Project Subaru powered Mazda B2200

[mazda ej22t]

So im a noob, and as i was about to post my thread, i hit back and deleted it all haha. So here we go attempt #2.

First off I have been reading here for a couple months, also making some posts on advice for some things. Great help so far. This build is still in progress, and i have been building it for about a month now. So here we go.

The plan: Put an EJ22T motor, 5spd 99 WRX type RA transmission, 99 legacy Outback diff and Subaru suspension into my little B2200.

I bought my 91 Mazda in January. Shortly after i dropped it 4" front and 4" rear by re-indexing torsion bars in the front and blocks/pulled middle leafs in the rear. This setup was tucking stock tires and was a bumpy ride because it was so low. Motor was 85Hp stock, it was very gutless, but i had funny drifting it around in the Ontario winter. The carb needed rebuilding, and i didnt want to throw money at a POS motor. So i started floating ideas around in my head.


I was on kijiji and found a 92 Legacy turbo asking $800. hmm....turbo AWD truck? Sounds good to me. $500 later i had a legacy at my house. Sweet. Took the truck off the road and away i go.



First thing was to get the the Mazda in the garage and starting tearing into it. After a couple days of working on it, exhaust, hood, grille, bumper, driveshaft, torsion bars, engine and tranny come out.



Cleaned all the brackets and misc things in the Mazda and kicked it out of the garage. Move over Mazda and bring in the Subaru.

Stripped the interior, pulled the dash, ecu wiring came out. I decided to pull the subframe out instead of just pull the motor.


This legacy had an automatic transmission which wasnt going to cut it for me. I went on kijiji and picked up a 99 wrx type ra transmission for $350.


Problem was it only came with the transmission, so i am sourcing parts right now. I picked up a GC impreza shifter assembly. I need an adapter from the Dealership for it to work. Also have the clutch fork coming soon too. Next up is the big thing which is clutch/pressure plate and flywheel. What do you guys recommend for brand? ACT, Exedy, Competition, other? Need to order this sometime in the near future.

After i dropped the subframe, i pulled off the transmission and took of the engine mounts, and threw the engine on the hoist. Then out with the Subaru in with the Mazda again. Now the fun begins.

Which brings me to today. I put the Mazda in and set the engine in the bay to see what problems i will be having to address. The Mazda engine bay is not long at all compared to the Subaru, so the engine will sit right behind the rad support. The headers are hitting the brackets for the front bumper, and the oil pan is hitting the manual steering rack.




So i will have to decide to either use the Mazda front suspension and steering and fit the motor in, or use the suspension, brakes from the Subaru.

Hope you guys like my idea and build so far and i will try to update when possible. Any comments/critisism/advice is much appreciated.
So now

[Rubasu]

dude i think ur best bet would be to use the subie front rack and suspension. but good on for the attempt. well i take that back the front end is really short, it looks like ur going to have to use a custom mount for this. i wish i could look at it first hand, then i could give u some more pointers on ur fabricating that will defiantly be needed. soooo lets get some more pics up please.

[Rubasu]

oh and you'll have to go rwd only with that short ass front end.

[evolutionmovement]

Unless he wants to build the front out like a beak.

[mazda ej22t]

ill try to get a good pic tomorrow for you guys. from measuring the axles should JUST be in line and keep the engine in the bay. i can take a lot more pics for you guys. id like to keep it awd but i know there is a good chance of having to be rwd. i will be going manual steering. i just love the feeling of it. ive been talking to a college teacher who races $50,000 dune buggys and hes going to have a look at it soon. he builds his own chassis and knows his stuff. tomorrow i plan to throw the tranny on the engine and set it back in there to see how close i can get it.

[Falken-18c]

waiting to see more about this build

[nikkiwade]

if you're noob I'm noober! that's a nice project, well kinda complicated for me coz I'm new in this things hope I'll get this things someday.



________________________

[nikkiwade]

I'm gonna start my project next week with my subaru. I'm now searching for subaru parts. whew thanks for posting this thread for giving ideas

[turbo-baron]

It's cool to see the progress photos dude! You still have that boom tube? haha

[mazda ej22t]

havent made any progress since i took on a bunch of projects for money and have had problems with my foresters :S it will be my winter project now

[darkcrave]

Wow that was a deal on the WRX RA tranny

[mazda ej22t]

we shall see. i must not have uploaded the other pics, it has a hole in it! i still need to find a 4.44 rear diff and collect more parts. its also didnt come with a clutch/flwheel/pressure plate. i wish i wasnt so busy its just calling my name! i've been working 11 hour days and building stuff on the side after that.

i have bought myself a 2000 forester s limited for $1300 and slammed it on wrx coilovers. i have been trying to get that up to date as i just blew my valves. so new timing belt amd water pump for me!

[xise]

why not just keep the Leggy SS lol?? That car looked pretty nice, plus it probably handles way batter than some dusty old mazda b2200 Oh well, kudos for trying something different, hopefully you can keep it awd, if not it will be a drifty beast

If you can't get that thing to fit and remain awd I say stick all those goodies back in that leggy , if you weren't so far away I would buy that shell from you, I was looking for a burgundy wine SS.

As far as your suspension queries, I'd say v1-6 STi struts and springs if you can get them mounted, I know nothing of b2200s so I have no idea what-all must be done to make that setup work. If the strut mounts are not the same 3 post setup, you would more than likely have to re-use your stock b2200 strut tops with the sti springs and struts...could work. If not you would have to fabricate a custom mount "adapter"

I would also try to swap over the legacy SS brakes as they are pretty decent, however if you can afford it you could grab up some subaru 4pot/2pot from either a 93-01 STi or an 06/07 wrx, good brake setup, more than enough for your ultra light pickup truck.

Also, and this is just a suggestion, seeing how you seem to be missing the front end from your b2200, you could even try to fit up the legacy front end, if your teacher makes custom dune buggies, you could probably get his help to cut/weld the legacy's front end to the chassis (just mounting points nothing structural) front end from a forester or impreza wouldn't look bad either, they are all kind of truck like....for a car anyway. Forester/impreza people might mistake for a Tacoma lol would definitely get a lot of double takes driving that around

[mazda ej22t]

thanks for the post! actually the b2200 would handle FAR better than the stock legacy suspension. My mazda has torsion bars not a strut setup. Honestly it was probably my best handling ride even better than my forester on coilovers. The front end was just taken off to work on it easier and get all my measurements. I am planning on taking the whole front subframe out of the legacy for the truck. so the brakes/suspension will be all exactly as what it came on the legacy. i will just make some cups for the strut assembly on the fender. From measuring i WILL be able to keep it AWD, unfortunately the engine will be right at my rad support, and with it being a truck this will be very front heavy. I think i want to use the stock legacy wheelbase length, which will require me to cut around 5" from my box which will even out the weight a tad. also thinking of mounting the radiator in the bed for better weight distribution. He is not my teacher, my dad is a teacher at a college and the mechanic teacher races and builds those race buggies in his garage. Im trying to convince my dad to get my truck out there lol

Right now i've just been building vanities for friends in my basement so i've been tied up. I have to build a couch next and THEN hopefully get back on it...just in time for winter haha. but the plus side i'll have money for a welder and compressor to really dig into it

[91legacyawdturbo]

WHY did you kill a turbo legacy for this swap???? a wrx front cut would have been better then what your doing. Just my thought.

[mazda ej22t]

WHY did you kill a turbo legacy for this swap???? a wrx front cut would have been better then what your doing. Just my thought.

understandable statement my friend

BUT if you can find a wrx for $500 let me know, or even $2000.

with buying this for $500 i get the strongest block built by subaru and a good foundation to start off with, not to mention parting the rest of the vehicle off for money. so now i have a full drivetrain to build from.

i can start stock and upgrade to 4 pot brakes later on. i can go bigger turbo/injectors/fmic from newer subarus. i can use coilovers or stock suspensions pieces from newer parts to get better handling.

all in all its a way better investment to do this than to get a wrx. if i were to want just the wrx parts i'd be spending a lot of money as well. i'd need struts, engine and wiring harness, ecu, transmission, rear diff, axles. if you can find ALL THAT for even close to $1000 i'd be doing that.

anyways i got working on the car again. cut around the strut tower so i can use to mock it in the truck. the front subframe is back out. working on the rear subframe this week. next will be getting the truck back in the garage and cutting the right inner fender and cutting out the frame infront of the firewall to start mocking in the legacy parts. also a hobart 140 welder will be on its way finally getting back into this project!

[91legacyawdturbo]

I agree with the money part but you destroyed a legacy turbo and that my friend is horrible! These cars are a rare piece of history.

[mazda ej22t]

ya i hear ya on that bud. there are actually quite a few in ontario though. its soul will live on in my truck and will be donating parts to help fellow legacy members on restoring theirs back to mint condition lol

the transmission was slipping and was starting to get some pretty good body rot. it would have needed quite a bit to bring it back to stock.

on another note i forgot to measure the front strut tower distance. can any of your fine gentleman measure the distance from tower to tower for me please!?

[Legacy777]

The turbo legacies are not as rare as some think they are. The production numbers Subaru states are grossly incorrect. There's more turbo Legacies on this forum than Subaru states were built.

[mazda ej22t]

to help out the cringe on your faces from tearing up a turbo leggy, i have gave away my hood, trunk, spoiler, door, fenders, sunroof, master cylinder, that piece behind the rear seats, headlights and turn signals

helping a few guys with free parts.

anyways. i forgot to get some measurements because i got too excited to rip it apart. can anyone help me measure the distance from tower to tower in the front and also the stock height from the ground to the top of the strut tower. just a ball park for the ground measurement. thanks for the help

[Legacy777]

This is for the 90 Legacy, but it may be helpful.

http://www.main.experiencetherave.com/s ... m_info.zip

[turbo-baron]

I agree with the money part but you destroyed a legacy turbo and that my friend is horrible! These cars are a rare piece of history.

I killed that leggy long before he got his hands on it lol

[mazda ej22t]

I killed that leggy long before he got his hands on it lol[/quote]

i hope your only refering to the tranny and not the engine my friend! lol

[mazda ej22t]

This is for the 90 Legacy, but it may be helpful.

http://www.main.experiencetherave.com/s ... m_info.zip

thats perfect. it says 39.11" which is what i needed thanks

[mazda ej22t]

from that site it only shows one measurement. can anybody get me 2 or all 3 bolt measurements from their vehicle please? my tower is completely cut off and i need 2 measurements for me to start tacking it up.

on another note, my buddies dad builds custom transport trailers, so over the christmas break he is allowing me to bring the truck in and work on it! im hoping to get the entire front end in place. meaning strut towers in place and a new frame from the firewall forward to accomidate the subframe piece. i should be moving the truck next week so stay tuned!