Simple and cheap way to put ej22t in 97 obw? need advice!

[Flatfourced]

-First off, hi! Great site here with a wealth of information!

My situation is this..

I have a 97 legacy outback wagon, 5 speed, ej25D. I love this car, it has been wonderful in the year i have owned it. The ej25d is leaking a quart a week and flawed out of the box. It needs power, i want to lift it, mud tires ect. I played with supercharger ideas.. too much trouble just to blow up a good engine.

Now.. i trailer home my 94 legacy ss donor car next week. I got an unpassable deal on it and i have a grin from ear to ear lol

Anyway, it has a bad tranny after a previous owner ditch planted it, knocking out a 1/4 panel and headlight. 115k miles and a little leak from the passenger side valve cover gasket. Started on turn 5 after sitting for 6 months.

I have done a lot of research on the subject and i have a current plan. I have read many posts on similar builds, but never obd1 eng in obd2 car. Being my 1st time with a complicated swap, i would like some reassurance lol

I am 7/10 on mechanical knowledge, removed and installed a couple engines, and work in autoparts for under a year. Just resealed and retimed a 96 camry. All the basics.

I dont have alot of resources to spend. i want to spend what i have in resealing, and refreshing the engine while it's out.

I know a diode from a relay.. basic electric skills.

I am confident on the mechanical parts fiting with ease.

Easiest way to run the wires and ecu.. straight swap

How would you do it?

[euroshark]

your best bet is to get some ej20g or 20k cams and through them in the 25d heads and put those on the 22t. when doing this, you should be able to use your factory harness. as far as the ecu goes, im a little unsure. you might want to get a 20k ecu, it will allow for tuning and should be plug and play into your ecu harness. if you get a little more funds, you should invest in an intercooler and better turbo such as a td04 or td05.

well, thats my $0.02. i may not be correct on the ecu part but this is going into new waters for me. just remember, you are keeping it obd2 so run an obd2 exhaust system so you can have both o2 sensors.

[Legacy777]

Welcome to the BBS.

The bigest challenge is going to be the engine management and wiring, specifically putting an OBD1 engine in an OBD2 car. Depending on where you live and if you have an annual inspection. Using the ej22t ecu would not allow you to pass an OBD2 inspection. So depending on your state requirements, that may determine your path forward. You may be able to use a later model turbo ECU with the ej22t, but then you need to match the injectors with the ECU and all that jazz. Once you start mixing and matching it adds complexity on top of an already complex project.

Don't get me wrong, it's very doable, but will be very tedious to merge the appropriate wiring harnesses.

[Flatfourced]

i'm all about the obd2 "eventually", i think i will sell the ejd25 after i'm secure on the swap, and buy my intercooler and exhaust. I am looking into a lift also.. but i would atleast like to stretch the stock heads, ecu, turbo and injectors for all they are worth before replaceing them..

Inspection is just signals and tie rods around here and its in the pocket. I work in parts and live in rural virginia. Hence the lift wanted... we have alot of good forest roads and 4 wheeling to do.. and.. hence the power needed to turn 30 or so inches of bfg tire. the +20 torque at 1.2k lower rpm is 100% worth the effort, and that's out of the gate.


I found the answers to most of the general questions i had about it here.


http://www.numbchuxconversions.com/Files/EA2EJ.pdf

It's about swaping an obd1 na ej22 into older ea cars. Very detailed and to the point of what to do. Tho it's different, it's relatively the same concept, my car dosent care anything about all the obd2 junk with the ecu removed. As long as it has a flywheel to press the 5 speed clutch on i'm in business.

Only doubts i have left are the tach wire and vehicle speed wires.

I'll have alot of time involved in removing the harness from the ss but i think will it be well worth it. When it comes time for the actual swap. And easy to remove when i go back to obd2 with new heads. Really seems like the tedious work can be done while i'm still runing the ej25.

Thanks for the advice! I'll post pictures of this mess i make.. lol

[vrg3]

The tach signal and vehicle speed sensor wiring will be simple. Just find the pinouts for your stock ECU, and you'll find which pin is the tach signal and which the VSS signal; just connect them to the corresponding pins on the EJ22T ECU.

[Flatfourced]

Thanks vrg3, I have the pinouts, it's good to be reassured they are the same signal between obd1 and 2.

[Flatfourced]

I'm very excited to say i have a stand alone ecu and harness. I am ready to pull my engine and do the swap.

I had to replace the breather and vaccume lines so i went all out on silicone hose. I also picked up some ngk wires. I plan on going to ngk iridium plugs before the swap, but other than that i am swaping as is.

I made a little vid of when i got it runing right, I think it's interesting to see what little it takes to make an engine run. This was for sure a more tedious job than anything. The swap will be a blast, and i look forward to tinkering a couple hunderd hp out of this engine.

I mention the water temp sensor, that was my only hurdle, mixing up the 1 wire therm for the 2 wire sensor. It ran nasty rich lol.

http://youtu.be/9FXv51uELFs
My finished harness

http://s906.photobucket.com/albums/ac26 ... CN1477.jpg

Thanks for all the help, and if anyone needs any parts off this car let me know. it will be in the yard for a bit.

[Legacy777]

Nice work!