AdventureSubaru

That motor should be mostly drop in for 2000-2004 legacies and outbacks and 1999-2004 Imprezas and Foresters that are non turbo and didn't come with the EZ30 motor (H6) Imprezas would mostly have come with a 2.2 motor so you would need a matching dual port exhaust pipe. You also want to keep the drivers side cam pulley and crank pulley original to the car so the marks on them match what the computer is expecting. Some will require swapping the original intake manifold and associated sensors. Some will be a perfect match. For the most part though, the long block goes all over in those years. Short block can interchange as far back as 1990 and I'm not sure how far forward.

These are becoming much harder to find. That one looks to be in good condition. They are starting to gain some collector value. My family drove an 84 DL FWD like that for years and years. I was born the year they bought it new. Learned to drive on it. Later it took my little sister through college. Wish I knew then what I know now. We gave it to our family mechanic when it developed a head gasket leak over a faulty thermostat. Would have taken a days work on it and would still be driving it today.

If it comes to that there are some guys in the bay area that import EJ20 SOHC motors from Japan - between 30 and 60k on them. I talked them down to $600 for one for my buddies 2002 Outback. Food for thought.

I'm not hearing anything alarming. Certainly not a rod knock. Subaru motors get louder and more tappy when oil changes are due or levels get low. Check your oil level and if it hasn't been changed in a while, do that. Mine generally get quieter on fresh oil. Someone may hear something I'm missing but that sounds like normal subaru motor talk to me.

On an 03 2.5 you've probably got an external head gasket leak. Rings and valves not necessary. Do a few searches on the job. It's pretty simple as head gasket jobs go. Make sure to get Subaru gaskets and have heads resurfaced.

$1000 is very reasonable for shop prices. across the board (All auto manufacturers) I believe the average head gasket job to be in the $2500-$3500 range. Part of why many of us are so loyal to Subaru and have taken the time to gain the knowledge to do all these jobs ourselves. Cost of tools and time but in the long run it saves a lot of $$$ and hassle. I don't worry about mechanical failures in my cars - not because they never happen but because I know I can fix them without breaking the bank. For the 90s cars the most expensive a mechanical repair can be is about $300 if I need a new block or something. Used parts and my own time and tools. EJ22s are easy to fix. Doesn't mean it's not a long job involving skilled labor and (as mentioned) plenty of overhead. I tend to be a speedster on working on these and a head gasket job still keeps me busy for 8-10 hours. But I'd rather do 4 of these than, say , the Triton V8 in our Ford Expedition. Looked up what was involved in head gasket job on that when we had coolant consumption that was tough to find. Hope I never have to tear into that job.

Yes, though it was much improved after the 96-99 DOHC and seemed a bit better than the 2000-2004 variety. Up through 08-09 you can expect head gaskets once somewhere between 80-150k

If you can post a few pics of the engine/intake manifold etc. we can get a better idea of what it is and what it can be replaced with.

There's no such thing as a 97 STI or a 93 WRX. (at least here in the states anyway.)They both came later. Both Imprezas I'm assuming though... 97 transmission will bolt up to a 93 motor. Final drive ratio of the trans needs to match the rear diff. Get the trans codes off the bellhousing to check each one. Generally if equipped with EJ18 or Ej22 it would be 3.90 and if EJ25 it would be 4.11

Sure does. That's about what a good used motor goes for. (300-500) so if it's a runner, that's a good price. Depending how much of a hurry they are to move it, you can always offer $300 and see what happens.

You wont bend that back to straight enough to get the window and windshield to seal up. Best bet is a cut and weld. If you can take a sawzall to a junkyard and cut the top of the A pillar and B pillar and part of the roof and weld it in place, you'd make it work. You'll likely pay about $100 for the part. If you have a welder or know someone who can do it, you can fix it on the cheap. Depending how cheap the price is - you can always buy that one for the motor (Ej22- best Subaru ever made) and find a 95-98 car with blown head gaskets and swap it in. Even without the caved section, that little guy is pretty beat up and riced looking. I've seen pristine bodied 90s cars with head gasket leaks sell for $300-$1000.

Check fuses is always step #1.

Yep. 3 hours is what the book will say. Anyone who's done one before can do it in half that time. I would have busted up laughing if someone told me 13 hours to do a timing belt. Subaru reccommends timing belt and components to be done every 80,000 miles. If you know when it was done last, you know when it will be due. Gates kits are usually around $200 and last as well as the more expensive Subaru OEM kits. If it was done at the first service interval at 80,000 miles it will be due again at 160,000 miles. There's no guarantee that idlers and such were replaced with it. For the cost of a timing belt job (Expect $200 to DIY and $500 to have a shop do it) it's cheap peace of mind to know it's new and not due for 80,000 more miles.

The legacy and outback grills are the same other than the outback emblems. No need to swap.

You are driving a time bomb. Why would you knowingly leave that job undone?

They are interchangeable along with their corresponding brackets. All things being equal - the two bolt style is less prone to failure. Sounds like it's also the newer part of the two.

Is that confirmed? I know the early frankenmotors made high compression - 2.5 block with 90-98 2.2 heads made higher hp but needed premium fuel. As close as the phase 2 Ej22 and EJ25 are I figured it would be negligible difference to make a frankenmotor. But that's based more on assumption than first hand knowledge.

Yep. Bolts right up. It is a little shorter than the outback bumper and accepts different fog lights. Any 95-99 legacy is a match.

What year is the EJ22? If it's 90-98 head gaskets are a rather cheap and simple job. $50. for a pair of felpro/Fuji head gaskets and a day of wrenching. Done it without pulling the motor and sitting in the driveway. Not a big deal. Heads need to be cleaned up well but resurfacing is not essential. 99+ is the same job but 4x the price of gaskets and you gotta resurface them or get repeat failure. But yes. You are asking for trouble and further failure by continuing to drive it with known head gasket failure. I'd find a day to fix it before you've killed it.

Agreed with the previous comments. Look at the exhaust where it bolts up to the motor. It's either single or dual port exhaust (2 bolts single - 3 for dual) If single then someone took the heads from the 2.2 onto the block of a 2.5. This could be done with the block from a 98 motor. If dual then it's a complete EJ25 SOHC and as mentioned, same reliability as the original 2.2 from the car. If the 2.5 in there most phase II motors are 98% bolt in. This would be 99-04 forester, 99-04 Impreza and 2000 (and a handful of 99s) legacy and outback. The other 2% are the different MAP sensors, exhaust ports and cam/crank sprockets. The thing to be sure of is that you either match dual/single port exhaust that you already have or get the matching Y pipe with the new motor. The rest is easy. Just swap your intake manifold and cam and crank sprockets onto the new motor to be sure they all match. If you are installing a new/used motor, you probably want to do a timing kit anyway so this doesn't add much work at all. But as mentioned, if the current motor is running well, just keep running it. Before 99 there was an advantage to having the 2.2 motor. Afterwards there was not.

Nice! You just bought one of the most reliable platforms Subaru ever made. That EJ22 motor is a tank. Yours is an interference model so be sure the timing belt service has been done. If not a Gates kit can be found online cheap and it's a good 2-3 hour do it yourself project to get to know the motor a little. I had a 97 Impreza Outback that I lifted and used for romping on trails, fishing trips, road trips and light towing. Sold it with 276k. Kid that bought it drove it for a year, flipped it down a mountain, abandoned it and it came back to us since it was in our name. Still ran and drove just fine. I cleaned it up a bit and sold it to a local guy who's using it for off road fun. Looks like yours is in great shape. Welcome!

If I recall, the Foresters had a heavier/stiffer swaybar than the Imprezas. If the width is the same it should give more stability.

Temporarily I did just fine when the driveshaft went on my Impreza - A couple ziploc bags, a few layers of duct tape and either a big zip tie or hose clamp. Anything that puts a seal on it should work fine so it doesn't leak. It's not really pressurized. Just needs to get you by until you get a new or junkyard driveshaft in there.

I've run a handful with no covers. It keeps things cool and you can inspect the belt easily. Might want new covers if you are going off roading/deep snow bajaing sort of stuff. Otherwise you're fine running with no covers. Especially since yours is a 95 - just keep an old belt and idlers in the trunk and if anything ever happens, slap a new one on and drive. It's a non interference motor.

SLow tight circles feel for lurching/shuttering/binding. Like driving a truck in 4wd on pavement. It's pretty obvious.