SubyNotch is up and running
 

hey everyone, i finally got my site up. Its still in the early stages, but it pretty much documents most everything on my conversion of a 73 notchback to ej power. Right now the car is very drivable, and is my daily driver once again.

I feel the site can actually walk people through the major parts of the conversion, if anyone feels i missed some parts, let me know, ill add them.

I don't think ive ever even posted pictures of it on these forums.

check it out.

http://www.studiotuning.net/subynotch


-Ryan

Not only is that an awsome notch, it's a great conversion as well. It's true, I'm jealous.

Jason

Great going Ryan! Would be interested in more Subaru specific MS stuff, how is it running now? Any idea on power?

Rich

Nicely done !
I wish I had the welding and fab skills you have.

Looks very professional.

And yes, I'd be interested too in more details around the MS setup.
Did it fire right up with the base map ?
Did it / does it require a lot of tuning ?

Rob.

first time i tried starting it, it didnt start, but that was a mistake on my part because i used the wrong version program. but when i fixed it, it started up.

all i used was a program in megasquirt that is a rough map calculator. sometimes that map works great, sometimes just ok. Because i had the wideband, it only took about 1/4 a tank to get it close to the correct map with a buddy in the passenger seat. that has to be one of the most fun parts, cause the car gets faster and faster, and next thing you know, you are going way too fast.

we are still fine tuning it, but its running great right now, fast and getting better gas milage then the old 1600 carbed engine in before it. And the sound is absolutely amazing.

right now it is mated to the stock tranny! haha, but i baby it when taking off. in the garage is a porsche 901 4 speed which i will use.

ill update the site with more in depth megasquirt stuff tonite.

Oh, i can take credit for the fabbing, but the actually welding was done by my boss haha.

thanks,
-Ryan

Not only is it a great job on the car, it is a great job on the site explaining the car. Very well done times two. :agree: :agree:

Well done times 3 :agree: :agree: :agree:

Your web site is very informative. Thanks for putting it up.

Sandeep

Which junkyard did you get you crank trgger from and whats the phone number. My friend and i here in jamaica want to do a conversion from carbs to F.I. with this setup.

Nice, very, very nice!!!!!!!!!!!!

the trigger wheel setup is from a pick your part in california. Your best bet would be looking on ebay, theyre is usually a set on ebay. search Edis

**made an update page on the site which i will update occasionally.

great swap, thanks also for your write up on the swap.

im prepping to do a WRX swap into a 73 super I just bought, and I dream about it at night.

I have been tuning WRXs for 3 years now, from mild to wild, and can tune a 400hp subaru with my eyes closed and one hand tied behind my back.

congrats on a sick *** setup.

i dont know what you are tuning the cruising afrs for but just fyi, subaru motors are happy running extremely lean under zero load, i tune mine for the 16s to 1 under 0 boost situations, it really saves on gas, and with a car as light as this, id further recommend it.

thanks for the info! ya ive noticed when tuning we actually had it really lean at certain points and didnt hear any knocks or anything. for cruising right now i just set it to about 14-15.

where are you located? im in Orange County CA.

-Ryan

im all the way up in Utah.

when i was searching for the beetle to buy, i would have loved to be in cali, i swear, you can basically choose the year color, and price range, and youve got something to go on, within about 100 miles, haha.

and when you are leaning out the cruising AFRs, you wont see any knock, the car will simply stop igniting the mix, causing a studder. when you get that studder, youll basically just need to add back in about a half a point of fuel or so.

what turbo are you using? also, did you mount the turbo in stock location?

the reason I ask, is because as a suby nut, i really want to keep the stock header. the stock header results in the best spool up times, and also, keeps what us suby guys call the suby rumble, which is that distinct wierd exhaust note, that makes subarus sound so unique. it comes from the header design causing the pulses to come out in a wierd fashion.

Ya, we have a good supply of vws here haha.
Im using the stock turbo, vf10, and the stock header. Ya i love the suby rumble, and with a straight 3 inch dump, it sounds even more intense.

Im pretty sure the stock header gives the most ground clearance also. all the aftermarket headers ive seen hang low.

Ive already had a car enthusiast pull up next to me and say "that thing sounds like it has a suby in it!" haha

-Ryan

yeah, i love that sound. I actually sold an equal length header, and put my stocker back on my wrx. its nice to know that the header, and uppipe will clear the axle and whatever else is right there. now, the other questions is, did that 3 inch pipe you ran, run behind the suspension? or the axle? was that a pretty simple plumbing job?

oh, and the other thing... what did you use for motor mounts?

im running a solid mid mount, so the engine is just hanging off the frame horns, like the stock engine, but im going to incorporate a rear hanger eventually.

on my site, you can see a pic of my down/exit pipe, from the turbo, it does a 180 above the axle, and then slopes down then up a lil. it wasnt too tough, but you have to be carful making that 180 because it can get close to the axle.

how hard are you able to drive the car?

what boost levels are you running? do you have any sort of idea on how fast your car actually is? Any real world comparisons, races, track numbers, ect ect.

i can floor it and shift at about 6-6.5K rpms. its fast. Not sure how much power it is making at its current tune.
its only running about 5psi right now, i am going to turn it up eventually though with my boost controller.
i have an exhaust leak on the crossover pipe on the header, u know the flex area, i need to fix that too.
and when i say floor it, it is only getting ~80% throttle.

reason i havent rushed to boost it or get 100% throttle is because im using the stock tranny right now, and i cant risk breaking down haha. thanksgiving or christmas vacation, im putting in the porsche 901 tranny, then i can push it a little more.

a few questions for you,

ive been told these engines can be run on ~15psi reliably, even up to 20, but 15 will be plenty. if i run that do i need different injectors?
Also, do you have any maps or can you give me an idea on what these motors like ignition wise? crusing rpms i have it at about 26-30 right now, everywhere else is somewhere near 20 degrees.

thanks,
-Ryan

that motor, actually came with 14 psi from the factory iirc. and depending on what block you have, you can push well over 20 psi from the factory, with actually small upgraded turbos, and retain most to all of the reliability.

the ej20 blocks out there are as follows... (if any of this is wrong, someone chime in)

-ej205 02-05 wrx non sti. one of the weakest bottom ends, and least agressive valve train. stock comes with 227hp in usdm form, and 217ish in the uk version. good for abour 400hp reliability. people have reached about 400whp for very short periods of time. and maybe 320-340 as a pretty darn high point. its hard to tell you what drivetrain loss is. ive run 21 psi on a bone stock 205 in my 02 wrx with the factory turbo, on the factory 380cc injectors, and just fuel mapping. and about 18 psi on a VF30 turbo, with injector duty cycles at about 97 percent.

-ej207 circa mid 90s- current jdm sti 8-8500 rpm redline, forged bottom end (besides pistons) closed deck block, large port heads, AVCS and more agressive cams. stock hp is somewhere between 280-320, some motors come with awesome twin scroll turbo setups for really lag free power, and an 8k redline. the strongest motor besides the fabled 22b engine, and the -ej257 or even 255 (06 WRX only) i know of many low 11 second 3000+ lbs wrxs on ej207 motors bone stock, with just turbo and upgraded supporting mods. people are making 400whp-450whp very relieably, and I even know of one guy making 504whp with 33 psi boost on a gt35R turbo STOCK LONGBLOCK!!! the bottom end showing NO signs of letting up, and the heads/cams combo being the huge limiting factor.

-ej20g early 90s stis (i think but im not sure) closed deck 2.0 liter and somewhat stronger than the ej205 as well. I dont know crap about these, but they ARE stronger than the ej205. they came in some sort of sti in the early 90s or somewhere around there, but i dont know what specifically. again. they are more stout closed deck blocks than the fragile 205 open deck non forged block.

there are other forms of ej20s, but i dont know what the variations are. im not too much of a jdm fan, but i have respect for alot of them.

FYI, the ej257 which can be found in all 04-06 stis, as well as the forester XTs for 04-05, and the legacy gt same years, are the strongest highest power capability motors that subary has made in full production lines. the shortblock can be swapped with virtually any head combonation, and will support huge turbos, and awesome power.

those blocks are all the same (i think) and the STi blocks have made about 465 whp on pump gas in the US, and 565 wheel hp on race gas, in totally stock form. the bottom end showed NO signs of giving up, while the heads actually choked the turbo out at anything above 33 psi. literally stalling the turbo out, and causing compressor stall. many many many people are making 500+wheel hp with 04+ stis and never seeing problems with the motors holding apart.

subaru motors like timing. the combustion chambers do not promote a very efficient quick burn, so the timing must be advanced alot more than say the EVO motors, which burn the mixture right when you light it off.

my bone stock ej205 with stock turbo and stock top mount intercooler, liked to run about 20-21 degrees timing at peak boost, peak volumetric efficiency, and then as boost starts falling off, and rpms climb, i ramped the timing up to about 28 degrees or so. that tune, was my agressive 91 utah pump tune, and would some times show slight signs of wanting to knock. (very small knock counts) running on a standalone that does not monitor and correct for knock, I would recommend pulling about 3 degrees across the board, depending on the setup. When I ran that boost level on race gas, (literally just disconnecting the WG actuator, and letting the turbo run as high as it could) I turned the timing up to about 25-26, ramping up to 30+ at redline.

my ej25 (rs2.5 block) fully built (pistons, rods, sleeves, crank, balanced, ect ect with headwork) creates a much more efficient burn, and I used much larger turbo chargers that flow alot more air, and want to still see about 14-17 degrees timing at peak torque, 20 psi boost, and then taper to just over 20-22ish at redline.

cruising, you can set the timing at like 35 degrees if you want, and I do. watching the ECU run the car at cruise, sometimes it gets into the low 40s. it wants to advance the timing as far as it possbily can, before seeing knock, and it virtually wont see knock ever at no load. try it out, if you want to, but the weight of your car, im sure you dont need help getting up hills off boost.

I'm a good way into my Suby conversion in my Ghia. See thread...

http://www.germanlook.com/Forums/showthread.php?t=7050

I don't have the engine yet, but I still want to get this computer figured out before I have the engine in and sitting for weeks while I figure the computer out. I went to your site, I saw what you bought, but I'm VERY UNfimiliar with mega squirt. I'm totally lost. :banghead: I don't want to go with a stock ECU, that looks like a nightmare and a half. :eek:

Can you help me? I'd REALLY appreciate the help. :shrug: