how is shaving the head more expensive, more difficult, and less benefit than different pistons? its really none of those. much cheaper to have them take .010 or whatever off the head than open up a block, rering and hone, plus the cost of custom pistons. any decent machine shop will skim the head as a matter of course when rebuilding, and you just have to tell them to go a little further.

 

bottom line, its pointless to spend money increasing the compression on a ej22 unless you have a legacy/impreza and are in some kind of racing class like PGT that prohibits engine swaps. way more bang for the buck to put in an ej25 block or go turbo.

Yes, shaving heads is cheaper than getting custom pistons, but you can net a larger compression increase from custom pistons than you can shaving heads.

 

If you shave the heads enough to get any HUGE compression increase, you've shaved them too much and now risk cracking them.

google sand and rail and subaru for some power ideas.

 

for instance, these guys have some internal parts that might be useful;

 

http://www.cgperformance.com/subaru_connecting_rods.htm

 

Carl

Sorry for the corn-fusion of me calling a 2.5 block

with 2.2 heads an

" EJ23.5 "

It does raise the comp the real EZ way though.

 

Think about it

is an EA82 - 8.2 liters?

 

An EA81 - 8.1L

an so on

 

 

 

It's just what I coined to call it,

again sorry for my

off the wall

nom -de plume -clature.

 

I promise to be more

literate in the future.

and call it

"Fra N Ken Stein"

:^)

So I looked for some pistons for the 2.2 but couldn't find too much. I heard that rallitek made some, but couldn't find them, ramengines makes some but I don't know how much. Where else? Would getting higher comp pistons AND getting the heads decked be the best thing I could do?

Wow. Some serious gearheads in this group.

 

Is there any meaningful way to boost 2.2 output without screwing around with the engine?

 

I am curious about a low cost and low risk way to make my Legacy a bit peppier. It's tough when I switch between my Legacy and WRX.

 

Is it worthwhile to use a cold air intake and low restriction exhaust/cat or will any power boost be undetectable or not worth the cost/effort?

Have some custom made if money isn't an issue. I know Wiseco will custom make you a set of pistons, I actually have a form of theirs around here somewhere that you can fill out with all the specs that you need and they will make them for you.

Well, money IS an issue, but I want to make sure to do it right the first time. I want to make sure I can do what can be done the first time rather than do it once, have something happen to it and do it again, ya know?

Another issue might be finding high enough octane (affordable) fuel for a seriously built-up engine. You can try getting a drum of xylene and mixing up your own I guess.

 

 

 

 

Carl

I have been thinking about doing a full NA build on my EJ22 once i pull it out. iam currently working on building up a EJ22T for a turbo motor to throw in my Impreza.

 

I have already made a functional and somewhat cheap turbo kit for the ej22. there is a lot of power to be had out of the NA phase 1 2.2l i put down 113whp/143wtq 2 8:1 AFR on a dynodynamics w/ a 4eat. this was UBER rich and after leaning it out a little still no where near perfect i bet i was close to 130whp/160wtq. w/ this power i was roughyl equivilant to a stock WRX. In thoery had i had everythign working right and w/ a 5spd i should have broken 200whp. but nothing ever works right for me. FYI: Kit was ~$2100 for everything turbo, wideband 02, engine management, everything....

 

for the NA build, it is much harder to get power. i know there are a few places out there who offer higher compression pistons for the EJ22. i saw one place offering 10.5:1 and i think i saw one place with 11:1 CR. shaving the heads is a viable option but i have a feeling that to shave enough o gain any real CR it will take alot of shaving. going with the standard headers, intake, exhaust you get decent power through in some delta reground cams and you have a respectable amount of power for NA. the real good stuff comes when you start doing crazy things. the 2006 intake manifold is supposed to flow gobs more than any other. they used it on the ZZYZX 2.5 (300 NA crank hp). when you look at heads teh phase 1 and phase 2 heads are a mixed bag. the phase 1 heads have teh dual port exhuast. the phase 2 heads offer large valves but singel port exhuast. so they are both rather restrictive.

 

also about the 02 sensors. when i was running turbo i only had my wideband installed. i wired it into the ecu, and the ecu ran happily. as a matter of fact right now (i am NA again) i am running only the front 02 sensor and have removed the second cat (melted down). car runs fine w/ only the front 02 sensor doesnte ven give me a CEL. and i am OBD-II

 

there are oodles that can be done to this things. the stuff i mentioned is just for starters.