Should I Attempt an Engine Swap?

[JT95]

As you may have read in earlier posts, I just bought two Impreza OBS wagons--both wrecked. I have a '00 w/ a good 2.2 and transmission with about 115k that is my parts car. A guy in a neighboring town hit a deer in his '99 Impreza Outback. The damage isn't too bad and the title is good, but I'd have to buy a hood because I'm already using the hood off the '00, and this deer-hit car has 200k+ on it. I'm going to see it in person this weekend, but in the pics it looks like a really clean car, so I was thinking of buying it and attempting an engine swap.

 

To be honest, an engine swap scares me. I've pulled and dropped engines a couple times before, but the newest car I've done so with was an 81 Chevy w/ carb, so very little in the way of wiring and hoses. All the electronics in new cars intimidates me, and that's my biggest fear in attempting a swap. I do have a couple questions for those of you who have done this before:

 

1) I've got a cherry picker. For old detroit steel, I'd bolt a hook plate to the intake manifold where the carb would go and lift away. What's the best way to physically attach this Impreza engine to the cherry picker to lift it out?

 

2) Any tips to keeping track of what all is supposed to plug in where when it's time to give all those little wires and hoses and such a home? Thankfully, I will have another '99 Impreza sitting nearby with the hood popped, so I'm assuming that will make the process a little bit clearer.

 

Any tips or advice you want to throw my way is appreciated. I won't actually try the swap until after I finish my 71k rebuild car first, but right now I'm trying to decide if I realy want to attempt an engine swap.

[subaru360]

You'll find it's easier to swap engines on a subie than a chevy. There's only two vacum hoses and 3 electrical plugs to unplug to pull the engine. You can just unbolt the p/s and the a/c and put them off to the side, no need to disconnect the lines. To pull it tie a strap (I use an old seatbelt) to the intake runners, one on each side.

[aircraft engineer]

Use masking tape and a magic marker.

 

LABEL everything as it's disconnected ON BOTH SIDES OF THE DISCONNECT. Write down a code if you need A1 A2 A3 or whatever - if you have a fine marker, use it instead but the code works well (bigger is better and easier to read - but you do need the matrix of what A1 A2 and A3 etc mean - in case you get "confused".

 

Get a digital camera and take LOTS of pictures

 

Nothing in Chilton's about lift points

[JT95]

Thanks, guys. That gives me a little more confidence. I figure the worst I could do is get overly frustrated/confused w/ the swap and then sell the lower mileage engine by itself and be stuck with two parts cars. I'll try a tow strap under the intake runners w/ the 200k engine and see if that works well enough to use for the good engine. (That's assuming I get this deer-hit car from the guy.)

 

I kept putting off replacing my own CV shafts, and that turned out to be much much easier than anticipated, so maybe this will not be as puzzling as I fear either.

 

 

 

I figure w/ three Imprezas I can keep one as my own, sell one for a fair price, and maybe stuff that 200k in the no-title car and piece together a beater of an off-road thrasher.

[MilesFox]

after removing the pitch bar and unbolting the engine mounts from the frame, place a jack under the diff of the transmissopn and raise the whole work sup about 3 inches so the motor can slide forward without hanging up on the frame.

 

the bottom engine studs are about 3 inches long, so the motor has to slide forward that much before you can finally lift it out.

 

tie your chans or strap to thealternator bracket and the pitch bar bracket, just slide a bolt thru there. this will give you control of the fore-aft tilt of the motor since you will have to do some maneuvering this way to line up the bellhouding and input shaft when going back together.

[subaru360]

after removing the pitch bar and unbolting the engine mounts from the frame, place a jack under the diff of the transmissopn and raise the whole work sup about 3 inches so the motor can slide forward without hanging up on the frame.

 

the bottom engine studs are about 3 inches long, so the motor has to slide forward that much before you can finally lift it out.

 

tie your chans or strap to thealternator bracket and the pitch bar bracket, just slide a bolt thru there. this will give you control of the fore-aft tilt of the motor since you will have to do some maneuvering this way to line up the bellhouding and input shaft when going back together.

 

Jack under the trans for sure. But the pitch stopper on an EJ bolts to the trans, so that's not going to work too well:) Best way to do it is a strap tied to the intake runners one on each side.

[johnceggleston]

Jack under the trans for sure. But the pitch stopper on an EJ bolts to the trans, so that's not going to work too well:) Best way to do it is a strap tied to the intake runners one on each side.

 

ok, i'm a dummie, please define 'intake runners'. are these what would be called the 'intake manifold' on a 61 chevy pickup???

i'm showing my age now.

 

thanks.

[subaru360]

ok, i'm a dummie, please define 'intake runners'. are these what would be called the 'intake manifold' on a 61 chevy pickup???

i'm showing my age now.

 

thanks.

 

Yup the intake manifold. It's shaped kind of like an M. Tie one end of your strap to each front runner. It will balance nicely like that as you pull it or drop it.