CLSLegacy

I have a '96 and three '93 Legacy wagons, with a combined 750K miles. The keys are getting worn down plus it sometimes gets confusing in the dark as to which key fits each car. I'm a decent auto mechanic and locksmith for building locks, but have limited experience with automobile locks. What's the best way for me to get all four vehicles to be keyed alike for ignition, driver's door, passenger door, and rear hatch (I probably wouldn't worry about the gloveboxes) and several copies of the key?

Matt and Gary - thanks again. Just a follow up after a month on the road. I replaced the cam and crank seals (wish I had done it when I had the engine out of the car) which fixed the oil leak. It's still running great, no CEL, etc. Thanks for the encouragement!

Again the donor car was a '96 Legacy Sedan, 2.2L, AWD, trans ID: TZ 102 ZABAA-CL The recipient car is a '96 Legacy Wagon, 2.5L->2.2L, AWD, trans ID: TZ 102 Z2AAA-CG I also have an auto-trans '93 Legacy Wagon, 2.2L, AWD, trans ID: TZ 102 ZA2AA-MH And just bought an auto '95 Legacy Sedan, 2.2L, 2WD, trans ID: TA 102 AAAAA-C6 And of course my '93 Legacy Wagon 5-speed. I'm speculating that the 2nd and 6th digit are the same, with A=2WD, and Z=AWD, other than that, the other digits may specify gear ratios. Would the donor car tranny fit anything else I have, or should I sell it as scrap?

The donor car was a '96 Legacy Sedan, VIN 4S3BD4354T7212603. The recipient car is a '96 Legacy GT Wagon, VIN 4S3BK6758T317XXX. I also have two '93 Legacy Wagons, one with auto-tranny, the other a 5-speed. I don't have the transmission ID's in front of me, but can post them later.

Matt and Gary - thanks for your help! I got a single-port exhaust manifold from eBay. I prepped the junkyard 2.2 by R+R'ing the separator plate with UltraGrey, removing exterior gunk with brake cleaner, replacing the sparkplugs and valve cover gaskets, checking the condition of the timing belt and gears, R+R'ng the two alignment pins, moving the 2.5 flexplate over. Pulling the old and dropping in the new engine went easier than expected. Once I had the engine/transmission bolted together, I removed the oilpan that was damaged at the junkyard, which gave me easy access to the flexplate/torque converter bolts. I installed the oilpan from the 2.5 with more UltraGrey and a FelPro gasket. All hoses and electrical connections worked the same way (including the EVAP can), the only difference is the power steering lines are shaped differently, so the brackets that secured them to the DOHC heads are in the wrong place for the SOHC heads. They still function, but if it bothers me later, I'll strip some SOHC hoses next time I'm at the junkyard. I took it out on the road for an hour or so the other night including getting up to 75+ on the highway with no issues, no CEL, just a small oil leak that looks like its from the passenger side camshaft seal, so I'm gonna replace the front seals on both cams and the crank, and probably replace the timing belt. How can I decipher transmission ID#s to tell what the one I got at the junkyard is compatible with?

I had thought about the exhaust manifold, but not transaxle-rear differential issue. I'm so glad you thought to mention it. Since I have a lift, I was thinking about raising the car a couple of feet, putting supports under the front engine and rear transaxle crossmembers, and then raise the car off of the engine/trans/rack/etc subassembly, similar to how it's put together at the factory (and how we did it on our VW Bugs). If I need to keep the old tranny, I might as well just pull the engine from the top with my crane. So I use the flexplate and everything behind it from the existing transmission? BTW, the donor engine has 136K (assuming it was original to the donor car), but I might-as-well replace the oil separator plate? how about the rear main seal? @grossgary - what part of West-by-God do you hail from?

I got a 2.2L with EGR out of a '96 Legacy sedan at the junkyard yesterday and hope to start swapping it into my '96 wagon this weekend. I got the transmission, too, figuring it would be easier, and with 3 Subarus already, I'll eventually use the one that comes out. I'll let you know how it goes and what troubles I have along the way. The 2.2's oil pan got damaged, and I see that the 2.2 and 2.5 use different oil pans, even though the gasket is the same and they fit into the car the same way, or do they?

I have a 96 Legacy with the head-gasket-blowing 2.5L DOHC.I'm interested in replacing it with a 2.2L SOHC like my other two Legacys have. Should any 95-99 work without major mods? Does the transplant have to come from an auto-trans donor? Other than the usual work to swap like-for-like engine, what should I expect to change to the 2.2L? BTW, I live in an emission inspection zone, so the OBD-II has to be happy.