EA82 Carb to MPFI TURBO

brian86t · Post by **brian86t** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 7:53 am

Aight, I'm new to suby's, I've lots of experience with nissan, but I just got a free 1987 subaru GL with a bad engine. I just bought a new engine, and it came turbocharged. the old engine is carbed. What modifications do I need to do to the chassis, fuel and electrical systems in order for this to work? I apologize if this question has been asked before, I searched and could not find it.

AndrewT · Post by **AndrewT** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 9:02 am

Hi,

Fuel, at the very least you need the MPFI fuel pump. Ideally you need the tank and lines too but you can get away with the carby ones.
Wiring, you need to swap either the entire wiring loom from the MPFI model car or run an aftermarket ECU (Wolf3d or Microtech or similar).

A quick search has revealed these threads with some good info, there are quite a few more.
showthread.php?t=10146&highlight=ea82t+conversion
showthread.php?t=3860&highlight=ea82t+conversion
showthread.php?t=3221&highlight=ea82t+conversion
showthread.php?t=3411&highlight=ea82t+conversion
showthread.php?t=3265&highlight=ea82t+conversion

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 9:47 pm

For your time and effort, your better of going down the EJ route. If I had have known about it, I'd be running an EJ now.

But, if you got the engine cheap, have all the parts/wiring, it won't be hard to do.

If you have the donor car and the car is the same as yours (sedan or wagon) I'd recommend stripping out all the wiring from the donor car and shoving it in yours. This will eliminate splicing issues etc and will be a lot easier to do.

As Andrew T said, fuel will be the biggest change, apart from the engine crossmember. I ran a high pressure pump, no surge tank, standard carbie lines and fuel tank without any real problems. I did experience a dead pump in perth, probabily due to it being secondhand. I also experienced a random surging, apparently due to the fuel lines being the standard carbie setup (different sizes to eachother).

Good luck with it either way, the guys with the EA82 turbo love them.

Cheers

Bennie

steptoe · Post by **steptoe** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 10:44 pm

You could put it on LPG and possibly save a lot of other hassle if you can get a gas system to work on the turbo.No pump needed coz fuel is under preure from tank, no return lines or surge tank, just a gas line, I am still to sort mine out

Ignition is a question. What sort of dizzy is in the turbo donk ? One with advance weights inside from a 3 plug ECU or the four plug ecu dizzy with no guts?

brian86t · Post by **brian86t** » Tue Jul 01, 2008 11:08 am

k... call me stupid... but I'm an American... and I don't quite understand everything that was said. Some of it (dizzy = distributor) makes sense, that's just shop talk... but what in heaven's name is a turbo donk?

brian86t · Post by **brian86t** » Tue Jul 01, 2008 11:15 am

anyway, the engine came with a lot of stuff (distributor, a/c, alternator, turbo, etc...) basically the japs just cut the car away and shipped the engine... the upper mount is seriously just cut right off. Right now I'm debating about tearing the turbo stuff off and making it a carbed engine just for simplicity sake. basically, I don't know that I love this car yet, and don't know if I want to dump a couple thousand into it....

Suby Roo · Post by **Suby Roo** » Tue Jul 01, 2008 11:18 am

He pretty much just means what sort of dizzy is on the turbo motor (donk)!!

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Tue Jul 01, 2008 2:08 pm

brian86t wrote:Right now I'm debating about tearing the turbo stuff off and making it a carbed engine just for simplicity sake. basically, I don't know that I love this car yet, and don't know if I want to dump a couple thousand into it....

You'll have problems doing this - the MPFI has a twin inlet port heads, the carbie does not. Also the Turbo motor has a lower compression ratio to that of a Naturally Aspirated motor. The way they do this is with different piston heads and possibly cam timing.

I'd get all the wiring together to run this engine and go for it! Everyone that's had the turbo EA82 has loved it.

Cheers

Bennie

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Tue Jul 01, 2008 2:09 pm

brian86t wrote:Right now I'm debating about tearing the turbo stuff off and making it a carbed engine just for simplicity sake. basically, I don't know that I love this car yet, and don't know if I want to dump a couple thousand into it....

You'll have problems doing this - the MPFI has a twin inlet port heads, the carbie does not. Also the Turbo motor has a lower compression ratio to that of a Naturally Aspirated motor. The way they do this is with different piston heads and possibly cam timing.

I'd get all the wiring together to run this engine and go for it! Everyone that's had the turbo EA82 has loved it.

Cheers

Bennie

brian86t · Post by **brian86t** » Fri Jul 04, 2008 7:54 am

well... hm. what if I just put the turbo on the carburator? I can't find anywhere to buy the ECU or wiring harness... maybe I'm looking in the wrong places, but I have searched for hours trying to find anything (maybe I'm just better under the hood than on the net) help?

Gannon · Post by **Gannon** » Fri Jul 04, 2008 5:30 pm

If you are in the US, id suggest looking at UltimateSubaru.org

We need to find out what type of motor it is, 3 Plug or 4 Plug.

Have a read of 3 & 4 Plug ECU Comparisonto learn more.

Did it come with an Air Flow Meter (aka MAF or AFM)? It is attached between the turbo and the air filter box

What does the plug on the distributor look like?

Subafury · Post by **Subafury** » Fri Jul 04, 2008 8:22 pm

ill have a turbo motor with aftermarket ecu for sale soon if your keen, depending where you are of course.

brian86t · Post by **brian86t** » Thu Jul 10, 2008 12:50 pm

sweet- I just found a wiring harness at ultimatesubaru... the irony? it's in sidney, OH, USA... I thought you guy's would get a kick outta that... considering I stumbled upon a australian site and end up getting a part from a aussie named city... anyway, thanks lots! I'll prolly still post questions and suggestions and such... thanks!

CPOCSM · Post by **CPOCSM** » Thu Jul 10, 2008 10:25 pm

steptoe wrote:You could put it on LPG and possibly save a lot of other hassle if you can get a gas system to work on the turbo.No pump needed coz fuel is under preure from tank, no return lines or surge tank, just a gas line, I am still to sort mine out

Ignition is a question. What sort of dizzy is in the turbo donk ? One with advance weights inside from a 3 plug ECU or the four plug ecu dizzy with no guts?

Just had the car in for a service and enquired about the LPG conversion. The blunt reply is dont bother if it is a 4 cylinder. The loss in power and the installation into the smaller capacity engines are not worth the effort or the time according to my mechanic. He even baulks at the RB30(?)nissadore engines due to their small capacity and, in NA guise, poor torque. This is the area he highlighted in that your torque curve will plummet.

So I am destined to run the Soob on Vortex until they ban oil use:)