Subaru motor swap - front radiator

[Driftin]

I put this blue aluminum section in to add my air bleeds at the high point of my radiator lines. I have one on each side of the car. The small hose comes from the radiator - I was trying to have less air bleeds to work with.

Here is the turbo intake plumbing with the stock BOV. It is hanging down from the stainless tube I found at the scrap yard. It was a perfect 2" od tube with a 1.25"od tube welded to it making my "t" connecton. I used silicone hose to make the angled connections. When the boost comes on it makes the car crazy fast. The turbo is the stock TD04L

[Driftin]

Test Drive - I do have a roll bar and rear bumper but they were setting in the garage until after I paint the body.

One of the Porsche 944 axles/CV's that I repacked with grease. I'm going to upgrade my axles/cv's, and stub axles to type 4.

I also learned that my stock fuel tank has a fuel slosh problem. When I corner hard with 3 gal of fuel in the tank you could hear the fuel pump hunting for gas. All the gas would slosh to the right or left of the tank and then to the other side of the tank. Initially when I modified the tank for the car I noticed that it was missing baffles but decided not to worry about it. That was with the VW 1835 type 1 motor that I was using at the time - that motor had Dellorto carbs with big float bowls.

I needed a better system so I put in a return line into the tank and will add a slosh tank in the front of the car by the fuel pump. It will be on the passengers side just below the fuel tank. Here is the slosh tank 2 liters. It is easier to install than modifying the tank again. Two lines into the slush tank from the gas tank, return line into the slush tank, and one line out to the fuel pump. Should solve my problem.

It seems to get more complicated every day.

[Dale M.]

Driftin ... I believe you need to change privacy setting in your PB hosting account... I can not see your pics.....

Dale
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“Fear The Government That Wants To Take Your Guns" - Thomas Jefferson.

"Kellison Sand Piper Roadster" For Street & Show.
"Joe Pody Sandrover" Buggy with 2180 for Autocross (Sold)
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All suggestions and advice are purely my own opinion. You are free to ignore them if you wish ...

[nightmanx11]

Great pictures

[E-smoke]

Good looking buggy! One of the best looking front radiator set ups I've seen.
Thanks for sharing!

[Driftin]

Thanks for the kind words, it a fun project to work on. My ECU is from Engine Management systems and is a plug - play system with opportunities to dyno tune. It does not come with a cold start program so I added a Auxiliary air valve(AAV) to assist in cold starts.

This valve is from a Porsche 944, it lets air into the manifold when the motor is cold started. The computer recognizes the extra air and supplies fuel. The auxiliary air valve has a small coil in it that slowly heats a piece of metal that closes the valve. I plumbed my AAV into the back of the Subaru manifold removing the PVC valve. I installed a barbed hose fitting on the manifold and ran a piece of hose to where I could mount the AAV. Wired it up. Works great!

Some info on how the valve works. http://www.firstfives.org/faq/aux_air_valve/aux_air_valve.html

Here is what the valve looks like. I'm now loading my pics onto thesamba so they don't loose their link over time.

[/img]

[didget69]

Nice work - the AAV was used on a lot of Bosch CIS / K-Jet fuel injected cars from Volvo/Audi/VW/Porsche/etc. during the '70's & '80's.

Pretty easy to find; get the 'VW' ones so that you don't have to pay the price of the 'Porsche' ones...

bnc
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I never found the need to impress people with any mechanic certifications, trophies or track wins... unless it was for Mom to post on the refrigerator door.

[Driftin]

I put the valve on a rear support I glassed into the back apron for now. I will try to mount it to the top of the engine block later when I take the car apart for painting. The AAC valve I'm using is from a 280z.

[Driftin]

I picked up these side pods, they look a little different than the standard ones. They will be finish painted with the car then screwed on later. Any one know who made them? How do they look?

The drill is holding them up, they also need to be trimmed but I didn't get to that before I primed.

[Driftin]

Finally found time to change a few things that came from Craigs list. axles(944 axles), stub axles(Type 2), cv's(944), and rear brakes to 4 lug disc. What fun cleaning/packing all the grease. I also added new rear steel brake lines and a 2lb residual valve to the rear brake circuit. I lowered the rear 2" and checked the angle was correct on each trailing arm. The OEM bump stops were to long so I cut them shorter to give a little cushion before the suspension bottoms out. I still need to get larger rear tires but that will have to come later.

I added led blinkers to the front bumper and rear bumper.

[Driftin]

I'm still working on my fuel delivery system for the Subaru motor. The bug gas tank I'm using slopes forward with the fuel pickup in the back 1/3 of the tank. Several inches higher than the front. Coupled with fuel slosh I'm trying to solve my problem of fuel starvation when the tank is only 1/4 or less full. So I'm installing a slosh tank, kinda ghetto setup. Stainless steel lines are hard to work with!! I'll get aluminum next time.

2.2l slosh tank

Here is my tank with a 6an fuel bung and a return line that I soldered in when I first put the motor in. I now run the return line into the slosh tank and use the 2 lines off the gas tank to gravity feed the slosh tank.

I'll probably get a new fuel tank made for fuel injection and put a pump in it like they are using on the new Manx. But for now I'm going to try this.

[Driftin]

Here is my current ride height - scrapes the bumper (not the oil pan) when I turn into my drive straight. The Subaru motor sets several inches lower than a VW motor. I may raise the motor mounts 2-4" on my next Subaru swap so it won't look like the motor is scraping the pavement.

I'm going to try not to change anything else for now and finish painting the body. Hopefully start wiring by early spring!!

[Deh Shark]

Looking sweet!!! Keep up the great work!
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AH TIYAD AH DAT DEH BAI!!!
Organize folks are just to lazy to look for stuff!!

55 3 fold Ragtop
Manx Dune buggy 2387cc

[herkster]

Keep up the work!

Quick suggestion. I was told by outfront with my suby to make sure that all metal to rubber connections have a barb in the metal line for the hose clamp to back against. This is because you will see pretty good pressures there form the FI. They will slide off. I see at least 40 PSi in my fuel system at idle according to the gauge in line at the engine delivery line and estimate more!

Be careful with fuel delivery.

[Driftin]

Great tip - The ends of my stainless steel fuel line on the pressure side of the fuel pump have a slight flare to them. I hope it's enough to keep the rubber hose from slipping off. This is the first car that I've put FI on. Wow what a learning experience..... I could easily remake the fuel delivery line with aluminum fuel line and put on some metal fittings with my flare tool. It's a good point to consider when I take it apart for painting. Thanks for the input!! Keep it coming!!

[Driftin]

Now that my suspension has settled I took a pic of the ground clearance. Wow not much room before I hit the road.... Raise the car or put a skid plate to protect the rear bumper mounts? I have a 10 degree mount on the tranny and a shortened Outfront Motor Sports oil pan. The oil pan sits about 1/2" higher than the bumper. My rear tires are going to change from 215's(24.5" tall) to 235 x 75(29" tall) that should help too.

[clonebug]

You should put some 275/60-15's on the back and fill that wheel well...

27.5 inches tall and with a 4.12 gear ratio makes for an excellent freeway cruiser turning 3100 rpm at 70 mph. If you have a 3.88 it would be even lower rpm yet for the Subie.

Ignore the turbo upgrade in progress but here is a back view of the tires.
With your buggy sitting low like that it would look great with wide meats in the back.

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[Driftin]

Clonebug - your right - bigger/wider/taller tires will look much better. My bus tranny is 4.57rp so it can handle some tall tires. My neighbor has the tires I hope to get on his hotrod now and is replacing them this spring. They should fill the space and be easy on the pocket book.

[Driftin]

These are 235/75 R15 tires in the rear, they sure look better. But maybe a little to big. I'll have to see how the car handles with them. They also give me 2" more ground clearance.

Here is a before pic - 215/60 R15

[Driftin]

Well, I thought the 235/75 tires showed a little to much side wall so I switched to these BFG's 255/60 R15's. They seem to be a good balance of a larger tire that will fit my rim and not show to much side wall. I like them....

Any idea how much I need to raise the car to get less camber? You can see the steam from the motor... It's cold up here in Oregon.