We are doing an EZ30 H6 conversion into a 90 syncro Kombi atm. Brad suggested a thread might be of interest to people here. Some pics.

The EZ30 came from an 01 Lancaster halfcut(JDM Outback). The tidy looking cut was stripped of all the good bits quickly leaving us with the engine, wiring loom, A/C comp, Alternator and PS pump. The rest is not relevant to the Kombi.



You can see the EZ30's crank trigger arrangement in this shot. It's a pressed tin plate that sandwiches between the crank and flywheel.



Here's the adaptor plate and Kennedy clutch supplied by John Sherman. Nasty looking clutch.



All bolted up.



We ripped out the horrible old 2.1 waterleaker engine and slid the EZ30 into place. There's plenty of room for it. The syncro has a large frame/skidplate holding the engine up and protecting it. The EZ30's sump is about 2.5" lower and the engine mounts are further back so we moved the engine support forward and lengthened an strenghtened the skid plate frame so it could support the engine via welded on brackets to the std EZ mounts.











The mounts are tacked up ready for welding. We made some new aircon and PS hoses also.

Exhaust and cooling system is next.

Here's the wiring stripped down ready to be prepped for fitment to the syncro. There's a few wires to be removed.



Updates next week for exhaust and cooling system. Should sound cool with a really short exhaust.

Very interesting! Please keep the detail coming.

A few pics of the completed exhaust system.

I cut the factory head outlets pipes and shortened them by about 30mm so they were higher than the skid plate. Drivers side runs up under the bellhousing, through a flange an then into the collector where it meets the passenger side. Both 2". Collector goes straight into a flanged 2'5" cat then onto the mufflers at the rear, one 2.5" resonator and then a big 2.25" baffled barrell. Should be pretty quiet.







Also finished off most of the cooling system, the aircon is adapted and so is the PS.
Tomorrow I will make a cooling system header/top hose junction and prolly twitch a few wires together and start it.

Got it running this arv, just in time for me to go to Fiji for a wedding.

Fabbed up the coolant header tank/top hose junction out of 75x100 ally box. Has two turned down 28mm outlets(not a common size so turned down from 32mm thick wall pipe), a 16mm bleed system return, 38mm hose to the rad and a small filler.





Here's the old Bosch Digifant ecu next to the new EZ30 ecu. The digifant has about 10 wires, the EZ30 has about 80. We are keeping the hamster that was running the digifant for a pet.



It's a bit quiet, needs less muffling.

whoo hoo
VERY nice

very neat but i reckon your engine mounts are not up to the task.those skid rails are pretty bendy,i've bent them a couple of times in fairly moderate off roading,,, be careful!!!!

I am in the middle of doing the same converson. How did it work out for power, torque & cooling? Thanks, Paul

Love the idea of the extra power, please keep the info flowing.
Can you do it for others if all goes well?

Looks like a very tidy conversion. Good work there.

what about the trans?

is it getting some better gears and such? coz i've been told they are not known for their strength.

Interested in an update on how this is going as I'm thinking of doing something to my T3 and I'm interested in the idea of a V6 Outback engine or an STI engine.
Wouldn't you need a differant transmission to cope with the Subaru engine?

I think you will find this is now long been out of the Am work shop

how the trans will Cope, depends how you drive it

Humpty has a full conversion up for sale for around $3500.00

Thanks for the reply seagull.

Do you know if a 3 speed auto could handle the subaru engine? I'd rather swap it over for a 5 or 6 speed subaru transmission and do the conversion with the transmission so i can drive it either way you know, but just curious.

The autos are good , I am stocking a SR20 turbo behind one

Mate there is heaps of data on why you can not use a subaru trans , the search function is above & best to look in there for this topic as its been well thrashed over the years

Yes you can use a Subaru trans. It just needs a specialpart fitted. Available for Xmas.

After testing

he he fingers crossed we don't see teeth flying off crownwheels at the first launch.....

I'm looking at doing a conversion as well so would like know how this turned out. Did you do a gearbox mod as well ? I have a dual cab Syncro and thinking of the H6 or the Subaru diesel. The problem I have with the diesel conversion is there is very little feed back as to how it goes by the owners. It would be great to get an idea of costs too.
Love to hear from you
Thanks bob.

don't even think of using a manual vw tranny with a suby six they have no hope handling the torque ,I went for a porsche 930 box but if I had the option back then probaly would have given the suby box a go....Maybe one day might go to a suby box so it can be 4wd again

fits like a glove. nice.

Do not even think of doing this in a Syncro unless you do a complete rebuild of your gearbox, and then you will still be playing roulette. I know some of the Americans are running this combination but they are rebuilding their gearboxes again and again.

I would only run a H6 with a manual subaru, porsche or rebuilt VW automatic box.

I have seen this conversion and I have also seen the gearbox from it with the pinion shredded and pushed back through the gearbox.

And here it sits!

I have a 2.7H6 147hp donk in my syncro and I have had for the last 15 years.

Goes well but a tad thirsty and I am on my 2nd gearbox rebuild with the last one done about 8 years ago.

Second gear smashed again. Getting a stronger yet slightly taller 2nd gear set in now from USA - hopefully that will last.

Is this 6cyl still running in the syncro or has something broken?

how come its thirsty?

From what I have read the reason the manual VW gearbox fail with the huge torque of the H6 is the lack of flex. If you use standard cv that break before the tranny does, and cro-moly race axles that flex 20% or so then it takes the breaking strain out of the gearbox or something like that. The Theory sounds good and I guess it explains why the autos handle the big motors better having the torque converter to absorb some of the shock. It would be my intention to upgrade the gearbox with taller albin gears stick with the standard CVs and if possible fit cro-moly drive shafts. Blablabla hmm I'm dreaming I think not sure I have enough fun tickets. OK Plan B anyone have any feed back on the suby diesel??

suby diesel even more torque my svx motor broke syncro box & six rib kombi box just driving around the problem is when u come to a steep hill or any desent hill instead of changing down as u would with a vw donk you just squease the the fun pedal a bit more and go straight up u dont even realise the gearbox is coping a hard time because the suby motor does it soooooo easy

Hey Skot,how was the ring and pinion?
Is Ronnie doing the job?

Quote:

Originally posted by PAZZAN suby diesel even more torque my svx motor broke syncro box & six rib kombi box just driving around the problem is when u come to a steep hill or any desent hill instead of changing down as u would with a vw donk you just sqease the the fun pedal a bit more and go straight up u dont even realise the gearbox is coping a hard time because the suby motor does it soooooo easy