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1990 BRAT EJ swap and Other stuff.... (Chilean Way)


Rafavidmess
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Hi to All,

As I have posted in the "Old Gen" Forum, I started from repairing to doing some major Mods to My 1990 MV. Including a 5Sp 4wd DR trans and an EJ 22 Engine swap.

For the trans Swap I bought what I supposed should be a "complete kit", this is a GL 5Sp 4wd DR + Rear diff.... I was quite shure that my original 4Sp 4wd DR and the new would have different gearing. BUT when I was attempting to do the rear diff swap I noticedBoth are 3.700

Is this OK...or did I got a non matching Transmission-Differential package.

 

Best regards!

Edited by Rafavidmess
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  • 3 months later...

Hi to All,

Long time since my last post.

Well, my Brat is electrically (almost) solved, but a new issue arised... It was supposed to happen, but not that early.

Long story Short... for the EJ 22 on Brat retrofitting I bought a 1990 Legacy. Very cheap, but in very bad condiction. With the wiring and the engine peripherials it was enough for the money. The engine runned smooth, but it was corroded as they used acid instead of coolant. Made a fast fix, just to get it running. The engine did it´s job, but after short water is getting into the oil again = dead.

There is a totaled 3rd gen Legacy near me, the Long block is available...

Will my peripherics from G1 EJ 22 fit into this block?

 

Best regards!

 

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@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

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Hi Bennie!

The “acid” condition was just a joke. I don’t know the whole history of this car. What I know is that it was almost trash when I bought it. I changed head gaskets, timing kit and water pump. That’s when I noticed the deep corrosion. One of the cylinders was so corroded that only 2-3 mm of seating space for the head gasket were left at the combustion chamber.
Some details of the available block:

- It’s an EJ 20 with about 120.000 km on it, from a 2001 Legacy third gen.

- if I buy it, I will go for timing, head gaskets and water pump.

- I can see heads are different ( still an sohc, but a little wider), thus I don’t know if my intake/ exhaust manifolds will fit this block.

 

saludos!

Rafa

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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

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  • 1 month later...

Last Update

I found a EJ 20 Short Block that seems in good condition for a very low price. Hope this week I can do the swap.

BTW...does anyone knows which is the cable that sends the engine temperature signal?

Should it come from the ECU or it is just a direct Connection?

Saludos!

Rafa

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  • Rafavidmess changed the title to 1990 BRAT EJ swap and Other stuff.... (Chilean Way)
19 hours ago, Rafavidmess said:

BTW...does anyone knows which is the cable that sends the engine temperature signal?

Should it come from the ECU or it is just a direct Connection?

Good question mate! The early engines had two temp sensors - a single wire sensor for the gauge and a two wire sensor for the ECU. I believe at some point, or with the phase two engines, they moved to only having the two wire sensor for the ECU. 

What I recommend doing is finding a good spot to put the original EA81 temp sender unit into the coolant crossover pipe. You’ll need to test fit the intake manifold and other accessories to find a location where it won’t be in the way of anything. Mark the spot. 

Have someone weld more metal to the coolant crossover pipe then drill and tap this weld to fit the temp sender unit. 

An alternative (somewhat easier) way to do this is to put it in the heater line from the engine to the heater core - avoid the return line! Put the sender unit inline in a metal tube, then run an earth wire to this metal tube so the sender unit works. Something like this (pic below) in 16mm or 5/8th heater hose ID size, but with the temp sensor hole being big enough for the EA81 sender unit. 

image.jpeg.6c0b8b8fb1fdb5e5c5c86ad4c685f2f3.jpeg

Use the factory temp sensor wire to make the gauge on the instrument cluster work and display properly. Using the EJ sender doesn’t read properly on the EA gauge as their calibration isn’t the same! 

Cheers 

Bennie

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30 minutes ago, el_freddo said:

Good question mate! The early engines had two temp sensors - a single wire sensor for the gauge and a two wire sensor for the ECU. I believe at some point, or with the phase two engines, they moved to only having the two wire sensor for the ECU.

small clarification

In the late '90s, they transitioned to a single 3-wire sensor, which still performed like 2 separate sensors (2 wires for the ECU, single wire resistance-to-ground for the gauge). And then around 2008, they transitioned to a single 2-wire sensor only feeding the ECU, which then outputted a signal via CAN to the gauge cluster.

 

 

Yep, you can use your EA81 sending unit with a little modification. Or you can wire a resistor in to modify the EJ signal for the EA dash (I know this works on the EA82s, I think the EA81s as well). That's in my write-up. Or, just wire the EJ sensor to the EA gauge, and it will read about 1/2 what it used to, but will still give you some information.

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Just this weekend I saw an interesting setup that used some brass fittings to adapt the EA temp sender into the EJ temp gauge sender hole. 

Yes it removes the sender unit away from the coolant crossover pipe an inch or so but it would still be accurate enough and give a better reading than the EJ sender unit talking to the factory EA gauge. 

Cheers 

Bennie

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  • 1 month later...

Hello to All,

Some updates:

- For now I am working with the EJ sender into my EA Dash, Works fine when you know that halfway is maximum. I will leave the accurate measurement in the "nice to have" list.

Now I am having a bit more urgent issue. When Testing hard my new engine (New block + 1 new head) the gearbox starts doing weird things. When I accelerate I have no trouble at all, but if (After hard acceleration) I loose the pedal, the gearbox will jump out of gear, it happens in almost every Gear (haven´t tried in 4th and 5th, due to the speeds involved). It doesn´t jump completely out (and makes the sema sounds as when you miss a shift), and if I accelerate immediately after, the gear will get back in.

All shifts enter smoothly and in normal condictions it also runos noiseless and smooth. The gearbox is a dual range 5spd that came from a Loyale.

Could it be a shifter linkage Issue?

As always, thanks in advance for your wisdom.

Saludos!

Rafa

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Last Update,

Reading other posts on the forum I decided to start by the basics: Do an oil change and a Gearbox Flux....

Just remembered that the Gearbox was with the oil it came with, and as I found out in my forum investigation, clean oil in the dipstick doesn´t mean clean oil in the gearbox.

Long story short:

The dropped oil was filthy, and the drain plug had some kind of mud on it, though no big chunks. Refilled with 10W 40 Diesel Sinthetic motor Oil (Lots at hand due my machinery business) and went driving. At the beginning it was the same, but after 5-10 minutes driving the gears stopped popping out and I could even downshift for motor braking without gears disenganging...and it kept getting better and better... Think I will leave this oil for a short period (200-300 km) and drain as hot as possible to clean everything up. Hope it´s enough.

Still I have to be carefull with downshifting for motor braking, but if done smoothly gears will engage perfectly.

Saludos!

Rafa

 

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G’day Rafa, 

Do you have a pitch stopper rod installed or shot gearbox mounts? 

This issue is induced from not having a pitch stopper rod or shot/broken gearbox mounts too. 

Hopefully it’s as simple as the oil change. I’ve not heard of the diesel oil flush trick, I’d be worried about it not being up to the task. 

Cheers 

 Bennie

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

Hello to all,

Kept on going with my project, I think I might be on the Final Straight...:D.

I Installed a Pitch stop Rod and the gearing Issues are now gone. Now I have to get the car ready for our "Revision tecnica" (tech inspection for road worthiness), thus I need to have the backup light working.

Does anyone know what cable (or cables) of my 5Spd dual 4wd gearbox (taken from a Loyale) are the ones from the Reverse sensor?...and where should I connect them?

Also, the lambda sond of my engine (1990 MPFI EJ 22...with a 200? EJ 20 Block) had all the cables cut. I bought a Standard 3 cable Bosch sond. Do you know how it should be connected?

I have a Chilton manual, but I couldn´t find this infor there.

Saludos!

Rafa

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