Swap? Turbo? Leave it alone?

[Bender-san]

After 354,000 miles my EJ22 has finally decided to begin losing coolant through the head gaskets. Since it is time for the engine to come out, I have come to the conclusion the I would like a little bit more power than the stock EJ22 provides. I have several options to choose from, but my searching has not come up with answers that meet my criteria. What I am curious to know is what route some of the more experienced Legacy people would choose given my list of desires. Here is what I'm looking for:

1: 160-180 crank horsepower and somewhere with torque somewhere in the same neighborhood. I don't want to build a monster, but the stock 130 just isn't cutting it anymore.

2: Reliability. This is a winter daily-driver, and I can't afford to lose too much of the fantastic reliability this car has. I'm not looking to stuff a whole mess of aftermarket gear into this car that will hurt its ability to do what it has done for the past 354,000 miles.

3: Cost. My labor is free, but parts are not. I'm looking to stay around $800 for the completed project. I understand the fast/cheap/reliable equasion, but I'm not looking for a rocket ship here. If a phase 2 EJ25 swap was in the cards, I'd be all over it. However, that has shown to be too much money and time involvement to get to run properly. Cost also prevents me from having any interest in a JDM-spec engine, as I'm not terribly interested in losing an arm and a leg sourcing parts.

4: 87 Octane Fuel. I'm not looking to throw premium in a daily, so 11/1 compression is out of the question. This would be the one requirement that I may consider sacrificing if all other options are exhausted.

5: Time. This car will be disassembled for the summer months, but I will need it running again by October. I do not exactly have the luxury of waiting around for a unicorn swap to come around for sale.

Given these criteria, what would the recommendation be? I've thought of the EJ22t swap, but it's becoming more of a unicorn as time wears on (I'm also not certain that a stock EJ22t can run on 87 pump gas). So.....what are your suggestions?

[vrg3]

Yeah, an EJ22T can't really run on 87 octane.

Maybe a Phase I EJ25 would be work. From what I can recall from my old 97 Legacy 2.5GT, they're very similar to 92-94 EJ22 engines except for the increased displacement. You could get away with using the stock EJ22 ECU and wiring; the fuel and timing may be slightly off but it should work fine. The injectors and MAF are actually the same. In fact, the only sensor that I think is different is the TPS (the EJ25 has no idle switch), but you should be able to just use your stock throttle body. And you'll have to block off the EGR. Other than that, it should be pretty much plug and play.

If you can find one that's already had its head gaskets replaced with the redesigned ones, that might be good enough to hit all your requirements.

[Bender-san]

Unfortunately, the Phase 1 EJ25 doesn't meet my reliability requirement. I'm not really interested in making head gaskets part of my 30,000-mile maintenance schedule. Besides, Phase 1 timing belt jobs are not at the top of the easy scale and I'm not all that interested in spending a few hundred dollars of my limited budget on Subaru's special cam holder.

Is there any 2.5 piston that will give me lower than 10.5/1 compression if I run a frankenmotor?

[vrg3]

I thought that with the new design of head gaskets they were reliable. Is that not true?

[Bender-san]

Not from my experience. I've seen more than a few "redesigned" head gaskets come in for another round of head gaskets.

[kimokalihi]

This could explain the head gasket problem: http://allwheeldriveauto.com/subaru-hea ... explained/

[Bender-san]

Back on topic, if we could. I'm not interested in turning this into a "why phase 1 head gaskets fail" thread...there are plenty of those.

[powerofone]

I have a Frankenmotor in my 97 legacy. its a phase one 2.5 block single port 2.2 heads, intake, timing components and 2.5 MLS head gaskets with a ram air tube and 2.25" dynomax ultraflow muffler. I run 89 in it and it runs the same as 92 in the car. but 87 pings. the pow er improvement over the 2.2 was amazing I was really surprised. I got the block for free used my old heads new timing belt, tensioner, and pulleys and only cost about 400 for me to do. And my fuel mileage is 20 hammer down 24 normal driving the speed limit and 27 highway.