I have a 96 wagon w/ a blown head gasket and a 98 wagon that I rolled but the engine and transmission are in good shape. I am very confident that I could swap because they have the same engine but just want to be sure before I spend an entire weekend wrenching everything apart. If it will help here are the VIN #s:

1996- 4S3BG6858T7971961

1998- 4S3BG6857W7653139

 

~THANKS

yep - same engine. they're both DOHC EJ25's. there are a few small differences, but nothing to get in the way of a swap. for the swap you'll pull one and install the other, it'll plug right up, bolt right up and start right up.

 

i believe the 1996 has a timing gaurd the 98 won't have and the timing pulley/tensioner set up may differ slightly.

 

might want to replace the head gaskets before you put it in, these things have a bit of a problem with those if you didn't know.

just an FYI: my 96 engine I installed in my 97 was non-EGR, I had to drill and tap for the pipe. I don't think this would be an issue in reverse though for the computer.

FSRBIKER - You drilled the head and the air intake? or did you just swap the head over?

FSRBIKER - You drilled the head and the air intake? or did you just swap the head over?

 

I drilled and tapped the head, swapped the intake over from my old engine.

interesting, the 1996 EJ25 Legacy LSi sedan i pulled the motor from had EGR on it - DOHC EJ25 with EGR. mine was an auto - was yours a manual?

 

i installed the new motor without any EGR stuff, i'm very excited about that. i've had to deal with EGR lame-ness and unreliability in the past. no more!

Mine was a import motor maybe that's the reason, it came with hydraulic lifters and no EGR. It was from an auto.

 

Are you using regular, mid or premium gas?

interesting. the funny thing is that some import motors have EGR when US doesn't and some import motors do not have EGR when the US model does? zero consistency, nice!

 

i run regular, but i didn't reinstall an EJ25.

follow-up ----- Since you drilled the head you had to of removed it so you had to do a head gasket job. Any reason why you did not swap the head if you had it off. I never heard anyone tapping the head or even trying it. Nice to hear it done successfully.

Grossgary --- Do you have a permanent "Check Engine Light" on

follow-up ----- Since you drilled the head you had to of removed it so you had to do a head gasket job. Any reason why you did not swap the head if you had it off. I never heard anyone tapping the head or even trying it. Nice to hear it done successfully.

 

My original engine had a blown head gasket, I did a HG job on it and the car still didn't run right. I bought an import motor with low miles and before I installed it I put new HG's, water pump, tensioners, timing belt, etc. The head actually has the opening for the EGR, it's just cast closed off. I measured the depth of the old one and put a drill stop on and then drilled and tapped it. I am sure I will never use that tap again so if someone wants to buy it cheap just let me know.