The RS6 - 1st gen Liberty EZ30D Conversion

[Donkeytits1]

So just a quick post to kick off my build journal

So I'm about a third of the way through an EZ30D converion.

I have the car

And I have the donor car.

The donor car is a stat write off i got for an OK price, and the recipient car already has ESP suspension, a 5 speed with 1:1:59 lo range, DCCD and 0.78:1 5th gear and its soon to have an R180 torsen rear end. So it'll be a good package for driving all day with a bit of off road and a skid or two.

So far I have the engine running in the donor car with the ECU on its own, as it will be in the conversion. This means:
- Compiled a full wiring diagram (from 11 pages of EZ manual) and documented all changes
- VDC disconnected
- TCU disconnected
- 3 speed radiator fan output converted to single on/off signal
- A/C setup to accept A/C on and self shutoff signals only
- Emulated fuel level
- Unnessesary signals like 'Clearnace light' removed
- Taco re sampled to run on 4cyl taco
- No 'Check Engine' lights

A number of threads have said this cannot be done (here's a nice summary)
http://www.ausubaru.com.au/archive/inde ... 25423.html
and it's taken some time. Basically I have pulled this off by emulating the TCU diagnosis 'I'm in 'Drive' and I'm OK' signal with a small 8 pin micro controller and a bunch of voltage divider and pull up resistors. The micro controller also takes care of resampling the taco signal so I don't have to go around changing dashes.

I say I'm about a third of the way through because I haven't actually touched the mechanical side of things at all yet. I hear that part is quite simple, but who knows what problems I'll face.

The plan going forward is to make this a complete plug and play affair. I intend to pull the loom out of the Outback and strip it of everything except for what is needed in the conversion. I have a plug from an EJ22 ECU that I will attach to a custom made circuit board that I etched this evening. This will contain all the electronics. I then intend to run the new loom in parallel with the old loom and simply plug it in to where the old ECU used to go and into one plug in the engine bay (to carry the power for the extra O2 sensors). Only other things to be swapped is the EZ fuel pump (different pressure and ran with a separate fuel pump controller, which would need more emulating) and the immobalizer (PITA or imposible to remove, good security to have)

I think all this will lead to an interesting experiment - I am hoping to be able to link the batterys and earth the engines together, run two or three extra wires and run the EZ, from the EJ car, while the EZ still mounted in the donor car. Should be able to simply un plug the silver car and drive it somwhere at any time while I sort problems out. Point of this will be to validate the wiring and the board before I start tacking the mechanical side of the swap - The Silver car is still my daily and the more things I can have right before it's off the road, the lower my stress levels will be during the conversion! Especially as work is busy at the moment. Whether or not I pull this particular little experiment off will depend on whether the loom is long enough.

So thats about it for now. I'm pretty invested in this, and its going well so far. Will keep you all posted, and hopfully put up some resources that will help out other people with future EZ30D swaps. The TCU emulator should work with manual conversions for the outback. Would need to see how the VDC computer handles being disconnected from the TCU. I didn't test that. All I know is currently the ECU is happy but the rest of the dash is lit up like a christmas tree. VDC and the TCU certainly are not happy about being severed from the ECU. I think I'm half planning on converting a EZ30D outback after I'm done with this project.

Just a quick note:
Reason I went for EZ30D rather than the 'R':
- Cheaper - Allot cheaper. Old outbacks seem to be written off after a scratch at the moment
- Shorter - No AVCS things sticking out the front. less complications with radiator clearance
- Cable throttle - Don't have to change pedal box, and the old Cruise control should be compatable. Cable cams are the same, it's amazing what Subaru resuses.
- No CAN bus - Whilst that means actually less cabling, you need an EE degree to interface to it. Thats why everyone goes stand alone with 'R' swaps.
- Its still powerfull - You only loose 20kW out of around 180 for the 'R'.

[UPDATE: 13/11/2016]

Removed the bulkhead harness from the donor car today. Mission. Requires dash out, heater core diconnected and removed, pretty much everything behind the firewall needs to be removed.

Interface board is built up.


Next stage is to unwrap the loom and eliminate all the unnessesary cores. Then it will hopfully be slim enough and long enough to run allongside the existing loom in the gen 1.

[UPDATE: 21/11/2016]

Loom is stripped down. Had to cut the connectors from the upper part of the loom as the middle section quickly became a tangled mess. Rejoined the diagnostic connectors, and am chasing the 10 or so stray wires I have left.



Interesting note, the 2001 model does not appear to have the fuel pump controller which is present in the 2003 service manual. This will simplify the wiring overall, as I should be able to leave the original gen 1 fuel pump wiring alone. But it is causing headaches now as I don't have an accurate wiring diagram, and I need to review my wiring plan to work out what exactly what I need to connect to ensure the fuel system behaves in the way it is intended to. Which I'll need to achieve through inspecting looms that are already pulled apart. And I can't test anything, as the car is obviously not wired up. Oh well, got all afternoon.

[El_Freddo]

Awesome work so far DT!

Sweet looking Gen1 you've got there. The H6 with a manual should make it get up and move when you want it to

I'm looking forward to reading more about your build

Cheers

Bennie

[pitrack_1]

Seriously impressive stuff, especially the interfacing.

Just hope something silly like an leaky old head gasket doesn't trip you up... but that's trivial for someone of your skills.

If I had 1/10th your skills I'd be 10x better than I am.

Wish you the best of luck and look forward to progress.

[legacytt]

Very Impressive. I did a manual conversion in a Gen 3 Outback years ago and the constant check engine light was a pain. Is a great engine though and i had it hooked up to the same gearbox setup as yours.

[Donkeytits1]

Cheers for the encouragement guys! The electronics manufacture is coming along sweet, I drilled the board this evening, I'll tin it and finish it off tomorrow and I'll post a couple of pictures.

Legacytt: Did the VDC enjoy being disconnected from the transmission computer? It would have been complaing with its own warning light if it was. This is the only hurdle I can foresee with an Outback manual conversion using this method of emulating the TCU.

Was talking to my housemate this evening, I think an Outback manual conversion is definitely going to happen aswell. My housemate has a bomb of a gen 3 with a headgasket problem, smooth manual box and matching wood grain interior trim. What better thing to do with a car that with a car thats going to the tip. Do a conversion, design a kit, sell it on

[legacytt]

Mine didn't have VDC but I understand from others that it has issues when the auto is removed.

[Donkeytits1]

Updated

[Donkeytits1]

Updated.

[Silverbullet]

Interface board is built up.

You designed and etched this board yourself? That is a thing of beauty! Mind if I ask what technique/technology you used to design and etch those tiny intricate tracks?
And here I was thinking I did well to make a tacho for my car with a 555 timer and a piece of vero-board

That loom looks a nightmare, you just couldn't do this sort of thing without the right wiring diagrams. Best of luck with this project, I'll be looking forward to see how it turns out!

[El_Freddo]

Sounds like the 2001 is the base model with the 2003 a revision model with the added pump controller.

Cheers

Bennie

Ps: you'll only be able to update the first post to a maximum of 5000 characters or 8 images iirc

[Donkeytits1]

Silverbullet - I wouldn't write off your taco so quickly - A bit of analogue is pretty cool, probably more theoretically taxing than anything on my board.

I made the board 'by hand' in CAD (Rhinocerous 5.0, finishing touches in Illustrator). I have a bit of experience with 6yrs more or less a part time a draftperson. Printed on photo paper using a lexmark laser printer, ironed onto the board, paper washed off with water. Took a few gos to get it to transfer properly. Then its just etched in HCl and H2O2. Drilled on a mini Sherline mill at uni. So glad I had access to that, made it so much easier to keep everything aligned. Silk screen was transferred using the same procedure, but you can see the white residue it leaves. Can't scrub it off completely where I need the print to remain. Looks shit, but you can read it. I've made a few mistakes on the board, which I'll need to bodge up. But the board has saved a fair bit of loom hacking. I'll probably make a revised board once its all running well.

The loom isn't as bad as it looks really. Almost all the wires go from plug to plug. Its just a case of weeding out all the unused wires. That sounds easier than it is though. Had to cut off a couple of plugs and rejoin them, and there were a couple of inconsistencies from the wiring diagrams I had to research and deal with. Made a fair bit of progress on the loom today.

[Donkeytits1]

Benny - Yeah. There are couple of little things they've updated. The fuel pump controller is not there, and there is no mention of that in the 2003 FSM even though its meant to encompass 1998 - 2003. I think it just grounds the relay through the Lg coloured wire on ECU pin C16 (That will make more sense when I upload my final wiring diagram). Thats how the 4cyl variants are done. We'll see if I'm right when I try and run it.

Another thing is they have modified the diagnostic connections. I believe I still have a line end check connector, but it only has two pins, not 6. Again, have to see when I try and run it to be sure.

Bloody hope the scan tool is wired up properly. Trouble shooting without it will be a major PITA

Oh and cheers for letting me know about the post limits. I'll probably still condense things into a few posts. I hate having to read through pages and pages of threads to find the major posts

[El_Freddo]

use bold to highlight your updates then

Or drop links to each update on the first page

Cheers

Bennie

[Donkeytits1]

So, finished pairing off the loom and tested it






Didn't run unfortunately. Not even a splutter.

No smoke or warm wires, thats good. The old car & ECU still work fine so thats good. I'm getting data from the scan tool, thats good. Coils and O2 sensors have power. Most of the wires are pass through straight from the engine plugs to the ECU, so safe to assume no problems with those. I know that when there is an immobilizer issue the engine still starts briefly. So I'm not totally in the dark. The problem is likely to be with the few wires I had to join up, my wiring board, or the schematic I'm working from.

Now comes the painstaking work of double checking all that

'Least I can still drive my lib in the mean time

[Donkeytits1]

Its nearly 3am and we've got it! Well, probably got it about an hour ago, but we had a chat with the dude accross the street, I uploaded the video...
[youtube]AD1L484HlUw[/youtube]
Anyway, problem was the immobilizer. I was trying to run it with just the antenna coil on its own, and no immobilizer LED.

Once the LED was hooked up, it was clear that the system was not recognising the fob - solid light with the ignition powered on. Stuffed around with a few things, but as soon as we drilled out the old barrel and fitted the antenna coil back over that, there was no solid light and the engine started first go.

Will dismantle the barrel in the coming days to work out exactly why it needs to be there. I think it either has a fob of its own, or the inductive fields created by the coil are directed by the shape of the barrel. I duuno.

I might just end up using that barrel if it fits on my steering column and have two keys - The diameter of the old barrel is larger.

Oh and I need to finalise the A/C wiring and work out why the ABS lights stay lit up after the new engine starts. I think I'll do this before any mechanical disassembly happens.

Anyway, time for some shuteye. Big win tonight.

[Donkeytits1]

Man had a whole thing written down and it didn't post! Lost it.

Anyway, the problem was the immobilizer. Had just the antenna coil sitting there with the fob in it and didn't have the immobilizer LED hooked up. So hooked the LED up for trouble shooting, and it was clear the fob wasn't being recognised - Solid light when the key is turned to ignition.

So stuffed around with a few things, drilled the barrel off the donor car and slipped the antenna over that, and the light stayed off and it started first try.

So I might dismantle the barrel and find out why this is the case. My first thoughts are it either has a fob of its own or the shape of the barrel directs the coil's field in a way the fob can respond. Either way, I might put the new barrel in and have two keys if it fits my steering column.

Still gotta finalise A/C wiring - There is a thing on the newer compressor that is not on the old one, and it's symbol on the wiring diagram is that of an AC power source. Don.t know what that is, but now the 6 is running I can probably get the CRO on it and see what it does.

Also got to work out why the ABS lights aren't turning off while the new engine's running. Hopfully its simple, and not some undocumented change thats totaly omitted from the 1st gen engine diagram.

Might do that before taking on any of the mechanical stuff.

So still more to do, but that was a big win tonight.

[Silverbullet]

Top stuff, really awesome work Full steam ahead with the engine swap then?



Also I like the shot of the two cars grafted together through the drivers window

[pitrack_1]

2am?? 3am??? You're as bad as I am

Awesome work, by the way.

Frankensubaru will live!

[Bantum]

Awesome Stuff ...

I got me one of them ELM interfaces too, just got to figure out how to make it work with an even older model ... :/

Cheers, Bantum ...

[Donkeytits1]

Hmm. Not sure how you're going to go with that Bantum, those things are designed to work on the OBDII protocol which was an attempt to standardise the interface from a bunch of model/brand specific ports that existed before it. I think OBDII came out in '96. So I can't use it to interface with the gen 1, but I can (and have to) use if for the EZ which is '01.

Was never a problem though, as the gen 1 along with it's proprietary OBDI port had two little wires you connected together and it would blink the codes out through the CEL. Imagine anything earlier would be similar maybe?