Hi guys, looking at buying a stolen/recovered 1997 Subaru Forester S/TB (JDM spec, EJ20G turbo) 5MT for cheap. Car is in relatively good condition, but the thieves destroyed the ignition barrel in order to steal the car.

 

I've attached a photo of the damage. My questions are:

 

Can I use a key barrel from a Legacy/Impreza? Foresters are scarce in the junkyards here, but there's plenty of Legos and Imps.

Is this a big job to replace the barrel? It looks straightforward enough, but I'm concerned there may be something I'm missing.

Should be the same as a legacy unit, looks the same to me. It's a fairly easy job. Take off the steering column plastics. There's a screw on the back of the cylinder that holds on the switch, take that out. Then just pull out the head eye bolts. I usually just drill two holes in them and remove them with a spanner bit