94 wagon n/a ej253 swap

[deadhp1]

I've been working on my old 94 wagon lately. Mostly to get it ready for the road. I lifted it with the suspension from the 99 forester and replaced the steering rack boots with the ones from the forester.(also did whiteline steering rack bushings) I'm still planning on swapping on the forester lateral links and sway bar mounts as my 94 doesn't have endlink mounts for my whiteline rear bar. I've also got a vlsd rear diff from a 04 forester xt that might get gutted to be added to my 3.9 rear diff.

I just ran into a snag. The ej22 sounds like it has a spun bearing so it looks like it's time for another swap.
This will be my 5th subaru engine swap, but my first obd1 swap.

I have an ej253 from a 99 forester with 54k. The ej253 has 173hp so it should be a nice bump. I figure that this is just telling me the legacy liked all the forester parts I've added to it so far.

The plan is to change the following:

-cam and crank sensors from 94
-coolant crossover from 94
-engine wiring harness from 94
-power steering, alternator, and ac from 94
-throttle body from 94 with a block off plate for the iacv port
-oil sender from 94
-knock sensor from 94
-Trim the fuel injector ears on the 99 manifold and flip connectors so they click and the yellow wire is in the correct spot.
-Relocate the iacv either by drilling out an old pcv and adding a y connector before the pcv or drilling and tapping freeze plug on the top of the 99 manifold.
-I'll be using the coil from the 94, the wires from the 99, modifying the 99 plug ends to fit, and adding boots from the 94 wires.
-I'll also have to change the charcoal canister connector on the 99 manifold.
-I'm still not sure if I'll paint the manifold or valve covers while I have them off.(did it on my ej25d swaps and it came out great!)


It should be a fun swap that only takes a couple of days. I work outside on days when it's not raining.
Since I have all the parts the swap should only cost me the price of oil/coolant.
If anyone has any questions or recommends anything let me know!

[vrg3]

A few thoughts I have:

Swapping just the cam and crank sensors should be ok; I'm pretty sure the 99 Forester still used the old-style pip patterns on the cam and crank sprockets.

Do you know for sure that you have to switch the injectors' connectors around? Polarity doesn't matter with most fuel injectors.

And you're going to use the stock 94 MAF sensor, right?

To fit the 94 IAC valve outlet you'll probably have to do some modification to the valve. Maybe weld a hose barb onto its flange or something. And be sure to run coolant through it. And I'm not sure whether the PCV fitting is big enough for the IAC valve to work how it's supposed to; in stock form its tubing is much bigger than that.

You can use the stock 99 coil pack if you do a tiny bit of wiring -- you just have to run two wires from the ignitor harness (the ignitor is mounted to the center of the firewall) over to the coil, and run a ground to the coil as well (either from the ignitor harness or anywhere else). Or, if you got a coil pack off a 97-98 EJ22 or a 99 EJ25D you could just use it with the stock 94 setup and the stock 99 wires (although you'd probably have to switch harness connectors). I know it'd be a little bit of work but it'd be nice to have the secure snap-on fit between plug wires and male plug towers.

[entirelyturbo]

The issue with the cam & crank sensors will be that the 1st-gen Legacies had sensors with long pigtails on them that reached out to connect with the main engine harness... while later Subarus use sensors that just have plugs, and the harness reaches out to connect to the sensors. So you'll have to do some rewiring to make the new ones work.


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[deadhp1]

Yeap I'll be using the stock 94 MAF.

On the 97 impreza ej251 swap we had to flip the injectors, they wouldn't fire unless we did. The added benefit is that they will now click on properly.
When we extended the iacv we made a block off plate for the iacv itself with a barb and a hose to goto the intake manifold.
I was going to try to route it into the pcv port first to see if it would be big enough. The reason I think it might work is because behind the iacv there is a round restrictor plate. If it ends up not being big enough I'll pop out the freeze plug on top of the intake manifold and tap it for a barb or I'll make a wider throttle body block off plate and barb it in through there.

I'm also planning on exteneding the iacv coolant lines for feed and return.

I didn't know that about the coil pack. I have several coils to choose from: 96 ej25d(has a pigtail coming off it), 99ej25d, 99 ej253, 00 ej251, and the 94 ej22. I'll see what I can try. It might be nicer to just be able to use the 99 wires with no mods.
The main reason for modifying the spark plug wires is to keep the ej22 wiring harness mostly stock, otherwise I would just swap the connectors for the cam/crank sensors too.

It's also in the plan to rebuild the ej22 with new bearings and swap it back at some point or possibly rebuild the extra ej25d or ej22t I've got laying around, but thats for another thread/time.


I love having parts cars. It makes life alot easier.

[deadhp1]

With the cam and crank sensors I may rewire then or I may just swap them....I have a couple of extra early/later sensors/wiring harnesses from parts engines and it wouldn't be much trouble either way.

[vrg3]

Sounds like you have the IAC stuff figured out!

The 96 EJ25D coil is functionally the same as the 94 EJ22 coil, and the 99 EJ253 coil is functionally the same as the 00 EJ251 coil.

You could keep the EJ22 harness completely stock by gutting the stock 94 ignitor to use its connector. Then cut the coil connector off the 99 harness, and make a short harness to go between the two. If you want to do this I can help you figure out exactly which wire goes to which pin and such.

Like DerFahrer says, the cam and crank sensor wiring isn't part of the harness that's mounted on the engine. You can just use your stock 94 sensors with no rewiring at all.

[Legacy777]

This may not be an issue, but I thought there was some difference in where the cam sensors were mounted which might also cause an issue. That may have only been on the turbo motors though.

Maybe I missed it, but are you planning to use the 94 or 99 intake manifold?

[deadhp1]

The cam sensor is mounted in the same location as the ej22. I've heard the the 94 sensor might be longer than the 99 so I might need a washer to space it.

I'll be using the 99 ej253 intake manifold as the 94 ej22 manifold doesn't have the same bolt pattern. I have a phase2 ej22 manifold from a 99 impreza that shares the same bolt pattern as the 99 ej253 so I could swap that if I wanted.

I pulled the ej22 out today and will be swapping the ej253 in over the next 2 weeks. It would take me less time, but I may need some parts and the weather isn't supposed to be great.

I've started a build journal which I will be including pictures as I go along. I'll mostly be in that thread and would welcome any input as the swap progresses.

http://bbs.legacycentral.org/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=48863

[scuba steve]

Seems like it would be MUCH easier just to swap the 2.5 block in between the 2.2 heads and call it a day. Of course, that does produce a different animal and maybe you prefer spots to stripes...or vice versa.

[deadhp1]

One of the reasons I'm not building a ej22/ej25 hybrid is that I don't have a set of head gaskets laying around.
I also have a complete 99 ej25d in need of head gaskets that I still haven't built.
I find that for me swapping the motor is a bit easier than doing head gaskets, I seem to have a knack for breaking head bolts.

I might still build a hybrid if I decide to do an e85 conversion, who knows what the future might hold.
I'm half-way done with the ej253 conversion and hope to have the engine in by today/tomorrow.