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Royal Loyale


Crazyeights
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I have always liked Wagons. I picked up this 1992 Loyale in June of 2013.

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A 5 lug swap was planned as well as rear disc brake conversion. I also looked into adding a rear sway bar from an XT coupe. Anyway, I know everyone likes to look at pictures and I have a small head-start already.

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Once the suspension, brakes, and tires are taken care of, I'll most likely finish up with an EJ swap. I have some pieces gathered already.  This is a spare time project with a limited budget so this thread might not get regular updates. It is a nice daily driver at the moment though, with working A/C :)

 

Many of you have inspired this build. Nico, Rick (The General Himself), Gloyale, Bratsrus1(Jerry), Tex, Turbone, TheLoyale, JesZek, Monstaru, Bratman18 and EVERY other one of you!!! Thanks...

 

Hope you enjoy!

Edited by Crazyeights
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After reading everything I could find about the 5 lug conversion process (most of it all from here) I started gathering parts. I ended up doing the brake upgrade at the same time. I wanted a spare front cross-member to modify for XT6 front lower control arms. I figured I might as well start with a Turbo cross-member to keep my engine upgrade options open down the road (remember the talk about the EJ swap) :grin:

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Two cuts had to be made on each side in the pocket area to provide enough clearance so that the XT6 LCA's won't rub. The metal was peeled up slightly (about 1/4 inch) and re-welded. I liked this option better than tacking on washers, although that would have worked too.

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It works and looks pretty good too.

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More to follow...

 

 

Edited by Crazyeights
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I'm following this one! Nice progress so far. What are those 4 bolts for right in front of the fuel tank?

I think it might have been from an old trailer hitch. That makes me smile too. First gear up the pass in the snow at five grand doing 14 mph pulling a trailer. Yeah, we have all worn that hat at least once :ph34r: 90 HP on it's best day and lucky if the head gaskets last past the first timing belt interval.

 

Oh well just stay runnin' for a few more months... The radiator was plugged solid when I bought the car. I didn't really realize it and TBH I didn't care either. Until it blew the entire end tank off of the passenger side on my lunch break :clap: WHAT A MESS! Now it has a shiny new brass one a few months early. The old EA82 chugs on at almost 30 mpg....

Edited by Crazyeights
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  • 1 month later...

Time for a quick update. The 5 lug swap is complete. The modified EA82T ("Turbo") front engine cross-member with XT6 front lower control arms is installed. The brake system upgrades/modifications are finished for now too. I put in new lower ball joints as well. I cleaned up some Legacy 14" steel rims so that I could retain the same tires short term. They are 185/70-R14's. I have several thousand miles on this configuration now and it feels great.

 

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A quick look at the interior;

 

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So far so good! Details to follow soon with some more pictures.

Edited by Crazyeights
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Here is a picture of the donor car that the front suspension parts came from.

 

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The front brakes consist of Loyale calipers on EJ knuckles, rotors, pads, and caliper brackets.  It works by using one of the Loyale caliper pins on the EJ bracket. A big "Thank You" to the member that figured this out first in another post. I like this for now because you can retain the front E-Brake. I ended up using EA81 outer tie rod ends so that the toe could be adjusted properly.

 

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Edited by Crazyeights
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I wanted both sets of inner DOJ cups (23 spline EA82 and 25 spline EA82T/EJ22) on hand to fit the Impreza front axles I am using. That should help keep the future engine and trans swap "down-time" to a minimum. That takes care of the front for now.

 

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More to come soon ...

Edited by Crazyeights
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  • 4 months later...

Progress has been made :zzz:
I gave up (for now) trying to find a way to mate the EA82 rear axles in the Loyale to the inner DOJ's on the 2001 Legacy GT VLSD rear I was going to use.

 

I picked up an open 4.11 rear end out of an earlier Legacy with stubs and cleaned it up. The rear end ratio has to match the EJ 5 speed trans that is about to go in. So, with missing link installed, all I needed to do is wait for a slow day and "pull the trigger" on the EJ swap.
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Edited by Crazyeights
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I actually put this N/A EJ22E engine in with EJ22T manifolds and water pump installed to make sure they would all clear the frame and they do! 

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The EJ22T in my garage slated for this project may still find it's way under the hood someday.

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But for now, Under the 'neath!

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I had the XT6 cross member parts to make the trans bolt in properly and that worked out great. Now with all of the major pieces installed I could take some final measurements for the rear drive-shaft. I had read that the center section had to be shortened by 55mm to make it fit properly. I wanted to double check this dimension before sending my only drive shaft out to be cut down. Drivelines Northwest in downtown Seattle gets the "props" for doing some fine work, quickly, and at the right price too!

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Thank you!

Edited by Crazyeights
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I am still working on the interior.

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The shifter work was made a LOT easier thanks to SubaruTex's thread leading the way here;

http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/78476-ej-shifter-fix-ea-ej-swapped-cars/

The Legacy shifter mod worked great with only a couple of minor changes. I wanted the rear shifter mount to be able to float fore and aft on a rubber bushing like the factory used. Due to the difference in trans tunnel design between the EA82 and the Legacy there isn't ANY extra room in there to use the stock Legacy shifter mount like I had wanted to. I also didn't want to cut the factory Loyale shifter opening in the floor without a solid plan in place first. I made this up quickly out of the parts bucket. This way the car stays running and I wasn't wasting shop time fabbing something up with the car in the air.

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It is safe, solid, and functional so it is good enough for now. I also added a 5 mil plastic vapor barrier under the insulation but over the metal to keep moisture from getting to the back side of the carpet.

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I found a combination of plastic that fits as a shifter surround and I'm pretty pleased with it.

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I was trying to make it look like the factory could have made it.

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The trip computer installation should be complete soon including the dash display. At first the clock and outside temp will work. The other functions may have to wait until later. The dealer was still able to get the new mini light bulbs to make the dash LCD display function again.  I even have the outside temp sensor to mount in the grill :)

 

So far no fault codes after almost a week. I am really liking this conversion a lot!  No more trouble going up hills or getting up to freeway speed. I just about ready to mount the ECU and finish tidying up the interior.

Edited by Crazyeights
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  • 2 months later...

So far I am very pleased with the this car! It is a good daily driver and it's surprisingly fast with the EJ22E that's in it now. I should be able to finish the A/C re-connect.  I am currently looking at the SPAL 10" fans for cooling and it looks like it may just leave enough room for an R134 A/C compressor.

 

I think I have paused long enough at this phase to make sure I haven't introduced any new nagging problems or noises. I didn't want to bite off more than I could chew and never end up completing the project. That's why I try and work in phases taking time to drive the car for a while in between each major step.  When I am ready I hope that the EJ22T swap will be a fairly straight forward exchange.

 

The E22T is almost fully assembled. The intake manifold and hard lines still need to go on. I am using the factory turbo with the stock exhaust stock manifolds, cross-over, and up pipe. I already have them, they fit, and they are all in great shape. I also have the (2) solenoids that mount on the fender for boost control. Last year I won an Ebay auction for a factory Subaru WAIC kit from New Zealand complete with the factory heat exchanger, all of the hard and soft lines, mini radiator, pump, etc. I'll get it running without this first. I would like to set it up though if I have room. If not, it will go on another car.

 

I have done some more reading and it looks like I can use my current EJ22 clutch setup. It's still fairly new so being able to transfer those parts will be a bonus. I'll have to figure out the exhaust between what I have now underneath to where the turbo lets out. I hope I can find some standard pipe that will fit there. If not I'll have something made up.

 

Happy New Year!

More soon...

Edited by Crazyeights
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  • 2 weeks later...

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