Hi, I just bought my first subaru ever. Its a '85 gl awd turbo wagon. only drawback is that its an auto. how hard is it, and how do you convert to a manual?

 

any advise or insight would be appreciated.

Resonably straight forward, have done this on an ea82t car before. hardest part is changing the pedal box, but it just requires some patience. Do a search - many people have done this before.

I've helped do it to a fwd XT before (non turbo though) but it was all pretty easy. Like Ross said, I think the hardest part was the pedals. Everything else was pretty simple. Subarus are great to work on because of how simple they are and how much room there is in the engine bay. Welcome to the world of Subaru fanatics and addicts. You can ask pretty much any question and someone here will know the answer. An awesome and insanely knowledegable group of guys (and girls like me). Best of luck with your upcoming project too!

what part of washington? someone in your area might be able to lend a hand

I wouldnt worry about switching over unless teh AT is acting funny or untill it finally goes out. In the mean time you can stow away some cash or parts for the conversion. Then you are more prepared when it comes time

THanks for the replys. I live near Olympia, anyway, whats the easiest/best choice for this conversion? do i just need to find a gl wagon awd 5spd? i dont know about spline counts and all that stuff... what years are compatible?

As long as you use the clutch assembly and flywheel from the donor the spline count is irrelivant. Any 5spd should bolt right upto your engine.

anyone have a shop manual they can email me for this bad boy? not asking for a hand out... i mean i have the chiltons, and the difference between that and the one the dealership uses is like one is a true manual, and the other is a comic book.

whats the max recommended boost for the ea82? any insight would be helpful. thanks for the replies.

anyone have a shop manual they can email me for this bad boy? not asking for a hand out... i mean i have the chiltons, and the difference between that and the one the dealership uses is like one is a true manual, and the other is a comic book.

whats the max recommended boost for the ea82? any insight would be helpful. thanks for the replies.

PSI:

I've got the 85 FSM's if you need info.

I really like driving a manual, so a conversion is a no brainer in my mind. But if a manual and/or 4wd is not that important, I would hold off until you need a new tranny. It will happen eventually. A FWD Subie isn't all that bad overall.

It does take some effort, and if you don't have all the parts up front, you will be without wheels for awhile. If you are dead set on doing the conversion, get all your parts first - and plan on doing the job right.

good luck, John

thealleyboy@yahoo.com

so any one know how high i can safely up my boost?

9psi until fuel cut occurs.

 

-Brian

In case anyone else hasn't: welcome to the board. These people know their stuff.

In case anyone else hasn't: welcome to the board. These people know their stuff.

thanks guys

In case you haven't found it yet, here's a thread where a guy puts a 5spd d/r in his auto. It'll give you an idea what it would take to do.

 

http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=13063&page=1&pp=10

 

Yea, the guys here know what they're talking about. Got my last grinding wheel fixed in a day

When you say the fuel cuts out at 9psi, is that the ecu's doing based on the map sensor(if subarus have those)? or is it beacause the injectors cant supply the fuel thus leaning out the cylinder?

 

i plan to go bigger than 9, for starters i plan to use something like a vortec FMU, and get some bigger injectors. does anyone liters per hour, or gallons, the fuel pump is?

yeh its ecu controlled to stop the turbo from overboosting in stock format. i have heard its easy to remove the fuel cut on early turbo's for some reason. if your want to crank up the boost a top mount intercooler will protect your engine. There are few people on this board with intercooled ea81t/ea82t using ej20t intercoolers or rx7's. Normally you can pick up a recirculating blow off valve with the subaru intercoolers. These are better than the atmosphere dumping ones as the air that gets dumped, making the pissst sound, is still thought to be going through the engine by the computer so it still adds the petty for that lost air, making for a rich mixture at the pissst time. On larger engine they are alright but for your 1.8L a recirc. one is best.

The ECU cuts off the fuel to prevent damage to the engine. It assumes if the car is past 9psi something must be wrong with the wastegate and will cut out.

 

Since your Subaru is pre-87, you should have a different type of MAF that makes it easier to bypass the fuel cutoff. I havent gotten that far with my EA82T yet.

 

I'll be installing an intercooler before I mess with more boost.

 

-Brian

^^ i'm definately going to put an intercooler on it. I just want to locate a hood that i can canibolize for hood vent type thing. with a recirculating valve, as i have read, is just a variant of a blow off valve. a recirc valve "recirculates" the pressurized air from the charge pipes to dirrectly in front of the compressor inlet. i've read it does this because the blast of pressurized air will keep the comp wheel spinning and reduce lag time.

 

If the computer is set up for no blow off/bypass valve, would i even see a performance gain by putting one on?

a blow off valve has nothing to do with the ecu and everything to do with the turbo. becuase turbos work on the exhuast at high rpm there is more exhuast so they compress more air than at low rmp. when you change gears your rmp drops and therefore the turbo compresses less air. but right before your change it was high pressure. this causes the high pressure to go back toward the lower pressure, back the wrong way through the turbo and slows the spool even more on a gear change\release of throttle. a recirc b.o.v. plumbs this high pressure air back to the correct side of the turbo so its going towords the engine now and now increasing the turbo spool. this is what i come to believe from various posts but i am no turbo expert