Syncaroo (Subaru into Syncro)

[HarryMann]

Love to see it though! Did Subaru do a 3.3 manual?.....

As Ian says, no, but I believe smallcar do a manual conversion for SVX's (the Subaru sports car)

Because the autos can be trouble, or parts nla!

[rollercoaster]

Just had a call from Simon and we need some advice please:

The ECU has not got enough wire on the loom to mount it under the seat, as per usual 2wd fitment, due to the fuel tank being in the way, and he doesnt want to drop that as it entails removing the gearbox etc apparently, what solutions have people used and where have the ECU's been mounted, what problems have been encountered from those positions, so basically where do we stick it?
He suggested putting it on the load bed inside a fabricated box, but I lug some strange loads and want to keep the ability and versatility at maximum, not to mention sleeping on it.

Also we haven't come up with a sump solution yet so he wants to leave the sump as it is for now, I have no idea just how low that is, will it suffice for a while until one is chosen ordered and delivered or does anyone have a shortened sump to sell?

I am fairly desperate to get this van back as I have really missed it so appreciate the help and advice, thanks.

[syncropaddy]

Andy had his electronics mounted inside the van in a neat little box on the passenger side above the rear lamp cluster.

[rollercoaster]

Well I told him that, thanks for the fast reply, and he has already found a way through underneath and next to the tank it seems.

The hole is drilled and barring any further unforseens the electrics will be under the seat.

So that just leaves the question of the sump.. will the original Subaru sump be too low to drive around with until I sort out a solution or does anyone have a short sump to offer us please?

[HarryMann]

So that just leaves the question of the sump.. will the original Subaru sump be too low to drive around with until I sort out a solution or does anyone have a short sump to offer us please?

Not too low for the road, too low for the underrun bars or off-road really though... its a real low-slung bum!

Have a shortened sump but don't really want to loan it out at the moment, not happy with its paltry 2.5 litres either..

The main issue, going back a couple of pages now, is not quite so much the absolute volume of oil which can be increased with an oil-cooler circuit... but I would have thought the depth of sump for anti-surge purposes,

With a suitable depth and/or baffled anti-surge arrangement and a large oil cooler circuit (circa 2.5 litres with 3/4" hoses), then you would be creating a system quite like a dry sump setup.

[HarryMann]

Also, another approach (or additional measure) would be to incorporate an anti-surge reservoir in the circuit, these often are integrated with a pressure boosting device so to maintain pressure using the in-built oil reservoir.

Thus offsetting a short-term lack of flow from the pick-up side of things to the pump - I think the planning & placement of such a device would be qite critical to whether it really was any real benefit (or not!)..

Over...

[keeno]

You could always plumb in an Acusump. They do three versions one, two and three litre oil capacity. You plumb them inline with the oil cooler and should there ever be a surge situation, the Acusump automatically introduces pressurised oil, so you never lose oil pressure under any circumstances. You can remote mount just about anywhere. Would solve the problem 100%. I have a spare three liter model from my racecar that is no longer required...

[ericos_bob]

Sorry to chime in so late. Glad you got the wiring sorted. When I built my own subi loom I simply customized the length to suit. As far as sumps go the small car sump should be all you need. These sumps are not simply a chopped stock sump they are designed to retain full oil capacity while losing no ground clearance over the stock 2.1 engine. The extra capacity can be noted where the sump bolts on to the engine. The shortened sump mounts on the same way as the stock but is much broader and extends out beyond the mounting points which is where it makes up the lost capacity. You get a shortened oil pick up tube that simply replaces the stock one and you will have to mount the oil dipstick tube higher using a spacer. Remark the oil dipsticks high and low points and you're done. works perfectly for me.

[syncroandy]

^WHS

I also opted for the Smallcar sump, which restores the original ground clearance. There's a few pics posted by Hutch in page 2 of one of my old threads on BY:

http://www.brick-yard.co.uk/forum/ej25-into-syncro_topic31516_page2.html?KW=ej25

There's also some pics of my electrical install in this thread:

https://club8090.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=45668&p=7314995#p7314995

[rollercoaster]

Thanks for the responses and the links to the pictures.
I had not seen that thread or looked at Brick Yard.

Like the sound of the SmallCar Sump or similar.. that should do the trick.
I dont fancy getting too complicated with extra pipes etc if I can avoid it.
However: "the design of Richards engine support bar I think precludes the use of Small cars ally sump, as their sump extends towards the back of the engine, (front of van not a problem if you use Small cars engine mounts)."
I copied that from the thread that Andy just pointed me to, and yes we are using Richards bar..
Seems a good idea to think all this through carefully..
Maybe back to the extra pipework.

So this opens up more questions..

First I have to explain that I am nowhere near the van its hundreds of miles away..
Simon Spannerboy is sorting out this conversion he is experienced fitting Subaru motors into 2wd, but this is his first Syncro.

The questions that come to mind are if Simon presses ahead and I get it back with the standard Subaru sump and his stainless fabricated exhaust on, will the exhaust likely prevent the new enlarged sump from fitting? If fouling is likely, how can we insure that the exhaust design is sure to clear?

Richard allows extra wires for an additional tacho in his loom, very useful, what is the accepted wisdom on the simple solution for tacho?

And where is the best place to get the vacuum for the diff locks?

Simon is racing ahead now and it will be fired up tomorrow so its at an exciting stage..

[Aidan]

vac for difflocks same as before they are teed off the back to front vac line going to the servo, no need to have touched any of that I don't think, just a case of plugging the line into the inlet system as normal

[sonic23]

This makes for very interesting reading.
I'm about to place an order with SmallCar and RJES later this week so my own fun can begin....it's taken a while but I'm 95% certain of which combo of bits I'll be using for my Syncro and the DOHC EJ25.

Rich

[doctor.rex]

I have just finished a ej251 SOHC conversion on my syncro and can confirm that Richards (RJES) engine bar and exhaust will fit with the Smallcar sump. Richard was excellent with his help when I did the conversion. The engine protection bars do not fit and my next job is to sort that out.
cheers mike

[syncroandy]

Hi Mike, and welcome !

How did you mount the RJES muffler ? I thought RJ's design uses the sump to hang it off, and of course the SC sump has no mount points.

Andy

[doctor.rex]

Thanks for the welcome. The RJES exhaust mount is attached to the engine via bolts through 2 of the timing belt pulleys. The lower part of the mount is supposed to attach to the sump via a bracket. In my conversion I missed this out and fabricated additional mounts to the top of the engine (using spare mounting points left over from removing the air conditioning and power steering pumps). It seems to work and is quite strong.
cheers mike