My 91 T-Leg build.

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SShtbox91
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My 91 T-Leg build.

Post by SShtbox91 »

Well I've had my turbo legacy for about 2 years now and at 199,XXX miles I've decided it's time for some major upgrades.
The previous owner had swapped a cable clutch 5MT into the car(originally an A/T car), and for whatever reason I had tons of problems with cables breaking. Some would last a week, some would last 3 months. It sucks when you're afraid you'll snap your clutch cable literally every time your press the clutch. Stop and go traffic was a nightmare!
My solution was to get a low miles JDM 6mt and R180 to replace my tired viscous LSD r160. I ended up finding a crazy good deal that included 6mt, r180 with subframe, knuckles f/r and... Brembos! When the goods arrived I still had a few things left to do: Clutch, driveline, pads&rotors, hydro pedal box, and find wheels that clear brembos.
The kit I got came with a clutch assembly, the flywheel and pressure plate looked excellent so I decided to save a few bucks and get just an oem friction disk for a 04 sti to prolong it's life. I also bought a new oem throw out bearing, just cuz. Also purchased a 04 sti clutch master. And for the pedal box... I was fortunate that my brother has a 91ss that's in limbo, and he let me "borrow" the pedal box out of it. I got a clutch hydraulic line from ChaseBays for a 02-07 wrx to keep things simple and clean. Boom, clutch is sorted out.
The knuckles I got had 5x100 hubs so I ended up getting some pads and rotors from car quest for an 04sti. As for the wheels, I found the cheapest wheels I could find that would clear brembos lol. Throughout my journies of the internets i ended up with some v7 sti wheels. At the same time I purchased my clutch line, I purchased some stainless steel brake lines for an 04 sti from ChaseBays as well.
For the drive line I got a new one for a 91 legacy with a 4eat.
Now for the install... everything went flawlessly, well almost. Got my 5mt and rear subframe with r160 out within 3 hours. The only issues I had with transmission fitment was the bell housing barely scraped on the turbo bracket so I just took a grinder to the bell housing a tiny bit. Also had to add a heli coil to the lower starter bolt hole. After that the 6mt slid right in. The R180 fit flawlessly and install was just as smooth as the disassembly. Once the tranny and rear diff were installed I slapped my knuckles with Brembos on with new pads and rotors. Bled the brakes and were off to the races..
Or atleast i was close! Now time for the fun part, the pedal box... I've heard lots of people claim the entire dash has to come out to change To a hydro pedal box. Well if you loosen the steering collum and pop the plastic kick panel off you definetly can snake the pedal box over the collum and into place. It can be done! I've installed a couple now and it's actually pretty easy! Well now that the hard part is out of the way I bled the clutch, installed my driveline and took her for a rip and everything worked exactly as it should.
6mt, r180, and brembo swap done. Pretty much all within a weekend!

I've had my 6mt installed for a few weeks now and it's been awesome! The gear ratios make it feel a lot peppier but the brembos bring me back to reality by telling me I'm not even goIng that fast whenever I press the brakes.

Present day, my car has recently developed low compression (cyl #4) and a slight tick on cold mornings. I'm assuming due to cracked rings or ring land. I thought about using a friends 22t to build a motor with twin stick heads but I ended up getting a crazy good deal on an ej206. The research I've done shows it's basically a two stage turbod version of an ej205 but with better flowing heads and a 9:1 compression ration rather than 8.5:1. It also has 440cc injectors. I removed the two turbos, and all the parts associated with them. I plan to run a td05 20g with a Z4 wrx Ecu and CoP for now. There's a few other various diffences I've noticed. Like the 206 uses a stepper motor for iacv rather than a solenoid. So I think I'm going to use a Throttle body from a ej205 that has a 3 wire iacv. The ej206 coolant cross over pipe lacks the 1/8npt hole for the 1 wire temp sender for the gauge panel. i had to drill and tap the cross over. Friday night I'm going to put a new timing kit and water pump on my ej206 and then yeet my 22t out and start swapping wiring and exhaust manifolds.

Am I overlooking anything? Probably. Am I going to make it work? Oh yeah.
mike-tracy
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Re: My 91 T-Leg build.

Post by mike-tracy »

Sounds great, I'm interested to see what you do about the intake manifold electronics and the difference in timing markers between the phases
1992 Legacy SS 5mt, build in progress
Josh Colombo wrote: Mon Jan 14, 2002 10:23 am Wait....I'm confused now.
SShtbox91
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Re: My 91 T-Leg build.

Post by SShtbox91 »

mike-tracy wrote: Fri Nov 08, 2019 3:57 pm Sounds great, I'm interested to see what you do about the intake manifold electronics and the difference in timing markers between the phases
I'm not too concerned with any of the electrical on the intake manifold, as it's not an ACVS motor. My main concern was the IACV, or lack of a compatible one on the 206, but I do believe I have found a solution for this with a wrx throttle body. As far as I know I should be able to use my engine harness. I'm going to strip it down and re route it and then re loom it when I'm happy. I've already created a harness for the CoP that I just need to add +12v, -12v, and the 4 channels from the 20g Ecu. Most likely just going to splice into the factor engine bay connecter for that.

As far as cam and crank timing gears go.. I do believe the timing gears on a early 22e, or my 22t will work. Not 100% sure yet. I have some 22e timing gears laying around so I'm going to verify if that is correct later on tonight, possibly tomorrow. All depends on if I can get "the important stuff" done at my shop lol.
mike-tracy
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Re: My 91 T-Leg build.

Post by mike-tracy »

My version 6 ej207 had the old style timing, so yours might already be the right one
1992 Legacy SS 5mt, build in progress
Josh Colombo wrote: Mon Jan 14, 2002 10:23 am Wait....I'm confused now.
SShtbox91
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Re: My 91 T-Leg build.

Post by SShtbox91 »

Well I pulled the timing belt and the left intake cam gear, the marks look virtually identical to the 22e cam gear I have, other than the keeper pin is off a few degrees. I'm assuming this means I'm ok to run it.
mike-tracy
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Re: My 91 T-Leg build.

Post by mike-tracy »

Probably, but I'm sure you'll find out soon! :) That's a huge hurdle, finding phase 2 dohc cam gears with phase 1 timing marks on it. You lucked out.
1992 Legacy SS 5mt, build in progress
Josh Colombo wrote: Mon Jan 14, 2002 10:23 am Wait....I'm confused now.
SShtbox91
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Re: My 91 T-Leg build.

Post by SShtbox91 »

I guess we will find out Tuesday when my ECU shows up lol. I think everything should be kosher though.
As for progress tonight.. I plugged up all the plumbing for the primary turbo on the 206. Also I got the my new timing belt, component kit, and water pump all installed. Kinda sad that the water pump was showing signs of leakage out the weep hole at only 15k miles. What are those crazy bastards doing over there in Japan? Lol
First thing tomorrow morning my engine will be coming out and I'll get everything all swapped over onto the ej206, most likely set it in. We will see about plumbing coolant lines and wiring. That might be a Sunday thing. Maybe I will even find out how to post a couple pics.
SShtbox91
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Re: My 91 T-Leg build.

Post by SShtbox91 »

Busy day today...
i removed my ej22t. It came out pretty easy, I had it out about 20k miles ago to do head gaskets. After I got the ol pig out of there I removed the clutch and flywheel, the exhaust, wiring, cam and crank sensors, and just about everything else. My exhaust manifolds had a few rattley heat shields so I cut them off and wrapped them with some exhaust wrap. In hind sight I probably should have just tack welded the old heat shields in place. Oh well, ya live and ya learn.
After I got the exhaust installed I realized there was going to be some clearance issues with the up pipe and the ej206 and the turbo oil drain pipe. I yanked the one off my 22t and right stuff'd it in place. I'm not entirely sure on the proper procedure for this. So I guess we will see if I can dump all the oil out of the engine or not lol.
I also got the turbo installed. For whatever reason the coolant line ports were m14x1.5, most likely becuz china. I made some banjo bolts and drilled out the coolant lines off the ej206 secondary turbo to 9/16. I've decided I'm most likely going to end up buying a higher quality turbo in the near future. There was a lot of spite that went into the production of those banjo bolts lol.
With the engine in (finally utilizing all of the 6mt bell housing bolt holes), and turbo installed. My plan for tomorrow is to hopefully get all of my wiring sorted out, install radiator, and figure out how I'm going to have to route my intake, pre and post turbo.
Then probably have to wait for various silicone couplers to arrive. It never ends lol. Who knows though, maybe I'll get lucky again!
Legacy777
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Re: My 91 T-Leg build.

Post by Legacy777 »

Definitely curious to hear how all this comes together.
Josh

surrealmirage.com/subaru
1990 Legacy (AWD, 6MT, & EJ22T Swap)
2020 Outback Limted XT

If you need to get a hold of me please email me rather then pm
SShtbox91
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Re: My 91 T-Leg build.

Post by SShtbox91 »

Well Sunday went exactly as planned. I got all of my wiring sorted out. And just as I thought I'm going to have to go a different route with my charge air cooler. I've decided I'm going to go the front mount route just to keep things clean and clutter free in the engine bay. Hopefully parts will arrive by this weekend.
Today I got my wrx throttle body. The bolt spacing was correct but the IACV hit the manifold and how the IACV feeds into the manifold is different. My solution: I made a spacer/adapter plate out of 1/2" aluminum. I think that takes care of that issue.
I spent my time after work machining up the spacer so I didn't get the Ecu installed yet. But I'm waiting on plumbing for the intake both pre and post turbo so it's not like I can start it up yet anyways.
Most likely more progress to come this weekend.
Legacy777
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Re: My 91 T-Leg build.

Post by Legacy777 »

Take pictures if you can.
Josh

surrealmirage.com/subaru
1990 Legacy (AWD, 6MT, & EJ22T Swap)
2020 Outback Limted XT

If you need to get a hold of me please email me rather then pm
aredub2
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Re: My 91 T-Leg build.

Post by aredub2 »

:shock:
SShtbox91
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Re: My 91 T-Leg build.

Post by SShtbox91 »

Another busy/ successful weekend.
Friday night I got my bumper pulled off and started pumping my front mount. Getting a front mount to fit with dual cam heads is a lot of fun, especially when you use 2.5" piping. After I got all the piping plumbed and loosely installed without clamps. I decided to call it a night.
I didn't get to work on it much Saturday. Mostly cause I didn't think there was that much to do, and my girlfriend was starting to get upset with how much time I've been spending at work lol.
Sunday I started bright and early. And I realized I still had lots to do. I had to add the wires to the Ecu plug for the ignition channels, modify the ground for the egt sensor or whatever it was. I decided to do nothing about removing the purge pin/ 5th injector. If it causes issues I'll remove it later. I had already ran a harness through my fire wall so I just sacrificed 4 pins out of a spare Ecu connector and solder and heat shrunk them to the wires I had ran to the ignition coils, and plugged them into the ecu connector. I plugged in the ecu and put everything back together.
Then I moved on to tightening all of my charge air piping. An electric ratchet makes this a breeze lol.
Last I put fresh oil in the engine, there was barely any in it. I'm assuming it was drained prior to shipping. And I put a new oil filter on. Filled it up with coolant. No leaks. Now time to try to start the pig. much to my surprise the car literally fired right up within like 5 seconds, no hesitation. It sounded like it was running on 2 cylinders @1500rpm though. I let it do that for a couple minutes and then I tried to rev it to see if it cleared up and it did almost immediately but went back to a funky idle when I let off. I removed my tps cause it totally doesn't fit but I just wanted to see if it would for shits and grins. That made it idle at like 2500 rpm but it idles nice and clean and runs really well. I suspect I have some vacuum leaks. I took it for a little drive and it has reallllllyyy good power. Even though it's not running correctly, on the low end the power feels wayyyy better than my 22t ever did. I didn't really get into the throttle because I just wanted to test functionality. AFRs hung right around 14.7 at idle and crusing, never really got into boost and it was a pretty short drive so I'm not sure what itll do yet but I think it will be ok. Over all it runs really well minus the high idle and lack of tps. I'm going to see if I can't retro fit my tps to fit correctly and smoke test it sometime this week. I also still need to get the bumper and hood installed too. The hood will fit but I'm not so sure about the bumper lol. Definitely gonna need to hack it up quite a bit. Plasma torch here we come.
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