Leaderboard

so basically we are just "deleting" the EGR? Simple enough i guess.. And yeah, @moosens - if you could keep your thread updated as you go, that would be fantastic. i think we are gonna go ahead and snag this car - depending on title status... we can get it for basically scrap price, and with a good motor, it is worth that.

Easiest bit is probably starting with a fresh wiring loom - no need to cut out the correct wires and no wire intersections where two become one or one becomes two as it is with a factory loom cutdown. @Localun - any EJ engine would be a good choice except the EJ25D. You could even drop a turbo variant in there if you wanted. There’s a few extra bits to cover, namely the slotting of the engine crossmember for the turbo up pipe (or source a turbo crossmember). I’d also recommend running an AWD gearbox especially if going for the turbo option. The rear end of a 4wd L series is what you need for this. If you can get a turbo rear end you’ll get the rear sway bar and rear 4wd disc brakes too. Cheers Bennie

Slow process in mine. But I’ll update my post as things happen. Old days you’d just make a metal plate and cover that hole. That was EA82.

The only difficult part for most people is the electrical. And to make that "easy" isn't all that cheap. We do a lot of swaps to VW's, older Subaru's, and wiring of sand rails, etc. The LINK Engine Management products (https://linkecu.com/) are our preference for how easy they are to install/wire, and tune. But expect that to come with a price - about $1,750 to $2,000 for the hardware if you want to do it yourself, and about $3k if you want a shop such as ours to do it. But it is by far the easiest way to go. The stock ECU's from that era suck and with the LINK you get speed density (delete the MAF and all the plumbing), and full motorsports features, etc. GD

I just put a newer JDM 2.0 into an '01 Forester. It was similar to a 253, but no variable valve timing.... Anyway, yes. Best practice when swapping Subaru engines is to swap the intake manifold and wiring harness from the old motor. Obviously the EGR valve itself is mounted to the intake, so that takes care of that end. My '01 Forester engine had a plug where the EGR pipe goes into the head, so I was able to just zip that out of the old engine (14mm allen, IIRC), and plug the hole in the new engine. Moosens just had a thread on here with a Legacy with the opposite situation (non EGR engine in place of an EGR one), and he had to drill and tap the head for the port, so some engines do not have the plug there. In that thread I believe GD said it was an M20x1.5 thread, in which case an aftermarket drain plug would probably be easy enough to get.

1+ for timing!

yeah, really doesn't seem like a sensor/ECU issue, seems like something more 'physical'. as said, triple check cam/crank timing. Locate the 'tooth count' for that engine. Bring the crank/cam marks to their 'belt install' positions and count the teeth between everything. Something may be a tooth off. Wonder if a 'dropped' valve guide could come-and-go??? maybe some odd vacuum leak comes-and-goes??? - maybe try some vacuum gauge readings - may have to rig a way to do that while revving/driving?

This sounds like a good one... a few things: - timing, yes I know you said you double triple checked it. Which markers did you use to line up the cams (don’t use the arrows, always the tabs on the rim of the cam wheel)? And this is a DOHC engine? - after reconnecting the battery did you let the engine idle for 5-10mins before touching the throttle? - after a drive when it was “normal” then not, are there any stored codes? - the spark plugs and leads new, if so, what was used? - fuel pump healthy or quite old? And on that one, fuel lines connected correctly? It’s easy to get a return line mixed up with the IN line on the fuel rails I hope some of these suggestions help or give you something to look at further. Cheers Bennie