Ruby Scoo’s epic build, ten years and counting...

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Mon Dec 01, 2008 10:10 am

Okay, so after searching the forum for info on the EJ conversion, I've got a lot of learning to do. I also found Ben's sticky on EJ wiring diagrams. Still the questions stew - keep the EJ fuse box under the bonnet with the EJ fuses etc?

I've also read other posts late last night about putting fuses in between the EJ loom and the L series loom to protect the EJ loom from any faults that could fry it. What's the go with this?

Cheers

Bennie

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Mon Feb 09, 2009 7:03 pm

Well I've finally started stripping the EJ wiring, I'm feeling a little overwhelmed (again) and am thinking of another strategy to separate the ECU wiring from everything else - Subaru seems to always wrap wiring for one thing through wiring for something else which is where I'm having trouble, + the wires that tap into other wire to go to two or three other places...

After reading through my last couple of posts there's still a few questions that are haven't been touched. I'm thinking I'll have to grab me a Liberty manual to hopefully get some decent wiring diagrams...

Fun fun (I'm having).

Also the new rear wheel bearings will need repacing - as I didn't know the torque spec I did them up as I thought they should have been, they started making noise, I 'consulted' my haynes manual where I couldn't find a specific torque spec number for the rear bearings so used the front - 196nm - our torque wrench couldn't go that high so I've set them at 150nm - they still whine but are getting worse and have sorta plateau'd now. And either a front CV shaft needs swapping out or a bearing is on the way out there as well...

Real fun fun...

Cheers

Bennie

Subafury · Post by **Subafury** » Mon Feb 09, 2009 8:03 pm

keep chipping away at it, you'll have her going soon enough.

btw, no need to use the ej fusebox, just the L one

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Thu Feb 12, 2009 5:04 pm

Subafury wrote:keep chipping away at it, you'll have her going soon enough.

btw, no need to use the ej fusebox, just the L one

Thanks Matt!

Well, my rear bearings defenetly need replacing (been confirmed)... not something I really want to do but they're creaking away even when just at walking pace in the driveway. And the noise they make at speed is like a small air siren winding up then dropping off when you slow down to a stop - its really competing with the stereo now

The front bearings didn't last long either, but they were second hand in an unknown condition and I've got a new set already to go into the original hubs. I think I'll put the new bearings into the hubs on sunday if I remember (read: not get stuck into something else). Then get a set of rears in the coming week and find some time to replace them before the next two weekends (yeah right!) as we'll be out waterskiing if the area we go to hasn't been burnt out or placed under threat warnings...

That's my news for the day, I havn't had a chance to look at the EJ wiring since my last post - we were placed under a fire threat that was hyped up - the closest fire was 40km away and the wind was travelling in the wrong direction to be a major threat to us in a short period of time...

Cheers

Bennie

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 9:16 pm

An update!

Saturday I straightened out my front bumper bar and replace an indicator - This damage was caused by a Wallaby that doesn't give way to traffic. If the roo bar wasn't there I would have "lost" the front left of my subi. I'm still yet to straighten up the roo bar, it bent back a little bit in the collision, I was lucky and thankful that the wallaby was instantly killed - I always turn around to check/move off road/check for pouched youngsters.

The other thing I did was finally wired in my oil warning light and my dash temp sensor as I've been running without this for the past year since I've got a carbie motor with MPFI wiring in the car... I cut down a spare MPFI engine wiring loom to make use of the plug and the two wires needed.

I found some interesting things after doing this: My dash temp sensor (factory) sits just above the "C" when the aftermarket guage shows it sitting on 82 degrees Celcius - normal running temp from what I've seen over the past year. When the dash guage sits on its normal position (roughly 1/4 up the guage) the aftermarket unit shows about 93 degrees, the point where the thermo fan automatically kicks in. This got me wondering - how often had my EA82 been running this hot without me knowing?! The aftermarket temp guage is T'd into the top heater hose and works quite well.

Also I finally got the stuck retainer pin out of my rear CV shaft on the diff stub axle. I managed to get two stuck in there while trying to get one out

but couldn't get either of them out. We ended up taking to it with a grinder - grinding down the pin hole til the teeth of the stub axle, then smashed out the pin bits left in the centre of the stub axle. The CV shaft is still usable but probabily a bit weaker now. I'm yet to put the rear diff back in, I'm having trouble finding my prop shaft as I can't for the life of me remember where I put it when I took it off... That's all that is stopping me from some 4wd goodness

The other bit of news is that Ruby Scoo rolled over 390,000km while cruisin' to a bbq along bell street

I just hope that I get the EJ in before the big 400,000km

Cheers

Bennie

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 6:04 pm

Latest update:

Last weekend - 14th & 15th March 2009 finally saw the front bearings replaced for brand new items. They go very well and I'm very happy.

Lucky for me just before I took it off the jack stands I decided to idle it in first or second. The left wheel was wobbling and squeeking away - I thought I had a bent rim (but at the same time hoped not), so I took that off and ran with just the hub, still wobbling way with the disc moving as well, this is what was creating the sqeaking noise.

My next thought was that I'd bend the driveshaft, so I removed the hub to expose the driveshaft still mounted in the bearings. This proved to be running true. With a spare hub from the parts car the problem was sorted and Ruby Scoo is now running well, just need to clean the interior and hopefully get away with a repacking of the rear bearings for my bearing noise...

In other news Ruby Scoo has matured a bit. She now sports a Haymen Reese towbar, picked it up from ebay, got it saturday morning and had it fitted saturday arvo. Today it towed a 'ute trailer' with two 44 gallon drums full of oil + a few smaller 10 & 20 litre drums without a drama. I'm very happy with it. I just need to finalise the trailer wiring, I'll probabily do it with the EJ wiring as Ruby Scoo will be subject to a complete wiring change to that of a 91 touring wagon

I have my reasons

That's it for now, pics will come sometime later...

Cheers

Bennie

AndrewT · Post by **AndrewT** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 12:05 pm

lol why you'd replace the taillight wiring at the same time as putting an EJ harness in is beyond me :P Great to hear the progress keep us posted!

Subafury · Post by **Subafury** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 7:31 pm

bah thats not EJ progress. got me excited. useless.

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 10:01 pm

AndrewT wrote:lol why you'd replace the taillight wiring at the same time as putting an EJ harness in is beyond me :P Great to hear the progress keep us posted!

I'm putting a complete touring wagon wiring loom in the car at the same time. This loom will have the EJ loom spliced in and maybe run in the parts car to make sure everything starts as it should without needing down time on Ruby Scoo, who's also my daily driver.

I've spliced the rear wiring once before into another front wiring loom, not an easy job and something I'm going to avoid this time around by using the whole loom to replace the old one. The old one also has a leak somewhere - this is something I can't be bothered chasing.

While I'm doing the loom change the interior will get a complete clean out and I'll be able to straighten out my floor pan...

Subafury wrote:bah thats not EJ progress. got me excited. useless.

Sorry mate, the thread name does say "plus some other bits too..."

But on that note I got stuck into the EJ wiring while watching some Mighty Boosh tonight, very theraputic but I also wondered how you boys knock these up in a weekend. I'm sorting out a few things and my new way of doing things is looking like its moving in the right direction. Still got a fair bit to do, also gotta get hold of a liberty manual for the wiring diagrams - there are a few wires that go places I wasn't expecting but I have a few ideas what they're for. Once I know what all of these are and have just the ECU operation wiring seperate from everthing else I'll bust out the touring wagon loom and hunt down the wires I need to tap for that.

The way I'm now sorting out the wiring: Basically following all the engine and sensor plugs back to the ECU, taping the wiring at intervals from the plugs as I go. I'm now at the junction at the base of the ECU plug wiring - its pretty messy but I can now see most of the ECU wiring from the other wiring that's not needed. Probabily won't be keeping the cruise control (aftermarket would be easier I think, if I end up really wanting it), and I'll see how I go with the Liberty headlight wiring - its a case of one step at a time at the moment, I'm not yet up to that part of the wiring, that'll probabily be tomorrow's job.

My goal now is to get the EJ in and running before Ruby Scoo hits 400,000kms. She's sitting on 391,5xx now but this climbs a little each day. In the next week or two I hope to get an EJ22 and gearbox with the L series internals. This will also be a big step, hopefully by then all that will need to be done is install all the bits and off I go. At the same time I'll add an EFI fuel tank + a new wider fuel line for return from the parts car's fuel 'to engine' line.

I'll also gotta get my radiator bottom outlet angle changed. I don't think no change in diametre will be a problem.

Looking forward to end of work tomorrow for more wiring and Mighty Boosh

Cheers

Bennie

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Wed Mar 18, 2009 8:56 pm

Well today I got stuck into the wiring - and the Mighty Boosh with some scrap heap challenge scrappy race inbetween that haulted work progress.

I may have cut a few wires that I wasn't meant to, but have found the other half and marked them all. I've saved Ben's wiring diagrams and will print them off shortly. I'll have to work out what I'm looking at and how to apply this to the mess out there.

Its been a good time and a bit of a learning curve - so many wires from the ECU plugs branch out in different directions that I'm hoping to cut down a few of these as they may be reference wires for things not necessary for the operation of the engine. I don't have all the bits the plugs fit to, so I'm hoping the diagrams will uncover this.

I've got about 6 or 7 wires to plugs that I'm yet to identify, and a set of relays that seem pretty important, just gotta find out where some of their wires go, then I can label and cut them out of the loom with the ECU wiring - then I'll hopefully have the ECU wiring seperate from everything else. It will be a good day for me

All of this is probabily stuff most of you have done before (and you're probabily finding it frustrating), I'm just writing my experience for others and as a documentary of my L's morphing life- I may not be the most direct worker as this is my first loom cut down but I'm sure the next will be quicker if I ever do another...

That's it for now, time to print these diagrams...

Cheers

Bennie

rtcb65 · Post by **rtcb65** » Wed Mar 18, 2009 9:04 pm

This is interesting, i might have to bookmark this thread so i can get back to it later to follow when the ej goes in to the miss's l series.

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Wed Apr 08, 2009 6:36 pm

G'day all, been a while...

Well, last saturday I had a ball! 50% off at PAP for a start! Long list of stuff to get, namely gearboxes and an EJ22 complete.

So this is a quick picture summary of what I got for a total of $255:

EA82 PT4wd 5spd box, 187,xxxkms:

EJ22 from a 91 Liberty, 124,xxxkms:

I also got a new set of rear tailgate struts - they'll knock you out now if you're not careful... Also a set of standard Y pipe extractors with O2 sensor and the airflow metre from the same vehicle.

The EJ22 we suspect has a blown headgasket and probabily a nearly dead water pump. Before it goes in the subi I'll strip it down and replace the head gaskets, water pump and timing belt. Its missing the ignitor and leads, shouldn't be too much trouble getting another set; its missing the fuel pressure regulator and crank angle sensor. It also came with an alternator, 2wd clutch and pressure plate (anyone know if this is the same for the AWD gearbox?), power steering pump + lines and an AC compressor. Pretty happy with it.

The day would have been better if I got hold of a good EJ AWD box too but we didn't find a suitable unit.

Not much has been done with the EJ wiring - the printer was out of ink for a while there and I've had other things to do again

Thats about it for the EJ stuff at the moment...

The rear bearing saga: I re-greased them last week as the rollers on the outter side of the left and right bearing were dry and looked a little rusty. I cleaned them all up, re-greased and re-assembled everything.
The result = a lower noise on the test run. This noise then got louder on a trip to benders, about 90km and is louder than before I repacked the bearings. It now changes from time to time but is very speed sensitive still. So new bearings were required and are almost in now. I've made a tool to help remove the rear nut contraption on the hub, works a treat - will get photo later. Last night I hammered in the new casing:

now to pack the bearings, clean up the nut contraption, replace the seals and re-assemble ready for work tomorrow morning.

That's all for now, updates as they come (oh, and we've now got broadband at home

)

Cheers

Bennie

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Thu Apr 09, 2009 11:36 pm

El_Freddo wrote:...new bearings were required and are almost in now. I've made a tool to help remove the rear nut contraption on the hub, works a treat - will get photo later.

And here's the photos of the tool I made, looks rough but certainly gets the job done:

I can't get the photos loaded showing it in use on the hub...

I do have a pic of my rear diff installed again

its been too long without it. Tomorrow will see some 4wd goodness, can't wait!

^ and yes, its missing a drive shaft cos its a welded diff.

The bearings are great too by the way. I can actually hear road noise!!!

Cheers

Bennie

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Fri Apr 10, 2009 10:53 pm

This arvo on a reckie for next weekend's trip one of the cam belts died, I was 10 metres from the end of the track and had to coast out. Lucky for me I was on a hill and near a clear patch and a main road...

Here's where I stopped:

And after getting towed home, here's the culprit of the dead belt:

^ that tensioner pulley is as solid as a rock...

And the mess it created:

The belt disintegrated into rubber teeth, melted rubber and fibrious strings. Some of the strings wrapped themselves around the crankshaft and were fed up into the oil seal.
The only thing I don't have to get me sorted is the said oil seal. So I'm hoping my local parts store is open tomorrow on Easter Saturday to get a new one, then put the subi back together and head upto the Murray.

Cheers

Bennie

steptoe · Post by **steptoe** » Fri Apr 10, 2009 11:46 pm

Just been rereading this post and found a connection with #25. I have got my Subaru CV punch stuck in a rear diff DOJ and it will only budge and not come out ! Stuffed if I know how it can get stuck somewhere in the middle

Gees , those pics are big. Was only just thinking today I should shove a used set of belts in the boot - just in case, and was looking at idler and tensioner bearings of EA82T I am pulling down, shove them in too, and the tools I suppose.Those photos look like they could sell a few timing belt kits complete with tensioners and idler!! They feel and sound rough spinning freely but gave no noise indication when engine was put through its paces. Heads are off, see score mark on offending cylinder, no cracks, no holes

Can almost smell the belt, or is it leftover from following a fella up the highway in an RS looking Lib. Front left tyre smoking and shredding away. Someone up front alerted him to the fact. Must be AWD makes it hard to feel a flat tyre shredding away !

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Sat Apr 11, 2009 12:47 am

steptoe wrote:Just been rereading this post and found a connection with #25.

Here's the bit of post #25 Steptoe is refering to:

El_Freddo wrote:Also I finally got the stuck retainer pin out of my rear CV shaft on the diff stub axle. I managed to get two stuck in there while trying to get one out but couldn't get either of them out. We ended up taking to it with a grinder - grinding down the pin hole til the teeth of the stub axle, then smashed out the pin bits left in the centre of the stub axle. The CV shaft is still usable but probabily a bit weaker now. I'm yet to put the rear diff back in, I'm having trouble finding my prop shaft as I can't for the life of me remember where I put it when I took it off...

steptoe wrote:I have got my Subaru CV punch stuck in a rear diff DOJ and it will only budge and not come out ! Stuffed if I know how it can get stuck somewhere in the middle

Yeah, getting the punch out will be the fun bit... Good luck with that. This is how they get stuck in the middle:

^ The diff stub is hollow to fit the torx bolt in - this bolt, by the way, can be removed using a deep 8mm socket - get a cheap unit from supercheap... So the pin stuck issue - the hollow for the torx bolt allows the retainer pin to widen or even split. I tried everything and ended up deciding to take to it with a grinder:

^ This is the said CV shaft that has been grinded down, not the greatest pic (it is very dark under my subi atm), I'll get a better one when I pull it out and probabily just edit this post... The shaft above is now my "locking" driveshaft on the rear diff, I haven't removed it yet from today's activities. It doesn't seem to be any weaker than before grinding, time will tell. And I'm over the pin so I just use a piece of fencing wire - we've got plenty of the stuff around here and its usually not hard to find around the traps

Hope this solves the "how did the pin get stuck" issue.

Cheers

Bennie

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Fri May 01, 2009 9:53 pm

Its been a while since I've had a chance to work on the EJ - Been on an Overseas Trip for 11 days

This morning I was wondering if the clutch plate would fit the EA shaft so I pulled it off to check it out. In doing this I may have found out why the car that this engine came from may have ended up in the parts yard, it looks like this:

The flywheel:

The clutch pressure plate:

Those are cracks in the steel if you hadn't worked it out already - this is due to slipping the clutch and heating the metal alot. This could have been from poor driving technique or from driving around on a dead clutch plate, which this one had - you can see the score marks on the clutch pressure plate.

And the clutch plate did fit the EA gearbox input shaft:

I can't wait to get stuck into it again since the OS journey. I'm also thinking now that I'll get the motor running on the shed floor once all the wiring is together. This way I'll beable to diagnose what is wrong with the engine while its still out of the car and hopefully save me some money on parts if it checks out okay in the test run.

Just need to get an AWD EJ gearbox with a 3.7 ratio diff...

Cheers

Bennie

AlpineRaven · Post by **AlpineRaven** » Fri May 01, 2009 10:20 pm

yeah, funny that a lot of people do not like the hill holder and they either remove it or adjust it out and use the clutch to ride it on, mine was like that from previous owner, I dont ride on the clutch, only uses either hill holder or handbrake for hilly areas. It just PIA to change the clutch...

You can get the flywheel machined but I dont know how "deep" the cracks are, I don't know if the FWD is same as AWD flywheels, I *think* they are the same, I cannot be sure, because I remembered thata few years ago I was looking for an EJ flywheel and came across to FWD one but couldnt get solid information if its the same or not..

This is an exciting project hey.
Cheers
AP

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Fri May 01, 2009 11:09 pm

AlpineRaven wrote:This is an exciting project hey.

Most certainly is - and I'm starting to itch in more ways than one... I've got the mechanical side of things to do and the wiring side of things too + life in general to keep me busy. It is fun and taking longer than I expected!

Cheers

Bennie

FROG · Post by **FROG** » Sat May 02, 2009 10:27 am

AlpineRaven wrote:I don't know if the FWD is same as AWD flywheels, I *think* they are the same, I cannot be sure, because I remembered thata few years ago I was looking for an EJ flywheel and came across to FWD one but couldnt get solid information if its the same or not..

gives me only one part number for early ej22