Checkers goes EJ - 85 RX gets an EJ 22

Checkers · Post by **Checkers** » Wed Dec 30, 2009 10:12 pm

Ok well after doing a heap of research and looking around here and a few other forums the time has come to give my 85 RX turbo a new heart.

The current EA 82T has 210 000 km on it and still runs sweet but it is not much good for towing and I like to take the van up the beach. So the decision has been made that an EJ 22 is the new heart of choice.

As luck would have it I picked up an early 90's Liberty, one owner, 130 000km full service history that runs very nice. I also got a power steering rack and a few bits from a 2001 forester half cut. Lastly I picked up an adapter and clutch from BlueSteel (thanks heaps looks great)

So the plane is as follows:

Fit the P/S from the Forester with the Liberty Pump and lines.
Fit the EJ 22
Fit the Liberty radiator and fan.
Fit the Liberty A/C Condensor and lines
Modify the current 2/1/2" exhaust to suit the Ej 22.
Fit the Bull Bar I bought of Ebay
Fit new wheel bearings.

And just to make it all fun get it done and sorted by Monday so I can get the a/c gassed and lines modified as needed to go up the beach tuesday.

Sounds simple enough wish me luck ...

Will be doing all the work in my shed / drive way so will try and get some pics to show how I progress.

Checkers · Post by **Checkers** » Wed Dec 30, 2009 10:16 pm

The RX as it started, I bought of eBay a while back and drove up to Sunshine coast to get it. Was a great buy and the guy I got it off was great to deal with. It had been very well looked after and had quite a bit of $$$ spent on it ..

And the donor car which will be giving its eng, air con and no doubt a few other bits as time goes on..

AndrewT · Post by **AndrewT** » Thu Dec 31, 2009 10:47 am

Good man, tried and tested conversion and perfectly suited to your application. Should be very reliable given the apparent history of the EJ22 you've scored.
Hope you have a mate or two to help you who've been involved in conversions before, aiming for Monday may be abit ambitious but similar conversion times have been done for sure

You may run into issues with the aircon, depends how good your a/c place is at retro-fitting and adapting, the fittings will need some customising.

Liberty radiator you can make fit alright by hacking up your lower radiator support panel and doing abit of welding, but you won't get the liberty fans to fit - they are massive and you won't have the real-estate between the radiator and the front of the motor. Grab some nice thin 12" after market fans. Davies Craig work great but are quite expensive. There are some similarly thin ones available from Ebay but you'd be scratching to get them by Monday. This will need abit of driving around to auto parts stores to find some suitable I think.

You might need to run a few searches on here for precise info on the power steering, you need to do abit of mixing/matching of parts to get that rack in there.

Got someone lined up to cut the EJ wiring loom down and help you patch it into the dashboard? This is fairly complex and confusing if you haven't done it before, very easy to write-off a loom if you get just a few wires wrong and virtually impossible to reverse-engineer it if you give it to an expert to "fix it".

Good luck and be sure to post plenty of progress pics

Checkers · Post by **Checkers** » Thu Dec 31, 2009 11:10 am

Thanks for yje info.

Engines are out, loom is out of Liberty and dash is out of RX, funnily enough I am in here now downloading a wiring diagram for the EA82T / EJ 22 so I can see what is what and get the loom in. I would expect the EJ 22 to be in tonight with exhaust done and loom spliced... should be a late night.

I think libert fans will fit if I give it some luvin... got a mig for xmas so will cut and weld some stuff as needed.

steptoe · Post by **steptoe** » Thu Dec 31, 2009 1:42 pm

Ooh...I can see your place now, stuff EVERYwhere. At least you have started with an efi vehicle. I too like your enthusiasm, time wise. Some guys are in here for months doing their EJ conversions. Using an adaptor means you keep L Series gearbox, and tailshaft so all your work is up front and under THAT dash!! Watching keenly

Checkers · Post by **Checkers** » Thu Dec 31, 2009 4:22 pm

That dash sucks ,.,.. having never pulled an L series dash before I am not looking forward to putting it back ...

Anyone got any wireing help for the EA82 Dash / ECU ?

showthread.php?t=15761

Checkers · Post by **Checkers** » Fri Jan 01, 2010 9:02 am

Well the engine is in, exhaust is tacked in place, Liberty Radiator has been "Made" to fit with fans and loom is roughed in. Today I will hopefully get the loom spliced in and see if this bad boy is going to start.

Also got the front wheel bearings done and the power steering rack installed. Had to modify a few things but I didn't really think it was going to fit without some tweaking.

The EJ engine in the Liberty.

Checkers · Post by **Checkers** » Fri Jan 01, 2010 9:06 am

The EA 82T in the RX ... not for long ..

Checkers · Post by **Checkers** » Fri Jan 01, 2010 11:06 am

hmmm it seems the Liberty Radiator is a little bigger than the EA one ..

Checkers · Post by **Checkers** » Fri Jan 01, 2010 12:10 pm

The EJ loom was removed from the Liberty by removing the dash, pretty easy since the engine was out and I am wrecking the car so I just ripped it all out ..

Once out I laid it on the floor and checked out lengths and what I would need to do to get it to fit.

Looks simple enough.

I started by mounting the ECU. As the RX was already EFI the old ECU was mounted under teh steering column. SO I removed it and made a bracket to allow the EJ ECU to fit on the same mounts.

The OLD EA ECU (Black) and the new EJ ECU silver

Simple mark out the EA ECU mounts and then cut plate to fit .

I then simple opened up the ECU, cut off the EJ mounting brackets and bolted the backing plate to the new bracket.

Then bolt it in the factory location

Checkers · Post by **Checkers** » Fri Jan 01, 2010 12:11 pm

Now the ECU is mounted I just need to sort out a few wires and she will be all ready to go driving ..

Checkers · Post by **Checkers** » Fri Jan 01, 2010 12:14 pm

After looking at a few options to get the loom into the engine bay I decided to cut a new hole in the top cover. I did this as the knock sensor and others on the small plugs didn't have enough length to reach if I went through the factory hole on the drivers side inner guard.

So I cut a hole.

This then allowed me to use the factory fire wall grommet from the Liberty.

Checkers · Post by **Checkers** » Fri Jan 01, 2010 12:17 pm

The other thing I did yesterday was fit the power steering from the Forrester. It was a 2001 model and after some tweaks went in where I wanted it , should be nice to have some power steering .

I had to use Liberty P/S lines and pump to suit the EJ 22.

Checkers · Post by **Checkers** » Fri Jan 01, 2010 12:20 pm

As far as the exhaust goes the EJ 22 Headers married up with the RX system with a few modifications. I currently have two cats on there but I will be putting a 2/1/2 inch stainless system on as soon as I get some more Argon for the Tig, damn holidays and people not working ..grrrr.

Checkers · Post by **Checkers** » Fri Jan 01, 2010 12:23 pm

And lastly the EJ 22 in the EA engine bay with the loom laying in and the EJ 22 AFM and upper air box section on the EA 82 lower section. I will take some pics of the mods but needless to say it is pretty cool that you can use the EJ 22 Cleaner and upper section on the EA82 lower section.

The RX will be getting a 3" stainless snorkel in the very near future, just don't think I will get time before Monday to get it sorted without gas.

steptoe · Post by **steptoe** » Fri Jan 01, 2010 12:39 pm

WOW ! Checkers does not muck about. Might have to turn my pictures ON to view. I always wondered but never asked what converters did with getting the loom through firewall and you answered it. Noting more and more manufacturers are eliminating wires and possible shorting faults by mounting ECU under bonnet. First to do I noted was the Rodeo V6.

Checkers · Post by **Checkers** » Fri Jan 01, 2010 7:47 pm

Well time for dinner and an update - at 1535 today Checkers new heart was kicked in to life and I am happy to say pured like a kitten ..

Still need to weld up the exhaust and tidy up a few things. If all goes to plan I will be ready to put the dash back in tommorrow and go for a spin.

I took a video of it running but I am having issues with upload.

Radiator and fans are now in, still need to get some longer heater hose before I can bleed it up and run it up to temp. Also need to sort out the Air con.

I ended up using the ECS dash light for my Engine Warning Light which seems to work well.

Anyway will find out tomorrow how it all goes ..

Post by **TOONGA** » Fri Jan 01, 2010 7:58 pm

congratulations I wish I had all the stuff you have to get the job done quickly and from the looks painlessly

TOONGA

Gannon · Post by **Gannon** » Fri Jan 01, 2010 8:37 pm

Have you got any pics of what you had to chop out / modify to fit the liberty radiator?

Checkers · Post by **Checkers** » Fri Jan 01, 2010 8:46 pm

TOONGA wrote:congratulations I wish I had all the stuff you have to get the job done quickly and from the looks painlessly

TOONGA

Cheers, what stuff are you talking about ?