Hey all,

 

I've had my Subaru for about a year, but I'm new to the board. I also lurk at Outback Forums and NASIOC, but I've got an older Outback Sport and was told this might be a better board for tips & tricks on those.

 

Anyway, so my car:

1998 Outback Sport (Impreza based wagon), EJ22, 4EAT, ~150k miles

a few months ago, I blew the engine on the way home from Death Valley and we had the engine swapped in Mammoth Lakes with a Legacy motor of similar age and mileage.

 

I need to do the timing belt on this car, and I was about to order a kit when I ran across some trouble. I was going to order parts from MizumoAuto on ebay, but their parts wizard seems to imply that kits for the 1998 Outback Sport will not also fit a Legacy from 1997 or earlier. So, I'm not sure what kit to get. Apparently there was a slight change in the EJ22 for model year 1998?

 

Is there an easy way that I can tell whether I have the earlier motor or the 1998 motor (which I assume carried on to the 1999?)? And how do I figure out which kit I should get!

 

Cheers, and thanks in advance!

soooo, I found out that the only real difference in the kits is the timing belt tensioner. the hydraulic tensioner was introduced in 1998. I'm not sure of the exact year of my engine. anyone know if there's a quick and easy way to determine (i.e. without taking the timing belt covers off) whether my engine requires the kit with the hydraulic tensioner or just the tensioner bearing?