SUBARU ENGINE CONVERSION
Our T3 crewcab needs its VW DF (60 bhp) engine replaced as one cylinder has a bit of low on compression and he struggles to get to 60 mph. So after much discussion with the boss and loads of research we decided to fit a SUBARU engine, then came more research and discussions with various people on the best engine to fit. As I was happy with the performance of our 2.1 ltr (95 bhp) syncro crewcab, but not the MPG. We looked at the 2.2 Legacy engines and the turbo 2 ltr engines, However we decided to go for the non turbo 2ltr engine from an Impreza sport, which depending on which source you read is quoted at 125-140 bhp but that does depend on whether you leave the Air con and PAS pumps on plus 30-40 mpg again does depend on the source. Some people expressed doubts about using the original ECU and loom as it has an immobiliser fitted, however I am going to try to fit the loom so the immobiliser can be used as intended. If I fail doing that then I have a legacy loom and ECU I can use. So I phoned Andy at GRADE A SUBARU and ordered the engine and loom kit they advertise plus the PAS pump and Lambda probe.
This pallet arrived several days later. The box contained the loom, starter motor, lambda probe,
MAF sensor and the ignitor.
The wiring loom
The engine
I removed all the ancillaries from the engine and gave them a clean and a coat of paint, bagged up the PAS pump for storage as I do not intend to fit power steering at present. I then removed the inlet manifold along with the attached engine loom, this allowed me to remove the cooling water manifold, as I needed to send it off to RJES for modification. I had met Richard from RJES a few weeks previously when he had brought my syncro crewcab and spent a pleasant couple of hours looking at the bell housing and engine mount he produces to mate the Subaru engine to a VW transaxle and generally being anoraks. I had decided to use Richards bell housing as compared to the "Adaptor" plate systems offered by other companies as this is a properly engineered solution.
The RJES bell housing and modified coolant manifold.
The RJES engine mount.
It was a very pleasant experience working on the Subaru engine compared to the old VW wasserboxer engine. It only takes removing 12 bolts all which are where you expect them to be and you have removed the inlet manifold and the cooling manifold RESULT!!!!!
While I was waiting for the return of the manifold and the arrival of the bell housing and engine mount from RJES I thought I would start on the dreaded wiring loom, this was not a job I was looking forward too. So I spent a wonderful evening stripping all the wrapping off the loom and trying to get a sense of what bits did what!! As I did not have a large enough area under cover to work on the loom flat I did a bit of head scratching and came with the idea to hang it up to work on it, proved to be a great way of working for me.
The following evening it took me an hour to pluck up the courage to cut the first wires. After the first couple it got easier, what I did was trace the wires from the plugs that I did not want and if it did not go to the ECU, An engine loom plug or a component like the MAF sensor it got chopped. Once that was done I rewired all the earth wires, fitted a relay to supply all the Ignition switch "ON" connections fed via a new blade fuse box, wired in a new hot B+ wire and fed the whole lot via the two slow blow fuses I removed from the original Subaru black relay/fuse box and rough taped it at intervals until I can try it in the van and check it works. So far I have spent 44 hours working on this bloody harness if it does not work when I connect it to the car I shall surely swear.
MEASURING UP THE LOOM TO SEE IF IT FITS
