Taza's Forester engine options

Awesome Taza!!!:cool:

Glad you are back up and running again.:bananatoast: Great to hear you are properly running it in, be nice to it, and it should last you a good long while.:ebiggrin:
 
Wow your 2lt must of really been rooted if you couldnt do that before! nice to see its going well

Yeah well I used to have to use low range to take off on a standard hill from a standstill as the gearing felt too high in high range.
Now I can do it in 2nd easier than the foz used to before in 1st high.

It's not fast but the pulling power from the flat torque curve is what makes is grunty and a pleasure to drive now. It even has abut of poke when you put your foot down too. Now I find that if I'm revving it at more than 3500rpm it feels like I'm thrashing it. Haha
Even doing 110kmhrwith it doing 3200rpm feel like I'm thrashing it.

The first 1000km is up, will do the oil change tomorrow. .... went for a longish run yesterday and did 220km to 15l while varying my speed and revs.
 
^ ^

Great stuff, Taz. That 15L for 220 kms sounds very similar to what we got going up to Ballarat and back in Roo2. We estimate that before we hit the 'burbs again and spent some 35 minutes in a traffic snarl at St Kilda that I had used about 12L for around 165 kms or so. Around 7.3L/100 kms! About 35-38 miles per UK gallon, for our metric challenged friends. About 32 US miles per US gallon for our US friends ...

Anyway, HEAPS better than you were getting with your old 2.0L donk.

Interesting to see your observations about the responsiveness and torque as well ... :iconwink: :ebiggrin:.
 
Awesome! :eek::rock:

Is this with the computer installed?

Nope, that'll happen this weekend or the next. In the process of moving house and fixing up the house at the same time(you don't get much for half a million $$ these days!).

Great stuff, Taz. That 15L for 220 kms sounds very similar to what we got going up to Ballarat and back in Roo2.

Yeah it's not bad, especially considering I was changing the revs, speed and between 4th and 5th gear as I'm still running in the engine. I've been averaging 9.5l to the 100km with moderate driving(not thrashing at all but a little squirt here and there) just in the city. Ive done 490km and the light is close to coming on. Once I get the tune done I reckon I can get it down to the high 8's and low 9's with normal city driving.
Once the new/custom 4wd bias gearbox goes in the the foz with the taller(foz GT) 5th gear and I can drop the revs down by about 350-400rpm at 110km/hr I reckon it'll be in the high 7's upto mid 8's on the highway. Can't really complain with that!

Anyway, HEAPS better than you were getting with your old 2.0L donk.
Your not wrong there, it's still no speed machine or race car but move the foz along at a decent pace(without me too easily being able to loose my licence or get too any speeding fines lol).

Interesting to see your observations about the responsiveness and torque as well ... :iconwink: :ebiggrin:.
I'd say from 2000rpm onwards it pulls pretty strong, under that it's still 5x better than the 2.0l donk. It's really bought the job back into driving my foz, can't wait to see how she goes on a proper long run and on some soft sand.
I have a feeling she'll just eat it for breakfast! :iconwink:
 
The Haltech unit...

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The main problem is I am having trouble obtaining a SF Ej20 N/A wiring diagram to find the feeds I need to wire up the unit... anyone know where I might be able to get one?
All the ones iI fnd are for the US spec SF which has a DOHC EJ25 and is completely different.


The new block.. Need pics from the top, haven't had time as of late.
This is when it went in and was up on the hoist ready to refit the exhaust.
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Gidday Taz

Congrats on the house purchase, mate ... :) :biggrin: :ebiggrin: ...

As for your Foz, sounds as if your feelings towards the 2.5L N/A are pretty similar to my own (coming from my extremely under-grunted 1.8L '93 Impreza ... ).

I find Roo2 to be a very pleasant and tractable car to drive, in all circumstances - both on and off road.

Are you still running the road tyres/alloys?
 
The new block.. Need pics from the top, haven't had time as of late.
This is when it went in and was up on the hoist ready to refit the exhaust.
201305271812291.jpg

Nice and clean mate, I beat ya cant wait to get her out in bush hey..

As for your wiring problems wouldn't your work have access etc to that sort of stuff? also maybe checkout the Haltech forum as someone on there may be able to help ya out..
 
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Well I've worked out what to do and how to go about installing my piggyback ECU. Reasonably simple and should only take me an hour or so.

Got almost 2000km on the new engine, 207,000km on the foz itself. Went for a little offroad sesh today, nothing hard just some sand. Didn't air down the tyres but it's unbelievable! The power compared to the 2.0l donk is catastrophic You don't even need low range to get around, then when you do get bogged in very soft, dry sand up a hill I can put it in low range, drive forwards and all 4 wheels will just spin and turn through the sand.... up a boggy hill!!! :censored: :surprised: :lildevil: No riding of the clutch, no revving it up and dumping the clutch. Just drive and accelerate :biggrin:

I think with good limited slip diffs the power and gearing would struggle a little as it would put a greater load on the engine and drivetrain to turn more wheels but with l-series low range that'll more than make up for it.

Can't wait to fit the tune and my auto locker goes in the rear diff in a few weeks :cool:
 
Well I've worked out what to do and how to go about installing my piggyback ECU. Reasonably simple and should only take me an hour or so.

That's really good to hear, Taza.


. . . it's unbelievable! The power compared to the 2.0l donk is catastrophic You don't even need low range to get around, then when you do get bogged in very soft, dry sand up a hill I can put it in low range, drive forwards and all 4 wheels will just spin and turn through the sand.... up a boggy hill!!! :censored: :surprised: :lildevil: No riding of the clutch, no revving it up and dumping the clutch. Just drive and accelerate :biggrin:

I won't say "I told you so" ... :iconwink: :iconwink: :iconwink: :cool:

It's like when I went from Roo1 with its under-grunted 1.8L to Roo2 with its huge increase in torque, far flatter torque curve and better gearing ...

Un-believable difference. Could have been different cars :rotfl:.

Just really glad that you are happy with it, Taz. Give it 50,000 kms or so to get properly run in, and you won't know yourself :lol: :lildevil:.
 
went for a longish run yesterday and did 220km to 15l while varying my speed and revs.

I think you'll find that this will change with the new ECU - the stock EJ20 ECU could be running the engine a little on the lean side, maybe not dangerous now but over a long time it could be.

I guess I'm saying I don't want you to have an expectation that your fuel economy will stay the same after the new ECU and a tune ;)

I think with good limited slip diffs the power and gearing would struggle a little as it would put a greater load on the engine and drivetrain to turn more wheels but with l-series low range that'll more than make up for it.

This is false thinking. Yes the LSDs will make it harder for the engine to turn everything, but this is because you're getting/retaining traction when you most likely need it most. The rest of the time they're no different to open diffs in operation.

An auto locker on the other hand will work the drive train harder, your drive shafts in particular. An auto locker should actually be called an auto unlocker - in a straight line the two wheels are locked together, when you corner the outside wheel is allowed to free wheel faster than the inside wheel. You'll most likely have to modify your driving habits as the auto locker will behave very differently to an LSD or open diff. This is most likely more for those RWD vehicles, but if you go into a corner under power you have the potential to spin the inside wheel to the same speed as the outside wheel. This will result in a locked axle and most likely loss of control as the engine speed breaks the traction of the outside wheel as well. In an AWD setup this probably won't be as disastrous as it is in a RWD setup.

You will notice a "bit of noise" when cornering, it's not your drive shafts, just the ratchet mechanism letting the outside wheel freewheel.

Hope this makes sense.

Cheers

Bennie
 
As Bennie says the extra traction and loss of power/momentum will more than make up for the *maybe* miniscule impact on drivetrain power loss. I haven't notice any impact on the power in my car on road, and off road the extra traction makes a huge difference.
 
This is false thinking. Yes the LSDs will make it harder for the engine to turn everything, but this is because you're getting/retaining traction when you most likely need it most. The rest of the time they're no different to open diffs in operation.

An auto locker on the other hand will work the drive train harder, your drive shafts in particular. An auto locker should actually be called an auto unlocker - in a straight line the two wheels are locked together, when you corner the outside wheel is allowed to free wheel faster than the inside wheel. You'll most likely have to modify your driving habits as the auto locker will behave very differently to an LSD or open diff. This is most likely more for those RWD vehicles, but if you go into a corner under power you have the potential to spin the inside wheel to the same speed as the outside wheel. This will result in a locked axle and most likely loss of control as the engine speed breaks the traction of the outside wheel as well. In an AWD setup this probably won't be as disastrous as it is in a RWD setup.

You will notice a "bit of noise" when cornering, it's not your drive shafts, just the ratchet mechanism letting the outside wheel freewheel.

Hope this makes sense.

Cheers

Bennie

A good write-up Bennie.
I'd like to get your two cents on the behavioral differences between a VLSD and CLSD in the rear diff of a full time AWD.
I suspect the CLSD acts like a locked diff until it need to slip where as a VLSD acts like an open until it need to grip.

I have a CLSD and for about the 1st year it seems to be binding all the time while driving on pavement, now it doesn't so i wonder if its broken in now and loosened up for daily driving, or just broken (haha) and not "locking" any more.

Sorry to distract from your engine Taza, but Bennie's comment seemed appropriate for the quick discussion ;)
 
^ Thanks Ratbag.

I have looked into this. My guess is that Venom and possibly Dulagarl are using their standard EJ fuel pumps while running a engine with 2 extra cylinders and 1l more over their standard 2.0l engine.

After speaking to a Japanese Import wholesaler and Subaru directly all EJ engines use the same fuel pump. In standard form, doesn't changing if they are turbo or non turbo. In my case my standard EJ20 fuel pump will be sufficient, I do plan to get the whole fuel system professionally cleaned and the injectors reconditioned as they have 250,000km on them from the 2nd EJ20 I previously had in the car.

That's great to hear guys! I thought that with the extra force (LSD's) it would cause the gearing to struggle more. Yes I have obtained an auto locker, when it goes in is a completely different question. It's all just time and money... Don't forget apprentice wages don't pay much!
For the time being once I paint and fit the Subaxtreme rear bar/wheel carrier I bought(one day this will happen too) and install the rear auto locker I think I might keep the car as it is. Maybe not go down the whole road of a custom gearbox. As much as I would like it I find(once a good locker/LSD goes in) that the car is easily capable to do everything I want from it and is still a good, economical, daily driver. I think it's about time I focus on less mods and just go out and have fun in it. I have had a good offroad sesh, camping trip or time away(touring) this year!
 
Good info, Taz. Worth the checking into, I reckon.

Have you got the piggy-back ECU fitted yet?
 
That's annoying, to say the least.

Cold.here, but beautiful sunny winter days.

From my Batphone
 
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