I'm still thinking about the EJ22 swap for my '82 GL wagon.... been sitting over a year with no engine at all now... and a friend of mine is selling her '90 Legacy for $500. Engine is a '93 or '94 engine, around 120k miles IIRC. It runs pretty good. Heck of a lot more power than the EA series subarus, and it feels more powerful than that '07 outbacks too (lighter car, probably). Newer radiator, brand new clutch. Car is beat up underneath pretty bad -- struts are shot, exhaust banged off, dents in cross members, lots of misc stuff falling apart. I already have a 5 speed D/R to go in there.

 

I could probably find an engine cheaper.... but it might be worth it to have the whole car there to take parts as needed off of during the swap instead of hoping I got all the right parts?

Well, it'll probably be nice to have the matched ECU and wiring harness rather than having to hunt for them. Plus you can do it at your leisure rather than worrying about when a yard is going to scrap the donor car.

 

You might even be able to sell off a couple other parts you're not using for a little $$ to offset the cost... like the trans. If it's good and you're not going to use it, you can sell it to someone who needs it.

I've done it both ways, and I've always said a parts car is better than parts. you know the history, you know you have everything, and you can probably make a few bucks selling off stuff you don't need.

I say do it. If the engine is as low mileage as you say, it sound's like a pretty good deal. EJ22 longblocks are going to run anywhere between 200-500 depending on the condition, plus you would have the ECU available. If anything, you could part the Legacy out after you pull the engine and try to get your money back. You could just sell it for scrap, even though it's pretty low right now (about $6.50 per hundred pound here in TN). Or, you could wait around, find an EJ25 or EJ22 and lift the damn thing!

Yep - whole car is worth a few extra bucks no doubt.

 

I've only ever pieced them together. I usually have everything I need since I have 5...10...20 cars but there's often one or two odd ball items that are just annoying to get. No one has one, yards won't even mess with it, look at, still have, some little part i need...etc.

 

Trying to piece it together from scratch with no parts stash/cars lying around, that would suck. It's totally doable if you have lots of time but it would be annoying.

 

Good comment above - find a few things to sell, sell the converter and car for scrap for $150 and you're probably not out that much at all and probably come in cheaper for it.

I am going that route- actually have a 93 Legacy sitting in the driveway right now. It's best because you can try the engine out before you go through the royal PITA installation, make sure it's running right, and you have the whole harness, computer, fuel pump, etc.

Piecing it together, as mentioned above, leaves you needing a bunch of little bits that generally turn out to be expensive.

Parts to sell is a pretty good point too-

Sounds like I should go for it then. I've known this car for about 4 years now... so yeah, I know it's history alot more than some random junkyard one. I remember when we put the new engine in it even (original engine had the head gaskets go, I think -- just gave the old core to Jerry DeMoss) I was driving it yesterday, and it sure is fast compared to my old EA stuff... even with the heavier legacy body I hit 55 going up one steep hill on the canyon when I floored it, instead of maxing out at 40ish like the EA82 or the Justy does (causing audi's to go zooming around me at 60...)

 

Only thing really wrong with it other than alot of little annoying but not important things on any old car is that the front struts died... then it proceeded to bash everything off the bottom of the car bouncing up and down on my friend's half mile long rocky driveway.

Living where you do I would buy the whole car. The trips up and down the hill along with the gas and time expense are worth having the whole thing.

Get a whole car. When I did my AWD & 5spd conversion there were a few little things I did not think of, and it was nice to able to snag them from the donor car. Plus it's much cheaper that way, than trying to find a piece here and there.

I'd say definately get the whole car. I went that route and sold enough off the parts car to pay for most of the swap. Plus it was fun chopping up the carcass with my kid and a sawsall. My box of misc nuts and bolts got restocked too.

 

good luck

 

Daniel

Get the whole car! Its amazing what you could do with the parts! Upgraded master cylinder, hood cable, cup holder, Steering rack? Legs for a coffee table out of tranny parts....Whatever!

 

My donor is my spare parts shed right now.