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Engine swap question

Featured Replies

I am swapping an engine from a 2001 Outback MT to a 2003 Outback MT, does anyone know if the crank pulley and left cam pulley are the same on these two? I was under the impression they are the same, ?.

You can confirm, by pulling the crank sensor and looking down at the trigger teeth of the crank gear.  

One style has few (5) large teeth.  The other style has many small teeth.

If both engines are the same you are good.  If not keep your original configuration by swapping the crank and driver side cam gear over.

  • Author

Thanks for the info, my situation is kind of weird, the '03 did not have an engine installed when I started this project so I can't compare them, I am going to go to the local pick and pull and check it out.

I hope they're different, it will not start with the stuff from the '01 installed.

I did install an intake manifold from a MT '03, had to work around EGR issues, hopefully I'm getting close to having this thing running.

Should be able to call a Subaru Dealer with the VIN.  Talk to the parts dept.  They should be able to tell you which Crank gear it has.

got curious and went looking at FSM info here: http://jdmfsm.info/Auto/Japan/Subaru/

looks like the 2001 had 2 different crank sprockets - one for auto, one for manual.. where the 2003 only used one version for both..

so it would appear that for a manual, you need the crank sprocket with many small teeth

 

2001 timing 1.PNG

2001 timing 2.PNG

2003 timing 1.PNG

2003 timing 2.PNG

  • Author

Thanks for all of the input, appreciate it.

The correct crank sprocket for the '03 MT Outback is the one with fewer teeth, and the cam gear has 6 nubs on it rather than 2 on the '01. The car starts and runs.

I had assumed the MT always had a different crank sprocket than the auto, but it does look like the '03 has the same one that I've seen on many of the AT Outbacks.

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