Hi All,

My Condor project is slowly progressing but my mechanic has advised that I am better off with a replacement engine rather than perservering with the Fiat engine I have now. One of the frustrations is that a lot of money has been spent getting the electrical and water systems right for this engine.

I am basically working with a VW Type 3 chassis. I seems that Subaru conversions are popular so what do I need to consider in purchasing and adapting.

Questions:
If I went for a EJ20T (this is single turbo, right?) where can I get a good one? How much can I expect to spend? What do I need to make sure comes with it (ECU, etc.)?

With the EJ20T, my wiring loom will need a lot of work for the ECU. Is there a carburetor model that I should consider? Is EJ20 a carburetor model?

What do I need on top of the engine? An adapter plate and flywheel, a wiring loom and ECU? Engine mounts of course. What else?

This question will illustrate how little I know. Do I need to worry about which direction a specific engine turns in? Or will any subi motor turn the correct way?

I am probably looking at a 15 year old motor (1997) or older. How can I assess whether the motor will be good for at least a few years and not need a total rebuild as soon as I buy it?

What other advice should consider?

Thanks in advance, Dino.

I've got an ej22 1993 and a ej20t 1993 also , one has 228 mm flywheel and adapter was in a bay the other is complete with harness and bits needed from a rs legacy pm if interested

Doesn't matter which Subaru engine. They will all need an adapter plate, flywheel and wiring loom conversion.

The EJ22 will give you the simplest intake and exhaust conversion, a Turbo model will need the extra pipes.

Do a search, and read up. If you want a legal road registered engine conversion, get $5000 ready before you start

Thank you Klaus and Helbus.

Klaus, I have sent a PM.

Hi all, I have been given some advice that a Subaru EA82 engine would be easy to fit and wire. Is this a good choice or would an EJ20 carbureter be simple too.

EA82 is very old and IMO not worth the effort fitting based on a later model engine

you can pick up a full subaru liberty for under 300$ at autions

The only thing going for an EA82 is the vast majority of them are carbed so easy to wire up.
Subarus first attempt at an OHC engine and it wasn't a good one, as mentioned they are old as the hills, and getting hard to get, most L-series Subis still on the road have been converted to EJ.

Carbed EJ15, 16 and 18 engines do exist but we didn't get them in Aus, all the EJ engines sold here were multipoint.

How much room do you have to play with in the engine bay?
Easiest to fit are your pre 99 SOHC engines which are common in 1.6, 1.8, 2L and 2.2, they are same width as a VW engine.

The DOHC 2L and 2.5 are very wide and take a lot of fitting in a bug so I would imagine a kit car set up for a VW engine or narrow inline 4 it may be tight?

There are places around like AMauto that make the wiring of EJ engines easy and painless.
You send you subi loom to them and get back a simple labled plug and play loom is only around $250 but may have gone up since I had mine done.

Thank you Joel and Seagull.

Seagull, I have sent you a PM. Where would I find a Subaru Liberty for $300? I looked around and can't see anything obvious. Are you suggesting buying a complete car and pulling an EJ20/20 engine from it with the ECU and all the wiring? That sounds like a good idea if I can get one at the right price. What exactly should I be looking for in a whole car? A Subaru Legacy 1995-1999 or so?

Joel, the pre-1999 SOHC engines you mention - Are they all fuel injected? I have been ringing around wreckers closer to home and noone has carby models. I have plenty of room to fit an engine but I wanted to go with a carby model to make the wiring easy. Mine is a full custom job so I am not sure I can send a loom somewhere like AMauto because I couldn't tell them what to match it to.

Thank you both for the suggestions.

Yep all fuel injected.
The only carbed Subi engines you'll get are the old 80s EA81 and EA82 and you will be lucky to find a good one unless you go through a subi parts place like Sunspares.


You can get a SOHC EJ16, EJ18, and EJ20 from a 1993-99 Impreza and pov spec foresters had sohc EJ20s to.
THe Libertys were EJ22 up till 97, just keep an eye for one cheap on ebay or gumtree, they come up.

All you do is pull the engine, loom and ecu from it then send the loom to AMauto.
They send back that is just a few wires to connect, then youll just need to sort a fuel pump, and mod the cooling system to suit.

Theres a few threads in here detailing similar conversions, mine is down a few from the top.

Hi All, finally found a motor. I picked up a crashed 2000 Forester with reasonable km's yesterday. Now I just have to buckle down and pull the motor out and all will be good. The forester was a little more expensive that I hoped and picking it up turned into a drama due to the car/trailer combination (a long story). All in all a good outcome.

some forester get leaking head gaskets, I always use the good coolant and a bottle of wynns radiator stop leak jjust in case..
timing belts 100,000 Ks and spark plugs every 50000kS

Mr Mezz, you have pee em

Hey Dino, does that Forester have a manual or auto transmission in it?

Hi Guys,

thanks for the advice rolling in. I have my adaptor plate from John Sherwood, the engine and wiring loom is out. Next step is to get the wiring loom converted and my mechanic can put the engine in. I can't believe how much wiring came out of the car. Subarugears, I have sent you a pm.

I also got some hub caps from John which look really good.

Dino.

Hey thanks for the PM. I was just wondering why you would buy an adaptor plate when you've already got a nice 5 speed in your Forester...