it to only be a 20mb file. The original is 85mb which is way too much for most dial up users. Dave

Is that what you guys use? I have looked at a few wagon ones and they apear like they will stick out too far. Not to mention the fact that it will have trouble clearing the mufler. Dave

Being in Australia... it is impossible for me to find a tow bar to suit an ea81 Hatch. Was there ever one made for these? Do people have them? I need some photos of some so i can look into getting one built. I assume the ea81 wagon tow bars don't fit. Can anyone help please? Dave

I have mixed up a little 5 minute video clip of the best video footage i have taken from our 4wd trips over here in Western Australia. I have uploaded it and it can be downloaded at the link below. File Size: 20mb Link: http://members.iinet.net.au/~carladb/Subi%20Movie_small.wmv (Right click on the link and Save Target As) It's about time you fellas got to see my little blue hatch with the EJ22 engine go offroad. Enjoy Dave

This is what i did with my hatch suspension. I can adjust the height of the rear with air to level it out when i have a heavy load. http://www.subarino.3d.net/air_shocks.htm Dave

I don't mean to sound rude at all... but you stated not to take short cuts on the wiring... and u have used a toggle switch for the fuel pump wiring. Im not sure if you are aware of this but... The ej22 ECU has a fuel pump wire that is used to trigger a relay for the fuel pump... this is a safety procedure so that if there is an engine problem or accident the pump stops straight away. You can damage other parts of your fuel system by not having this hooked up also but putting extra pressure on your fuel lines and components when it doesn't need to. Dave

I do know of people using the Legacy radiator but i think u have to do A LOT of work to make it fit. I stadard core should be ok... as long as u rig up the appropriate electric fans. I wouldn't suggest a standard core in an L series though.... these have less air making it through the front grills making them a little hotter. Talk to your local radiator store about it... they should be able to point u in the right direction. The exta $$$ i parid for the triple core i have never regreted... never once had over heating issues. If you can affrod to get the kit for the flywheel then i would do that.... but if your tight on money and want to give it a blast yourself then give it a go. Really is easier than it looks.... im a more of a wire man myself... i can;t even weld and i manged to pull it off. Dave

Im not sure why u guys are playing wih the CV shafts. My ea81 shafts slid straight on. They should be the same for you guys... unless there is something im missing. Havne't had any problems with mine yet. Still looking at getting the wiring info i have for you guys... stay tuned. I have a couple of different diagrams on it that i used. My clutch is a performance type....ummm not sure on the brand... i will have to get back to you on that... sorry. Radiator was done by a radiator mob who ordered in the tripple core especially for me. Outlets were enlarged to equal the coolant inlets on the engine and bent to alow raditor pipes to fit correctly. I belive the top pipe was modified to bend on a 45 degree angle down towards the engine and the bottom pipe was angled at a 45 up towards the engine. Flywheel.... get an ea82 flywheel and sit it on your EJ22 engine. You will see they are VERY close... and the cneter collor on the ej engine fis perfectly into the ea82 flywheel. This makes it perfectly center and works as a locator. You can see the bolt holes are only a few mm out. You can use a die grinder to modify the bolt pattern to make it fit. Don't worry about making it not center... the center color on the engine makes it impossible to fit wonky. U will see what i mean when u attempt it. Dave

Andy... u shouldn't need a surge tank... there should be internel provisions in your fuel tank to avoid surges. Would only be applicable if the car was originally a carby model. Andy is dead right with that adapter plate.... is SOOOOOO easy to make. Dave

As requested... im here to do my part. It doesn't have to be the ea82 turbo pump. It can be any ea82 efi pump. As long as it's the EFI pump u are safe. The external type is what u need. Surge tank isn't really needed... if you don't put it in though... u will have fuel surgin issues when cornering under a quarter of a tank. This is because the fuel swishes about in the tank alowing some air to get in the line. EFI engines need a constand feed of fuel with no air... unlike the carby engines. I know people running it without a surge tank and they run find.... i recomend... get it going without it first... add it later. Exhaust... go with the stock headers of the ej22... then get the rest remade. around 2 and quarter and 2 and a half inch i have found sounds good. Definately use the stock headers... they make a big difference in the note u end up with. I don't know much about which muffler to use. Mine is a walker performance muffler.... but i have performance headers too... this sounds more like a motor cross bike than a subaru. Legacy pump is an intank pump. That will be hard to fit... u will need to remove your existing tank and highly modify it to drop the pump in.... make your own desicions... but the external pump made a lot more sence to me. There is an awful lot of room under the rear seats (under the car) to mount this. I may be able to help u out with the wiring diagram.... will try and track down what i can and email it to you. Send me some reminders if i don't get around to it... im rather busy and forgetful. The diagrams i have show full ECU pinouts on where each wire should go and colours. That is what i used wi no prior knowledge to ECU systems. Although if your not handy with electrics please do pay someone to do it... u can damage your ECU if your not carefull. Don't be worried about it being difficult... i thought it would be.... it's a little tricky but i think it is one of the easiest ej conversions u can do. Take your time to do things right.... if u rush it you will only have to come back and re-do it later. I hope the adaptor plate u are getting is 12mm thick. If you have more questions drop me an email or put them in here and maybe remind me to drop back in... i don't come on the USMB that much anymore. Dave

If there is one thing i have learnt from modifying Subarus it's that... the more you modify them... the less reliable they are. If you want reliability you will have to go with something that requires very little or no modifications. After going through some of the modifications you are considering it can take years to get it running good enough to trust it again. When my subi was a standard 2wd ea81 i felt i could trust it to drive very long distances. But since converting it to 4wd... lifting it 3 inches... and adding the ej22 engine adapted to an L-series gear box, i get rather worried taking it too far from home. Im sure others may disagree...maybe i just have trust issues. Dave

Ok fellas... due to the increasing interest in this conversion i have started making a web site covering everything i did and how to do it. It will also include a "Make your own" template and adapter plate section which most will find very very handy. The web site will also include mods like fitting air adjustable suspension to the rear end of MY subies and other stuff... I have lots of photos i will be adding that can be downloaded in high resolution. The pics alone are enough to give most people the idea of how to do things. With the pics i will have written explanations including part numbers of parts i had to by and references to extra information in Subaru manuals. This web site wil also be very handy for people doing the same conversion to L-series subarus... the methods used are similar. For anyone that is interested i have a few new photos of my subi playing about in the mud... they can be seen at.. http://community.webshots.com/album/183363690FESBfg Site should be up in about a month.. possibly less... i will post when complete. Dave

"Did you have any issues with the radiator mounting or hook up?" Used existing radiator... modified with tripple core and inlets were made larger and bent in the appropriate directions. "Did you just add an in-line high psi fuel pump for the FI?" Yes i used a high pressure fuel pump and from there to the engine, high pressure fuel lines were used. I should have a site up soon outlining the conversion. Dave