Photo journal - Subaru conversion

[jmdlister]

Silly question, but are you bleeding it from the top of the rad at the front?

Yes. Richard Jones' filling procedure suggests getting as much coolant as possibly in via the header (with the rad bleed screw out), then slowly filling the rad via the bleed screw hole.

James

[mrmule]

But you'll have a tonne of coolant left over from before, so you've probably got it full now on account of never fully emptying it. Both my ej25 and eg33 Subaru conversions never needed more than about 5/6 litres of Coolant after install.

[jmdlister]

Hmmm, guess there may be some left in there, but I did take the lower bottom hose off the rad, so I'd have thought most of the coolant would have gone?

James

[mrmule]

Hmmm, guess there may be some left in there, but I did take the lower bottom hose off the rad, so I'd have thought most of the coolant would have gone?

James

I suppose you have emptied out a lot doing that. Air lock? Is it still a$$e end up on ramps?

[jmdlister]

When I started, the back end was still on the ramps, but I've since tried with it level, and also with the front end on the ramps - at which point coolant was coming back out of the top of the header when I removed the cap.

[mrmule]

When I started, the back end was still on the ramps, but I've since tried with it level, and also with the front end on the ramps - at which point coolant was coming back out of the top of the header when I removed the cap.

Water pump is definitely working?

[syncroandy]

When filling mine (RJES system) I eschew the 'bucket on the roof' approach, and simply apply a little bit of air onto the header tank to encourage circulation a bit, and get as much as I can in that way. Then top up a bit more after a drive.

[Fin]

I made a wee adaptor with a bit of hose so that I could back fill it from the radiator end - takes a bit longer but means even with the thermostat shut you can get all the coolant in.

But yeh you need to get it hot to get it sorted properly - just use hot water when filling it...could be another way??

I also made a small bypass hole in the thermostat as I've found that on cold mornings the coolant coming back to the thermostat closes it causing the coolant just to circulate on the engine side making it overheat
Just a case of pulling over and letting it all warm through again while idling for 5 mins, but it's a pain in the ass if you need to get somewhere

[Dazco]

This probably will be of no use but can you remove the Ts full the system as much as possible, then re fit the Ts ( I don't know where the Ts is situated )

[jmdlister]

Water pump is definitely working?

Think so - hot water is getting to the heater OK.

...and simply apply a little bit of air onto the header tank...

I assume you mean pressurised - how do did you do that?

I also made a small bypass hole in the thermostat...

I always thought they all had one already - but my dad (ex mechanic) says not. What size hole did you put in it?

( I don't know where the Ts is situated )

At the bottom of the engine, so not really an option.

James

[Fin]

I used a 5mm hole.
Some have got a very small bypass like 3mm, but they also have a crude little valve, which means the can or cannot operate.
I removed the valve and drilled the hole to 5mm
Some US conversions have a standoff plate allowing some coolant to bypass, but I've not investigated this avenue

[jmdlister]

This was supposed to be a photo journal - but I didn't get round to taking as many pics of the process as I'd intended. Anyway, here are a few more of the "finished" project.

Nice new header tank cap...

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New throttle cable - this was quite a pain to fit, with very poor access to the front end connection.

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New cone filter with ECU behind - this has now been covered with a "waterproof" box - more on this below.

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[jmdlister]

...and a couple more:

Exhaust mounting bracket. I was quite pleased with this. I was not entirely happy with welding a bracket to the sump - it seemed a bit flimsy, and with my welding skills, I could easily have cut a hole through the sump. So I made up a plate which bolts to the unused power steering pump bracket on the engine, then a couple of brackets to bolt onto a plate welded to the flange of the original VW box. The welding on the pipes between the original scooby manifold pipes and the VW box are not very pretty, and I'm too embarrassed to post pics of them, but it seems to work OK.

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The new fuel pump and filter. I also put in a small strainer pre-filter (took a while to find one with 12mm inlet and outlet), just to be sure I wasn't putting too much crud through the pump.

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So, the good news is that it's been on a short run, with no issues, and the cooling system seems to be fairly well sorted. The bad news is that yesterday I tidied up the wiring, and put a box round the ECU to keep the weather out, and now it won't start. Up till now, it's started instantly every time I've turned the starter, but now nothing. Not a spark, as far as I can tell. Obvious thought is that I've dislodged something in the tidy up, but I've had a good look at everything, and nothing seems out of place. I'll have another look today and hopefully get it going again.

James

[jmdlister]

Finally found a loose wire I'd slightly pulled out of it's connector. Pushed it back in, and all is well again. Still getting the engine fault light on from time to time, and an error code 24. I'll probably get a VSS and fit it - hopefully that will fix it. Then all I'll need to do is get it through the MOT!

James

[Dazco]

That's all looking good , nice to know its up and running.