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firehawk618

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Posts posted by firehawk618

  1. It's been done for a while.

     

    The car will now do 80mph effortlessly!  Before I could hardly hit 70 unless the highway was perfectly flat.

    It has great compression.  The cylinders looked excellent inside.

    I just pulled the engine out because the car was smoking like CRAZY upon deceleration.

    When getting the engine ready to put in for the swap I put all new gaskets and seals in it but I never pulled a piston because the cylinders looked good inside.  The piston tops did have a bunch of carbon build up so I cleaned it all off.  That should have been my clue.

    Anyhow stuck oil control rings.  I have pulled the oil rings and am soaking them in some cleaner overnight then will put the engine back together.

    Should do the trick!

  2. If you're going from SPFI then the temp gauge, tach, fuel pump, oil pressure gauge, check engine light and charge light wire are all found in the long rectangular plug that's right by the hood release against the kick panel.

    It's a plug all by it self, not in a group like the ones that are on that plastic bracket with 3-4 plugs.

    • Like 1
  3. Very nice I dig the no timing belt covers can't see if my photo but that's the same thing I did

    Makes it way easier to change a timing belt don't even have to take the balancer off

    Oh those pictures were just a trial fit.

     

    I do have the covers on.  I plan on taking it off road regularly and don't want a branch, rocks, etc etc knocking my t-belt off.

  4. How long did it take you to sort out the 2 harnesses?

    Well the EJ22 harness I gutted it and had ready to lay in the car in roughly 3 hours.  I am very good at schematics and wiring though.  This doesn't include any wrapping of the harness. Just rough lay out on the ground with some zip ties to keep bundles separated.

     

    The EA82 ECU harness removal only takes me about 45 mins / 1 hr.  Pulling the fender and bumper take the longest for me.

    After it was out I spent about an hour removing all the tape and deleting all the ECU wiring from it.

     

    EA82 part went pretty quick because I've already had it out once *swapped out 86 carb harness for full 88 SPFI* so I knew exactly what I was in for this time.

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  5. Put some hours in this weekend.

    Got an exhaust scabbed together. Good enough for now.

    Got radiator hoses scabbed together.

    Filled her up and let her run a while.


    Left to do:

    Finish wrapping / fastening the headlight / front harness.

    Install the original fan + secondary fan in front of radiator.  I will be tying these into the ECU's fan output vs the stock thermo switch.  I will also be adding a bypass switch so I can run the fans when putting around in the mud.

    Wire up the alternator.  I will tie it in so the stock charge light works as it should.

    Seal up the hole I made in the firewall + seal up the 2 grommets I took apart on the left side of the car.

    I'm trying to decide if I will cut the cluster apart and delete the worthless oil / temp gauges and fabricate something in their place or not.



    Note:  I purchased an ultragauge.  My intention was to use it as a temp gauge.  Any other parameter it happens to display with this 1995 ECU is a bonus.  With a tiny bit of fiddling it seems to work fine.  Time will tell how reliable it is.  I'm trying to avoid running aftermarket gauges for now because Subaru makes it fun to tie into the oil pressure / coolant.  Not super hard but definitely not as simple as picking up a cheap triple gauge and hooking it up with the included adapters.



    It's been really hard for me not to just throw the wiring harness on top of the engine and go for a quick drive.  I really want to feel the difference!  

    To hell with it, I might just do it anyhow after I charge the battery back up!

    EDIT:  Ok yeah went around the block.  Such a difference.

  6. I don't know why I didn't think of this sooner.  I have an inspection camera.

    I will run it until it stops sucking fuel again and inspect.

    I looked at a few pictures of our tanks online and the only access hole I see is for the sending unit.

    It appears the feed, return and evap lines all enter the side of the tank on the right side.

    I got a feeling I'll be replacing this tank once I get sick of only being able to use 1/2 before re-fueling.

  7. I have 2 or 3 tanks if you end up needing one and they sell them new still. If this is your ej swapped car it could be the lack of gas tank baffles. I forget whether all ea82 tanks came with baffles in the tank or not, but since it was a carb'd ea82 it could of not came with them. If that is the case while driving the tank sloshing around could cause it to run out of fuel resulting in it to dying. Still assuming that's the case it could be fixed by adding a surge tank.

    Thank you as I very well may end up needing one.

     

    I am aware of the carb'd tanks lack of baffle.  This car flat out runs out of gas with 1/4 still remaining in the tank.

     

    I had run it down to E before with the low fuel light on.  This is a new issue *prior to EJ swap*.

     

    All I can think of is that whatever pick up tube is in the tank has busted off but I cannot see in the tank enough through the sending unit hole to confirm this.

  8. I haven't dropped my tank yet but several times now my car has run out of fuel with 1/4 tank of fuel left in it!

    I had run it down much farther in the past so I know this is a new problem.

    My gauge works fine as does the fuel light.

    I have pulled the sending unit the last time it ran out of fuel and sure enough there was 1/4 tank left just as the gauge read.

    I can't see any pickup tubes in the tank when I shine a flash light in there.


    Is there another removable port that contains the pickup / return lines on this tank or am I better off to just get a used tank?

    Used tanks in the wreckers are hard to come by.  They either punch a hole in it or they always seem to throw the wheel stands under the tank to hold the car up which smashes the tank in.

    Thanks.

  9. Exactly. The spindle thing is threaded. So that the handbrake compensates for the pad wear. If it got crushed bent, it could cause the no brakeing. The fsm warns against forcing the piston. If the lever isn't right, maybe assembly error, or maybe crunched up spindle.

    The rear calipers with parking brake in them that I have taken apart would never cause a no brakes situation of the rod was messed up by someone pushing the piston back in wrong.  It's just not possible on the ones I have been inside of.

     

    If the fronts on the Subaru are of similar design then the OP has nothing to worry about as far as brake loss goes.

  10. My 88 Subaru has no juice going to the fuel pump. I unhooked the computer, found the blue/black wire on #47 that goes to the fuel pump relay then to the fuel pump. I then ran a test probe from the battery to the connect wire, and then the fuel pump ran just fine. There is no signal coming out of the ECU. Fuses are intact, I checked. That was my experience.

     

     

    In my 1988 SPFI swap my fuel pump never ran with the key flipped on.  Not even for a second.  It would run when cranking the engine or while engine is running.

     

    Are you sure your distributor isn't f'd up?  If your ECU doesn't see the engine spinning *distributor signal* then it will not command the pump to turn on.

     

    I don't think I have read about a single ECU failure on our SPFI cars that I can find.

  11. Just pulled the EJ22 out of a 95 legacy today to drop into my 89 coupe. Do you have any particular advice on the wiring? What colors should I keep from either car?

     

    Edit:spelling

     

    Did you pull the entire harness?  I had to pull the whole dash, heater box, everything out to get the harness 100% in tact.  I recommend pulling a complete harness out of the EJ22 donor.

     

    First thing I did after I removed it was print a diagram.  I sat at the ECU connector and removed any pin that I wasn't using.

     

    After that I sat down in the garage, spread the harness out.  Removed all tape / ducting.

     

    I then removed any wire that didn't goto the ECU, Main relay or Fuel pump relay.

     

    It's a giant mess. Go slow and you can get through it.

     

    Any wire that goes to a splice that I wasn't using got trimmed right at the splice.

     

    After that I knocked out a 3" hole in my passenger firewall *no ac in my car.

     

    I fed the harness from the interior into the engine compartment.

     

    I then laid everything out where it needed to plug in.  Taped it up, wrapped it up.

     

    ECU is stuffed above the heater box on my car.  I kept the OBDii plug for diagnostics + I am going to try an ultragauge on it so I can have engine temp and fuel trims on display.

     

    I also picked up a 1996 ECU incase the 1995 isn't fully compatible with the ultraguage.  

     

    **WARNING:  The 1996 ECU physically plugs in place of a 1995 but the pinout is 100% wrong.  You MUST repin the connector if wanting to swap from 1995 to 1996 ECU's.

     

     

     

     

    Oh yeah, was the Legacy a stick or auto?  It makes a difference and I can save you some hassel.

  12. I just replaced my dual port exhaust with a single port uel header, I can cut my old flanges off and send them your way if you want? I also wanted to ask and or advise you on what motor mounts you are going to use. Keep up the good work!

    If you could do that I would be very grateful.  I can paypal you some $$ to cover the shipping / hassle on your end.

     

    Can you get them out next week some time?  I plan on doing something about the exhaust and getting the car buttoned up the weekend of 4/23.  PM or email me at firehawk618@gmail.com for paypal / address info.  Thank you !

     

     

    Right now I am just using the EJ mounts that came on the engine.  They're rectangular / square shaped if I remember correctly.  There was no centering nub to be ground off that was mentioned on some other threads.  I didn't even have to do any grinding on my subframe.  It dropped right in.

     

    Hmm that's frustrating that it was so much of a hassle.

     

    I'm thinking about cutting all the wires I don't need under the fender and just pulling them through. Not sure if this will work but it should tidy things up at least a little.

     

    They MIGHT pull out but it's going to be a pain.

     

    Be careful.  Several of the wires are spliced together mid harness.

     

    It's really not all that hard to pull the whole harness out of the car.  Removing the bumper / fender is 2/3 of the battle.

     

    Laying it all out on a garage floor / driveway and taking your time stripping / re-taping it all might be worth it in the long run.

  13. Does anyone in the Everett area have a couple dual port EJ exhaust flanges they could part with for a small price?

    I just need the flanges.  If there's pipe on them that's fine too.

    I plan on stacking two flanges on each side to clear the subframe.

    It appears that the stock EJ flange/pipe setup will hit my subframe but a second flange welded on to lower it a touch should work.

    I read somewhere that a guy did just that for the same reason and it worked for him but I cannot find that post again.

  14. If your switch back lighting came on then I would say check the bulbs on your cluster.

    Related story:

    Years ago I had a truck brought to me for no dash lights.  It had been at a shop and they charged a few hundred in diagnostic fees to no avail.

    I start troubleshooting things.  It surely can't be all the bulbs burnt out. Well what do you know?  All the bulbs on the cluster were burnt out.  Yep believe it.

    Another time I had a Subaru Outback brought to me.  No low beams.  A shop said it needed some new headlight module and they wanted around $600 to replace it.  I thought that was one of the stupidest things I had ever heard so I had her drop it off with me.

    After studying diagrams I discovered this was a 100% an analog system.  No modules or logic involved.  I started testing things and quickly realized both low beams were burnt out. Yep, believe it.

  15. For anyone that is interested.  


    ECU I used is 1995 Legacy. OBDii from an auto.

    Pin #50 had no wire in it.  This wire when grounded tells the ECU that the car is an auto. It's worth grounding for a couple reasons.


    #1 it will stop looking for the MAP sensor.  Only auto cars got the MAP sensor and I chose not to wire one in since the MT cars didn't use one.

     

    #2  It will stop checking the EGR since only the auto cars had EGR.  

    By grounding this wire I am able to delete both items and NOT trigger a constant CEL!

    I verified this in fact works.  I first plugged my scanner in and went to monitor the various sensors when the engine was running.  It was reporting no reading for the MAP sensor.

    I then shut the car off, disconnected the ECU and put a pin in #50 and grounded it.  I then reconnected everything and started the car.  Now when I go to look at the sensors live the MAP doesn't even show up on the list as an option any more.


    Today:  Got wiring cleaned up a ton.  Taped up ready to have a sheath put over them.

    I only need to shorten the wires that goto the OBDii plug and a couple other random ones.  That will really clean it up.  I will be mounting it all behind the glove box or above it depending on how much room I find up there.

    Tomorrow:  Finalize wiring from ECU to left side of dash *think power, start signal, tach, speed sensor, check engine light, neutral switch.  Also need to put together a relay to drive the electric fan and simply bypass the thermo switch that's in the radiator.

    Right now those wires are simply draped across the shifter.  I wanted to hear it run before making anything too finalized.

    After that's done i'll either start building exhaust or start deleting the SPFI harness.

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