Best year for the EJ22?

[warmblood58]

Hi! new member and soon to own a EJ22 powered Vanagon Syncro! I previously owned a SVX powered westy prepared by SmallCar. I have been trying to figure out the year my engine was produced - it says "3342" next to EJ22. Are these digits relevent to dating?

[Fairtax4me]

Nope. The 3342 has something to do with bearing size IIRC. The best way to tell the year is to look the the lower left corner of the bellhousing for a VIN engraved in the block.

There's a small pad about 1"x2" and the VIN runs vertically. It can be hard to see and read since its usually covered in dirt/grime.

10th digit of the vin is the model year.

 

If no VIN, we can come up with a guesstimated ballpark year based on some of the physical features.

An easy thing to check is the exhaust ports. If it has 2 per head (dual port) its in the 90-95 range. One port per head (single port) makes it a 96-98 engine.

 

The OBD1 engines are common swaps into other vehicles because of the simplicity of the computer and wiring. That would put it in the 90-94 range.

But the engine wiring harness is mainly attached to the intake manifold, and the manifolds can be easily swapped between 90-98 engines.

(Same with the cylinder heads and pretty much everything else that can be bolted onto the block. So there's no guarantee that the block came from a certain year based on the heads or any other parts that are bolted to it.)

[warmblood58]

Great info! Thank you!

[AdventureSubaru]

Generally the 90-96 has a slight edge by being a non interference motor. Keep up with timing belt changes and it's a moot point. Any 90-98 Ej22 is fairly bullet proof.

[Gloyale]

96

 

Roller follower cams with a good torque profile. Still non-interference.