Bob Nieuwsma Posted February 16, 2014 Share Posted February 16, 2014 Ok I am new to all this forum stuff but it sure sound like there are a lot of people who care out there!! So thank you in advance. I purchased a 96 outback from a friend of mine who is a really good mechanic and a good man. The car had 187000 miles on it and the head gaskets had been replaced along with the radiator, water pump. all belts and hoses, brakes, struts, windshield, axels, axel seals, new radio, and a almost new set of snow tires! So I thought I would take a chance on it even though it had a lot of miles, ( hoping to get 30 to 40,000 out of it ) well a couple of months into it the check engine light came on and it started to miss, The diagnoses was low compression on # 3 cylnder. ( bad valve they think? ) I do not expect him to stand behind it because I bought a car with high mileage and he sold it to me right!!! So rather than spend money on a bad engine I started looking for another, Low mileage engines, rebuilt engines, engines with the top end redone ect. Then a gentleman told me about the 2.2 swap and how good these engines are and what to look for. I found in a wrecking yard from car-part.com a 95 2.2 out of an Impreza, auto trans, egr, dual port exhaust. The wrecking yard claims it has 96,000 on it and it has good compression!! 170 to 180 on all four, What other questions should I ask or things to look for? And what should I do to it before dropping it in besides switching my ring gear? Any comments or feed back will be greatly appreciated. Thanks again God Bless Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
987687 Posted February 16, 2014 Share Posted February 16, 2014 (edited) Swapping your ring gear? huh? You don't need to do that. You can bolt the 2.2 directly up to the trans in your outback (you said 96 2.5 which is almost certainly an auto). You're going to have to re-use the flexplate from the 2.5, it'll bolt directly onto the 2.2. Since a 95 impreza is OBD1 you're going to need an obd2 ej22 intake manifold off a 96-98 (or a 95 legacy). The junkyard should probably have one of those you can swap onto the motor. They may even include it if they're good. You'll also have to swap the crank and cam sensors, you can swap them directly off your current engine onto the 2.2. Only other stuff I can think of is do a tuneup on the 2.2 before dropping it in. New plugs and wires. Put new valvecover gaskets on it, replace the rear separator plate with the updated metal one. Then put on a new timing belt, all the idlers, waterpump, tensioner, and crank/cam seals. With all that it'll need nothing for the next 105k miles till the timing belt is due again. Unless it's leaking, most people will tell you not to mess with the rear main crank seal. They're difficult to install correctly, and if done incorrectly will leak. I've never had one leak after changing it, so I dunno, do what you think is best here. Edited February 16, 2014 by 987687 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Nieuwsma Posted February 17, 2014 Author Share Posted February 17, 2014 Ok I am new to all this forum stuff but it sure sound like there are a lot of people who care out there!! So thank you in advance. I purchased a 96 outback from a friend of mine who is a really good mechanic and a good man. The car had 187000 miles on it and the head gaskets had been replaced along with the radiator, water pump. all belts and hoses, brakes, struts, windshield, axels, axel seals, new radio, and a almost new set of snow tires! So I thought I would take a chance on it even though it had a lot of miles, ( hoping to get 30 to 40,000 out of it ) well a couple of months into it the check engine light came on and it started to miss, The diagnoses was low compression on # 3 cylnder. ( bad valve they think? ) I do not expect him to stand behind it because I bought a car with high mileage and he sold it to me right!!! So rather than spend money on a bad engine I started looking for another, Low mileage engines, rebuilt engines, engines with the top end redone ect. Then a gentleman told me about the 2.2 swap and how good these engines are and what to look for. I found in a wrecking yard from car-part.com a 95 2.2 out of an Impreza, auto trans, egr, dual port exhaust. The wrecking yard claims it has 96,000 on it and it has good compression!! 170 to 180 on all four, What other questions should I ask or things to look for? And what should I do to it before dropping it in besides switching my ring gear? Any comments or feed back will be greatly appreciated. Thanks again God Bless Thanks, when I said ring gear I meant flex plate. Are the engines from a legacy and Impreza different? I was told a 95 2.2 with egr and dual port exhaust would drop right in and plug right in, but he did say a legacy would work best. I have not bought the 2.2 yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olnick Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 Welcome to USMB, Bob. You've obviously done your homework--and made a good choice. If that '95 EJ22 engine has just 96k on it, it's hardly broken in! You'll be good for another 150-200k miles. Plus it's the best engine Subaru ever made in my opinion. Non-interference and "bulletproof!" A little preventive maintenance and attention to details and you'll be golden. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
987687 Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 (edited) The 90-98 2.2 engines are more or less the same thing. 96+ has single port exhaust headers, not a big deal if you can find the matching header. The impreza changed to obd2 in 96, while the legacy changed in 95. But other than that, you can swap any intake onto any 2.2, and with that, you can swap the matching crank/cam sensors. Crank/cam sensors are actually the same part, so you can interchange them. So you can basically play legos with this. If that motor looks good, slap an obd2 2.2 intake manifold on it, and the right sensors, and you're good to go. A note about non-interference from above, 97+ are interference motors. It really doesn't matter, put a new timing belt and whatnot on there and it's not going to be a problem. Edited February 17, 2014 by 987687 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olnick Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 Thanks, when I said ring gear I meant flex plate. Are the engines from a legacy and Impreza different? I was told a 95 2.2 with egr and dual port exhaust would drop right in and plug right in, but he did say a legacy would work best. I have not bought the 2.2 yet. My '95 is OBD2, but it's a Legacy. Call the yard and ask them to check. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
987687 Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 My '95 is OBD2, but it's a Legacy. Call the yard and ask them to check. As I said, 95 imprezas can be obd1, 95 legacy as far as I know are all obd2. The yard honestly probably won't know, and they'll just tell you it won't work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Nieuwsma Posted February 17, 2014 Author Share Posted February 17, 2014 Please forgive me if I sound stupid but in the last week I have learned that Subarus have come with a multitude of engines with different numbers and letters pertaining to this year and that model! and being new to subies it is quite frustrating and confusing, not like the old days when I worked on Datsuns and Dodges. Now that I have been thinking about it the engine at the wrecking yard is out of a 96 impreza I think AT, EGR, Dual port would this be an OBD2? and if so will it go right in? Also please, how do you tell between an obd1 and an obd2 if you don`t know the difference? I cannot afford to make a mistake on this. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
987687 Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 (edited) The ONLY factory dual port obd2 engine was the 95 legacy. Making it the most desirable engine for a swap, because it's 100% drop in, no mix-n-match. AT/MT are the same, except MT engines don't usually have EGR. Every car gasoline car in the US 96+ is obd2, so that applies to subarus, too. It's just that the 95 legacy changed a year early. I honestly don't have a good way for you to tell the difference in obd1/obd2. I can tell by the plugs on the cam/crank sensors. The obd1 ones usually have long pigtails, while the obd2 ones are usually red. The obd1 enignes often have a weird cover thing on the coil pack, but those come off/get lost. And ultimately the harness plugs are different. But I dunno how to describe how they're different.... I know the obd2 ones are grey, hopefully someone else has some more obvious clues. By and large, though. All dual port ej22s are obd1 EXCEPT the 95 legacy, and all single ports are obd2. If they try to give you an ej22 with spark plugs that go through the valve cover, they're totally wrong. You want the one with the funky shaped valve cover with the ribs on it. Looks like this: http://www.vortechonline.com/engines/grfx/EJ22.jpg Edited February 17, 2014 by 987687 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MilesFox Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 you can get another 200,000 miles out oft he car. mine is a 96 with 260,000 on the original head gaskets. any ej22 engine 90-96 is a direct bolt in, just use a 95-98 legacy intake. otherwise, components form an obd2 intake (intake harness, cran/cam sensors/ thrtootle body) will swap onto an obd1 intake Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtdash Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 The ONLY factory dual port obd2 engine was the 95 legacy. No offense, but the '95 Impreza w/the automatic (only way it was avl.) was also OBD-II w/the EGR and should be dual-port heads. The EJ18 was OBD-1 and only avl. w/the 5-speed. I've read about these on other forums and on cars101.com (look under Archives on the left side panel). As noted above, the '96 should be a single-port head on the EJ22...but that's not a deal breaker - just get the y-pipe w/the exhaust manifold. It'll work w/the existing OB's exhaust. GL, TD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnceggleston Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 good answer! thanks td. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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