AdventureSubaru

STI swap was done on one of these once to my knowledge. Allied Armament I think? Broke 3 axles in like 10 miles. EJ18 or EJ22 with the stock trans is a great power upgrade and is well documented on the forums here. Weber carburetors being another. Much more power and you start breaking stock stuff and needing to do a whole lot of swapping/fab work to go any further. Though I did see an australian Brat that had full STI everything that was scary fast. But that sort comes with lots of time and $$$ invested.

Roll bars can add rigidity but will add weight and if you are removing stock support will likely make the car more dangerous in a crash. There's a lot of engineering in the design of these unibodies. Probably not worth messing with it to try and save a few pounds. Add a roll bar etc. if you want a little more peace of mind for a roll over but don't mess with the unibody. Aluminum rims will be lighter than steel. Will save you some weight. Manual window cranks. Delete options if available such as A/C, power steering, radio. The dash is a decent idea but will be a lot of work for a little gain. If you're up to the task though, then go for it. Gutting the interior. Remove extra trim/roof rack/ fog lights, bumper covers, anything not needed. If this is primarily going to be an off roader, removing window glass and replacing it with webbing or plexi like the baja vehicles will cut out a lot of heavy glass pieces. My experience has been that it's good to do away with the extraneous stuff like wind deflectors and all, but have kept mine stock and just try not to carry a whole ton of gear with me. I adjust my driving style to the needs of the car. These old subies don't put out a ton of power, but will still get you around just fine without a whole lot of weight reduction. When it comes to traction weight can work both for and against you depending on the terrain.

If done right, the head gaskets on these can last the life of the motor after the initial replacement. The most recommended kit is a Gates kit as it's quality is on par with Subaru but the cost is about 25% of OEM parts. Amazon has them pretty cheap. I'd also suggest doing the water pump as it's timing belt driven and only about $30 more. That's cheap peace of mind. Oil pump is not as necessary but is not a bad idea since it will be accessible and the mileage is getting high enough where it could, but is not yet likely to fail

The heads are the difference and are incompatible because of the intake manifold and associated electronics. In 99 they switched to phase 2 and sensors, Throttle body, injectors, wiring all changed. The bolt pattern for the intake manifolds are not compatible. So the car needs the sensors etc. which needs the phase 2 intake manifold, which needs the phase 2 heads. Seen a few people wrongfully assume that the early EJ motors would work and waste a lot of time and money in the process. In theory it could be done with a lot of fab work - adapter plate to bolt a phase 1 intake manifold to phase 2 heads etc. or if one were inclined to rewire the car with phase 1 electronics wiring and ECU like the guys do when they EJ an EA car. But the logistical nightmare always says the same thing - get a phase 2 motor that's actually compatible so you can drive your car.

Anything from before 99 and some 99s will not work without a lot of modification. The blocks are compatible but not heads etc. are not Look for 2000-2004 Legacy, Forester and outback are the easy ones. They were single overhead cam EJ25 motors. I think there was a subtle difference between 2000 and 2001 and the 2002-2004 but it was an easy difference to overcome. Do a search on here or someone with more first hand knowledge may chime in. I am not sure what year the Impreza went to Phase2 but there are some EJ22s that are compatible with your car as well.

Subarus are tough on plug wires. NGK and Subaru are the only ones I've heard recommended. Glad it was a simple fix!

Purchased the steel that I'll need to fab up a lift for it. Going about 4 inches of body lift and 5 on suspension. Was lucky that the yard had almost all of it in the "used" section so it idn't cost that much. We took this car to Los Angeles over Easter to visit family. Performed very well. Prior to the trip I put a new Gates timing belt kit & water pump on it as well as a new fuel filter. Before the lift I'll be putting new NGK plugs and wires since it looks like that job will become more difficult once it's lifted.

Mostly glad that i could figure out which gaskets to order and nothing further. I was wondering if there were a different head design. Was picturing the hybrid cometic gaskets for frankenmoters and was wondering if it would require modification. Happy that it does not. I ordered the gaskets and they should be here in the next couple days. Sucks that I can't trust people to be honest on whether a motor runs or not. Craigslist or junkyard motors are a bit of a crapshoot. Although this is only the second time I've been burned, so in the long run it's well worth it.

Cleaning the MAF has limited success on these. I would not rule it out. They are known for these sort of phantom runability/stalling problems and will be intermittent but with increasing frequency over time. Look for vac hose leaks. Spraying some carb spray around and listening for changes can guide you to it. No check engine light?

Try and take some before and after measurements of the ground clearance. I'm curious what sort of lift the WRX struts may bring.

90-94 motors will work if you swap your intake manifold on it and you'll also need the exaust y pipe from the motor since they will be dual port. Just swap your flex plate and bolts over for the flywheel and it's ready. Some of the autos will have EGR valves. if yours does not, just use your intake manifold and cap the back of the head where the EGR tube screws in. If you put a non EGR motor into yours, stick with the EGR intake manifold and search for the bypass thread on here. It's easy. $4. worth of home depot stuff. I've put 2 of them passed California smog checks that way.

Welcome. You planning on doing it to yours? Seen a few that have turned out pretty good and a few hack jobs out there. Wish they had been offered. I'd drive one.

Thanks. It's what I suspected. As i looked over it the later ones were MLS gaskets. So these would both be earlier. Glad that it stayed simple.

I picked up a project a while back - 1998 Impreza OBS with a rod knock. I found a guy on craigslist that sold me what he assured me was a good Ej22 from a 98 Legacy. I did the remove and install on the motor and when I did the timing belt, timing was off. Crossed my fingers and reset the timing but no dice. Turns over with a ka-chug that tells me things are not right. So it seems I got taken by this guy for a few hundred dollars and the time of swapping the motor. The simple solution would be to take the good heads from the original motor and the short block from the motor I just put in there to make a runner. Looks like there are two headgasket sets for the model year 98. One for 06/30/98 and earlier and the other for after 07/01/98 ( A month earlier for legacies 05/31/98 and 06/01/98) I can see the physical differences in the gaskets. I'll split the block and see what I've got this weekend but if both motors are not identical, do I follow the pattern of the heads, the block or am I going to be cutting gaskets/doing something else. hadn't seen this before so I'm hoping someone has done it that can give me the answer.

Not going into reverse will have nothing to do with a misfire. Get a little more info and post back. You might have a couple things happening at once. Misfire is usually due to plugs or wires.

Just did some playing with parts. The EJ25 oil fill tube fits fine on the block but has a different shape than the one on the EJ22. Possibly will interfere with the A/C compressor. If you're in a pinch to get driving though you could disconnect the A/C drive belt and move or remove it. Or like I said I have a few in the shop that I'll mail at cost.

You can re-use the pumps but get new gaskets. I have a pile of EJ parts in the garage. I'll see if I can compare the two fill tubes this afternoon. If the the one from EJ25 can't fit I can send one to you for cost of shipping.

Geez man... figure out how much oil the car needs and keep it there. This isn't a guessing game. And don't follow advice from folks who know nothing about cars. It will only burn it off if it has other, bigger issues and the overfill wont be helping in the meantime. People don't walk around guessing how much blood should be in their body, don't guess the oil in your motor. That aside the oil is likely unrelated. Check timing belts, fuel pump and distributor and post back.

Cut it off. Save the bushing. I think I had to do it with mine. I used an angle grinder with a cutting disc.

Did the WRX stuff yield much lift to the suspension? Last picture makes it look taller than the one next to it but might just be perspective. Great looking car!

Great price for those motors. Over the years I have encountered a couple of 96s with dual port heads in the junkyard. One is running in my buddys 99 outback still. Either I've coincidentally bumped into a lot of 96s with 95 engine swaps or there were some 96s that still had dual port heads. I'm thinking it was a transitional year kinda like 99 with both phase 1 and phase 2 motors and all.

Pretty easy if it's not rusted to bits and you give yourself some space using jack stands. Before living in rust free california when in the east coast and midwest salts, I would commonly just cut the rusted bolts off with a grinder and replace them with new. They are a pain when rusted and seized up.

Yeah, Seems to be the general consensus. 1 inch spacers + Forester or Outback strut/spring combo is the max. After that you're destroying axles or looking at adding a body lift.

Came to the right place. Read up on a lot of what's been done in the off road section and you'll get lots of info.

90-94 non EGR, OBD1 and the wiring comes from the opposite side. Yep! I did this swap a few months ago on a 97 Outback. and a month before that on a buddies 96. 90-94 block with 95-99 Ej22 Intake manifold. I put it together as a single assembly in the junkyard to save the $$$. And that EGR bypass works like a charm. Just buy a brass 3/4 inch T junction from Home Depot or similar and a few hose clamps and you wont get a check engine light. This combo is great because it's dual port exhaust to match what you already have. And is a non- interference motor. And yes the Ej25 intake manifold will only fit EJ25 heads. You could build a reverse franken motor with an Ej22 block and Ej25 heads. Do a few searches on here and you'll get more of the little details. There are specific head gaskets to buy for that build. frankenmotor will give you more performance. EJ22 will give you way more reliability.