Long story short, I'm getting an 06 legacy for my wife. It's in good shape but has a blown EZ30 in it. I have not done any work on an H6 before. From what I'm researching only the 2005-2007 motors are a simple swap in.

 

The 2001-2004 motors are a bit cheaper and common to find. Are these documented anywhere as swaps into the 05+ body style?

 

Ditto to the good ole' EJ25. How difficult would it be to downgrade a tad and put a more familiar motor in there? (EJ25s being way more plentiful)

 

All else fails, I'll need some tips on differences between swapping the H6 vs. an EJ motor (which I've done a few times.)

no.  the 05+ have valve train changes (VVT or VVwhatever the other one is). something along those lines.  the earlier H6's won't have those components/sensors.

 

i'd look into swapping short blocks:  bolt the 06 heads to the 01-04 short block if the 06 heads are good.  it's a lot of work but so is an EJ swap.

 

or see how close the wiring is and just move pins such that it'll accept the 01-04 ECU.  sometimes the wiring is similar enough that just changing/swapping a few pins might essentially convert it to an 01-04 H6 configuration so to speak.  i haven't heard of or looked into that yet though, so i'm uncertain of the feasibility.  a glance at the ECU wiring pinouts for both FSM's (which are all over the internet for free) would tell the story.

has anyone swapped short blocks before to know for sure? I'd be willing to tackle the job if I know it can be done. But none of these motors are cheap.

Got the car and the block is definitely toast. Front of the timing cover is cracked and bulged forward from whatever tore loose in there.

 

Probably answered my own question here on whether a 2000-2004 block could be swapped with 05+ heads. Looks like head gaskets between the two are not compatible. Here's a side by side comparison of the right and left head gaskets.

 

 

I'm a noob at this sort of thing and the H6 is a whole new animal to me, but it would seem I'm in the market for an 05+ only

I was thinking there was a cooling passage change.(is that what those holes are for?) I think I recall learning that from a cardoc post some time ago.

Edited September 15, 201411 yr by 1 Lucky Texan

A little more digging. Head gaskets between 05+ Outback and Tribeca are the same.

 

Guessing they would probably be identical motors although car-part.com lists tribeca as compatible with only tribeca and the same for H6 Outbacks.

Got a good lead on a disassembled 07 3.0 Tribeca motor so if it works out I can confirm first hand whether those two motors are identical or just share the same/similar block.