SubaruJawn Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 i'm trying to restore and or upgrade my loyal what i like to do. EJ Swap it. but leads to Trans Options so many options can be done. its a 3spd auto and legacy is 4spd auto. to keep my loyal an auto. i'd have to transfer all the legacy trans wiring & trans cpu into loyal. this is i understand. but how hard is it to do ? and as for axles ect.. could i use legacy 5 lug and put into loyal ? i can also axle seperate if i need to. i'm so hype and ready to tackle this. i do have a full running legacy to use for donor. the legacy will be parts if not sold by Feb 1st. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cameron 1 Posted January 9, 2009 Share Posted January 9, 2009 if your going to do all that why dont u just drive the legacy that sounds a lot easier to me the only reason people fix up a loyal is because of the low range four wheel drive and the lighter weight so puting all of the legacy drive train in the loyal and leaving it an auto is dumb and a waist of time but if your bord go for it i did an ej swap in my loyal and it was a pain in the butt ,but it was worth it because its awsome off road and jeepers just shake there head and i think it funny to drive a wagon on moabs slick rock. my opinion if your sticking with an auto just drive the legacy:banana: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SubaruJawn Posted January 9, 2009 Author Share Posted January 9, 2009 if your going to do all that why dont u just drive the legacy that sounds a lot easier to me the only reason people fix up a loyal is because of the low range four wheel drive and the lighter weight so puting all of the legacy drive train in the loyal and leaving it an auto is dumb and a waist of time but if your bord go for it i did an ej swap in my loyal and it was a pain in the butt ,but it was worth it because its awsome off road and jeepers just shake there head and i think it funny to drive a wagon on moabs slick rock. my opinion if your sticking with an auto just drive the legacy:banana: the loyal I'm fixing means allot to me. i want repair and upgrade or improve its ability. i understand were your getting at yes. it would be dumb but this loyal means allot. its worth it to me. i hope to keep this loyal till I'm berried. just found an xt turbo rebuilt 500miles engine no title for $200.00 i may buy it if legacy is sold. parts for both my loyal and my xt6. exhaust i really need (its turbo was removed has non turbo exhaust. engine i may put in my loayle or trade it up for a EJ Swap I'll have to wait to see what happens. i really want this xt was turbo now non-turbo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dude Abides Posted January 9, 2009 Share Posted January 9, 2009 I say do whatever you want to your car reguardless if makes sence or not. I would do 5 speed only because its more fun to drive. Ive had my eye:rolleyes: on this legacy tubo ive been wanting to swap the whole drivetrain into my loyale. But thats a while off. I say do some more searching and see what you come up with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cameron 1 Posted January 11, 2009 Share Posted January 11, 2009 well i under stand there is sumthin about those stupid cars that makes u want to hold on to them i know i love mine to death so good luck i read some where that u need some parts off of an svx for the legacy suspention and drive shafts to work on the loyal not sure witch one's though i know the legacy motor mounts bolt right up to the loyal for the 2.2 theres a guy on this MB that has put a impreza sti drive train in his loyale and it puts out 300 hp and thats a sweet car i for get is name im sure he knows all about that stuff ill try to find out his name for u Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dude Abides Posted January 11, 2009 Share Posted January 11, 2009 a good person to look up conversion is numbcuxx or something along those lines. He has done lots of trial and error stuff on his GL wagon. I believe he did alot of engine and suspension conversion along the lines of what you want. I believe he made his awd as well. He is in the retrofitting forum alot. Ben Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SubaruJawn Posted January 11, 2009 Author Share Posted January 11, 2009 a good person to look up conversion is numbcuxx or something along those lines. He has done lots of trial and error stuff on his GL wagon. I believe he did alot of engine and suspension conversion along the lines of what you want. I believe he made his awd as well. He is in the retrofitting forum alot. Ben alright. i'll check him out and see what he has to say Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Numbchux Posted January 11, 2009 Share Posted January 11, 2009 everything you speak of has been discussed, done, and documented. you're not new here....have a look around. the answers you seek are here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted January 11, 2009 Share Posted January 11, 2009 (edited) like chux said, lots of stuff already covered that you need to study up well and for awhile first. i'll add some important non mechanical tidbits: one thing that helps in a situation like this, like if it's your first time and you're unsure of many things - is to do it with a car you don't need (for work, commuting, etc). then you have plenty of time to work through problems. but how hard is it to do ?that question is too vague. the quickest way to succeed is to ask the right questions. a better question is "How capable are you?" we can't answer that. i'll take a guess that 7% of the members of this board are up to this kind of a swap. here's some advice from someone who has had to learn almost 100% of what i know by myself. with massive (the only) help from places like this and people like JohnfromKY. from my perspective this should be EASY AS PIE for you. you have lots of time, your father, and have had help in the past. much more than i ever had. you have all of my previous resources and more...sounds incredibly easy to me. good luck with it john, tear it up! you will learn a lot of valuable things by doing this, i think it would be awesome for you to tear this job up and do it. Edited January 11, 2009 by grossgary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dude Abides Posted January 11, 2009 Share Posted January 11, 2009 +1 on non daily driver. Thats probally the biggest thing holding me back from tearing apart my car is that i need it every day and cant afford it to be down. What i can offer you is that get a whole car if you can. Whether its been wrecked or has a blown tranny. Its still better to get an entire donor car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SubaruJawn Posted January 12, 2009 Author Share Posted January 12, 2009 No This wont be my daily driver. my 89 XT6 is my Daily Driver. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingbobdole Posted January 13, 2009 Share Posted January 13, 2009 Do yourself a favor when you pull the wiring... Don't cut Anything till the very last second. Most of the harness for the engine is rather self contained and wiring a transmission is easier then wiring the engine. Once everything goes to the right places, it will all work. You'll need EA turbo axles unless you swap the front legacy suspension and hubs as well... then just use the leggy axles. If you're a bit hesitant about wiring, the early EJ22s are the best place to start. They are real cake for one and for two they are well documented and quite a few people here can walk you through if you get lost. When I build a harness either totally from scratch or stripping one from a car loom, I go over every wire on the diagram and make sure it goes where the diagram says. A good ohm meter, lots of shrink wrap and good soldering skills are your friend here. It takes some time, but really the EJ22 harness is small, simple and very quick to build. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SubaruJawn Posted January 13, 2009 Author Share Posted January 13, 2009 Do yourself a favor when you pull the wiring... Don't cut Anything till the very last second. Most of the harness for the engine is rather self contained and wiring a transmission is easier then wiring the engine. Once everything goes to the right places, it will all work. You'll need EA turbo axles unless you swap the front legacy suspension and hubs as well... then just use the leggy axles. If you're a bit hesitant about wiring, the early EJ22s are the best place to start. They are real cake for one and for two they are well documented and quite a few people here can walk you through if you get lost. When I build a harness either totally from scratch or stripping one from a car loom, I go over every wire on the diagram and make sure it goes where the diagram says. A good ohm meter, lots of shrink wrap and good soldering skills are your friend here. It takes some time, but really the EJ22 harness is small, simple and very quick to build. yeah i wont cut the wires till i need to. thats good to hear someone can walk me threw it. this would be my FIRST Swap Ever. i still hope to sell the legacy. so i can get the Turbo Xt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SubaruJawn Posted February 18, 2009 Author Share Posted February 18, 2009 do i have to cut down the harness for the engine to work ? if not i just may do it that way. and put EJ Trans in and wiring. when changing the trans i should have to change the rear diff correct ? in away i think i would because i plan to make it AWD. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
s'ko Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 do i have to cut down the harness for the engine to work ?if not i just may do it that way. no. but you will be working with over 30 lbs of wire. Think of your harness like a combination of different components. Engine, tranny (for an auto), lights, accessories (HVAC, radio, wipers etc), power (fuses, alternator) You already have lights, accessories and power from your Loyale. So you just need the EJ engine and tranny portions of the harness. You asked how hard is the swap. Mechanically, you will be diving into some new territory with the auto EJ swap into an EA. Tranny mounts might be a challenge but not to difficult. Front axles are not hard, you just have to keep the same spline count. IIRC they are 25 spline inner cups. If you go w/EJ fronts, then you will need XT6 axles b/c the EJ axles are too long. EJ rear hubs will not work w/o some fab skills. The engine wiring is straight forward. The only thing that is different is the 4eat wiring, but that is not as hard as the mechanical portions of the swap. when changing the trans i should have to change the rear diff correct ? in away i think i would because i plan to make it AWD. you will have to change the rear diff if the final drives are not the same. Otherwise you can get a drive shaft made to fit the EJ tranny to the EA rear diff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gloyale Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 I believe your loyal rear diff will be 3.9. many early legacies also use 3.9 for the autos. Early legacies (up to 94) have the same male stub axles in the rear. no need to cut any wires to seperate engine and trans harness. the 2 computers are right toghether under the legacy dash, all the connectors int he same harness. You don't need xt6 axles. they won't go through your hubs. you will need GL Turbo axles. Order them for a Manual cause parts listings get all screwy with the 2 different automatics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
s'ko Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 I believe your loyal rear diff will be 3.9. many early legacies also use 3.9 for the autos. Early legacies (up to 94) have the same male stub axles in the rear. no need to cut any wires to seperate engine and trans harness. the 2 computers are right toghether under the legacy dash, all the connectors int he same harness. You don't need xt6 axles. they won't go through your hubs. you will need GL Turbo axles. Order them for a Manual cause parts listings get all screwy with the 2 different automatics. Regarding the XT6 axles, he mentioned the doing a 5 lug EJ conversion in his first posts. merely addressing this BW Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SubaruJawn Posted February 18, 2009 Author Share Posted February 18, 2009 Regarding the XT6 axles' date=' he mentioned the doing a 5 lug EJ conversion in his first posts. merely addressing this BW[/quote'] yes. but will the EJ struts and all work on the EA ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SubaruJawn Posted February 18, 2009 Author Share Posted February 18, 2009 I believe your loyal rear diff will be 3.9. many early legacies also use 3.9 for the autos. Early legacies (up to 94) have the same male stub axles in the rear. no need to cut any wires to seperate engine and trans harness. the 2 computers are right toghether under the legacy dash, all the connectors int he same harness. You don't need xt6 axles. they won't go through your hubs. you will need GL Turbo axles. Order them for a Manual cause parts listings get all screwy with the 2 different automatics. yes my loyale is 3.9 but the legacy is 4.11 as for the axles i can just do the separating of the joints. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
s'ko Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 yes. but will the EJ struts and all work on the EA ? if you use EJ stuts, the bottoms will work. Tops are different so either re-drill your strut tower or see if the strut mounts can mix and match. BW Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Numbchux Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 EJ strut tops work just fine with EA82 towers. the bolts are only a couple mm off, so it's a tad snug, but fits fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SubaruJawn Posted February 19, 2009 Author Share Posted February 19, 2009 ok. sounds great. i may have the engine sold. but i still will do the 5 lug change Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SubaruJawn Posted February 19, 2009 Author Share Posted February 19, 2009 anyone done the ej to ea struts b4 ? is their instructions ? and what about the rear ? i searched ej to ea struts but i only get post with the word in it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gloyale Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 anyone done the ej to ea struts b4 ?is their instructions ? and what about the rear ? i searched ej to ea struts but i only get post with the word in it You can't use the EJ struts on the rear. To convert the rear to five lug you need XT6 rear control arms w/hubs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SubaruJawn Posted February 19, 2009 Author Share Posted February 19, 2009 You can't use the EJ struts on the rear. To convert the rear to five lug you need XT6 rear control arms w/hubs and i sold my last set! ugh! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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