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2002-03 EJ25 would be a 251 or 253, not a 25D And no you cannot use Cams from an early (90-98) EJ22e heads in the newer 99+ SOHC heads. Totally physycally different heads. 99+ sohc heads are bigger, more complicated (CAM case with like 27 bolts to disassemble, 3 different types of bolts and 2 of them love to break/strip.) I charge an extra 2 hours labor on 99+ Sohc head gasket jobs vs. an EJ22e. I would use the 97 22e heads. They are smaller, simpler, lighter, and easier to fit into the engine of older subarus. on a 2.5 block it will likely make over 150 hp which is PLENTY in an old EA body. Plus the big point of the "frankenmotor" combo is the high compression from tiny heads on big cyls. Improves the low end grunt of the engine. 25D heads are big and heavy, hard to adjust valve clearances (shim on bucket). And then it also wouldn't be a "Frankenmotor" so you don't get the compression bump that helps the low end. Unless the goal is %100 maximum top end HP, you don't need them. If you put 251 or 253 heads on it, you just basically made a 251/3 so not really a "frankenmotor" and you'd be better off to just get a whole 2000+ engine.....although those won't run easily off the 97 harness.

Yes , you’ll want to not bother with the air system and swap over to regular stock assemblies. Junkyard , parts car donor , whatever you can find. Maybe buy some new KYB’s to replace struts , or go cheap since I personally wasted my money on KYB’s since my son ended up killing the car and I couldn’t get my KYB’s back before the car go crushed. Be sure to get good top mounts. Not Chinese crap. Even keeping the originals are better than new Chinese’s garbage - take my word ! We swapped out our 94 Legacy wagon air for standard and all is great now. Good luck with it and the kid. Cheers!

Welcome to the USMB, Aembuff. The general feeling here is to pull the airbag system and replace with standard struts & springs--preferably KYBs and preferably from a Pull n' Pay! I'm no expert on suspension but I'm sure folks with experience will chime in with help. By the way, good choice for a teen's first car.

This is my 85 GL with the Dual Range 4wd. I first bought this car when I was 17 for $1100 from a guy in North Cali. She was in great shape, very minimal rust. But the we moved to Idaho, and she started rusting more. The car had some pretty good oil leaks, so I decided to pull the engine and reseal it for my senior project in highschool. She ran really well, until an unfortunate event. I hit a dear doing almost 60. Crushed the front end and pushed the engine through the radiator. We had to tow her home, But I wasn't gonna give up on the ol girl. So I found an old man I was able to trade a .22 for some parts off of a loyal he had. I got my parts and started to pull out, and straighten the body. I had to replace the hood, bumper, all the front lights, radiator, a/c condenser, and the water pump. The car was whole again, but the engine just didn't run the same. I kept driving, and eventually the old EA82 threw a rod, straight through the block... But STILL I did not give up, I looked at it as a opportunity to do the EJ22 swap that I had always wanted to do. That same day I found new EJ for $300. It took me the rest of the summer saving money and collecting parts to finish the swap. And I did. With the help of SJR I got the adapter parts. I had to completely redo the exhaust, installing 2 1/4" pipe, with a glasspack, and Thrush turbo. And yet that day, the birth of the Frank'n Soob.

I was going to say the same thing as Olnick but I don't own an early Legacy. I do however have Impreza struts in the front end of my Loyale so I would be really surprised if some pick-n-pull struts wouldn't just fit right in. Subaru's are like Legos

I've seen those scorpion wheels out of Australia i think? Not bad price at all either $500 i might get for my xt unless I can find 3 more of the factory 8 spokes. Those are my fave. It's good to see someone still supporting the 4x140, the four wheel disc brakes on the xt makes her drop an anchor hard, so I am skipping the five lug swap, and 13s or 14s tucked nicely into the wheel wells really set off an old L body.

The cranks and rods are not the same. They are the largest major differences between. Though the blocks are different too. Early DOHC 2.5 blocks have Small 48mm rod journals, and a #3 thrust bearing location. The water jackets extend all the way down the walls of the entire cylinders. This leaves the cylinders left very tall and open all around, leading to resonance at the top and contributing to the head gasket failure rates. The small rod journals are known to fail often too. I'm not a fan of these blocks, although they do make GREAT power and rev QUICK (small journals, less crank mass) SOHC 2.5 blocks use larger 52mm rod journals (like all the rest of the EJs) and move the thrust to #5. The water jackets at the top side of the block around the base of the cylinders is decreased. This allows faster coolant flow, less stagnant pockets under the crossover. It also gives more meat at the base of the cylinder to prevent resonance. These blocks had pistons that come right to zero at the block deck, later ones with AVLS, the pistons actually come way out of the block. The 99's were a combo. They are basically the old DOHC 2.5 pistons stuck into the new 2.5 block. 52mm journals, #5 thrust, sturdy cylinders. There were some changes in Oil pump rotor thickness too, though I am not clear on which are in what.....but they are all interchangeable, so find a 10mm pump if you don't have one.

USDM: 2004-current STI, 06-14 WRX, 04-13 forester, 05-14 Legacy turbo (not so sure on the legacy). These all used one form or another of the USDM 2.5L EJ-T engine, but not all were EJ257 specifically (i.e. EJ255).