Well, the time has come to start documenting the whole ordeal and process. I've decided to do a subaru conversion. I hope I can have this done by January 1st, in hopes of doing the "Hangover Rally" once again.

The plans, somewhat flexible, involve:

Renegade Hybrids Kit
Renegade Hybrids Radiator
EJ25 Normally Aspirated (USDM) engine
Stock (Subaru) Fuel injection
Stainless Steel fuel lines

And some possible additions include:

Adjustable Front Sway Bar to replace the current one
Larger wheels
Lower profile tires
New interior
Back pad
Relocate power (Stereo)

Still unresolved and undecided
Fuel Pump. Which one, and where to mount.
How to run coolant hoses
How to vent warm air
Whether or not to cut/replace current front bumper.

So... this is her farewell picture

I was very lucky to have someone buy my motor including intake and exhaust, in one deal. So, this past Saturday, a little ahead of schedule, we ended up dropping the engine. The new owner drove down and took it home. Here's some pics of the progress.

First with the car jacked up. I used ramps in the front to give me a little more clearance. I also needed to have a little room to remove the fuel pump from under the fuel tank.

This is in the classifieds..why?
CCLIN??

The bottom of the engine didn't seem too bad. You can see the Bursch and SS exhaust. And, she does like to mark her territory.

Darn it. I meant to place this in the garage. Hopefully one of the admins can help me move it to the right place.

Coming right up...

Hope I am not bursting your bubble here...

Have you ordered the renegade parts? the lead time is about 2 months, if I remember right.... You will not make the Jan 1st otherwise.

To make it easier to do the conversion, you might want to use an aftermarket ECU. Either the stinger or the Link.

Also, heater? You might as well take advantage of having hot water....

And where do you plan to get a motor? (JDMs are cheap from www.attarco.com )

Hope any of this helps somewhat. Best of luck with conversion, you will still finish before me! (I even have all the renegade parts already!!!)

-- brett

You braced the car up pretty well. How's your wallet braced?

I have already ordered the kit from Renegade. I'm not going to get it as soon as I want... but there's a "chance" I might get a Christmas present from them this year.

ECU... for now it's the stock ECU. I just can't afford the $1300-1500 for a stinger or Link ECU right now. Especially when I already have the stock ECU. All I have right now is time... so I can work on the wiring harness until I get the conversion parts.

Throw these jackstands out and get ones with pins. These have failed often enough that it's even affected one of our 914world members. Wiggling and jiggling the car around while doing work is what causes them to "let go".

Thanks for the tip. I will see what I can find... since these are going to be on for quite some time it seems.

C:>

UTEC from TurboXS is a good inexpensive option for controlling the stock ECU. I got a good used one for my WRX for $500. Works pretty well.

Remember this is a Non-turbo (normally aspirated) engine conversion.

That is gonna be a sweet setup. As I do alot with Subaru performance products which is 90 percent turbo stuff or cylinder heads for turbo engine's, But the Idea of a N/A engine in a Nine4teen is awsome.. Might be h20 cooled engine but it's got 4 Valves per cylinder..

[quote name='Carlitos Way' date='Nov 25 2008, 08:38 PM' post='1105586']
Well, the time has come to start documenting the whole ordeal and process. I've decided to do a subaru conversion. I hope I can have this done by January 1st, in hopes of doing the "Hangover Rally" once again.

Hey Carlitos way,

Sorry, I bought the last engine/trans mount from Renegade, I did not buy the whole kit. I bought the motor adaptor, 9" clutch/pressure plate kit from KEP, and bought,

Just the Engine/Trans mount from Renegade.

I am using the stock WRX/STI radiator

I have my NA EJ25 2.5L in my shop, My motor is out of a 2004' Subie Forester that had been rearended totaled, My Subie dude started the engine to let me hear it run, before I bought it he is the guy the Subaru dealer buys from when they need an engine for a customer. The speedometer in the car read 50,106 miles

I got the complete wire harness Main ECU and all other computers, including Cruise control and engine fuse/relay box, both under dash and in passenger compartment

I also got the water heater core, saw a great way to make the heater install on another web site

as I buy and receive parts, I am chcking off the list and performing work as needed to keep my project going forward.

It Sounds like we are both doing the same project

Carlitos way

Have you thought about an exhaust,

I heard a Subie motor with the stock subie exhaust manifolds cut a few inches after the merge, (then get rid of the crossover tube, you want an equal length exhaust) then a 911 Carerra muffler, it's a 2 tube in and 2 out muffler, it sounded awesome with out being loud and nosiey. It sounded like a carerra 6 cyl.

With the exhaust, You should be looking at 185-195HP NA stocker

Poormans Lotus Elise? 11.0 Lbs. per H.P. Hmmmm

Hope your Brakes are up to it? Well! If you were any good you wouldn't need brakes, JUST the go button. lol

West

FOr an exhaust, I'm thinking about doing it the "easy" way as much as possible. I hope I can find just a stock manifold from a wrecking yard, chop it off a little after the two sides merge, weld the flange into a muffler, running it out the same location as stock. Might be a little too much to fit on that side, but only time will tell. Found a local guy who likes to fabricate, and he sounded excited about helping me with the exhaust. Now it's just a matter of going to the junkyard and finding one.

So, this is what she looks like with the engine off. I've taken a couple of days to settle down and now I'm working toward preparing the engine bay. The plans call for a stock ECU. WOuld love to mount it in the "stock" 914 location, but I'm not sure my wiring harness will reach. I have to do a mock up to see how far it will go. Another choice is to mount it in the rear trunk, but I'm avoiding holes, until I'm SURE I know what I'm doing.

I picked up my link used for $500. If you look, you can find a good deal. I personally think the ECU is worth it, just for the time it saves makes it worth it to me.

And I am going to get the exhaust stubs from outfront motorsports, and fabricate from that.

-- brett

And this is what I have left from the power train. Just the tranny. But.. do they all look this gross inside? Or was my rear main seal leaking?



On another note, I'm thnking about doing some minor reconditioning on this tranny. It has a slight grind between first and second. Dr. Evil might be doing the honors, once I decide to pull the trigger.

Brett, that's a smoking deal! I would do a LINK if I found it for that price. I"ve been looking on NASIOC, RS25club and eBay, but I haven't seen any deals like that.

I think Renegade is now switching over to the ECS Stinger. I saw one locally for about half of retail and I was seriously tempted. However, I think I'm going to try to do it the "stock" way first. If it becomes too frustrating, I'll fork out the money for a stinger or a LINK.

For now, my only challenge is finding out if I can mount the ECU in the stock location, with the amount of wiring I have. Else, it's soldering a little more than stock and re-sleeving the original engine wiring harness to the ECU. I'll post pictures of those with the motor tomorrow if I have some time.

C:>

You know, I thought it was a great deal and didn't want to pass it up. Then about a month later I saw one here for sale for $600. I am sure if you are patient, and maybe search craigslist you can find one.

I think building an extension harness is pretty easy. Too bad you weren't a little closer. It should only take a couple of hours or so. Assuming you have the wires already. You can get wire from Digikey or Newark.

- brett

Awesome!
I hope that the stock ECU works out because that is the route I am going to go too!

Not to hijack but, I finally picked up my 2002 2.5L RS engine and trans today!
N/A all the way!!!

Good luck CW!

Nate

When you are negotiating your engine if they are set on the price push to get as many items put into the deal as possible. Since they would not budge on the price $850.00 I had them put in the exhaust manifold, Cruise control, complete wire harness all computers, fuse boxes, ignition switch, included.

I am going to use the stock Subaru ECU with mine.

You want the Transaxle in good shape, before you put more than double the HP & Torque through it.

dont know if the Weltmeister shifter reverse/1 st lock out Spring kit actually works but it sounds good.

In looking at the way Renagede cut their radiator exhaust, I think I will do mine differently.

I do not like the Radiator's hot air exhausting out through the fendors and heating the brakes.

I have my Radiator to exhaust out through the bottom center where the spare tire used to sit

I found Rubber Radiator hose in 3 foot sections of either 1-1/4" 1-1/2" at a diesel truck shop.

I am going to put these 3ft rubber radiator hose's into the heater tube's along the side of the body coming from the engine compartment along side the body to the inside of the passenger compartment up by the foot section then forwad under the tank.

My heater hoses will go under the passenger side rocker panel.


West

Interesting... I was wondering if I could do the radiator hoses through the heater air ducts too. I'm also thinking about experimenting with another hood and see if I can get a "good" looking reverse scoop to vent it out... I'm not thrilled with cutting the whole passenger trunk... but it IS a proven design.

As far as the engine goes... I found a SMOKING deal on craigslist back in August. I bought the whole power train from a 98 Impreza RS (engine, tranny, ECU) but without a wiring harness. The deal was amazingly good to pass up. I also sold my tranny to another guy to further recoup the cost... so right now I'm about $200 into the engine, including the wiring harness I cut out at the junk yard. I made sure it would plug into my ECU... and it was from a 97 car... so it should be "close" to make it work. I already started looking.. and it looks like it will be a matter of just soldering the wires together and covering them with heat shrink tubing. IT's just going to be a time consuming process... but considering the deal I got on the motor and the time I have between now and the kit delivery date, I should be in good shape. And if I don't get things done by the desired time line, so be it. I don't want to rush the whole thing.

A subie conversion with the rad in the engine compartment has been done. Haven't seen any good pics of one done that way though. Just sayin...

Keep us posted!

Just a word of advice from a guy who has done 3 of these N/A conversions. The before 99 rs engines have a high rate of head gasket failure, but other than that they are bulletproof! While ya got it out, you should put the updated head gasket (4-5 plate sandwich style) from subaru on it. It will save you a LOT of time later when you are burping the system and cant figure out how air keeps on getting in there. on mine i had a VERY slow head gasket leak undetectable by testing the water for carbon. the system never burped clean of air, the second time around with brand new head gaskets, followed the burping procedure and it went smooth as butter!

A little eye candy...i am rebuilding it Completely this time with delta cams 200 grind SOHC and reworked heads. N/A

To bad there is no for valve head for the type four..

I GUESS a Subie engine is the next bext thing..

Old heads

It should be this pretty before install....haha!

Thanks for the tip. I'm already shopping around for a timing belt and head gasket set. Might as well, while the engine is out. I am more afraid of the timing belt replacement than I am of replacing the head gaskets... but I guess it should be fine, if I take my time.

Subaru timing belt replacement guide....

http://endwrench.com/images/pdfs/2.5Timing.pdf

My motor is a 2004' with 50k miles. A motor like this needs to have the following replaced bfore installation.

1. timing belt
2. thermostat
3. Waterpump

(current project) 2004' 2.5L do not have to have the head gaskets replaced until 130K

My Subaru Motor guy also had a;
2005' 2.5L except this is a solid lifter engine with 30K (I bought this one for my next project) next project is a 1971 914

he also had a 92' 2.2L Turbo 90K

These were the only engines he had I was interested in

West

Thanks for that link. It's a great resource!

Here's a quick snap shot of the Engine as I received it. I have yet to take it apart. Still researching what I need to make sure I keep the engine timed. Thanks to the link referenced above, I think I will probably have to buy a couple of specialized tools, but that might be worth the effort in the long run.

And the stock ECU with the wiring harness clipped

And for quick reference, the engine serial number: 278222277325

Another timing belt replacement resource:

http://www.babcox.com/editorial/ic/ic70228.htm

Just a quick note;

If I were you, I would tape up all possobilities for something to Enter into the engine

Intake
Coolant entrance & exit.

Cheap insureance

Westgl

Thanks Westgl.

I guess I didn't think about it because I thought most of that would be taken apart when I install the new head gaskets.

C:>

Oh! Ok since you need to replace the head gasket (good Idea) some of the older motors were put together with a cheaper inferior head gasket. Make sure you get the new style I think it's a three piece head gasket.

Call Outfrontmotorsports.com they are very helpful with subaru engines, parts and can give solid info they have been in subie buis for a while.

As far as the cooling system I am looking at the heater ducts on the inner rockers as described earlier using an Item from Summit racing P/N# SUM-390048 it's a Stainless steel flextube in 1-1/4, or 1-1/2" or 1-3/4, I will have to verify the size diameter then fish that tube through the old ducting.

Since it is S.S. it should never wear out or fail, Then your rubber hose can go onto that one. That is where the three foot rubber hose's come into play.

Or A inexpensive method I have seen, is use copper pipe the diameter you need sitting on top of the shifter tunnel through the firewall and put a couple of tee's when you get up under the dash, the bottom of your heater core. I guess ill have to build a consol, (for this route) I need the room for the extra gauges any how.

Do you have a radiator yet? Check out summitt Racing They have all alum. radiators for $160.00 That is a decent price for a HD alum. radiator.

Update: The Radiator listed above will work but is to big 25.50 x 19.50x 2.25.
I would prefer to use Summit made by Griffin # GRI- 1-25241-x $195.00
size is 27.50"x 15.50" 3.0"

Westgl