I have a 2.5L 1998 Outback Legacy. The timing belt slipped prematurely and engine is toast. I can get a 1997 legacy 2.2L engine cheap, but am not sure if it will swap. Both are automatics. Does any one know if this is possible?

Edited February 6, 201115 yr by timjonn

absolutely... many have done it (self included). The EJ22 is a pretty straight forward plug-n-play. Do a search - there's a bunch of caveats. Be sure that the EJ22 you can get has the Y-pipe - that's imperative.

Here's another proposition... I have a pair of heads from a 98 EJ25 that are in excellent condition that will serve as another solution.

yes, it's a simple plug and play swap and bolts right in. the entire EJ22 block and intake manifold stays together, bolts right in and plugs right in.

there's only two things to know:

 

you're going to need a single port exhaust pipe. just need the pipe, it all bolts right in place. install engine, install the EJ22 exhaust manifold and it'll bolt right up to everything else. that year EJ22 is single port exhaust and the EJ25 is dual - but they bolt up to the rest of the car and are otherwise the same.

 

also - make sure the 1997 EJ22 has EGR - there is absolutely no way to know for sure if it does or not without just physically looking for it, subaru seemingly randomly put non-EGR engines in a very few number of vehicles. your EJ25 will have EGR though, so make sure the EJ22 does as well.

 

but actually - i'd probably just repair the EJ25 honestly if it's a known good motor. so far every broken timing belt EJ25 i've seen only need a headgasket job with a couple valve replaced. they didn't sustain major piston damage or anything. i'd want the known good motor and quality work done over the 15 year old used motor with unknown history.