The AUSubaru.com.au Forums

Hey all, im currenty about to start a rebuild on a ea82 and i was wondering about putting MPFI on it. Can you please tell me about prices, how hard it is to fit and stuff that i need to do it. Cheers Ethan.

I'm not sure of the specifics but I'm pretty sure the heads are quite different.
If you are going to be rebuilding your best bet would be to start with a standard MPFI motor and rebuild that.
If you're interested I have two complete MPFI EA82's sitting here. One is in good condition and had the heads reconditioned a couple of years ago without much driving since. The other one the previous owner suspected a blown head gasket but it still ran fine. Both have complete MPFI systems (injectors, fuel rails etc) ontop. In Perth.

You'll also need the wiring loom, computer, airflow metre (and airfilter box), oxy sensor to go with it.

Easiest way to get all this stuff is find a donor car at the wreckers, strip all the wiring out and take it with you to shove in your car. Prob best to grab the dash display too (you'll gain a rev metre or tacho). Try and get the wiring loom to suit the dash in your car. EG if you have two stalks on your steering column (earlier model only had one stalk) you want the wiring loom to be the same. Or grab the dash surrounds, indicator stalk, ignition switch and other switches too as the later loom has a better system in place (hotwire AFM and 4 plug ECU).

It will be a messy wiring job when your in the thick of it. It can be done if you know what you want to achieve. I did it to my car but spliced the rear wiring into the MPFI loom to avoid pulling the interior apart in the back of the car. I should have pulled the interior apart from the back of the car - it would have been heaps easier.

Or you can strip down the wiring to the bare essentials of the ECU and wire just that into the car - will do the same thing.

After swapping to an MPFI in my L I was told that it would have been just as difficult to put the EJ in without talking about the adaptor plate (meaning that I should have just done that).

Cheers

Bennie

ps, i still have the whole wiring loom to suit the mpfi engine

yeh thanks. So yuor saying that i would be easyer to put an ej in it than put MPFI in it? Ill need to talk about it to my folks and see what they think about it. Cheers

just as much effort. and you will be better off in the long run with an ej

The MPFI EA82 doesn't really produce any more power than the carby ones. If you want power shove a Weber onto your carby motor.
The MPFI starts better, runs smoother, my experience is they are generally more reliable.
But yeah, if your going to have to tackle wiring loom jobs etc then just go EJ.
An EJ22 will be much better, you just have to worry about setting up an adaptor plate but this is no problem these days - very tried and tested!

As already said, its not harder to instal an EJ in place of EFI ing your EA its about the same amount of work. If you really wanted to go along the EFI your current engine (single port inlet) a conversion that was popular about 10years ago was using the EFi setup off the Camira, it was single point injection and pretty easy to adapt to the EA engine. You still need the EFI fuel pump and high pressure lines but just a thought.

Yeh i had heard about the camira EFI. Does the single point go better(more fuel economy and such) than MPFI? Wha would be some costings for 20's and 22's? Cheers

ol kid wrote:Yeh i had heard about the camira EFI. Does the single point go better(more fuel economy and such) than MPFI? Wha would be some costings for 20's and 22's? Cheers

Never heard about the camira EFI - interesting (thinking of brumby...). I don't think there would be much economy difference between the single port and the Multi Port injection systems. I've found that my MPFI was way easier to start than the carbie i've got now, delivered the power better and in general was a better engine to drive than the carbie (not that the carbie isn't good...).

In terms of cost for the EJ22 or the EJ20, my guess would be that the EJ22 would be cheaper as there are many gen one or two motors kicking around on the market from these cars at good prices (may have high k's though). The later model EJ22 and EJ20's will of course cost more but will have less k's etc etc.

Cheers

Bennie

The article i have mentioned improved fuel consumption (no figure given) and reliability. Cost would be minimal (couple of hundred with FP) for the parts needed but you would be doing more justice with an Ej conversion im my opinion.

Yeh im now leaning to a 22 cause from what i have heard the 20's are an import and will cost more. Also ive heard the the MPFI wiring loom will fix staight into the 22 comupter? Cheers Ethan

ol kid wrote:Yeh im now leaning to a 22 cause from what i have heard the 20's are an import and will cost more. Also ive heard the the MPFI wiring loom will fix staight into the 22 comupter? Cheers Ethan

Not sure about that mate, i've always been of the opinion that the factory loom with the engine is the best to use, that way you know your getting what you want - an engine that works without extra bugs in the system. If it is like this (which i'm sure its not) i'll be a very happy subi owner who would be hunting for the EJ...

I think you'll find that all subarus are imports, only there are a few that are JDM imports (special imports). The EJ20 may be dearer due to being a newer engine with less k's etc. Its by no means a special import but you can get EJ20G halfcuts (turbo motors) imported (or from an import mob).

Cheers

Bennie

So would it be easyer to just rebuild the 82?

A carbied EA82 is about 84 hp
A SPFI EA82 is about 90 hp

(intake & heads are the same)

A MPFI EA82 is about 97 hp

(completely different intake and heads)

A base EJ20 is about 115 hp

The low and mid range performance is much improved with MPFI. I haven't heard of people adapting the Camera SPFI system before, but it sounds like "reinventing the wheel" when Subaru already did it...

An EJ is by far your best choice. Depending on state a EJ20 might be easier to register than a EJ22.

Dean.

Check with your road authority as in some states (like NSW) the biggest motor you can put in an L series in an EJ20.

Suparoo wrote:Check with your road authority as in some states (like NSW) the biggest motor you can put in an L series in an EJ20.

Is the BEFORE you need to get an engineer's certificate?

Bennie

Ok So just another thought.... What could a twin barrel Webber go like. As this seems the cheaper option. Cheers Ethan

probably just suck more fuel i guess, maybe go a little better if well tuned. I have a webber, i'm going to try it out very soon