I am up and running with an all stock 1996 Subaru 2.2 using a 1992 wire harness and ECU.  I love the Subaru idle air control valve, I can start in second gear and not even touch the throttle.  Low end drivability is awesome.  The almost 100 more hp than my previous VW engine is nice also.  Still working out the bugs and the 3 rib bus transmission pops out of 4th gear.  Attached picture is the all aluminum gas tank that utilizes all the components of the in tank Subaru fuel pump.

Ross
MN

That gas tank is fantastic!  I've wanted to put an aluminum one in my Imp.  Did you make that yourself?

Paul...

Paul

Yes I built it.
The standard Subaru fuel tank straddle the drive shaft so as the fuel level gets low you end up with two chambers in the tank, one on each side of the drive shaft .  As the return fuel enters the tank it creates a vacuum and pulls the fuel from the opposite side of the tank over the drive shaft and fills the pump side of the tank.  I used this feature in my tank by installing a baffle that creates a small chamber for the fuel pump to sit in so as the tank gets low it sucks the gas from the other side to keep the fuel pump chamber full.  Having a small chamber for the fuel pump to sit in preventing sloshing and air getting sucked in.  I could have got the same result by making a drop down chamber but there is no room to drop a chamber down.  Space is so limited and having the fuel pump in the tank cleans everything up.  With the lines coming out the top of the tank allow being able to remove it without draining it.  I tried to us as many Subaru parts as possible and using the fuel pump assembly worked great.  For the fuel cap I threaded a piece of billet aluminum and used a Ford cap.  I used the Ford cap because it was Free.  See attached picture.

Sweet Ross!
Please post pic's of the rest of the buggy!!!
Terry

Excellent work Ross!  Man, you should have some company duplicate your design and start selling them!  If you could keep the price around $300 I bet you'd have a line of buggy builders ready to buy!

Jeff

Jeff
In a different area of the forum you asked "How's that cooling system working?".  It is too soon to say but so far it is working perfect but I am not done testing.  I will post a bunch of info once I have more miles on it.  I just installed a hitch to pull a trailer, that should be interesting.  Keep in mind it is a non-turbo 2.2 that is totally stock with all stock components and ECU.  The more horsepower the more heat you need to get rid of.  I am getting one error code in the computer (code 24) that is caused by not having a vehicle speed Sensor (VSS), still trying to figure out how to retro fit that in.  Just being a stock 2.2 it has too much usable power to stay out of trouble.

I could build the fuel cells but I really don't have any interest in that at this time unless I was building the entire car.  This fuel cells holds a little over 10 usable gallons.

Rear mounted radiator update.
I finally got some miles on it with the radiator mounted in the rear.  The fans will come on at almost any speed, even at 60mph.  A normally car with the radiator mounted in the front turns the cooling fans off at speeds above 25 mph because they no longer are needed.  In this configuration with the radiator mounted in the rear of the car I am relying on the fans to keep the water temperature down.  It hasn't overheated yet but I don't like relying on the fans at highway speed.  Next I plan to do some air flow testing to get an idea what is going on back there.  My initial thought is to scoop air from in front of the rear wheels and direct it to the radiator.

Are the fans trying to push the air though, or are they pulling? It might be that they are fighting against the natural airflow around the motor if the air is curling around the body hitting on the back of the motor. Like when you ride in a convertible and the wind hits you in the back of the head.

Hi Ross - I really need to post some pictures, but the EJ25 John N. and I just installed in Pinkaru has a similar radiator configuration with dual fans set up as the stock fans are installed in a Legacy. I left them as pulling the air from the rear and blowing it toward the motor. Currently, they run as soon as the key is turned on (a kink that needs to be worked out), but the engine stays plenty cool like this.

Paul...

Paul
Pictures would be great.  Did you tie any ribbons or yarn to get an idea of air flow direction when the fans are off?  I still need to do that.
I hooked up a light on my instrument panel so I know when the fans come on and go off.  I also have a water temperature gauge. When cursing down the road the fans cycle on and off and maybe run half of the time.  Based on that it does have some extra cooling capacity.  I was hoping to get enough airflow so they didn't come on when going down the highway but maybe that is ok to rely on the fans all the time.  The picture is my 16' aluminum trailer hooked up, I only went a few miles to pick-up 200 pounds of salt so really not much of a test but people sure looked.

That's a fun pic!  One challenge I'm still facing is the fans go on as soon as the key turns on.  I have not spent any time tracking down the problem yet.  Obviously it runs "nice and cool" - probably too cool - with the fans on all the time. 

Paul...

That must have been a semi-wild ride with the trailer Ross!  I can imagine it would give a little "sway" behind your short wheelbase buggy!

I might suggest it you can convince a passenger - have a look at the fans while traveling down the road.  They might be turning (while not turned on) indicating the natural direction the airflow is traveling?  The taped on yarn also a good idea - but difficult to tape to the radiator fins(!), and you still need an observer to see what they're doing.

A U-tube manometer would provide "one man" observation of the pressure differences.  Gene Berg suggested doing this (a long time ago) any time you wanted to located external coolers or vents on a VW Bug - but same applies to any vehicle.  You just need a length of plastic tubing, part of which is attached to a board forming a U shape - with around 15-20" long legs.  Fill the U-tube (situated vertically in the buggy) about 1/3 full with water - then run the ends to either side of where you want to measure.  Put some markings on the board every inch, and observe how the water moves while driving the car.  Pressure differences will cause the water to move in the U-tube and give some idea of high/low pressure zones.

Jeff

Good Morning, Maybe  using expanded metal with wire ties to mount ,then yarn tided to that, have someone drive behind with a movie camera may show you what you what you want to see,. Till next time C-YA Glen                                                                                                                                                                                                     (expanded metal,Diamond shaped sheared plate pulled and stretched thickness and size of holes vary as needed)

Good Morning, My bad you already have expanded metal on the back , I should look closer next time at the pictures. Using a Manometer will yes show air flow but will it distorted air flow at different speeds? Till next time . Glen

Jeff, Hi, I think I may have a garage full of manometers of all sizes. I had a uncle that use to sell that type of stuff and its all still in my garage. The're real cheap.
Charlie

All great ideas, I will try them and let you know how it works out, thanks!

When building my buggy I wanted to use all the Subaru engine parts including the intake and air box.  I struggled with many possible locations for the air box and wanted to keep the intake the same length as it was in the Legacy.  I ended up putting it in the luggage area.  See picture.

This picture shows the stock legacy intake on the top.  The lower intake has been modified on the left side.  I used white PVC tubing to make the splice and then painted the PVC with Fusion paint.

This picture shows the modifications to the body that creates the room for the intake and also shows how I raised and widened the inner wheel tubs to allow for the above mounted shocks.  The luggage area behind the rear seat is cut out and has a removable lid to access the battery, ECU, fuse boxes and transmission.

This picture shows the EJ22 out of the car.

That's some really nice work Ross!

Have any pics of the bare chassis?  I like the design with the "exo-skeleton" for extra rigidity.  Did you build the chassis?
Jeff

Yes I built it.  The outer cage was fitted to the pan and is a tight fit around the Manx shell.  Here is a picture of the outer cage.

Once the outer cage is on the pan, then the Fiberglass body goes on then the inner cage goes in.  Attached picture of the inner cage.

This last picture is of the rear bumper.

Did you sell this buggy on samba or is it still for sale?