98 EJ AWD Auto into 84 L Series

drof351 · Post by **drof351** » Sun Nov 22, 2009 8:59 pm

Hi guys I've read as many threads as i can relating to conversions. I have a 1984 L series ea82 auto and a complete 1998 Impreza EJ20 AWD auto donor car. I'm just after any information specific for this conversion. Can I swap the front and rear hubs brakes etc to use the Impreza drive shafts? I'm sure I'll plenty of more questions and appreciate any help given thanks

wagonist · Post by **wagonist** » Mon Nov 23, 2009 8:49 am

Front hubs, yes, if you machine out the lower control arm for the lower ball joint, you can fit the entire Impreza strut & hub in (though the spring seats may foul on the strut tower as they're a bigger diameter, coilovers are a way to fix this).
Rear end is a lot more work, but is doable (search for Brat kit).

don't forget if you do this, the handbrake will also need to be modified as it will need to be changed to the rear end from the front.

Considering you're only going NA & auto (are you keeping that auto?), then the brake change isn't worth the effort & you should able to put the EJ front driveshaft inner cups onto the L shafts (though this may be too long, you need to check).

drof351 · Post by **drof351** » Mon Nov 23, 2009 10:03 pm

Thanks for the reply wagonist. Yeah gonna try to use the ej20 and auto out of the impreza. Was only thinking of changing the hubs and brakes if it was easier than modifying the drive shafts. Should i use the impreza's rear diff and fit my drive shafts to that also?

wagonist · Post by **wagonist** » Mon Nov 23, 2009 10:33 pm

I'm not sure what the deal will be with the front shafts.
I suspect that the L shafts will be too long.

I was going to be using the EJ box, along with the Impreza struts, hubs, & front driveshafts, but as I was going from an NA 1.8 carby to an EFI turbo 2.0 I needed to upgrade the brakes to match as I would need an engineers cert.
As you're only going from NA 1.8 to NA 2.0, you shouldn't need that.

The EJ20T converted RX turbo I bought as my donor car had the WRX rear diff & L rear shafts.
They were not long enough & would pop out of the box under hard launches.
I was going to change to a Liberty RS turbo rear diff (has male stub axles like an L) & then series 1 L rear driveshafts which have floating CVs on both ends of the rear shafts. This gave enough play for stuff to fit.
The series 2 L's only had floating CVs on the inner rears.

In your application, I wouldn't bother for the rear, the NA diffs aren't any better, If you get hold of an LSD, that could be a different story though;)

drof351 · Post by **drof351** » Mon Nov 23, 2009 10:36 pm

So the 98 impreza auto will match the l series diff? Ratio wise?

wagonist · Post by **wagonist** » Mon Nov 23, 2009 10:48 pm

Sorry, no idea.

Post by **TOONGA** » Fri Nov 27, 2009 8:53 pm

drof351 wrote:So the 98 impreza auto will match the l series diff? Ratio wise?

no more than likely not as the Lseries with be 3.7 or 3.9

and a 98 impreza will have a 4.11 (auto) or 3.9 (manual) or even a 4.44 for the turbo model so Im led to believe

TOONGA

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Sun Nov 29, 2009 8:39 pm

Ok a few things after reading through this thread:

The L series front drive shafts will be fine for length - what needs to be changed is the inner cup for the same one from the auto box. The difference is that the carbie EA L's came with 23 splines on the inner cup, the MPFI and MPFI turbo shafts have 25 splines on the inner cups - the other difference is that the turbo shafts have a larger ball, cage and cup setup compared to the MPFI and carbie drive shafts. Keep an eye out for a set of MPFI non turbo shafts as these will fit straight on, otherwise swap the cups to a set of 25 spline units.

Wagonist - the reason why the rear shafts would pop out on a hard start is that the torque passing through the rear diff causes it to twist enough to stretch the shaft beyond what it can extend. From memory this occurs on the left mainly. If you stiffen up the mounting of the rear diff with some extra bracing you'll not have this problem. The shafts you've found will do the job so long as you don't over extend them while 4wd'n if you do any...

Drof, if your L was auto from factory it'll be a 4.1 ratio I believe. If the sticker on the back of the diff is not there the only way to check is to pull the diff apart and count the teeth on both pinion and ring gears... Or get one that matches the gearbox ratio

Changing the hubs/brake setup to fit the impreza shafts may not answer all your problems as the impreza drive shafts may be too long for the job, depending on the geometry of the impreza's front end.

Gearboxes for all subarus are the same width at the diff stubs. As for fitting the auto, the usual things will have to be checked out - gearbox crossmember, tail shaft length, gear shifter shaft length etc etc.

Hope this helps out.

Cheers

Bennie

drof351 · Post by **drof351** » Sun Nov 29, 2009 11:00 pm

Thanks very much for that, so what im getting from talking to all you guys is that i can buy ea82 turbo inner cv's that will fit the l series shafts and the EJ Auto?

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Mon Nov 30, 2009 12:22 am

drof351 wrote:Thanks very much for that, so what im getting from talking to all you guys is that i can buy ea82 turbo inner cv's that will fit the l series shafts and the EJ Auto?

Go for the MPFI non turbo cups as these will fit the ball and cage you already have. The issue with buying the turbo cups and ball cage is that the number of splines on the turbo ball cage may be different to the non turbo shaft... Count the splines on what you've got and go from there

Cheers

Bennie

drof351 · Post by **drof351** » Mon Nov 30, 2009 11:27 pm

Hi i have looked at the diff and its a late model diff where the cv's slide into the diff. How can i make it suit the l series? thanks

stamp_licker · Post by **stamp_licker** » Sat Dec 05, 2009 12:27 pm

drof351 wrote:Hi i have looked at the diff and its a late model diff where the cv's slide into the diff. How can i make it suit the l series? thanks

I've done this for the rear
1/Early l series rear shafts,the ones with doj both ends.
2/remove inner joint/cup from shaft.
3/replace with inner cup that suits the diff,you will discover that the ball and races are interchangable.
You cannot use the late model l series shafts,the ones with cv outers,as they will pull out the inner cup out of the diff.Don't mess with trying to strenghten diff housing.Trust me it will come out.This can happen just about any time.If you want to go offroad and a wheel drops it'll pop out,go over a bump in the driveway and pop.
Fronts
1/complete turbo l shafts,still running l series brakes.

Auto l series were all 3.7 front,touring wagons ran a 3.9 rear but the front was still 3.7.
A ej auto in a l series is a awesome setup.You will love it.

drof351 · Post by **drof351** » Sat Dec 05, 2009 1:33 pm

Thanks stamp licker, i tried fitting the ej cv's to the l series shafts, the cups were different and wouldn't fir on the ball cage thing. Asked a cv specialist and they said can't be done. Something about the series of cv's aren't interchangeable. As far as the ratio's go does that mean my 3.7 l series diff can be put behind the ej auto sportswagon gear box? Also what radiator and fan setup is best? Thanks

stamp_licker · Post by **stamp_licker** » Sat Dec 05, 2009 5:01 pm

drof351 wrote:Thanks stamp licker, i tried fitting the ej cv's to the l series shafts, the cups were different and wouldn't fir on the ball cage thing. Asked a cv specialist and they said can't be done. Something about the series of cv's aren't interchangeable. As far as the ratio's go does that mean my 3.7 l series diff can be put behind the ej auto sportswagon gear box? Also what radiator and fan setup is best? Thanks

Try different ej cups.I've made rear shafts from different combo's of l series and ej bits.No you can't put the 3.7 behind the ej box.Most n/a ej auto's were 4.11.

AndrewT · Post by **AndrewT** » Sat Dec 05, 2009 5:37 pm

It might be easier to just find an earlier model rear diff which has the male stub axels, then it will just go straight into the L series without any fuss.
Should be able to find them fairly easily in whatever ratio you need.

Regarding radiator / fan setups.....

You can hack the bottom radiator support panel out to make a standard Liberty radiator fit but yeah, you have to hack up your car a fair bit.

Alternatively you can use your existing L series radiator and mod the outlets to suit, but this isn't good, the L series radiator core isn't up to the task.

Best way I've found is to use your existing L series radiator frame and get a dual core put in with brass end tanks. This is fairly expensive (bout 500 bucks) and difficult to find a radiator place that does custom work, but seems to work the best.

Radiator fans, Davies Craig 12" work brilliantly and fit between the radiator and the engine, where they are supposed to go. They are abit expensive, alternatives with similar thickness can be had off Ebay and apparently work well but I can't vouch for the quality, Davis Craig are excellent.

The key is to have a very thin fan as there isn't much room between the radiator and the engine.
Make sure when fitting the radiator to get it to fit as far forwards in the engine bay as possible to help with this issue.

drof351 · Post by **drof351** » Sat Dec 05, 2009 6:19 pm

thanks andrew t, i just want to get it going now. need the car. Just gotta sort the shifter, still gotta do the harness, accelerator cable and radiator.All time consuming and im certainly lacking time at the moment

drof351 · Post by **drof351** » Sat Dec 05, 2009 11:14 pm

Does anyone have the wiring diagrams to suit the 98 Impreza Sports wagon auto? Thanks

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Tue Dec 08, 2009 3:01 pm

For the rear diff:

SUBIIE wrote:Rear Diff;

This look fairly straight forward, as the two have the same template but i am not sure about how the splines work on the EJ model diff! Do they simply come off the MY version and fit into the EJ version? Surely not!

PeeJay wrote:Yes, they do actually! But it you want them to stay in there you need to machine a groove in the stubs for the circlip that holds them in. Have a look at the Impreza shafts and you will see what I mean, the brumby stubs are held in with a bolt through the centre. Oh, and make sure you seal up the hole with silicone or something so your diff oil doesn't leak out.

Both of these quotes can be found in SUBIIE's Brumby WRX Project thread. I'm sure this will be the answer to your rear diff problem

Cheers

Bennie

Suby Wan Kenobi · Post by **Suby Wan Kenobi** » Tue Dec 08, 2009 4:59 pm

Just to clarify its going into an L series not an MY, L series is fine but into an MY the transmission tunnel is not big enough to fit an EJ auto.

drof351 · Post by **drof351** » Wed Dec 09, 2009 12:20 am

Thanks i'll have a look at that tomorrow. Yeh it is an L series. Is there a later model radiator you can buy off the shelf that fits the l series and has the ej size outlets? Has anyone got the wiring diagram to suit a 98 EJ20 auto? Thanks