September 5, 20187 yr I have a rebuilt sohc ej25 sitting in my garage that I'm about to finish building out. I’m trying to figure out if it’s an ej253 or an ej254 or other. I do not have the VIN # from the donor vehicle. Is there a way to visually figure out which variant I have? Thanks, -bob
September 5, 20187 yr There is a vin stamped on the block. A flat surface on the pass side just below a tranny bolt hole. Will probably need cleaning to see it clearly. O.
September 5, 20187 yr Author Thanks, ocei77 I found, what I think is the engine serial number, but it is not a 17 digit VIN. There are only 12 digits, separated with a space after the first six numbers. Is this the location you were referring to? Or am I looking at the wrong spot? Thanks again, -bob
September 5, 20187 yr Neither of those places. On the passenger side, it'll be on a vertical surface. I know they did it back to the early '00s or so. It'll be a complete 17-digit VIN.
September 5, 20187 yr Author Thanks Numbchux, The engine is clean and sitting in my garage, so a number should be easy to find. I checked around and found no number. But I found this vertical space under a tranny bolt hole on the pass side that would be perfect for stamping a VIN # on. Am I missing it or is the engine missing a VIN? Thanks for your help. i'm a newb to the Subaru. The only thing I know about this engine is that it "will work with a harness from a 2002."
September 6, 20187 yr That's a 99-04 (possible 05, I can't remember which valve cover style they used) ej251 or ej253, through those years the longblock is identical. The difference is whether the ecu use a maf or map sensor for load calculations.
September 6, 20187 yr Yep, that's where it would be. Like I said, I'm not sure exactly when that started, but evidently yours doesn't have it.
September 6, 20187 yr Author 86BRATMAN, Being a greenhorn in regards to Subaru engines, how would I go about checking to see if this one is set up for a maf or a map? Or are there any other physical characteristics that would differ between the engines that I could look for? Thanks, -bob
September 7, 20187 yr As far as using the longblock, it doesn't matter which the engine was originally used with.
September 7, 20187 yr Author 86BRATMAN, Since I have only the block, heads, and timing components, does this mean that it doesn't really matter if it's an ej251 or ej253? So long as all the other top of engine whatnot matches whatever harness I get? Ultimately, I'm stuffing this thing into a 1984 VW Westfalia so I'm trying to get all my ducks in a row before the big swap.
September 16, 2025Sep 16 These were useful for decoding https://www.nhtsa.gov/vin-decoder https://www.scoobynet.com/vindecoder.php?vin=4S3BE646535210368
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