kimokalihi's 91 SS EJ20 Swap

[magicmike]

I found said sticky and I will do that. Don't want to because it's all "done" already but I will since it's peace of mind.

Thanks for the suggestion.

just re-read my post and realized I sounded like a dick, sorry

you need to fix that though

[evolutionmovement]

^That's funny. I do that myself sometimes, but usually it's because of my womanly mood-swings.

[kimokalihi]

No problem, I didn't take it offensively. I took it as a good suggestion and I'm glad you brought it up. In fact, after only sleeping 2 hours last night and laying in bed after waking up forever I got up and went to my parent's place and fixed the harness.

I didn't do it like you did though because I didn't have the patience lol. I always end up breaking the connectors trying to get those damn pins out anyways so instead I just cut off the connectors that I needed from a torn up EJ22T harness and cut off the bad connectors and soldered those ones in place. All done!

I got pictures but no time to upload them. I also got the intake manifold bolted on. Bypassed the throttle body coolant passage. Put the alternator back on. Hooked up the turbo coolant and oil hoses. Put the timing covers back on. And tightened the TClamp on the intake tube on the turbo inlet.

Got a lot done today. It's almost ready to go in now! Just a few more things.

Looking at it though, there's all kinds of vacuum lines that I don't know where they go. I think someone will need to come down and show me how it all goes.

[Legacy777]

The added benefit of those spacers is that it gives you a little more room under the intake manifold. I know with my setup the damn wiring harness is a tight squeeze, and I had to reroute it this past time when doing the work for the Link install.

Just a little side bar.

[kimokalihi]

You are absolutely right. I noticed when bolting it down that it was sitting right on the fattest part of the harness. If it weren't for those spacers I would have had to reroute it and possibly even change the harness to fit somewhere else.

[kimokalihi]

In the middle of fixing the wiring harness I put a new blade in my knife and set it on the engine. Next thing you know I bumped the engine and it fell off and stabbed me in the leg. Nice deep cut but not a big cut. Looks tiny but it went to the bone pretty much just in and out real quick. Barely bled at all and didn't hurt really aside from a quick sting.

My girlfriend always tells me to be careful and not to cut myself when I'm working on my cars. I always wonder why is she worried about me at all. I'm just working on my car. And why the hell does she always tell me not to cut myself? Apparently she saw this coming months or maybe even years ago. When I showed it to her she asked if I was going to put a band aid on it. lol no. It's barely a nick. Girls.

WARNING
Extremely Sharp Blade











Throttle Body Coolant Bypass Mod







Engine Assembled

[brand]

So you're probably gonna have to do the throttle body spacer with the EJ22T throttle body too?

If there's one thing I've learned from this engine swap is no matter how much you think you've got it planned out there's always a shit load more stuff you will miss that you have to do and/or buy to get it to work.

I don't have much money right now either. I wish I could sell all my spare parts and that other engine but I'm waiting to make sure I don't need any of them for my car. It would be pretty lame to sell something and then find out later that I need it and have to buy it again for a major loss on shipping both ways.

Yeah, I am going to use a TB spacer and I might go with those phenolic spacers for the manifold as well, depending on if I can squeeze them in my budget and still get it running sooner rather than later.

Looking back, I went about this all wrong. The first components I bought were a turbo, injectors, and heads. I knew I was doing it backwards but the prices were good and I didn't anticipate how badly the scope of these projects tends to creep. I should have done suspension and brakes and things that can be done ad hoc first, while collecting parts for the engine. I've got tons of parts on the shelf waiting for the engine to be pulled and I've got nothing to do to my car.

Anyway, got a bit off topic there, but thanks again for this build journal. I know I will be referring to it more than once when I'm starting in on my own.

[kimokalihi]

I've had my car for almost a year now without driving it once. I thought it would only take a couple months at most.

[kimokalihi]

Little more work done on the engine last night.

Turns out those phenolic spacers created a small problem with my coolant tank. The bolt hole on the bottom can't reach the bolt anymore. I just tightened the nut down and calmped it in there, it seems pretty sturdy. Doesn't move at all but I couldn't think of anything else to do. Except maybe use a wire to strap it to the bracket.









Then I fount out that since the EJ22T throttle body opening is longer than the EJ20G throttle body opening the intercooler doesn't fit right. It doesn't line up with the mounting brackets and the Y-pipe doesn't reach the turbo outlet. I'm hoping that with my silicone Y-pipe I can make that part fit right but I don't think I can make it mount right to the brackets.










Had to bend these coolant lines out of my way because the pipe that sits on the top of the engine goes right across them. Didn't have anything to cut them off with at the time so I just beat them out of the way with a hammer.








What's this hose for with the plug in the end of it?






What's all this nasty yellow stuff on the intercooler for?







Do these two pipes connect somehow? Is there something I'm missing here? I couldn't find any other parts to go here.







Some Bling lol






Exedy clutch kit

[Legacy777]

The EJ20 TB would have helped me get the AWIC better.

Good to know that tid bit.

[kimokalihi]

Oh yeah, I forgot to ask. Is there any other throttle body that has a shorter inlet hole but the same TPS connector as the 91-94 legacy turbos?

[SLODRIVE]

Oh yeah, I forgot to ask. Is there any other throttle body that has a shorter inlet hole but the same TPS connector as the 91-94 legacy turbos?

You can simply cut/grind your EJ22 throttle body down if you're having clearance issues. There should still be enough area for the silicone connector to seal up. You may also be able to trim the outlet on the IC.

[kimokalihi]

I thought about that when I was looking at it last night but I don't think you can cut anything off the throttle body and still have room to mount the intercooler to it. The problem is that on the EJ20G the throttle bracket sits further towards the front of the engine. On the EJ22T it sits back about an inch further towards the back of the engine. You can see the difference in the above picture with the two on top of each other. The EJ20G throttle bracket thing is in line with the TPS and on the EJ22T it's further back then the TPS so it would be in the way if I tried cutting it down.

[jamal]

you could get a shorter 2.75" silicone coupler (I think that's the right diameter). A silicone y-pipe would also help, or the metal hard pipes and a custom cut elbow.

I'm a little concerned about your timing belt tensioner. You shouldn't be able to just stick a pin in there even with the belt on. You would usually have to pry on it to compress it a bit beforehand.

[kimokalihi]

Shit. I knew it. I think it's not working properly. Because it slipped when I was tightening the cam gear bolts and I figured it should be tight enough to not slip because the engine puts a lot of torque on the belt when it's running.

I'll buy a new one damnit. Makes me mad. Which year/model has that weird new timing tensioner?

I need one quick, I think I'm almost ready to drop her in!

I got a bunch of new pictures to upload after I get home from the gym. I just got back from my parents house. Had to put the project on hold to go to the gym with my friend which I'm bummed about because I was getting shit done tonight!

Stripped a stupid transmission bolt hole up with about 15 lbs of torque I'd guess so that wasn't my fault.

Pictures and in depth update coming hopefully within 3.5 hours from now.

[PhyrraM]

Get one for an '02 WRX, will be the same.

[evolutionmovement]

Yeah, you should have to use a strong vise to compress the piston on the tensioner and it must be done slooowwly. Should take a few minutes to do.

[kimokalihi]

Yeah I've done them before with the old style ones. But this one I got the pin in before taking the belt off for once so it never decompressed on me. Usually only takes a minute to get them compressed with a vice. I've done it probably 3 times with the older ones. Just go like a quarter turn at a time and you can watch it go in and when it stops going in just do another quarter turn or so until it's all the way flush and throw the pin in.

I'll go order a new one right now. Pretty pissed that I have to take the timing covers and belt off again mainly because it's a pain in the ass to get the timing marks lined up when the left side cams (driver side) don't want to stay put.

[kimokalihi]

Anybody got a part number? I selected 2002 impreza and it comes up with several tensioners and I can't tell from the shitty pictures on the site if it's the right one or not. One of the diagrams shows 2 different parts as being the same part?

The difference in price ranges from $44 to $149! So I'd like to get the right one and I'm hoping it's not $150. Is it the same for DOHC and SOHC motors?

[kimokalihi]

Got the ligthweight clutchmasters WRX flywheel on. New pilot bearing, throwout bearing and Exedy clutch.








The Forester tranny was dirty. Went inside my parents house and found a tooth brush to clean it up after the wire brush proved too big.














This is me exhausted after pushing my car about 30 feet or so up my driveway into the garage by myself at 3:45 in the morning. I go to the gym 3-4 times a week and on legs day I do squats and let me tell you, this burned like squats have never burned like that before! The pain was almost unbearable. I was pushing so hard it was crazy. The car was on a slight incline but was also sitting for months and was in little ruts from sitting so long.







But it's in the garage now and I was going to pull the old tranny out and get ready to put the engine and trans in but found out how late it was and remembered I had to meet my gym partner at the gym soon so I called it a night.

[dropdfocus]

Fun fun fun!!!!

[PhyrraM]

The DOHC tensioner has the extra 'ear' to secure the timing belt covers.

Check out the "DOHC unspoken details thread", I believe I have pics of all the different versions.

[jamal]

that's the bracket. Also the newer bracket has another idler on it to add a bit more tension. Tensioners should all be the same, but getting one from a wrx would be your best bet.

And yes, the belt will slip if you try to tighten the bolts that way, even if the tensioner is working properly.

I use an old timing belt and loop it around the gears so that it wedges against itself. Works great for taking them off and putting them back on.

[kimokalihi]

I found and orderd the part. Don't bother trying to find it on the stupid subaru parts websites. It's impossible to locate. They had 5 different parts with the same number on the diagram picture! And they're so small you can't tell if any of them are actually what you need and all 5 parts are totally different!

Plus they had some parts listed as a 3.0l legacy????? WTF is that.

Anyways, that part number is 13033AA042. I searched ebay for the tensioner and someone had one for sale in the box from subaru with the part number in the picture so I used that and found it.

$108 plus shipping came out to $129

[evolutionmovement]

Isn't the 3.0 timing chain?