Jessekrs123's 1993 Subaru Legacy L EG33 Swap

[Jessekrs123]

Well guys, I always felt that my car was inadequate for a member journal, until I finally came across an SVX in fair condition. Yes, my Legacy will be receiving an extra row of pistons sometime in the future.

I have been looking for an SVX for a while now and never came across one that was affordable, or working... Until I found this 1992 SVX that I purchased. The car is in perfectly running condition. At almost 140,000 miles, the engine will be receiving new seals and general maintenance crap. It runs like a top though, no CEL which means no wiring worries, and the car stays nice and cool which is a trouble spot for these cars.

What am I getting myself into??? I already have an unfinished BRAT project, but oh well, I like to keep myself busy so...

Legacy


SVX


Both


I have done hours and hours of research on this swap and from what I have seen, wiring and radiator mounting are going to be the biggest problems. I've been through Jedz build on his Legacy, dirtyimpreza's outback wagon build, biggreens build in his rally Legacy, been through the H6 Impreza resource thread on NASIOC, been through taiden's build mostly youtube videos but very very helpful, jakeachy's youtube videos of his EG33 GC, huck's EG33 swap videos (all of them). Basically there is a lot of info on this swap, and if I hit a snag somewhere there is a lot of good info out there and I'm sure a lot of guys are willing to help me out if I need it.

For wiring, I plan on gutting the SVX harness down to what is only needed for the engine to run (ECU harness) and de-pinning any unnecessary things from the SVX ECU such as any automatic transmission controls and A/C controls (unless I can fab up new lines for A/C to fit the condenser somewhere... possible first EG33 swap with A/C??? Perhaps...). I will be leaving my Legacy harness in, removing the ECU, de-pinning any necessary wires from the Legacy ECU and pinning them into the SVX ECU for things such as the fuel pump and ignition relays, back up power supply, and starter signal so I don't have to re-wire much to merge the harness. I figure the less soldering and crimping, the better. Ofcourse this might constitute drilling new holes into the firewall for the SVX harness, and I'll have some Legacy sensors dangling, but I'll find a spot for those. I want to be able to go back to the EJ22E as fast as possible if needed. This is what I plan, but we'll see what happens because nothing ever goes as planned... If I missed anything let me know!!

As for the radiator, people have success with the Saab 900 turbo radiator, but we'll see when we get there as to what I can use. I want to be able to run 2 radiator fans and use a proper radiator that will accommodate for the cooling needed to keep this engine at proper temperature. I want to also attempt to use the ECU signal to activate the radiator fans (high speed and low). Some people just throw in a relay and switch them on when it gets warm. I want to attempt to use the Subaru radiator fans (either the Legacy or the SVX), but space is a big issue and the fans and the shroud take up a lot of space. If worse comes to worse I'll just get some thin fans and wire them in. All of this will be figured out once I take my front end apart.

The EGR system will be removed and blocked off and some other miscellaneous stuff needed to get the engine operating such as modifying the throttle cable to fit the throttle body and whatnot...

Most of this build is going to be preparation for the engine to go in (wiring and maintenance to the engine, and whatever problems I come across while working on the engine). The engine should bolt right up to the factory mounts, people debate on using the receiving cars mounts or the SVX mounts, or cutting up and fabbing some mounts using the SVX mounts, group N mounts make the engine sit higher (IIRC), fabbing some nice solid steel mounts or what have you. Any way, the engine will drop and fit into the mounts.

The EG33 will slide onto the bell hosing no problem. This ofcourse will be going into my 5 speed Legacy (FWD) so the swapping of clutch/pressure plate and flywheel will be necessary. I dropped in a new clutch into the Legacy some 5,000 miles ago, so I will check on it's condition and determine whether or not to replace it with a fresh one. I'm not sure how the FWD tranny will hold up, but I went through Jedz build on NASIOC into his FWD first gen Legacy (I am pretty certain his was FWD, but I'm not 100%, if I am wrong someone correct me) but unfortunately his engine caught fire due to a injector that got stuck open. This thing will be far from abused or raced, jamming the transmission in and out of gears. Just the occasional spirited driving as all.

And I'm sure there is much more that I have neglected to mention here, but I am pretty sure I covered the basics so far. If you think my plan is completely wrong and stupid let me know. I'm open to any criticism.

Thanks.

[kimokalihi]

Cool. Take lots of pictures and document all modifications and problems you run into and solve. H6's sound amazing with an exhaust.

[Jessekrs123]

Cool. Take lots of pictures and document all modifications and problems you run into and solve. H6's sound amazing with an exhaust.

I will make sure to record as much info as possible throughout this swap. And yes, H6s do sound fantastic, this SVX actually has a tiny exhaust leak, I took a video when I first got the thing. Here it is, check it out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9ZwVQYS ... ature=plcp

[Jessekrs123]

Spent effing 5 hours today out in my cold driveway attempting to get the interior apart. Boy do they build these things to not be taken apart. Out of 5 hours, I barely got anything done and I'm pulling my hair out at what a pain in the ass it is to get everything apart.

Everything is clipped in and the clips are so hard to get at...




I will be pulling the engine as soon as my father moves his Cummins and I have some space in the driveway.

[Jessekrs123]

Well fellas, I am pretty sure I figured out the wiring as far as merging the two harnesses go. As previously stated, I will be de-pinning my Legacy ECU and pinning those wires into my SVX ECU. I have mapped out what will need to be de-pinned and re-pinned. The following diagrams illustrate my point:

SVX ECU pinout in respects to merging the Legacy pins:

This diagram does not isolate each connector as a certain letter or number, so I lettered them myself with each connector receiving a corresponding letter under it's position.
(Thanks Taiden for this pinout)

Legacy ECU pinout in respects to merging into the SVX ECU:


(Thanks vrg for these pinouts)

One thing that I had noticed is that every pin that needed to be merged had the same exact pin number in both cases of ECUs. This was very helpful in the following way: If you look at both pinouts, there are 2 power supplies that need to be merged, but neither of them are isolated in any way, they are both labeled the same "Power supply". Example below:


That was a help because I was confused on where it should be re-pinned, but I'm sure it would not have mattered because I'm sure each receives 12 volts and go to the main relay, but I found this trend and figured I'd go the safe way by merging the pins with the matching pin numbers.

And if you look at the rest of the pins that need to be merged, they all share the same pin number.

That is it for now, still waiting on my father to move his truck so I can begin the removal of the engine and get to work on it.

[Jessekrs123]

Prepped the engine for removal today. This thing is ready to come out, I just need to borrow an engine hoist... I cannot lift this engine out with help from my father like I did with my Legacy motor...

All accessories removed and whatnot


There is so much space in the front of this engine with the accessories removed... perfect spot for a supercharger.


Parts I'm holding onto


Getting this engine ready to be pulled was a huge pain in the ass. For one, the front tow hooks were bent, probably from bottoming out, which made removing the splash guard ridiculously hard.


Another thing that made prepping difficult was the fact that I could not get the heat shield bolts for the headers, which meant I couldn't get at the header bolts. There are heat shields everywhere and all of the bolts were rooted so I couldn't disconnect any flanges either because the bolts are covered by the heat shields. I ended up having to cut the exhaust up, unfortunately, so I will be needing to weld it all back together when time comes to put it into the Legacy.

Took about 3 hours today just to prep, and if I had a hoist on hand, the engine would be out and getting a nice wash down, because this engine is DIRTY.

Hopefully I can get my hands on a hoist tomorrow or something so I can get the engine out and start replacing parts. Crank and cam seals need to be replaced. Compression will be checked and it will receive a new headgasket either way because it is approaching 140,000 miles and probably a whole bunch of other stuff I come across as I tear it down.

Still have to pull the harness out from the car as well.

That is all for now.

[silver03]

If it helps...there is a member on www.mnsubaru.com screen name "idget" who put a 3.3 into an impreza last year successfully. Might be a resource for you...dunno.

[Jessekrs123]

Got the ECU out today after work.


Getting the harness out is going to be a royal pain. The ECU is located on the drivers side, yet the harness passes through the firewall on the passenger side.






This should be fun, taking every last part of the dash apart for a bundle of wires.

[SILINC3R]

Man sounds like you got a good plan together, thats the first biggest step, looking forward to seeing it finished. Juat dont give up, also there is another member EJ KILLA that did the same thing and even had a turbo on his 33 so you might be a ble to get some answears from him if needed. Again good luck

[BoostedSubie]

I started a similar project but abandoned it to start a new rwd ss. I got the motor and ecu out of a wrecked svx for super cheap. The EG is heavy and was a pain to move around on the cherry picker. I only had a half hour to pull it and just barely got it done. Have fun with the harness, that thing was a nightmare but most body harnesses are. You might want to upgrade your clutch, i don't think your ej one will hold up very long to almost 100 extra ft lbs of torque. Good luck, can't wait to see it.

[vrg3]

The SVX engine harness is integrated into the body harness like the Legacy's is? If it is, you might be better off just using the Legacy harness, adding and rearranging the pins as necessary, and then doing whatever adapting is necessary in the engine bay. About half of the wires can probably just work as is.

I'm sure you've considered this, but I thought I'd mention it.

[Jessekrs123]

I started a similar project but abandoned it to start a new rwd ss. I got the motor and ecu out of a wrecked svx for super cheap. The EG is heavy and was a pain to move around on the cherry picker. I only had a half hour to pull it and just barely got it done. Have fun with the harness, that thing was a nightmare but most body harnesses are. You might want to upgrade your clutch, i don't think your ej one will hold up very long to almost 100 extra ft lbs of torque. Good luck, can't wait to see it.

Yes, I will be getting a stage 1 Exedy clutch. The no-name french clutch on the Legacy now probably will not hold up.

The SVX engine harness is integrated into the body harness like the Legacy's is? If it is, you might be better off just using the Legacy harness, adding and rearranging the pins as necessary, and then doing whatever adapting is necessary in the engine bay. About half of the wires can probably just work as is.

I'm sure you've considered this, but I thought I'd mention it.

Yes, the body harness is all integrated. Yes, I was thinking about doing this, but the SVX harness is in great condition and no CELs were present so there were no shorts or bad grounds anywhere. Plus I don't have to trace any wires from the main plugs or sensors back to the ECU, and make sure that the ECU pins match the correct plug pins, which I'm sure I would mess up somewhere. It'll also be quite a good learning experience. I feel if I could take this SVX interior apart, I could take any interior apart because it is just ridiculous. I feel the less cutting/soldering/crimping/re-wiring I have to do, the better.

Thanks for all of your insight guys, I really appreciate it.

[Binford]

Very excited to see this thread! I've got the same project going, but is on hold right now. I've got the motor out, and got about two hours on dash dis-assembly done. That is definitely ridiculous! Can't wait to see this progress, definitely getting me motivated to get mine back into the shop!

[Legacy777]

Some random comments.

The fans from the newer Subarus are much thinner and may work instead of the Legacy fans w/ shrouds.

I didn't look at all your wiring changes, but I'll caution you that the ECU will want to see all the same input/outputs that it saw in the SVX. So if the ECU was tied up to the TCU or AC, radiator, etc do what you can to make it get the same i/o. If I get some time, I'll try and look over the wiring and let you know if I have any comments.

[Jessekrs123]

Some random comments.

The fans from the newer Subarus are much thinner and may work instead of the Legacy fans w/ shrouds.

I didn't look at all your wiring changes, but I'll caution you that the ECU will want to see all the same input/outputs that it saw in the SVX. So if the ECU was tied up to the TCU or AC, radiator, etc do what you can to make it get the same i/o. If I get some time, I'll try and look over the wiring and let you know if I have any comments.

Thanks for looking into it for me Josh, you're always such a big help.

Got the engine out today.



Empty SVX engine bay.


Exhaust parts if anybody wants them. I will be keeping the headers and two front cats.


How high the front end sits with no engine.


I will be getting the transmission out as soon as possible along with the wiring harness. If anybody is interested in an OBDI 4EAT, here is your chance at one with 140,000 miles on it. Shifted and ran good while the car was still running.

I will definitely be kicking this project into high gear with the engine now out. I'll heat up my garage and go to town on it when I get the chance. I'll test out the compression and then begin tearing it down for cleaning.

Still have to get that dreaded wiring harness out...

[Florin1]

Great work. Good luck. Thumbs up to you man.

[Jessekrs123]

Got a lot of the interior out today along with a poopload of electronics controllers.

Boy this interior was a pain, and there is still much to come out.


Got the cluster out and removed the SVX tach. I will have to wire in on power/ground/tach signal. The Legacy tach is calibrated for a 4 cylinder, so IIRC, the Legacy tach will read 33% faster. With the SVX tach, it will read properly and I don't have to spend $$ on a converter. Custom mounting will be required in the Legacy cluster.




There is no effing room in my garage so the engine is at a standstill right now. Damn EGR pipes/bolts were stuck on good, and while attempting to loosen them, they all snapped like butter. Oh well, EGR will be removed anyway.

[Legacy777]

Is the speedometer a cable speedometer? If it's not, I would be interested in it if you don't mind selling it?

[Jessekrs123]

Is the speedometer a cable speedometer? If it's not, I would be interested in it if you don't mind selling it?

Actually, it is not, to my surprise. While I was taking the cluster out, I was expecting to have to unlatch the speedo from a cable like in my Legacy, but there was no cable. If you look on the previous photo of the dash, there are just 3 connectors that the cluster plugs into, no cable.

Here are some pics:




I don't mind getting rid of it at all. I have no use for it. You sir, have a PM.

Haha, now that I'm checking this thing out, this device is rather interesting. The odometer and trip-meter have little gears that spin eachother, and the trip-meter is spring loaded so when you press the button to reset it to zero, it disengages the trip-meter gear from the little mini gears that spin the numbers which are all on a common shaft. Neat.

[crisco]

wow awesome project. i thought you had bought the svx to keep it and the legacy when i first started reading... what are you going to do with the SVX after this? why not just drive it the way it was?

[Jessekrs123]

wow awesome project. i thought you had bought the svx to keep it and the legacy when i first started reading... what are you going to do with the SVX after this? why not just drive it the way it was?

The SVX is in rough shape. Like said on the SVX forum, it has hit everything but the lottery. No A/C, the interior was trashed before I started taking it apart, no window switches, it needed tires, rear latch did not work, engine needs definite cam and crank seals, the auto transmission did it absolutely no justice. I paid $800 for it, I am attempting to part everything out before I scrap it. Unless I wanted to shell out 4 digits to restore the body and the interior, I'll spend way less money sealing it up and putting it into the Legacy.

[Legacy777]

Is the speedometer a cable speedometer? If it's not, I would be interested in it if you don't mind selling it?

Actually, it is not, to my surprise. While I was taking the cluster out, I was expecting to have to unlatch the speedo from a cable like in my Legacy, but there was no cable. If you look on the previous photo of the dash, there are just 3 connectors that the cluster plugs into, no cable.

Here are some pics:




I don't mind getting rid of it at all. I have no use for it. You sir, have a PM.

Haha, now that I'm checking this thing out, this device is rather interesting. The odometer and trip-meter have little gears that spin eachother, and the trip-meter is spring loaded so when you press the button to reset it to zero, it disengages the trip-meter gear from the little mini gears that spin the numbers which are all on a common shaft. Neat.

PM replied!

Yeah I'll definitely take a look at it and see if I can retrofit it to a legacy cluster.

[Jessekrs123]

Got a lot of the dash out today and begin tracing wires for the harness.



Heater and blower motor came out.


Dash as it is now, still need to get that middle heater part out.


So many electronics to disconnect, and in 20* weather, pinching connectors and slipping HURTS LIKE A BITCH. Hopefully I can get this harness out soon so I can weed it out in my nice, comfy warm room.

[Legacy777]

Yeah....there's nothing worse than trying to get electrical connectors disconnected when it's cold!

[crisco]

wow awesome project. i thought you had bought the svx to keep it and the legacy when i first started reading... what are you going to do with the SVX after this? why not just drive it the way it was?

The SVX is in rough shape. Like said on the SVX forum, it has hit everything but the lottery. No A/C, the interior was trashed before I started taking it apart, no window switches, it needed tires, rear latch did not work, engine needs definite cam and crank seals, the auto transmission did it absolutely no justice. I paid $800 for it, I am attempting to part everything out before I scrap it. Unless I wanted to shell out 4 digits to restore the body and the interior, I'll spend way less money sealing it up and putting it into the Legacy.

Nice! makes the most sense and it will be fun... hopefully someone will need a SVX shell to build it into a STI race car lol.