My daily was recently wrecked in an accident and I couldn't find anything I wanted to drive long term in my price range, so I am trying to do something with a little more of a long term plan in mind to eventually get myself into the car I want.

I picked up a rusty 2001 Subaru Outback wagon with the EZ30 motor at a cheap price with the plans to daily it until the rust makes it unsafe. Meanwhile, save up money. Once rust claims it, pull the engine out and swap that into a rust-free Baja as soon as I can afford one (if I haven't managed to daily it long enough to save up that much.)

Seemed like a good plan until I realized I bought a VDC wagon without knowing the engine harness and ECU were different and dependent on having a VDC transmission installed.

Is the engine itself different from a non-VDC Outback? Or can I salvage this plan by buying an engine loom and ECU from a non-VDC H6 Outback?

The guru that can answer this question is Cardoc that is on this website/forum: https://www.subaruoutback.org/forums/gen-2-2000-2004.110/

Engine is the same.

 

I'm planning and testing to attempt to build a Baja with an EZ30 (looking into if a 2nd gen 30 can be run on the 1st gen ECU), with functioning stability and traction control from the VDC, but a manual transmission.... I believe it will be possible, even with my limited knowledge on the CAN data stuff, which is how the VDCCU and TCU communicate.

 

I think I wouldn't bother with that chassis at all. Look for an LL Bean one while you drive and enjoy the VDC. The Bean donor could be wrecked, rusted, whatever. Then get a low mileage JDM engine (they're running about $1500 right now). You will need the gauge cluster, HVAC boxes and much more. It's going to be much easier to get it all from the same car. But it would be possible to get a bulkhead harness and ECU from a Bean, and piece it together.