Numbchux

I'd bet cash money it's head gaskets. Do you get heat coming out of the vents? Radiator get hot? Hoses? It's possible that the coolant was so bad from lack of use (average of about 4500 miles a year) that the water pump impeller rusted out, and the complete lack of circulation is causing the coolant in the block to get hot and expand.

You'll need a 12mm wrench to separate the driveshaft from the pinion flange. No room for a socket on these bolts. The Ujoint yoke should bottom out against one side of the hex on one side, so theoretically you can remove them with just a tool on the other side, but you may want a second 12mm if things are rusty. IIRC 19mm and 14mm for the bolt and nut respectively, that hold the front hanger to the crossmember. And then 14? for the 2 rear studs. 3/16" punch and hammer to pound the roll pins that hold the axles to the stubs on the diff. But, if it were me, I probably wouldn't bother removing the axles from the stubs in a junkyard. I'd disassemble the axles and leave the inner DOJ cups on the diff. Slice the boot all the way around, or the larger clamp on the DOJ cup. Then pop the circlip out of the groove in the inside of the DOJ cup. I did a write-up on a front CV rebuild, and took a couple good pictures of that circlip: [DSCF0672 by Numbchux, on Flickr Once that clip is out of there, the axle joint will come apart as you lower the diff out, and you can worry about separating the axle cup from the diff later (if they're particularly tough, there's a cap in the bottom of the axle cup that can be removed, and then you can access the E10 torx bolt that holds the stub into the diff, and then you can really apply some force).

Do you want to run fuel injection? All Subarus since 1988 are Fuel injected (in the US), so you'll need the ECU and most of the wiring from the donor car (which should be gone through and removed the unnecessary stuff). The early EJ22s can be converted to carb. Stay away from the EA82/ER27s. Neither will give you the power you want. They are not simpler than the newer stuff, and parts are much harder to come by. My recommendation would be an EG33 or early (2001-2004) EZ30. EJ22 is a fantastically simple and reliable engine, but you probably won't get 160hp without sacrificing the reliability. The EJ25s (either DOHC or SOHC) are rated for that kind of power, but high maintenance. And typical junkyard prices for known-good ones are pretty rediculous ($1500+). There are a couple recipes for high compression engines, some using a mix of stock parts, and of course aftermarket. That may be worth looking into depending on your specific situation, but involves considerably more research, sometimes buying multiple engines, etc. I've seen many excellent engine donor Subaru SVXs go for $500 or so. EZ30 donors (an option on 2001-2004 Outbacks) are a little less common, but they exist, and typically the parts you wouldn't be using are much easier to sell to recoup the costs (I bought my crashed fully-loaded 2004 for $1700, and only needed about $700 in parts to fix). Externally, the EG33 is about 6 or 8" longer than an EJ 4-cylinder, whereas the EZ is only about an inch bigger. These are both fantastically reliable engines, they are more of a pain to work on in the car engine bay since they're kind of shoe-horned in there, but that all changes in a boat. They both make about 220hp, so considerably more than you were looking for.

About the same as a 4WD. The hubs, and maybe the backing plates, are unique to FWD, so it's best to have a FWD donor car. If you want the sway bar, you'll need the whole suspension arm. You could actually grab the whole trailing arm, bearing and brake assembly from a 4WD car. But then you'd need the 4WD shock.

It would help to know what car you have.... But on almost all cars with the cold weather package, they got heated seats, mirrors, and windshield. As mentioned, it is not the whole windshield that is heated, just a strip under where the wipers park. It is absolutely possible that the windshield was replaced with one without the heating element. I had a 99 Outback SUS that fit that description. On newer cars (my mom's 2012 Impreza Premium for sure), the heated windshield is present, but does not have a separate switch, it is activated with the rear window defrost system.

Intake, 13201AA252 MSRP $17.78 ea, currently 76 in US supply warehouses Exhaust, 13202AA510 MSRP $25.88 ea, 69 available

+1 Generally speaking, excellent engines. Head gasket problems are not unheard-of, but don't seem common to me. Worth taking on a longer test drive though. Make sure you get the car up to temperature and speed. I think it boils down to this, they don't fail as often, but working on them is harder and generally more expensive. I think it's worth it, I love our '04 VDC.

To clarify. EJ25D in an Impreza/Forester chassis was 1998 only, 1996-99 in the Legacy. EJ251s started in 1999 in the Imprezas and Foresters, and 2000 in the Legacies. And went through mid-year 2005. I know that all 1995-1999 Legacies use the same ECU connector (although 1995 was pinned differently). I know the EJ22 Imprezas through '99 were the same, I do not know about the 2.5 cars. Manual transmission stuff is easy. If it doesn't plug-in, splice the connectors, it's only a handful of wires. Starter interlock is on the clutch pedal for a manual. Only thing to be aware of, is as of about 1995-96, they switched from a cable speedometer to electric. If you're running an electric speedo cluster with a transmission that was originally a cable, you can un-thread the cable from the transmission case, and thread in a sensor from a late-'90s car. Off the top of my head, I think they are 3 wire, 12v+, ground, and signal, so you'll want to grab the connector from a yard or your donor car.

You said you'd be using a '99-'02 RS harness. Those are EJ251 cars.

FYI, your car originally came with either a 340 or 356 CCA battery. We don't have too much trouble with those up here (Duluth, MN) unless you're using a remote start system on the car. So it may be fine, but that's probably going to be your weak link. The Subaru replacement batteries that you'd get through a dealer are 590 CCA, and most aftermarket batteries for it would be similar. There are a myriad of little lithium-ion jump boxes available now for $50-$100. These could be a life saver, much like having a spare battery, but very easy to leave plugged in and keep charged. As mentioned, the 0W20 that's in it is fine for cold weather. The car will offer little more protection than a tent for camping. I don't recommend sleeping in it for long periods of time.

Something wrong with your other thread on the same subject?

Sort of... After engine #2213362 (manufacture date sometime in 03/98, which would primarily be '99s, maybe a few '98s), the OE catalog shows the #5 thrust bearing. The '99 SUS I had, definitely had a phase 2 style timing belt tensioner. But, all '97+ 25Ds show the same part number for pistons and all 25Ds with the same head gaskets. Which is why the compression isn't higher.

Good luck! Most junkyards, up here anyway, want more like $1500-2k for a good one. There are exceptions, of course, and other sources, but that would be a steal.

I disagree with this. The EJ251s are not very robust. The DOHC heads are extremely tough, almost impossible to warp. As much as I do prefer the phase 2 bottom end, the DOHC heads are WAY better than the SOHC. Timing belt cost difference is about $20 (we get Gates kits on Amazon, that's my source). Meh. That's a drop in the bucket when you're talking about an engine swap. Yes, cams would be more expensive when there are 4 of them, but the DOHC heads flow much better than the SOHC, so you'd probably end up with more power. At the end of the day, I go out of my way to avoid either engine. I have owned several examples of them, but my current Subarus are either H6's (XT6 and '04 OBK VDC), or EJ22e's ('97 Legacy and swap-in-progress Brat).

It's weird, as in, uncommon. Don't think I'm not familiar with the "bigger engines into lighter vehicles" concept. I've been involved in probably a dozen EG33 swaps into '90s Imprezas and Legacies. Not to mention EJ22s into EA82s. And a handful of EJ22s into VWs, and a few WRX swaps. When I'm bored and want to wish I had stupid amounts of disposable income, I research 2GR (3.5l VVT All-aluminum 290-some-hp V6) swaps, and dream of putting one in my Celica. Or a 1UZ into an older Celica. Or a 1MZ engine with Rav4 5-speed transmission in an AWD Pontiac Vibe Each to their own, and I'll certainly offer the knowledge I have that might help make it happen. But it just seems like a lot of work/money for a mediocre engine. The EJ25D is a much simpler option, for the same power. Typically people try to go for more power, or at least more reliability. EG33 or pre-VVT EZ30 would be a much better option. Or building a high-compression 4-cylinder (several recipes for that, some with a mix of OE parts, some with aftermarket).

Weird. So you're looking to buy a 2.2 car, specifically to swap a 251 into? I think these cases are almost always someone that happens to have a 251 and a phase 1 car that needs an engine. Up here, at least, a good 251 is worth more than a running-driving 2.2 car. FYI, a '95 2.2 ECU is pinned differently, a 25D or '96-'99 22E ECU will plug in, but will not run.

Well....I'm sure you'll get far with that attitude.

Advantages: Shiny chrome. May come with a horsepower-adding sticker. Disadvantages: Less power, less torque, less effective filtration, costs money. This is true of all brands. Some are worse than others, but none of them are worth the money. Some people like the extra noise....

From what you've posted, your issue sounds like it's almost entirely with your local dealership. Almost all of those SOHC 2.5s have seeping head gaskets if they haven't been fixed. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if the valve cover job was a mis-diagnosis. Although, your statement "I have a cardboard piece under the car for the past two days now and not one drop of oil on it" means it's pretty minor, most of these cars leave their mark everywhere they go. ASSuming your head gaskets are seeping oil, the question at this point is whether the dealership can convince your extended warranty company to cover the problem by admitting that it was present while you were still covered, or they step up to the plate and cover it themselves (be it with coverage from Subaru or not). I definitely encourage you to make your situation known to Subaru of Canada. Due to my position (parts in a Subaru dealership), I don't see the cases where warranty is denied, but I see a lot where Subaru of America covered things that seem pretty far-fetched. Now, we are a large enough dealership to have our own warranty liason (a luxury most dealerships have to outsource), so getting things covered is much more streamlined. But it should be possible.

Like that post says, there is nowhere for the IAC valve. That's interesting that once the car is warm, it will idle without it.... I have heard of people making a set of adapter plates to put the entire older intake manifold on the newer engine. Doesn't seem too difficult. Luckily once I got into the project, the EJ25D I was working on was in better shape than advertised, so I just sold the EJ251 and came out ahead.

Yea, I don't remember the details, but I know I took the door card off my '99 when I replaced the mirror assembly several years ago. Other than that, it seemed pretty straight forward.

I've used EJ axles/knuckles with XT6 control arms on 3 different cars (2 different sets of axles, 3 different sets of control arms, at least 3 different strut/spring setups) without any trouble. EJ knuckles/brakes with '93-'94 Impreza FWD MT axles and EA81 tie rod ends should be a bolt-in.

Correct, the 14" wheels will not clear the outback front brakes. But, if you have a donor car, the brakes (rotors, and complete calipers) will swap right over, and then it'll all work.

Those require some creativity with the inner wheel seal. I did some research on theoretical solutions and have posted it a couple times. CV axles are weird, the shafts change diameter and spline count with very little pattern. If it's ever had a reman axle put on it, you have zero prayer. A local friend of mine 5-lugged my old FrankenWagon with the PT4WD D/R (23 spline) trans in it, and he was able to create one good axle by swapping the 23 spline inner onto the XT6 shaft with what he had, but had to be several reman axles to get another combination that worked. Rear suspension crossmember is identical between the FWD XT6 and FWD EA82. Just swap the arms, it's easier.

This tool is pretty amazing (I've used the snap-on version, and there was a local MN guy hand making them for Turn-in Concepts a few years ago (sniper1fa) which I've also used. But this is the same idea: https://www.amazon.com/Company23-Removal-1993-15-Impreza-Forester/dp/B0176TH2WG