EJ20T into 85 RX

Do_It_Sidewayz · Post by **Do_It_Sidewayz** » Wed Dec 14, 2005 8:22 am

Hello all, this is my first post here. I'm from Canada

decided to come over here as some of you guys have good info about the EJ20 swap.

Anyways.

I currently Rally a 1985 RX Sedan in Performance Rallies...We have been doing very well with the stock engine in production class. however we have blown it up twice in 4 rallies. We need to put somethign reliable in the car.

I have been offered a JDM EJ20G motor, with legacy turbo trans, diff, and the wiring harness...

What do i need to do the swap?

How quick will this swap be??

How bad is the wiring and so on??

Thanks,
Chris

Do_It_Sidewayz · Post by **Do_It_Sidewayz** » Wed Dec 14, 2005 8:27 am

also. is it worth using the WRX tranny?? or just use the EA trans with an adapter plate??

i'm worried the EA transmission will not take the power of the EJ20

tim_81coupe · Post by **tim_81coupe** » Wed Dec 14, 2005 9:35 am

I'd be using the EJ trans, the EA one might take the power, but you'll be stuffed for clutch choices.

It's pretty straight forward into an RX. You'll need to trim down the EJ loom and feed it into the car, the radiator outlets will need to be enlarged, the clutch master cylinder will need to be mounted and the tailshaft lengthened.

They're the main points, there are some more fiddly bits but they're easy enough to fix as you get to them.

Do_It_Sidewayz · Post by **Do_It_Sidewayz** » Wed Dec 14, 2005 9:49 am

driveshaft lengthened??

people over here are telling me shorter!!!

from looking at the 2 trannies it looks like the EJ tranny is a little longer....

the front driveshafts will just slip right on though..corrrect?

ToyRX · Post by **ToyRX** » Wed Dec 14, 2005 10:31 am

I run the same setup in with the local car club (85 RX with EJ20TG).
The previous owner did the conversion and the car has the following mods.

EJ20TG
RS Legacy 4.111 GBox
WRX Flywheel (engine was an auto)
EJ20TT Clutch kit
RS Legacy 4.111 LSD
EJ20TG loom spliced to Leone rear loom (doors back leone loom)
Legacy RSRA computer
A2A TMIC of early WRX (bolt on) with water sprayer
Custom Radiator with twin thermos (Toyota LiteAce Diesel Core and custom end tanks) top radiator crossmember modified to fit.
Slotted engine cross member bolt holes to accomodate EJ spacing.
Modified driveshaft (shortened I think?)
Custom gearbox crossmember to accomodate the Leggy box
Bilstein height adjustable suspention

Runs standard RX driveshafts/hubs etc

From what have heard the electrics is the biggest hassel to get right

Go for it though - the result is a lot of fun.

86rxturbo · Post by **86rxturbo** » Wed Dec 14, 2005 11:15 am

does anyone know what length to shorten the tail shaft to

Ben · Post by **Ben** » Wed Dec 14, 2005 12:22 pm

It's about 55mm but best to measure your particular application.

Do_It_Sidewayz · Post by **Do_It_Sidewayz** » Wed Dec 14, 2005 12:29 pm

ToyRX wrote:I run the same setup in with the local car club (85 RX with EJ20TG).
The previous owner did the conversion and the car has the following mods.

EJ20TG
RS Legacy 4.111 GBox
WRX Flywheel (engine was an auto)
EJ20TT Clutch kit
RS Legacy 4.111 LSD
EJ20TG loom spliced to Leone rear loom (doors back leone loom)
Legacy RSRA computer
A2A TMIC of early WRX (bolt on) with water sprayer
Custom Radiator with twin thermos (Toyota LiteAce Diesel Core and custom end tanks) top radiator crossmember modified to fit.
Slotted engine cross member bolt holes to accomodate EJ spacing.
Modified driveshaft (shortened I think?)
Custom gearbox crossmember to accomodate the Leggy box
Bilstein height adjustable suspention

Runs standard RX driveshafts/hubs etc

From what have heard the electrics is the biggest hassel to get right

Go for it though - the result is a lot of fun.

My car is probably set-up very similar to yours....i'm running custom made bilstein coil-overs, with brembo brakes all around.

Car handles really well, and i just want more power, and actually something reliable.

how quick is the car??

Do you find the brakes are a little underpowered for this set-up??

ToyRX · Post by **ToyRX** » Wed Dec 14, 2005 12:53 pm

Yep - custom (38mm F, 25?mmR) Bilstein coil overs
Car handels great on gravel but understears like a pig on tarseal, I am looking at a camber kit or plates to help with the excesive +ive camber on the hard stuff.
Performance wise the engine is stock bar the RSRA computer 3" Group A exhaust, pod filter and cold air box. Never had it dynod but guesstimating 160kw at flywheel and maybe 110kw at the wheel.

Its not a "fast" car but heaps better than the old EA82T i used to drive around and a little quicker than a standard RS leggy due to the lighter body. No idea what a 1/4 mile time would be or 0-100km but I know that the car is quicker than I am and if I ever want more power its not hard.

Brakes are standard with Mintex M1166 compound competition pads and given I only do club events with the max being a 10km rally sprint neither the previous owner or myself have ever had a problem with brake fade. They are strong enough to lock up all four (repeatedly!!) on tar seal when running 195 semislicks so enough stopping power for me but not sure if ok for a full rally.

As far as reliability goes, the EJ is better than the EA but it is still a 15 year old engine so they can be tempramental. Go over it well before you put it it, put in iridium plugs (NGK PFR 6B11 and check the gap!!), check the coil packs for damage, replace timing belt and rocker cover gaskets and anything else that looks dodgy.

Also - you will want to upgrade your fuel pump to handel the EJ, when you do go for something that will handel bigger injectors than standard(say yellow top 440cc) so its ok when you want to upgrade them later.

ToyRX · Post by **ToyRX** » Wed Dec 14, 2005 1:04 pm

Oh yeah - how is your handbrake setup with the brembos?

Do_It_Sidewayz · Post by **Do_It_Sidewayz** » Wed Dec 14, 2005 1:07 pm

160 KW at the wheels...did they not have more than that stock??

i think we did some research and thinking it made 220 HP at the crank stockish...which is like 165 kw.

Do you think the added weight of the Ej20 in the front has any effect on the understeering??

ToyRX · Post by **ToyRX** » Thu Dec 15, 2005 5:07 am

Someone here may be able to set me straight but I thought series 1 turbo Legacys (JDM EJ20G) were 155kw at the flywheel standard, the next series which included the first of the WRX's were ~165kw I think and they have hovered around that mark ever since (bar STi's and TT's). This is still a big improvement over the 100kw EA82T.

Any time you add more weight to the front of the car you will induce more understear so i am sure the conversion did not help, unfortuinatly the old standard RX is still renound for its inherend understeering handling, this is something a lot of early 4WD cars suffered from, including series 1 Legacys. There are things you can do to help such as the KMAC camber kit I am looking at.

hatchback88 · Post by **hatchback88** » Thu Dec 15, 2005 7:35 am

What I heard is that the JDM EJ20G's put in the early legacies were 220hp for the ones fitted with a manual tranny and 200hp for the autos.