Subaru Engine Swap, It is now the 1971 Ivory Car Options

[AndyB]

So I am finally doing the Subaru drive train conversion. I picked up my donor car from a salvage auction for $200.00. Yes the entire car and yes it does drive and run. With that being said I am still looking to those more knowledgable in the Subaru arena. The car is a 2002 Impreza Outback Sport. It has a 2.5l in it and over 200k on the odometer. My plan is to tear the engine down and rebuild it a little more then stock. I have no intentions of dropping in a turbo, that's for another one. Who are some reliable sources for performance parts other then all the usuall Subaru upgrades that would be done on a Subaru. I am concerned about the cooling aspect of the engine. I would like to know what people are using for radiators. Thanks.

[Chris H.]

You're thinking about doing an automatic trans? Not the Subaru AWD auto from the SVX right? It's too long and weighs a TON. The gearing is also very poorly matched to the engine. You'd probably want to find a 2WD Subie trans (pre-1997ish).

[mgp4591]

You're thinking about doing an automatic trans? Not the Subaru AWD auto from the SVX right? It's too long and weighs a TON. The gearing is also very poorly matched to the engine. You'd probably want to find a 2WD Subie trans (pre-1997ish).

And it looks like all 2WD automatics from 92 on in all Subarus were 4EATs. I pulled my 2WD tail section from a 93 Impreza- it bolted right on to the SVX trans along with the internal shaft, gear and bearing that eliminates the electromagnetic AWD assembly. It was a high point of my day when I found the part and it fit, all for 40 bucks!

[Chris H.]

You're thinking about doing an automatic trans? Not the Subaru AWD auto from the SVX right? It's too long and weighs a TON. The gearing is also very poorly matched to the engine. You'd probably want to find a 2WD Subie trans (pre-1997ish).

And it looks like all 2WD automatics from 92 on in all Subarus were 4EATs. I pulled my 2WD tail section from a 93 Impreza- it bolted right on to the SVX trans along with the internal shaft, gear and bearing that eliminates the electromagnetic AWD assembly. It was a high point of my day when I found the part and it fit, all for 40 bucks!

VERY interesting. Thanks for the info! I was planning an automatic myself at first. I've stopped a few people from saying "I'll make it fit" and "I'll live with the weight", but it's a lot more than that as you have learned. Sounds like you have it all figured out. Nice work. Never thought of using the SVX trans shell and stuffing new internals in it.

The 4EAT was definitely the trans used for all applications until ~2003 when they switched to a 5 speed auto. Work horse. Ford used it too. It's still made today. The 5 speed auto is a very complicated beast BTW that has too much electronic wizardry to convert to 2WD. The computer moves the power around to each wheel pretty regularly so Ian and I figured it might not work at all, or would get weird when the tires slipped because it would try to send power to a wheel that was not there. Plus it's even LONGER.

You gotta update your thread man! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/poke.gif)

Andy,

On radiators, Bob (BIGKAT) had a very nice fluidyne radiator in his car that was extremely compact. Seemed like it was about 10" high. We drove it quite spiritedly for a while and the needle never moved at all. Very nice rad. I agree with Kent though, look at everyone's and then do your own based on the ideas you get. Although pricey, it's been said many times that the Renegade kit is proven and will definitely work, so if you just don't want to deal with the fabrication you could go that way.

FYI I have speedhut gauges and really like them, but also sort of miss my stock ones. I picked the speedhut ones because I had a few problems:

- converting to 6
- needed a way to get speedo signal
- wanted a quad gauge

I was convinced I wanted a GPS speedo so rationalized the cost of the speedhut speedo easily and it was all downhill from there. Since you don't have to convert your tach signal from 4 to 6 the cost of staying with stock gauges is much lower for you.