Trigger Posted February 21, 2007 Share Posted February 21, 2007 Hello everyone. I am new here and currently own a 1996 Subaru Impreza Brighton, and I have a huge question. The engine in my impreza is the ej18 or as I'd assume everyone to know the 1.8l engine. But is it possible to swap it with the WRX STi 2.5l turbo engines? Also could everyone who reads this to please help me out on what exactly needs to be done during an engine swap. and please add in to swap like the older 2.2l engines ect. (preferably stock turbo engine) and any websites that sell remanufactured subaru engines or even new ones(ive been looking all over the place for a web site that sells them with no luck) thank you for your time. BTW My name is Bill. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
970subaru Posted February 21, 2007 Share Posted February 21, 2007 bill, the place to ask about impreza swapping would be the conversions forum on www.nasioc.com as that is where the majority of people who run swapped imprezas post at. but do a lot of searching/reading/lurking there before you post. there is a huge amount of info, some of it good and some not so. BTW it is *possible* to swap just about any EJ, EG, or EZ motor into your impreza, given the time/money/skill. my best advice to you is to do quite a bit of reading about the various popular motor swaps there are, and then you can decide which one suits your budget and needs. swapped GC imprezas can be monsters if you do it right. your brighton is among the lightest factory EJ cars depending on how it was specced out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skip Posted February 21, 2007 Share Posted February 21, 2007 970Subaru lays it out perfectly! I hope you understand the"enormity" of this type of project and reading more about it will let you get a handle on it. Not just the driveline/electronics but you should also consider the safety factor of upgarding the entire susp and brake systems. Ball park - 5-10,000+ USD Corky (Dr RX) is your man, he has done something similar to this to an earlier RX. He knows the ins and out better than anyone I know. BTW It might help to change the subject of your post. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Numbchux Posted February 21, 2007 Share Posted February 21, 2007 970Subaru lays it out perfectly! +1. There's a whole section on Nasioc dedicated to Conversions. and, again like 970Subaru said, All subarus use the same basic engine design, so they all fit relatively easily. the 3.3l SVX 6-cyl is substantially longer than the others, so it'll be the most complicated mechanically speaking. a VERY popular engine swap is a 2.0l jdm WRX turbo. almost 300 crank hp on the stock ECU. and a full clip (engine tranny, wiring harness, ecu etc.) can be had for a few grand or less...of course, there will be the cost of many other parts required to get it to work, and installing it, etc. so 5k is a pretty accurate estimate. Your options are endless...so be patient, do lots of research, weigh all your options, and you'll be set. just don't jump in too quickly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trigger Posted February 21, 2007 Author Share Posted February 21, 2007 Thanks alot guys and I'm going to take a look at those EG and EZ motors as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Numbchux Posted February 22, 2007 Share Posted February 22, 2007 Thanks alot guys and I'm going to take a look at those EG and EZ motors as well. interesting motors. but like I said, the EG33 won't fit in the engine bay very well. the EZ30 doesn't have a whole lot of potential, because of it's single port exhaust. the EZ30R is a cool motor, but cannot be run on the stock ECU in a swap, it's also very rare. and none of those motor options came stock turbo, and because of the different bore and stroke of the EZ motors, any aftermarket internals you want will have to be completely custom. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
86BRATMAN Posted February 22, 2007 Share Posted February 22, 2007 Well given the options, and ultimate potential of most of the motors in question, a factory turbo motor would be a best bet. If you can find an ej22t out of the 91-94 turbo legacy I would recommend it for it's closed deck design, and that with propper tune it can hold 23 psi every day plus some for the heck of it. There are plenty of people who have put these type of swaps into the GC8 body, basically you'll need(for turbo motor) a wrx/turbo legacy engine crossmember, full wiring from dash forward, transmission and matching rear differential that will hold the power, time money and patience. There is a whole lot more but I did say basically. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trigger Posted February 22, 2007 Author Share Posted February 22, 2007 Again thank you guys for the info. I hopefully plan on doing the engine swap as a summer -fall project and thank you 86BRATMAN with the info about the ej22t from an older turbo legacy, as I would hope for this to work out as easily as possible without 10,000 dollars spent in the process all for making the engine swap work out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Numbchux Posted February 22, 2007 Share Posted February 22, 2007 Again thank you guys for the info. I hopefully plan on doing the engine swap as a summer -fall project and thank you 86BRATMAN with the info about the ej22t from an older turbo legacy, as I would hope for this to work out as easily as possible without 10,000 dollars spent in the process all for making the engine swap work out. yep, your best bet for a budget power build is a closed deck block. either jdm EJ20g/k or an early legacy ej22t. if you go the 22t route, your best bet is to find yourself a donor car. something that's all rusted out, or been hit in the rear, and do all the work yourself. but either way, keep your eyes on the other forums, nasioc, rs25, legacy central, i-club, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
86BRATMAN Posted February 23, 2007 Share Posted February 23, 2007 I like the ej22t for its closed deck design, legacy central has a good comparison picture in its library if you don't know the difference between open and closed. If you've got a heart find a rust bucket t leg. Thats what I thought I was buying when I heard the description of the one I bought. I only gave $200 for the whole car, and we drove it home. Set of plugs and wires and it ran smooth as it was new, and as soon as the radiator comes in and I get a windshield put in it'll be a good as new $600 t leg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
86BRATMAN Posted February 23, 2007 Share Posted February 23, 2007 Also, if you can find a very early model ej20g, i think any made before 10/94 they are closed deck, but good luck on that... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
970subaru Posted February 23, 2007 Share Posted February 23, 2007 lots of places have them sitting in the back of the shop in varying degrees of completeness, but many have the wiring harness pretty hacked up. usually they want 400-500 for a motor which may or may not have low miles. some people put these motors in and abuse them for many miles without issue and some spin a bearing pretty quickly(a guy I know just did a V2 swap in his RS and it spun a bearing within a few weeks). IMHO these motors would be good for a project car if you are going to run a standalone system like megasquirt or something. I dont know if I would want to rely on one for a DD. FWIW, its next to impossible to find a clean ej20g wiring harness and when you do they are expensive. another cheap motor to buy is the ej20h. this is the japanese twin turbo 2.0L, and they can be found with trans attached, clean wiring harness, accessories, etc but have some problems; NOBODY has a wiring diagram for them!! not to mention the twin turbo setup is not compatible with LHD car's steering racks. these would be a good choice again if you are doing a custom turbo setup(some garret), or converting to a factory single turbo and running a standalone or all the engine management off another car(ej22e ecu and sensors+piggyback for instance). there are some from an ebay seller Jhot for around 600-800 with a transmission and cut up wiring harness which is a deal and a half. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trigger Posted February 23, 2007 Author Share Posted February 23, 2007 http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/JDM-Subaru-Legacy-BD5-EJ20H-M-T-Twin-Turbo-Engine-Set_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ46098QQihZ001QQitemZ110085956614QQtcZphoto found the ej20h and I like it. About 85k miles on it, and then id have to come across the turbos or buy new turbos and the piping. He has pretty nice feedback, but I am not big on Ebay so opinion on this engine and the guy selling would help. Thank 970subaru also for bring up the engine as it was very easy to find. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skip Posted February 23, 2007 Share Posted February 23, 2007 may look like a good deal but re read 970's post he metions Jhot and says Twin T's will not fit a USD car. Does your Imp have drum brakes on the rear? Where's Dr RX? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trigger Posted February 23, 2007 Author Share Posted February 23, 2007 Oops. I just realized as I was rereading you post 970subaru that you mentioned it was an ebay seller. lol feeling kind of dumb now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trigger Posted February 23, 2007 Author Share Posted February 23, 2007 all wheel disc breaks I believe, but I will check in just a minute. and it not fitting a USD is making me like arghh. I hope there is a good chance I could make it fit though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Numbchux Posted February 24, 2007 Share Posted February 24, 2007 all wheel disc breaks I believe, but I will check in just a minute. and it not fitting a USD is making me like arghh. I hope there is a good chance I could make it fit though. there's not a good chance. there's almost no chance. the twin turbo's will NOT fit a left hand drive car without extreme modification. it would be much easier to just convert it to single turbo. and chances are pretty good that your '96 brighton has rear drums. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
86BRATMAN Posted February 24, 2007 Share Posted February 24, 2007 I would agree with the rear drums on the brighton model, the 95 legacy wagon I had was a brighton and had rear drum brakes. If you do get a tt motor, it would probably be easier to rhd swap your car than to keep the tt setup with lhd Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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