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Building the 2.5 w/ 2.2l heads


WoodsWagon
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So, i've been inspired to build engine #3 for my loyale. I traded a taurus for a 97 EJ25 with blown headgaskets, and I traded some other stuff for a pair of Ej22 heads. I bought $100 worth of gaskets today, and I will be spending the weekend rigging everything up. The 2.5 is on the stand, and the parts are on the table. The hardest part is going to be drilling the water passages into the headgaskets. I'll be seeing if I can put the 2.5l injectors into the 2.2l manifold. My injectors are what fried the 2.2 in the first place, so I need to swap them anyways.

 

High compression, here I come!

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no point in drilling the head gaskets IMHO.

and no point in swapping ej22 heads, it would be a downgrade. have the ej25 heads millled if you want to bump the compression, or run thin headgaskets. the 2.2/2.5 combo is mainly good for cars that came as 2.2's or 1.8's. or did you already put a ej22 in the car and thats why you are keeping the 2.2 heads? in that case carry on but you might as well just run the stock ej22 injectors.

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The fuel rails look to be the same design between the 2 engines. The water passages of the 2.2 head and the 2.5 gasket don't line up at all on one side. I want at least some flow through there.

 

The EJ22 heads most probably don't flow as well as the EJ25DOHC's do. I'm not looking for high RPM power though, i'm looking for off-the bottom torque. If the engine stops pulling at 5k rpm's, I won't be really disapointed. What I need is 1k-3k pulling power to keep my 235/75r15's moving in the woods.

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The EJ22 heads most probably don't flow as well as the EJ25DOHC's do. I'm not looking for high RPM power though, i'm looking for off-the bottom torque. If the engine stops pulling at 5k rpm's, I won't be really disapointed. What I need is 1k-3k pulling power to keep my 235/75r15's moving in the woods.

 

Can't wait to see how this turns out! I've wanted to try this setup for a long time...

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Can't wait to see how this turns out! I've wanted to try this setup for a long time...

 

Don't worry, I'll give it a thourough trial by fire. My ej22 lasted 6 months from fresh rebuild to oil burning junk, the EA82 before that turned into a knocking lifeless lump in about a year of road use. It's on it's 3rd rear end, 3rd tranny, 3rd driveshaft, and a bunch of front halfshafts have bit it.

 

If the EJ25 hold's up, it'll be a testament to a good setup.

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FYI

Here is a good read on the procedure.

Talks of methods and shows the drilling of the headgasket for the H20 passages.

I am also going to be doing this as soon as the weather warms a bit.

I want to know why the 2.5 intake manifold will not fit the 2.2L heads.

Is it the bolt patern/ port alignment ? both?

Is the 2.5L case wider?

 

2.5 / 2.2 build

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This is a great low-buck build up. I dunno why the water passages don't line up on the gaskets, but it's a small inconvenience for the boost in performance.

 

The injectors will drop in. You'd know if they were side feed or top feed. Top feed came on the EJ25 in 99 and would need the entire rail plus an adapter for the manifold bungs. Nissan uses some compatable side feed injectors if you wanna look at other options.

 

The DOHC EJ25 manifold won't fit the EJ22 heads because of the bolt pattern. The SOHC EJ25 might have the same pattern but the port spacing from the deck is different, I doubt it'll fit either. SOHC has top feed injectors anyway.

 

Depending on the year of those EJ22 heads, you might need a single port exhaust manifold. If they are dual port, the EJ25 stuff will bolt right on.

 

The setup likes a high flow cat or trackpipe.

 

You can expect to be putting down around 140-145HP to the wheels:headbang: with even more torque.

 

 

Jay Storm

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It's all first gen EJ22 stuff going on the block, and it's going in a loyale that's already running an EJ motor.

 

Skip, the link shows exactly the drilling I'm planning on. Good pics.

 

I have a near brand new OEM y pipe and cat for a first gen legacy, still golden colored and shiny. From that back, I'd like to run 2 1/4" pipe, not the 1 3/4" that's on it now. That's restricting the EJ22 already, so it has to go.

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sorry, kind of a hijack, but on-topic with regards to torque

 

not sure if it is true or not but I was reading on another board that smaller intake runners will ultimately lead to bad torque?

 

can't find the post now, but the guy's logic was hard to follow. can anyone confirm?

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sorry, kind of a hijack, but on-topic with regards to torque

 

not sure if it is true or not but I was reading on another board that smaller intake runners will ultimately lead to bad torque?

 

can't find the post now, but the guy's logic was hard to follow. can anyone confirm?

that would be more a function of where the torque is in the powerband. huge runners- up high small runners-down low
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I want my torque down low, so it should be perfect.

 

The bores are fairly rusted, so I'll hone them and see how much it cleans off. I'll put a piece of cardboard with a cutout for the conn rod in the bottom of the cyl, then flush it out w/ ATF.

 

I've got the two front pistons out, 1 and 2. The rings were stuck in the pistons pretty good. I'm using ultrasonic cleaning to loosen the rings enough to pry them out with a nutpick so I can get the ring expander on them. It's a PITA.

 

So I'll hone it, buy new rings, and hope it all works out well. If not, I'll only have $50 worth of rings in it.

 

 

Oh, and you have to swap the timing belt tensioner bracket from the 2.2l engine to the 2.5l. The tab of aluminum that holds the middle of the timing belt cover for the drivers side head interferes with the SOHC pully. You could alternatively cut off the tab.

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  • 1 month later...

OK, so this block turned into a clusterFK. The pitting from corrosion in the bores is so bad that even after honing till the stones wore off didn't take the holes out. So this block goes on the shelf till I have money to buy big pistons and bore it.

 

Piston rings are more like $120. So instead of dumping about 250 bucks in rings and seals into a gauranteed oil burner, I went looking for another block.

 

Which brings me to engine number two, a SOHC EJ25 with a busted ring land. I traded one of my EJ22's for it at school. Only catch is, it's been fully dissasembled, and not torqued when it was put back together. Soooo, full teardown, cleaning, and I'll throw my pistons and new rings on it. Put my waterpump on it.

 

This block has the oil to coolant heat exchanger on it. I like that, but I can't fit it and the oil filter on with my skidplate. So I'll have to swap a block plug from one of my other engines and a thermostat housing.

 

My choice of heads for the EJ25 shortblock:

1992 SOHC EJ22 heads with 1995 roller rockers and cam

1997 DOHC EJ25 heads

199x SOHC EJ25 heads

 

What should I pick? I'd like the EJ22 heads for the low end torque, but the SOHC EJ25 heads look appealing.

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