The AUSubaru.com.au Forums

gday guys, my mate has an rx turbo sedan and is thinking of getting rid of it, he thought about swapping my L series motor with his rx turbo, in terms of straight mounting the motor what modifications need to be made in terms of looms and wiring. will the dash cluster need to be replaced with the rx turbo dash. how hard is it to swap these motors ?

you mean you each swap each others motors ? so you have a turboed waggot and the RX is sacrificed to a carby motor ? That is two projects then ?

I'd say buy his and learn to surf outta the RX sedan and save yaself a little bit of work

nah his rx turbo is a rust bucket and falling apart, my L is in really good condition but it just needs some power so i can put 27'' tyres on and make it a surf machine.

If you are currently running an MPFI L wagon then this is a very straight forward swap. Take the RX engine cross member and engine wack it in the wagon and wire it all back up. Few minor tweeks and off you go (the wagon dash/ecu will run the 82T). For what it is worth if your grabbing bits off his RX then I would also suggest that you swap the rear disc breaks, the LSD, and beefier radius rods.

However if you have a carb motor in the wagon it’s a whole new game. This is a big project and your probably better to fix the rust in the RX. I am doing this project atm (converting carb sedan to RX) and I have had to change the fuel tank, all fuel lines and all the wiring/dash/ecu/etc and you’ll need a new exhaust. Its a big job… have a look at ToyRX and AndrewT threads to get an idea of what you in for… I know they converted to turbo EJ’s however your almost doing the same amount of work.

Oh and my 2 c if you do go ahead with the conversion then while the dash is out replace the heater core and seriously think about increasing the size of your radiator.

Good luck with it all, and keep us posted. Another L build up would be sweet.
Oh, and i am really hoping to get my wagon to Adelaide later this year (i want to drive as apposed to flying) so if there is some surf on would you be interested in showing me the secret local spots

yes, I agree.
mine was a MPFI wagon to start with, which made it easy. swapping over a carby to efi ain't simple, but can be done. do plenty of research through the relevant threads on here. you'll be stripping a lot out of the RX, and your wagon, and swapping it all over. And yes, if your doing it, go and swap the suspension goodies aswell.

ok well bugger that for a joke i've got a carby wagon.

BlackMale wrote:If you are currently running an MPFI L wagon then this is a very straight forward swap. Take the RX engine cross member and engine wack it in the wagon and wire it all back up. Few minor tweeks and off you go (the wagon dash/ecu will run the 82T).

Um... not always.

If you have a MPFI in Australia, it will be a 4 plug. If you have an Aussie delivered RX, chances are it will be a 3 plug. (Subaru Aus didnt sell many 4 plug RX turbos) Two completly different engine management systems.

However, if you have an MPFI, you can get a 88+ vortex motor and it will fit and plug straight in. Thats what i did

subusurfer wrote:ok well bugger that for a joke i've got a carby wagon.

don't let that put you off, most conversions are done to the carby wagons, there are more of them after all. Take the rear disc brakes off the rx too.

As I've said in the past I'd never convert a carby car to MPFI , simpler to sell the carb one and buy an MPFI one .

With the manual 4 plug cars I think the only wiring differences is the boost pressure switch and the nock sensors wire . I'd run the turbo computer if possible because its timing maps will better suit the lower compression ratio turbo engine .

Cheers A .

If you've got the whole car, just swap the entire loom from front to back, the instrument cluster (speedo etc) and all the associated bits in the engine bay, the engine, crossmember and the rear discs. The only thing you'll be missing from the wagon then is the light on the dashboard for the rear tail gate (when its open), but this can be added - check out the tech manual...

Doing that would be a lot more straight forward than splicing looms etc - thats the hardest part with the carbie to turbo/MPFI conversion. I'd know as this is what I did (carb to MPFI non turbo) - i've heard a few tell me that i'm nuts. That process found me this site and gave me a huge learning curve too...

Good luck with it, should be easy once your into it (May be fiddly at times too)

Cheers

Bennie