EJ18 -> MY Tourer cont. More Q's

BaronVonChickenPants · Post by **BaronVonChickenPants** » Tue Oct 18, 2005 3:39 pm

OK I'm starting to get serious about this conversion now, mainly because I don't know how much longer my current car is going to last, any moment I'm expecting it to fall apart and leave my sitting in the middle of the highway holding an un-attached steering wheel and skidding along on my arse, surrounded by flying parts and swerving cars.

I've declared my current loom a lost cause:

1. I've discovered my tourer comes with a fuel return line and a fuel pump mounted underneath, so if I was to replace the current pump with something like an EA82 EFI pump would this do the job or should I still feed the surge tank with the EA81 pump and use the EA82 pump between the surge tank and the engine?

2. I curently have a 5spd FWD box that came with the motor, this will do for now, I'll upgrade to AWD later. The stub axles are 23 spline, some googling tells me that my current cv's should go onto these stub axles with out the need to replace the DOJ's with Impreza DOJ's, is this correct?

3. I need the alternator and mounting brackets, are these the same for all EJ's?

So given that my assumptions are correct, now all I need to get it running is an EJ alternator and mounting brackets, the EA82 EFI fuel pump and the prepared loom from sunspares.

Does anyone have a spare alternator and brackets or suitable EFI pump going for a reasonable price?

Thanks,
Jordan.

midnight · Post by **midnight** » Tue Oct 18, 2005 6:32 pm

I have an ea81 alternator and bracket. Or are you after ej alt. and brackets?

Suba · Post by **Suba** » Tue Oct 18, 2005 7:27 pm

3. I need the alternator and mounting brackets, are these the same for all EJ's?

hmmm looks like he is after an ej one to me.
As far as your fuel pump i would do as most of the ej conversions have done and get a bosch fuel pump to suit a VL commodore , they work a treat .

Mike.

tim_81coupe · Post by **tim_81coupe** » Tue Oct 18, 2005 10:31 pm

Seems strange your tourer has a fuel return, are you sure this isn't a vapour line?
The VL pump (Bosch p/no 0580 464 070 - yes I know that off the top of my head

) is good for just about every EJ motor, I am only now upgrading from this in my coupe due to the injectors being nearly 200cc larger than stock each! Shhh!

That wiring loom is a lost cause, BTW.

BaronVonChickenPants · Post by **BaronVonChickenPants** » Tue Oct 18, 2005 10:49 pm

Yeah I'm after an EJ alternator, thanks for the offer though Chris.

I'm 90% sure it's a fuel return, I'll check it tomorrow and let you know.

So far on the loom I have 2 votes to bin it and 1 vote + a wiring diagram + a saving of $450+p&p to keep it. (Thanks Ben

)

Another incentive is if I can get my current loom to work then my budget allows me to get an AWD box and associated custom tailshaft.

Thanks for the model number Tim, I've heard of some VL pumps being noisy, is that this pump or the stock pump, I'm guessing stock pump.

I'm also going to test my cv's on the FWD box tomorrow, I'll let you know how that turns out too.

Jordan.

SuBaRiNo · Post by **SuBaRiNo** » Tue Oct 18, 2005 10:52 pm

ok... u can use the ea82 efi pump with no woirries on that engine... i would recomend not using an EFI pump for a surge tank... use a carby pump. I am running the Bosch pump as suggested though. Although this pump is better than the ea82efi i fear it is less reliable.

The wiring harness looks BAD... some of them wires are sppecially sheilded... if they pick up any interfearance the car wont work properly. I would not recomend trying to mend that harness.

Im not aware of any ea81 model car having a return line. And even if it did it would more than likely be too thin to use. Raid a parts car and get the entire copper feed line from it... run is parellel with your stock feed line and sikaflex it in. Im sure u will find the line u think is a return is infact a vapour line like Tim says.

I belive all the EJ series engines that i have seen do have the same alterntor brackets but thats just a guess... be aware there are a few different types of alterrnators with different plugs in the top.

SuBaRiNo · Post by **SuBaRiNo** » Tue Oct 18, 2005 11:21 pm

Yes the Bosch pump is a little noisey but as long as it is set up well to keep the air out it will be fine.

Dave

tim_81coupe · Post by **tim_81coupe** » Wed Oct 19, 2005 12:06 am

SuBaRiNo wrote:Im not aware of any ea81 model car having a return line.

Not in Australia Dave, but our friends across the Pacific had them in their "Turbo Traction" models.

The stock VL pump as fitted to them off the production line was apparently a really noisy unit. The Bosch one can be noisy too, but only if its mounted badly. Make sure you rubber mount it, I had mine hard mounted to the undercarriage when I first put my car together and it gave me headaches.

BaronVonChickenPants · Post by **BaronVonChickenPants** » Wed Oct 19, 2005 12:33 am

OK rubber mounts it is.

The wiring harness looks BAD

Vote noted: 3 for bin vs 1 for keep

And yes when I first saw it I thought "You have got to be kidding me"

Then I got it home and attempted to strip it down and my thoughts were filled with 4 letter words

My verdict at this point is "give it a go but don't expect much" that way if it doesn't work, fair enough and I'll hit up sunspares for a pre-modfied one, if it does work I'll be f***ing stoked and I'll celebrate with an AWD box

Thanks for the input guys, keep it coming.

Jordan.

tim_81coupe · Post by **tim_81coupe** » Wed Oct 19, 2005 1:18 am

Oh, and AFAIK EJ alternators differ slightly model to model, my EJ20G alternator has 4 wires as opposed to EJ22 ones which have 3 wires. At a guess I'd say the EJ18 would have a three wire as well, but you'd prolly be able to wire in whichever you find.
As for the mounting brackets, I'm really not sure. All the EJ alternators I've seen are centrally located on the motor with a long bolt on the LH side to adjust height (for the belt tensioning). But knowing Subaru there'd be different brackets for every option difference, ie A/C and P/S.

Those CV's sound like they'll work, from memory my AWD turbo box has 25 spline stubs, and I'm pretty sure the MY's have 23.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Oct 19, 2005 8:18 am

Wiring Harness: I can't judge your electronic aptitude, but even though I had a complete un-touched Liberty loom I still got someone to do it for me. From my perspective it just wasn't worth the bother.

Fuel Pump: The VL pump is commonly refered to as a Bosch 400hp. I'm running it without a surge tank on my EJ20 and it's a pearler. Surge tank can come later (after AWD box and tail shaft!).

CV Joints: I'm not sure on this one, but I thought you still needed to use the EJ Series inner cups on the EA series shafts and outers. That's just what I can remember someone telling me oh so long ago.

MY_STI · Post by **MY_STI** » Wed Oct 19, 2005 8:25 am

we did get a fuel return line in aus for the carbs, at least the last 3 84's ive dismantled had one, it was my thinkng that any MY with the rear pump had one, whereas the front pumps didn't ?

anyway, it is far to small to use for an efi return line, i just used a supply line from a donor which does the trick.

it would pay to run a surge tank as MY tanks arent baffled, (you may pick up air bubbles when lowish on fuel and cornering hard, inclines etc)

as for the loom, good luck.

BaronVonChickenPants · Post by **BaronVonChickenPants** » Wed Oct 19, 2005 1:31 pm

Electronic aptitude: somewhere between intermediate and advanced. Once I know where the wires are supposed to go it's not a problem for me to solder them.

It is definitely a fuel return line, there's 3 lines that run from the engine bay to the rear, 2 go into the tank, one is very small, there is a 3rd line that is between the main and return lines in size but I can't figure out where it goes.

This is where it heads to the front of the car.

Main and return line at fuel tank.

This is the extra line, it heads out into the rear quarter, what it does from there I have no idea, it might join into the breather line that goes to the side of the filler neck, but I'm not sure, that line is on the opposite side of the filler neck:

Jordan.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Oct 19, 2005 5:04 pm

That'd be your vapour line from the charcoal canister, I'm pretty sure it goes to the filler neck but not 100%.

BaronVonChickenPants · Post by **BaronVonChickenPants** » Wed Oct 19, 2005 5:38 pm

why would the vapour line be bigger than the fuel return line?

Could I use the vapour line as the fuel return line and vice versa?

Cheers
Jordan

SuBaRiNo · Post by **SuBaRiNo** » Wed Oct 19, 2005 8:35 pm

Dude... feel free to ignore me... but we have made some BIG mistakes over here with our EJ conversions... One being using a fuel return that is too small. The fuel return on these is IMPORTANT. Belive it or not... if it is in some way restricted the engine will flood.

Don't use the vapur line or i will cry.

I had a perfect wiring harness that i cut down and installed... everything was fine untill i hit the freeways.... then it would go to shit.. turned out to be wiring interfearance in the harness. I have seen this happen on another harness too.

I fear your lining yourself up for a lot of un-explained problems. Them shielded wires will be your problem... I wouldn;t join them... i would attempted to locate identicle sheilded cable to replace the entire length with.

Who has said to attempt that harness... have they done an EJ conversion on there own? From what i can see the people telling u to get another one have actually done the conversion.

Im just trying to help... feel free to prove me wrong... im just speaking from experience.

Dave

BaronVonChickenPants · Post by **BaronVonChickenPants** » Wed Oct 19, 2005 9:05 pm

It's ok Dave, I'll do my best not to make you cry, I appreciate you input just as much as everyone else (read that however you see fit

)

Ben aka MechaWagon is the one giving me a hand to work out my current harness.

I wont hold it against anyone if it doesn't work but it doesn't hurt to try, I always enjoy a challange.

We've just discovered that the engine is a spfi model, does anyone know how this effects fuel delivery requirements?

Jordan.

tim_81coupe · Post by **tim_81coupe** » Wed Oct 19, 2005 10:00 pm

Well Subamike is the one to talk to then, his MY runs an EJ18 SPFI.

AFAIK he runs the 070 bosch pump, WITHOUT a surge tank!

SuBaRiNo · Post by **SuBaRiNo** » Wed Oct 19, 2005 10:33 pm

He does want to fit a surge tank though... i belive he has surging issues when the tank is low.

Dave

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thu Oct 20, 2005 2:00 am

Well I've had my EJ in for nearly a year now, no surge tank, I take the car seriously off road about once a week - up hills, down hills, crazy side angles, wheels feet in the air - and I have never, that's not one time had a fuel pick up problem. Full tank, empty tank, it doesn't matter; and that's with the EA82 carby tank (ie without the inbuild surge baffle).