OK so I have done more research and I am closing in on a solution. My 98 Forester has an early build date, in 97 so no adapter plate should be needed for my transmission to fit with an EJ22.

 

I called Foreign Engines in Seattle, they stock the 90-95 EJ22 engines, which have no EGR. They told me they can drill the head for EGR. Is that the only issue in using the pre-95 EJ22 for this swap?

first question i have is why are you going from EJ25 to EJ22?

 

is your ej25 sohc or dohc?

 

egr is not the only issue to deal with depending on your answer

do you really NEED EGR ? on my 240 I just capped it off but then again I was running open downpipe in those days. Wait that was last month.

More on my Forester, it has 148,000 miles, DOHC. A cam seized on the passengers side, shattered the pulley, threw the belt, likely damaged valves. I do not want to screw around rebuilding my DOHC $$$$$$$$$$$$$, or buy another one that may have other problems. I have decided to install an EJ22 for reliability, they are much cheaper also. I don't mind losing a little power, the gas mileage might even be better with the 2.2.

 

After getting it running I am going to take apart the 2.5 and evaluate it, rebuild, part it out, or whatever.

 

Thanks a million all!

In my area of Alaska we have emission testing, so I will need to have the EGR, cat, etc. Don't want it throwing codes either. The flunkies at Jiffy Lube aren't going to know it has the wrong mota probably, they just plug in the sniffer and test. They may look for equipment though.

i am curious....are you going to be using the intake off the 2.5? or will you be getting a complete motor? if you are getting a complete motor then you should not have to worry about egr on the 2.2 unless your 2.5 has a sensor on top of the egr valve....a non-egr engine will not benefit from adding egr to it....the motor i used in my ej-ea swap was a 95 ( not sure what month) and it had egr and i dont remember seeing a senson for the egr.

 

the guys at jiffy lube may not know your car is supposed to have an egr if there is no pipe from the head or valve itself on the intake.

Looks like the 90-94 engines biggest problems for my application is that they are OBD1, and my rig is OBD2, I don't know if I am up for the dreaded ECU harness swap. Think I should be looking for the 95 Legacy engine.

 

I will keep up my research!

you may be able to go to a phase II ej22, but they are single port exhaust(yuck) and ej22e's are by no means infallible. just look for a good used ej25. there are a ton of soobs up in alaska arent there, and cars dont last very long?

I am beginning to wonder if sticking to a EJ25 might be best! I will take my dead one apart and inspect the damage first, at least one bad head, and 148,000 miles on it.