The installation of the engine went reasonably smoothly apart from one unexpected problem. When I had the engine lined up with the gearbox and was easing it in I noticed that the bolts which hold the adapter plate onto the engine were in the way of the rear mounting bushings of the transaxle. After a bit of head scratching I decided to melt a small pocket out of the rubber for clearance of the bolt head with an old soldering iron.
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I hired the engine hoist for £20 for the weekend, much easier than trying to balance it on a trolley jack like I did with the Alfa engine! |
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I jacked the car up high enough to slide the engine under the car. |
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Then I lowered the car back down over the engine and reattached the hoist to lift the engine into position. Everything went in easily, I didn't even have to remove the alternator for extra room. |
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The turbo manifold is the lowest part of the engine at the back, but the sump is slightly lower ahead of it. |
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Everything fits well, without the intercooler fitted! |
So I had to cut some of the body away for clearance. In the speedster this is where some people (including me) fit the battery in a cubby hole behind the rear seat. |
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It takes up a lot of the space back there but not
all, I will relocate the battery off to the side of the compartment
which will mean extending it sideways under the wing. I will also make
a fiberglass cover for the intercooler that is removable for future
access. I plan to put the ECU and a few other bits of electronics back
here so it will have to be watertight. The turbo is underneath this
shelf so I'll have to put a decent heat shield below here, I'll also
use thermal wrap on the turbo pipework.
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Something that some people might like to note is that the subaru engine is quite short, shorter than the Alfa flat 4 anyway.
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I used the original Subaru throttle cable and looped it back on itself underneath the inlet manifold. |
Then I made a bracket to clamp the cable outer with a jubilee clip and joined the cables together with a bolt with a hole drilled through it. Not the most elegant connection but it is very solid and won't slip. |
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I have used the original manifold and two 2 1/2" mandrel bends and finally a straight through muffler. |
The muffler fits nicely alongside the left cylinder head, but leaving a decent amount of clearance between it and the tyre. |
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Clearance is a bit tight by the rear shock, not too bad though. |
The inlet pipework just fits underneath the rear frame. |
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The K&N filter will get a shield to protect it from debris from the rear wheel as well as heat from the exhaust. |