ej18 conversion for my EA81 sedan.

stinky · Post by **stinky** » Mon Mar 27, 2006 3:02 pm

I have:

1 subaru leone currently running a dual carb ea81 on a 4spd dual range.
1 ej18 engine/ecu/loom ( unstripped )
1 ej18 radiator ( not sure if should use this or ea81 ? )
1 VL fuel pump
1 5spd dual range L series gearbox
1 EJ-EA gearbox adaptor with modified flywheel.
1 single piece tailshaft to suit above gearbox

To do:

* strip engine/gearbox out of leone
* respray engine bay
* strip loom
* modify radiator???? ( not sure what i need to do here... help).
* buy fuel filter for fuel pump
* buy a bunch of EFI fuel hose
* buy radiator hose?
* Pressure plate/clutch requirements ( Suba? )

I'm setting a tentative date for starting/doing the conversion for the 15th April. I'll want to have the engine/gearbox pulled out of it by then and the engine bay resprayed.

What else am I missing on my todo list?

Brett, is your place available on the 15th for doing it? ( would trailer it up there ) I've probably got a couple of mates who're keen to help as well, but would be good to do it under the eye of somebody who somewhat knows what he's doing.

Also Brett, how long would it take you to strip the loom ? Every time I go to do it I get scared off by the complexity of the loom.

xaymaca · Post by **xaymaca** » Mon Mar 27, 2006 5:01 pm

*1 Gearbox adapter to suit EJ motor --> EA gearbox?

stinky · Post by **stinky** » Mon Mar 27, 2006 5:16 pm

Oh yeah got that.... just added it into the list of stuff i have

Outback bloke · Post by **Outback bloke** » Mon Mar 27, 2006 5:48 pm

Brett, is your place available on the 15th for doing it? ( would trailer it up there ) I've probably got a couple of mates who're keen to help as well, but would be good to do it under the eye of somebody who somewhat knows what he's doing.

15th should be fine. We are doing Dave's or John's turbo conversion very soon but I think that will be the weekend before the 15th. With it being Easter weekend, we would be able to fit you in any way.

As for the mates; you are better off limiting the number of people leaning in to your engine bay. Too many people end up getting in the way. You and a mate is probably the ideal number but an extra one wouldn't hurt if you can get them under the car doing the gear box part.

Also Brett, how long would it take you to strip the loom ? Every time I go to do it I get scared off by the complexity of the loom.

Hour-ish. If you could get it here before you do the conversion so it is ready to go it would be of benefit.

BaronVonChickenPants · Post by **BaronVonChickenPants** » Mon Mar 27, 2006 6:21 pm

The generally recommended radiator mod is to enlarge the in/outlets in the EA81 rad to the same size as the EJ rad.

Jordan.

stinky · Post by **stinky** » Mon Mar 27, 2006 6:35 pm

Thanks Brett. when mates say they're keen for something, usually only one ever shows up, so yeah I don't expect I'd get a crowd

I forgot the 15th was around easter time, will double check I'm good for it, my family have a habit of organising stuff for xmas/easter and only telling me at the last minute.

If I get that rear step off that brumby ( will go first thing saturday morning ) I'll bring both it and the loom up this weekend sometime.

stinky · Post by **stinky** » Sun Apr 02, 2006 5:40 pm

ea81 Engine/Gearbox are out, engine bay is nice and empty.

Started to hook up the EA gearbox to the EJ engine prior to fitting but our street lost power meaning we lost power tools. Decided to call it a day.

Brett, We're probably gonna give it a go doing the conversion here at my place. Will drag it up your way if we balls it up and need help :P

I'll have to work out how I can get the loom to you sometime real soon to strip down for me.

stinky · Post by **stinky** » Sun Apr 02, 2006 5:45 pm

The only potentially structural modification to the body would be the slotting of the holes in the engine crossmember where the mounting studs slip through.

That was from the EJ sticky. Has anyone got a photo of what is done here?

Also what do I need to do in the way of engine/gearbox mounts? Can I use the EJ engine mounts and the L series gearbox mounts as they are, or will I need to do something funky?

BaronVonChickenPants · Post by **BaronVonChickenPants** » Sun Apr 02, 2006 6:03 pm

Tim discovered if you use the EA mounts then you don't need to mod anything it just goes straight in.

Otherwise you just file the engine mount holes a couple of mm towards the side of the car.

Jordan.

tim_81coupe · Post by **tim_81coupe** » Sun Apr 02, 2006 6:05 pm

BaronVonChickenPants wrote:Tim discovered if you use the EA mounts then you don't need to mod anything it just goes straight in.

Otherwise you just file the engine mount holes a couple of mm towards the side of the car.

Jordan.

You do need to drill a new hole in each engine mounting plate to use the EA mounts. The EA mounts are smaller and crappier, but you don't need to file out the crossmember and the bonnet will shut without crossmember spacing.

stinky · Post by **stinky** » Sat Apr 29, 2006 6:54 pm

nearly there! I got the fuel leaks under control with new hoses and clamps. It's not starting though, it cranks and sounds like it's trying to turn over but no start.

Looking at the 3 fuel in/outlets on the engine, which is which ? The following PIC shows how I have it :

Of course, it could just need a bit of throttle to start, but I've got no second person to manually do the throttle and no ej throttle cable to hook up yet.

chubby37 · Post by **chubby37** » Sat Apr 29, 2006 8:16 pm

mate....why dod you not yell out....i could have helped with the convertion....i,m even have a crane to pull the motor....you just needed to ask...you know i,m always ready to help

Craigus · Post by **Craigus** » Sat Apr 29, 2006 9:54 pm

Not sure about the in and out fuel pipes on that engine, but you will be able to tell by looking at which one connects to the fuel pressure regulator.

The other "?" one is the vacuum line to the tank - if you leave it open, there will be un-metered air entering the intake manifold and that might explain your difficult starting (or maybe not).

Suba · Post by **Suba** » Sat Apr 29, 2006 11:46 pm

First off I am certain thet the top hose should be fuel into the motor the one under that is the return and the other was a breather to the tank, thast how it was on my ej18.

Mike.

Suba · Post by **Suba** » Sat Apr 29, 2006 11:52 pm

stinky · Post by **stinky** » Sun Apr 30, 2006 6:38 am

hehe, so looks like I've got them the wrong way around ... will swap them over, see how it goes. will block up that third pipe also ... I think it used to go to the charcoal cannister or something?

stinky · Post by **stinky** » Sun Apr 30, 2006 10:30 am

and now for an AUSubaru.com exclusive. The first successful start.

CLICK ME!

Thanks everyone for the help! Big Kudos go out to Brett for stripping the loom ( even if it was 1 wire short :P ), Suba for the adaptor plate and for telling me which fuel hose to go where, and fury for finding readable ECU pinouts that showed me where that last wire was.

Also to Shane ( 82_leone ) and Glen for doing most of the work for me while I fetched cokes.

Still plenty to do, but the hard parts over.

WAHHOOOO!

Suba · Post by **Suba** » Sun Apr 30, 2006 12:45 pm

Thats awsome Stinky, well done on the job,they are a great motor.

Mike.

stinky · Post by **stinky** » Sun Apr 30, 2006 1:37 pm

Still plenty of little things to do, but it starts

Did you use flexible rad hose to connect up the radiator on yours or were you able to find the stiffish stuff that fit ?

Also, how did you do the filter? did you just chop the oem one up and use the end with the AFM attached and a pod filter adaptor ?

hatchback88 · Post by **hatchback88** » Sun Apr 30, 2006 1:57 pm

You can find rad. hose that is the smaller diameter, but opens up to to the larger diameter at one end. It's hard to find a perfect match using the premolded stuff, but what you can do is find two hoses with the angles you need, cut them and use a plastic hardware store union and hose clamps to put them back together.

For the intake, I bought an MAF adapter and pod filter, and simply rotated the whole plenum thing on the TB so it flipped upside down and the MAF and filter landed on the opposite side in that convenient empty space. That was with a legacy intake though, I had an impreza one and that didn't seem to work as well iirc.