engine conversion

[threedee312]

hey im going to do a engine engine conversion on my mates legacy 1996 but dont know what wrx engine will drop in and fit straight into the 4 bolt legacy gearbox. any ideas ????

[Markmcrs]

Every EJXX turbo engine ever built will bolt up to the 4 bolt Legacy gearbox.

That is not going to be your issue.

The biggest limiting factor for ease of fitment is the inlet manifold to head bolt pattern.

This will limit you to EJ20's built between 1989 and 1998.

If your after a WRX engine then you can fit any up to V4 = MY93-MY98

Your going to run into another problem with that though.

a 1996 Legacy is Twin turbo (TT) - by purchasing a WRX motor (= single turbo) you will have to sort out oil and coolant return on the LH (passenger) side as the LH head is not fully setup for this on a WRX.

[threedee312]

hey thanks for that so a v3 sti engine will bolt straight in to the gearbox even it is a 6 bolt bell housing .mate is going to buy a v3 sti front cut but jst had to suss out if its going to bolt straight on to the gearbox so we can do the engine transplant

[rex-leggy]

 threedee312 said:

hey thanks for that so a v3 sti engine will bolt straight in to the gearbox even it is a 6 bolt bell housing .mate is going to buy a v3 sti front cut but jst had to suss out if its going to bolt straight on to the gearbox so we can do the engine transplant

by 6 bolt you mean 4 holding the engine and 2 for the starter motor then yes it will work

[threedee312]

thanks for the info. was just wondering has any one done this engine transplant and what difficulties did you run into ??

[Guest vf20/21bg5]

Sorry abit off topic but just incase sumone doesnt know you can also bolt str8 up later model stronger casing'd 8 bolt box's to any ej20turbo 4 bolt block, im running a 8 bolt v5/6 99-00 box on my v2 94-96 4 bolt block...havnt had any troubles yet with not using the 4 other g/box bolting points, but will let you know if anything fails

[DRFVDR]

Just to make sure the OP is doing a conversion of a TURBO legacy with a WRX engine,and not doing a non turbo to turbo conversion ?

[mattapo]

yea he states "conversion, i'm thinking its a nonturbo to turbo

[Guest vf20/21bg5]

oops im way off topic instead of just off topic

[threedee312]

hey guys it a twin turbo ran a bearing was going to rebuild and convert to single but mate thinks it cheaper to drop a sti engine in .

[DRFVDR]

yup it may be,so what has been said is relevant,Thought i had better check to make sure it was not the OLD "I want to put an STi engine in my non turbo body " which is never as easy as they think it is

[rskikn]

 threedee312 said:

hey guys it a twin turbo ran a bearing was going to rebuild and convert to single but mate thinks it cheaper to drop a sti engine in .

depends how much you wanna spend and how long you wanna keep the car.. you could drop in an sti motor but what condition is it in?? it could last 5min or it could last years?? with rebuilt motor at least you know what yr getting.. id go and find a closed deck block put sum decent pistons rods etc in it and use the heads off yr old motor.. if you bug half the guys on here theyll know sum one who knows sum one who can build u a decent motor for 3-4 grand.. try brad at subtech in penrose.. he built mine.. ive been killing it for the last 3 years and it still wont die!!! lol..

[threedee312]

mate is buying the engine from jap spares in otahuhu its done 94,346 kms. have told my mate it would be more reliable just to rebuild the engine but after seeing the gt wagon with the sti engine in it running 11s at meremere he is convinced he can do the same thing to his ride lol

[DRFVDR]

At that k's he should be fitting a new cambelt/waterpump/tensioner/idlers

[threedee312]

have been looking around for a place to do the wiring went to subtech and they quoted around 3-4 grand does any of you guys know any other place that can do wiring ?

[rex-leggy]

bg5a strikes again ...... wiring's a tad harder in this model .

mines been done i did a big chunk of it but got the last finished by my local auto sparky.

i had all the looms to go with the engine and the car. the issue which im lucky enough not to have is with the earthing.

there are ecu pinout diagrams on here if you use the search

3-4 k is a truck load of money (ripoff imo)

for that money you could get a link g4 extreme installed and tuned!

[subout]

plug in G4 v3/4 is also a plug in for single turbo bg/bd/rs

[mattapo]

 subout said:

plug in G4 v3/4 is also a plug in for single turbo bg/bd/rs

No, you will need a wire in

[subout]

 Mattapo']

[quote name='subout said:

plug in G4 v3/4 is also a plug in for single turbo bg/bd/rs

/quote]

No, you will need a wire in

No link has changed the plug in. I have spoken to Phil who is one of engineers

Pm me if want to chat further

[mattapo]

 subout']

[quote name='subout said:

plug in G4 v3/4 is also a plug in for single turbo bg/bd/rs

/quote]

No, you will need a wire in

No link has changed the plug in. I have spoken to Phil who is one of engineers

Pm me if want to chat further

What to do a single turbo conversion on a bg5a. mmmm no, the wiring is what needs to be changed to make it work. not just at the ecu but in the engine bay as well

[subout]

Quote from phil williams

For example there are two pins for Ignition 1 listed in the full schematics i provided, the reason for this is the V3/4 plug-in also fits as plug in for the GT/RS Legacy.

For example Pin 4 is the one used by the WRX and pin 17 is the one used by the legacy.

Just saying that at the ecu point now it is a plug in

[Koom]

Are you sure he's not just talking about compatibility between V3/4 and BG5b/BD5b as the 4-plug BG5a/BD5a only has <20% of the same pinouts if you use 3 of the 4 plugs.

Even comparing the 4-plug TT Legacy to the 4-plug single turbo Legacy/WRX's there is still about 80% of the pins that lead to totally different sensors/outputs and have to be swapped around.

The only way I see it being acheived is with an adapter loom that is different for 4-plug BG5a and the V3/4 ECU's or just re-pinning the wires on the ECU connectors.

[subout]

pins on the plug in are internally linked, i have full set of the schematics for it. have been linked from the HDR1 board to the CON1 board.

Just running from what link engineer has stated, im pretty sure i trust him

[rex-leggy]

i would be interested in seeing these schematics. is it physically a different ecu? because that would be alot of internal links!

[Koom]

 subout said:

pins on the plug in are internally linked, i have full set of the schematics for it. have been linked from the HDR1 board to the CON1 board.

Just running from what link engineer has stated, im pretty sure i trust him

You still haven't answered the most important question here!

Which series of BG/BD are you talking about? a or b ?

Cause in one of those scenarios you are going to need about 2-4 crossed links.

The other scenario will require them to link about 70 wires and then they'd need to be able to switch them on or off as you're talking about linking all sorts of signal and power wires. The whole thing doesn't sound feasible from an Engineering or an Accounting point of view to satisfy a very, very small niche market.

Basically, the 3-plug STI and TT Legacy (BD5b/BG5b) is close to a straight crossover and could easily be acheived by Link.

The adaption of a 3-plug STI to 4-plug Legacy (BD5a/BG5a) doesn't really correlate at all in terms of wiring at the ECU and then there is a huge range of stuff to change under the bonnet.

If you are correct, then there is a small group of people who will be very happy and I'd love to see the schematic of how they crossed over 80% of the ECU wiring with creating fire.

If on the other hand, you haven't accounted for the "a" series being totally different and those people listen to your advice, then that same group of people will be very unhappy when they can't get their engine to run or at worst, fry their nice new plug-in ECU.