CAN bus Subaru Conversion video diary

[eddbmxdude]

No progress on this for a while. Been stupid busy with work and I'm waiting for more Scooby bits to sell to make funds for the project. Need a clutch before I fit the engine which I just can't afford until more of the bits from the car sell.

I'm not actually sure what my gearbox code is, I haven't checked. I will have a look next time I'm down the workshop.

I still need to get the cross-shaft off the old bellhousing. The arm is proving rather difficult to get off the end of the shaft. I need to have another go at it

[izzybarnard]

Hi
Rather than get ravelled up in some of the usual banter I'd just like to congtatuate you on this conversion puzzle.
I've been contempleting a Scoobie conversion for 2 years and takenen the expensive plunge on a 2002 EJ2.5 option being told a +2003 is impossible.
The Yanks can do it so I'm so pleased a Clever UK chap has worked out how to do a better job.
My advice is bundle it all up as a complete conversion package from start to finish and make your fortune.
Brilliant
Cheers
Jim

Sent from my SM-G955F using Tapatalk

[matt brighton]

No progress on this for a while. Been stupid busy with work and I'm waiting for more Scooby bits to sell to make funds for the project. Need a clutch before I fit the engine which I just can't afford until more of the bits from the car sell.

I'm not actually sure what my gearbox code is, I haven't checked. I will have a look next time I'm down the workshop.

I still need to get the cross-shaft off the old bellhousing. The arm is proving rather difficult to get off the end of the shaft. I need to have another go at it

Mine was too..

I ended up disk cutting it off

On the RJES website Richard has a helpful colour coded table of gearbox codes grading them from revvy to low rpm @ 60-80 mph

[multisi]

To get the arm off the clutch shaft, remove the outer circlip and slide the inner circlip along the shaft, pull the shaft out of the end and place a piece of plywood between the shaft end and the bellhousing then tap the arm in and out, keep repeating this, put some plus gas on first and make sure you don't burr the outer end of the shaft, I used an old long bolt as a punch. Clean the splines cos they get rust in them which will prevent the arm coming off. It takes a lot of force to do this so do it safely.

[silverbullet]

Where's all the CANBUS stuff then? All I have seen so far is the usual Subaru mechanical side of the conversion.

Sent from my S60 using Tapatalk

[irishkeet]

good luck, enjoying the videos

[eddbmxdude]

Thanks. I'm glad they're worth doing.

Tiny, tiny bit more work on the engine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ji9EJ6CHGks" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

That's pretty much it for prep as far as the engine goes, just waiting on the clutch before I offer it up and drill the chassis for the engine mount bar holes.

Where's all the CANBUS stuff then? All I have seen so far is the usual Subaru mechanical side of the conversion.

I guess 90% of the conversion is going to be pretty much the same as any Scoob conversion. I've got to be honest though, I have been putting tackling the loom off a little bit because that's definitely the part I'm least confident about. Now I've done all the little mechanical bits I kinda have to make a start on it though. More on that in the next update

[eddbmxdude]

Been ages since the last update. Leo has been travelling Australia for the last six months so I've been tickling around getting lots of small bits together for the conversion. I had load of trouble getting the arm off the clutch release fork and destroyed the bushes in the process, so I had to get a new set. I've also bought an Arduino and a CAN bus shield module for it.

I've also been slightly sidetracked by another van I've bought, more on that in the update.

Leo's back now and we spent his first weekend back making some much needed progress.

https://youtu.be/W9Cc6ns-Huw" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Still dancing around the wiring, but it's getting to the point where we'll actually have to tackle it now.

[slowcoach]

Must feel good to get it in the van as you say, just the wiring to go

[eddbmxdude]

Yep, feels good. It's certainly ticked a big bit off the list and is a huge mojo booster when I look in that engine bay.
We've earmarked the bank holiday next weekend to start tackling the loom. We just printed out all 364 pages of wiring diagrams from the workshop manual Going to be a steep learning curve I think!

[J P]

Yep, feels good. It's certainly ticked a big bit off the list and is a huge mojo booster when I look in that engine bay.
We've earmarked the bank holiday next weekend to start tackling the loom. We just printed out all 364 pages of wiring diagrams from the workshop manual Going to be a steep learning curve I think!
1989 1.9 DG

Well done guys on getting the engine in, it's a good feeling. Don't be too put off by the mass of paper, the manual covers all models so only 109 pages of wiring apply to you and there are another 22 pages of harness connection locations.

Assuming yours is from a manual, with ABS (Not VDC), auto A/C and double lock, the following wiring pages are needed (Numbered as the Adobe page number in the pdf I sent you),

1-16, 24-30, 41-45, 49, 56-59, 70-73, 76-77, 123, 130-137, 147-149, 206-216, 243, 245-246, 248, 249, 251, 261-263, 265, 270-273, 275, 277, 282-285, 287, 288, 291, 292, 297, 299, 300, 305-310, 312, 314, 316, 318, 322, 324, 328-330, 332, 334-337

and if you want the harness connections, the following are needed:

339, 341-343, 346-349, 353-355, 362, 363, 366, 367, 371-373, 376, 377, 380, 381

It's best to get the loom laid out and label as many of the relevant connectors as possible, there may be a few unkowns at the start but when you start tracing the wires you'll discover what they are. When you've completely stripped the loom, try and keep it arranged in it's original form with some loose taping.

You've printed off all the wiring diagrams which is good, get rid of all the non relevant stuff straight away not related to your variant. I'd also tape all the relevant sections together as they're easier to whip out when needed.

When you're deleting all the non-relevant stuff, work through the loom methodically and strike off all the traces as you go, it feels good to see the progress else If you just dive in and delete all non-essential plugs and traces it's easy to get lost.

I also found there are some un-documented connections in there, so keeping track of things is essential. The service manual has most of these in there like C11 on the BIU which defines whether it's a saloon or wagon, this wire doesn't appear in the 'wiring only' pdf.

I'd also advise you have access to a PC or laptop whilst doing the wiring as it can be a real bonus for searching around the wiring diagrams.

It may be worth joining the Facebook group - 'VW Subi Wire Harness DIYers', have a scroll through some of the old posts as there are lots of posts on tips etc.

You're going to need lots of heat shrink as well, the best place I could recommend is CPC, they do free delivery over £8 (+VAT), the sizes 1/8" and 3/16" are handy for all the signal traces, plus get some bigger ones for the power. I've seen some conversions use the original fuse/relay boxes, but I always prefer to have a new fuse/relay box to keep things neat.

When you're extending wiring, always try to maintain the original colours and gauge, the wiring that you remove from the loom is handy for this. If you have to change the colour of any traces, mark up the wiring diagrams so that in future you have a good reference.

Finally I'd pickup a good OBDII reader, it was really helpful for me when doing mine and the error codes are all described in the service manual. I bought mine on eBay for £30, it requires a PC but the benefit is it actually gives you textual descriptions of the faults not just codes and you can also read and graph all the data component values if you wish, it can be found here:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Car-MB-OBD2- ... ctupt=true

If you need any help just give me a shout.

All the best

[eddbmxdude]

Wow, thanks J P. That gives me a lot to go on
I'll be sure to have this post on standby for reference! We'll let you know our progress.

[eddbmxdude]

We've made a start on the dreaded wiring

https://youtu.be/FWkjQtL0QP0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[J P]

Great video guys. Once you're in the swing of it, it gets quite enjoyable seeing the loom thin down. I used a similar labeling system on mine although a bit shorter by using B134-1 for connector-pin. What are your thoughts on placement of the various units (Accelerator, BIU, IMM, etc), obviously you will need the instrument cluster for the immobiliser side of things but are you hiding it away or using instead of the VW cluster?

My engine/dash wiring was split up as with a waterproof enclosure in the engine bay housing the ECU, engine relays and engine/ECU fuse box, then up front I had the BIU, alarm, clocks, cluster, key barrel/antenna unit, an additional relay/fusebox and of course the accelerator pedal. This was for my sinka syncro hence the reason for the waterproof enclosure as nothing is safe from water ingress, so only the minimum was put in the wet zones, all the dash stuff is mounted high out of the way as on one occasion I had water up to my knees!

One problem I encountered with the accelerator pedal is that if you use the full range of motion, you will get an ECU error and I kid you not, the engine WILL cut out and will not restart on the go. So when you're fine tuning the pedal, watch the OBDII data component for the throttle angle and tweak it so you just pass the 100% WOT. Also, if you're extending the accelerator unit to the cab, you will need shielded cable for the sense wire (B315-5) as you'll see when you're stripping the loom, make sure this is of adequate gauge otherwise you'll get a voltage drop and resultant error code.

All the best

J P

[eddbmxdude]

Thanks J P. Some very useful info there!

Progress is slow, I'm working on it whenever I have a spare hour here and there. It's definitely looking thinner now though

We are going to be using the Subaru clocks in place of the VW ones. If we have to keep them anyway there doesn't seem much point in hiding them away. It'll be nice to get rid of our wobbly speedo As for the rest of the Scoob gubbins, we were thinking of making a waterproof enclosure and housing them in the void above the gearbox. We went to see a guy who has also done the conversion and his ECU, BIU and relays were under his rock and roll bed but I think ours would get in the way there. We have a homebrew camping interior and the bed is a full width futon, so the underneath isn't enclosed and I think stuff would get kicked/damaged.

Edd