Zach's 95 Impreza EJ22t swap

[BoostedSubie]

So, I got my Impreza started tonight for the first time after building it for the last 4 months. I have a couple issues to work out but other than that, it started right up and idles great. I've been wanting to start a build thread so here it is. I bought a 95 Impreza LX coupe in November of 2012 for 800 bucks from my work. It was a 2.2, auto, OBD 2. and was salvaged as a stolen recovery. It ran and drove fine, had a straight body, needed a radiator and a few sensors before I had it inspected by the state to get a title. I drove it everyday to work while I was building my 93 SS. Then in February after moving into a new place with my own garage, I stripped it down to the chassis and started the build. I work a lot of overtime so was really only able to work on it on Sundays or it would have been done a lot sooner but 1 day a week for 4 months isn't too bad. I swapped in a EJ22t I had from an old grandmas wrecked SS that had 60k miles on it. The hardest part of the swap was the wiring. Instead of swapping harness or adding a Legacy ecu to engine harness, I cut the OBD 2 ecu plug off and soldered the OBD 1 Legacy plugs in. I originally made a jumper harness that plugged into the OBD 2 plug but it looked too sloppy. Most of the harness change was pretty straight forward but there were a few things that were a little confusing. With some help from Josh and Nathan (hankosolder), I got it all done. After fixing those few bugs, I should have it on the road next weekend.

Mods List:
Engine:EJ22t
JDM TD05-16g
USDM STI 525cc injectors
Custom parallel fuel rail setup
Aeromotive A1000 Fuel Pressure Regulator w/Fuel Pressure gauge
MSD coil
Magnecor 8.5mm spark plug wires
NGK iridium IX plugs
Custom Coffee Mug intake w/cone filter and JECs MAF
06/07 WRX TMIC w/custom water sprayers
HKS SSQV BOV
3" CNT Racing Bellmouth Downpipe
Hallman Pro MBC set @18lbs
Robtuned EJ20g ecu
Walbro 255 fuel pump
Innovate LC-1 Wideband O2
Excedy Lightweight flywheel
Grimmspeed 8mm Phenolic Spacers
Sickspeed Oil catch can
WRX coolant tank
Full AC delete

Trans/Diff
02 Forester 5mt
Excedy stage 2 clutch
01 RS LSD rear diff
WRX factory short shifter

Suspension/Brakes:
06 WRX struts
02 WRX Prodrive springs
02 WRX wagon front and rear swaybars
02 WRX front 11.7" brakes
01 Legacy H6 Legacy rear 11.4" brakes
WRX aluminum rear lateral links

Interior:
05 Impreza RS all black seats
02 WRX Momo steering wheel
Airbag deletes
Glowshift Boost, Oil pressure gauge
Innovate wideband gauge
STi Aluminum shift knob

Exterior:
01 RS wheels
01 RS hood
98 Outback sport front bumper
01 RS sideskirts
01 RS crystal headlights
01 RS grille

Here are some pics, most of them were taken from my Iphone 3gs so aren't the best quality, sorry.

Here is the car when I bought it



The Interior was pretty gross but it cleaned up pretty nice


Finally getting into the garage to strip down for the swap




New engine in


Intercooler Y pipe


Wiring up the OBD I ecu with the orignal OBD II harness






I plan to add a lot more details on the wiring job and the other small details that may help someone in the future with similar swaps.

[BoostedSubie]

Maybe I can get a little input on the issues I'm having too. First thing, I have a check engine light for the TPS, now it could be the TPS but there was something that bothered me when doing the wiring for the TPS. The Impreza harness doesn't have a shield for the TPS and the TPS ground is shared with the MAP, MAF, and coolant temp sensor so I put it to the Legacy's Sensor Ground pin so the Legacy TPS ground pin has nothing hooked up to it, just a wire that I folded over and taped. Could either of these effect the TPS? Another issue I'm having is, the wideband is reading lean at idle, around 19 or 20 but I am running an open downpipe at the moment until I have my exhaust made and the wideband is close to the end of the downpipe so could it be reading lean due to open pipe. I can smell raw fuel so it seems hard to believe its running lean. The check engine light is set to flash to show knock on the Robtuned ecu, well its blinking at idle. I don't expect that to be normal. I'm gonna check my knock sensor tomorrow to make sure its not cracked or loose. On the Impreza harness, the knock sensor shield doesn't actually plug into the ecu, it goes to a join shield connector that share the O2 shield as well so my EJ20g ecu doesn't have the knock shield plugged into it. Those are really the only issues I'm having at the moment.

[kimokalihi]

PM Josh about moving this to a build journal thread. I noticed this is in the "Engine" section.

I just went through a big ordeal with my TPS throwing a code. Turned out the idle switch was adjusted way out of spec and a simple check with a couple feeler gauges between the stopped screw (idle screw) and the linkage and a small adjustment of the TPS fixed it. When you say your CEL is flashing at idle, how is it flashing? By this I mean, is it flashing really fast or just a flash here and there? With Rob's tune and chip if there is an active code in the ECU it will flash like crazy the whole time so you know it's a code and not the knock light. If it's just a random flash every once in a while or maybe 2 or 3 real quick then it's probably knock or an engine rattle causing false knock.

Get some pics up! From your mods list it sounds pretty similar to my setup.

[BoostedSubie]

I wasn't sure where to start a build thread so thanks, I'll let Josh know. The Cel flashes like crazy so thanks for that as well. That had me stresssing, I was thinking there has to be something wrong for it to be knocking that bad at idle. With the TPS, it could be what you experienced as I did have the throttle body off messing with the linkage, I removed the linkage piece meant for the cruise control cable so I could fit my BOV. So, when I was messing with all that, I had moved the idle screw, It could also be the throttle cable is too tight.

[kimokalihi]

Nooooooooooo! Lol you're not supposed to EVER touch that screw. Its set at the factory never to be adjusted again. It may be hard to get it calibrated now.

[Legacy777]

In addition to what Kimo said about the idle stop screw, if you have a wire that should be going to the TPS, but is not hooked up, that's the problem. You need to fix your wiring, and make sure all the appropriate wiring leads from the TPS go to the ECU.

Can you be a little more clear on what you did with the "combined" ground wire?

[BoostedSubie]

All the wires for the the TPS are there besides a shield because the Impreza harness does not use a shield for the TPS, why I don't know. As far as the idle screw, I know I'm screwed on that, I have some spare throttle bodies I'll just swap on. That way I'll have an untouched idle screw and TPS adjustment. The Impreza harness does not have an idle switch wire (B56.6) either but I added that. As far as the ground wire, on the Impreza, the TPS, MAF, MAP, and Coolant Temp sensor share a single wire that goes to the ECU at pin E29.25. On the Legacy, the MAF, MAP, and TPS all have their own grounds going to the ECU. Also, the Coolant Temp sensor is grounded at B48.21 labeled "Sensor ground". Since I ran the MAF and MAP independently of the Impreza harness meaning I stripped down a Legacy harness and depinned each sensor wiring from the ECU plugs. That way I was left with complete uncut mini harnesses for the MAP, MAF, Pressure Exchange solenoid, and the Wastegate control. So, I was left with the TPS and Coolant Temp sensor to be grounded through that single wire of the Impreza harness so I grounded it to The Legacy B48.21 "Sensor ground". That left the Legacy TPS ground pin (B58.1) with nothing hooked up to it. If I need to, I may just use a MAF mini harness for the TPS as it has the needed amount of wires and is shielded. I hope this all makes sense, it is hard to explain and was a ton of work. I quadruple checked every wire I soldered and everything is perfect. The TPS was the only thing that bothered me because it had no shield. Since I'm not using AC, I also thought of combining the two fan wires at the ecu that go to the fan control relays to be controlled as one to assist in cooling the radiator better but wasn't sure if it would be ok. Also, with my wideband, I never recalibrated it when I switched in from one of my Legacys to the Impreza, so that could be contributing to it reading lean maybe?

[Legacy777]

Ok, I understand what you did. In theory, all the sensor grounds "should" be common, but I don't know. I think to eliminate that as a possible issue, I'd run the ground wire from the TPS sensor to the correct pin at the ECU.

[BoostedSubie]

Alright, for now I will have to try that. But just to have piece of mind, I'm going to use a MAF sensor harness for the TPS in the next couple weeks. The MAF harness has all the necessary wires: power, ground, signal, another ground, and a 5th wire that I would use for the Idle switch, and it is all shielded. No cutting or soldering anything either, just depin at the ecu plug and depin at the sensor plug then switch it to a TPS plug.

[BoostedSubie]

Anyone know if the EJ20g ecus are the same when it comes to the transmission ID pin? Right now, I have no wire connected as I thought it should be with a manual but wanted to make sure.

[BoostedSubie]

Another question, I'm going to add a switch for the AC fan but wasn't sure if the wire going to the ECU to control the Fan Relay control is a ground or power, I assume it is a ground. Also, the fans have two speeds but how are they switched between the two speeds?

[BoostedSubie]

So, I replaced the throtte body, changed the wiring over for the TPS using a MAF harness, calibrated the wideband, and some other minor things today. Runs great, no more CEL, AFRs are good, but it idles a little too low now with a correctly adjusted throttle body. Tomorrow I will take it for the first drive. I have so much stuff packed into my tiny little garage, I can't even pull the car out till I clean up the garage.

[kimokalihi]

Did you go by the fsm for adjusting the idle switch or the tps? Should adjust idle switch, not tps. That sounds misleading. You adjust the idle switch by rotating the tps and using feeler gauges between the idle screw and throttle linkage.

[BoostedSubie]

No, I just swapped out the throttle body, lol. I will end up adjusting the tps/idle screw on the old throttle body and keeping it around for an extra. Good news is the CEL is gone.

[BoostedSubie]

I have one last thing to wire, the AC fan to be used either on a switch or in conjunction with the primary Radiator fan. This morning I tested the lead that would normally go to the OBD 2 ecu for the Radiator Fan Relay Control two and it showed 11.62 volts so it's not a ground obviously. So, how does the ECU tell the fan to come on. I'm not even 100% sure the main fan is working as I let the car run yesterday for about 20 mins to see if the fan would come on but it never got hot enough. If I remember right, the fan usually comes on at about half way on the temp gauge but the car would only get to 1/3 on the gauge idling. So, I'll see when I take it for a drive.

[BoostedSubie]

So, I took the car for its first drive and have a couple issues to work out. First, is the fan does not come on so there is a problem there. Another had me scared for a while, the car lacked power, felt like it was bogging down even though the turbo was spooling well and sounded pissed off. When starting off in 1st, it needed a lot of throttle to keep it from dying. So, I got it home and checked a few things, one of them being the oil and it smelt like gas. I opened the oil fill cap and it had a strong odor of fuel. So, I got worried thinking the rings were shot or something for that much fuel to get into the oil which didn't make sense, this engine has low miles and ran great when it was in my previous car, has never burnt a drop of oil. But I did a compression and leak down test to make sure everything was good. Compression was great on all cylinders and leak down was good as well. When I pull the plugs to do the tests, two of them were soaked in fuel. So it would seem I have two leaking injectors which is my fault for not replacing the O-rings when I swapped them in. Just to be sure the injector isn't stuck open, I'm going to swap out the two, I have 3 sets of the STI 525s so not a problem. I want to send in at least one set to witchhunter to have them rebuilt and flow tested.

[Legacy777]

Send all the injectors so they can pick four that are closest in flow rates and can be balanced to a tighter flow tolerance.

[BoostedSubie]

Good idea. Has anyone else had any similar problems using the STI yellows? I noticed it was a very tight fit seating them into the rail. Are you supposed to use o-rings for Legacy injectors or STI injectors? Visually I couldn't really tell if the o-rings were different sizes between the two different injectors.

[BoostedSubie]

Josh, I was looking over your pics of your injector install and it looks like your 525s fit in the rail a lot better than mine. Without the caps on, my injectors don't sit flush in the rail. It was hell getting them in too, super tight. Yes, I'm using the right rails but wonder if that is why they may have been leaking, they weren't seated all the way. Did you buy new o rings or were they included when you had them cleaned and flow tested?

[Legacy777]

I used the same o-rings that came with the injectors and don't believe they replaced the o-rings when they flow tested them. Here's the flow test sheet for my testing.

http://www.main.experiencetherave.com/s ... _calib.pdf

[BoostedSubie]

Ok, thanks. Well, I'm going to call Subaru tomorrow and get some new o-rings and I guess I'll buy the ones meant for the STI injectors. Also, I'm going to buy a new set of NGK spark plugs. The ones i'm using now are 2 years old but have under 1000 miles on them. I thought I had a step colder plug but I don't so may try the colder plugs.

[Legacy777]

I would not suggest running colder plugs unless the electrodes on the current plugs are overheating and looking as if they are "melted".

[BoostedSubie]

No, they looked fine, was just a thought. But I guess not needed, so nevermind. Thanks

[BoostedSubie]

So, I have been doing a lot of work on the car lately due to having some problems. I replaced the injectors and o-rings which cured the flooding. I took the car on a drive after fixing the injectors but the car still feels gutless. From then, I have had the engine torn a couple times replacing things. I have literally replaced every sensor and control unit. I ended up taking off almost every aftermarket part I had on it to help diagnose the problem. It is back to the factory fuel setup, no manifold spacers, all the intake gaskets have been replaced. When I replaced the IACV, I realized the one way flapper valve was missing so I put one in, no change. All that is left is the necessary parts for the Robtune EJ20g ecu, TD05-16g-checked and is good, 525 injectors, ignition converter, and the ECU itself. My LC-1 wideband is all over the place but I'm going to move the ground so I can get accurate readings. I am starting to think something is wrong with the ECU itself. It is a 6K but had a Syms Racing Team sticker on the case so wondering if it has been messed with before. After I rewire the wideband and hopefully get more accurate readings, I should know more. From there, I'm probably going to swap out the ECU for a factory EJ22t ECU, metal maf, and the EJ22t injectors to see how it runs on the factory setup. It will still have the TD05 on it but I will set it at low boost, just to get an idea whether it's the EJ20g ecu or not. If anyone has any ideas or advice, it would be greatly appreciated, maybe I'm just not seeing something.

[Legacy777]

Zach,

I replied to your email, but I think trying to go back to the stock ej22t ECU may be the best approach at this time. Alternatively, if someone lives nearby with a Robtune, you could try swapping ECU's temporarily.