Mitchy Posted January 7, 2020 Share Posted January 7, 2020 Toying with which car to buy next, I would like to know if anyone can enlighten me as to whether an EJ22 will easily swap into a 2.0 NA ‘04 Forester. I have a damaged complete ‘97 Legacy with 90k miles and I am looking at the numerous options before buying a replacement car. one such vehicle is a clean 2004 2.0 NA Forester, but has 230k miles. -Not necessarily a problem but I don’t need a high mileage lemon! I would love to keep that EJ22 as a future replacement, but obviously only if I have a compatible car. We are in Europe and have Japanese-made Subarus. Thanks for any information Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Numbchux Posted January 7, 2020 Share Posted January 7, 2020 Phase 2 ECU will not easily control a Phase 1 engine. I've heard of people diy adapter plates to put the Phase 2 intake manifold on a Phase 1 engine, then you have all the matching sensors. But it's not a great option. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitchy Posted January 8, 2020 Author Share Posted January 8, 2020 OK I get you. As far as I can tell the European Subarus retained OBD I much later than the USDM models, our ‘99 Forester and ‘97 Legacy still have the old “connectors and CEL flash codes” system, no dash-mounted diagnostics socket. I am not so sure about the ‘04 models though. This is all theory to help me for my next purchase- thank you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitchy Posted March 1, 2020 Author Share Posted March 1, 2020 As an addendum to this post, as I eventually bought a ‘00 Forester, also with OBD 1, ej20 sohc What would required for a swap from ‘99 EJ20 to ‘97 EJ22? Both NA and SOHC, 5MT. Could I ‘simply’ physically fit the EJ22 long block, using the EJ20 inlet/exhaust manifolds, EJ22 engine loom and perhaps the EJ22 ECU...? This is merely theoretical at the moment as I have no urgent need to swap engines! Thanks for any ideas, I’d love to have a reason to keep hold of that 2.2! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jf1sf5 Posted March 2, 2020 Share Posted March 2, 2020 I have swapped my '97 Forester EJ20J (122hp) for a '96 Legacy EJ22E shortblock. I kept all the electronics, intake manifold and exhaust and it works just fine. The reason I did the swap is that the EJ22E is non-interferential and has low end torque. But compatibility between EJ engines is not a science. The EJ202 (125hp) is easier to swap with a EJ251 as the connectics/electronics are compatible and you can still run the EJ202 ECU. Finally, its more of an electronic rather than a mechanic issue. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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