1990 Legacy Engine Swap Ideas

[Fet32]

So my stock 1990 Legacy, automatic, just finally died on me. I'm looking to do a motor swap, but I'm not sure on which one. I would like a motor I can work on a little bit, one that is worth upgrading parts on. However, I also need it to be one that is quick and easy (like that happens with cars) to swap. Any ideas would be great!

Also, I have looked around at a bunch of the different engine swap threads, but I've been unable to deduce which engine would work easily.

Thank you!

[Fet32]

Also, I found this:

http://www.torontojdm.com/cart.php?targ ... ory_id=115

Any ideas how well it would work?

[kimokalihi]

If you want an engine that's fast you want a turbo engine and that means an ecu swap and adding wires to your harness. Either usdm ej22t or jdm wrx/sti/forester engines. Quite a bit of work but the na engines just aren't fast in my opinion. You might be satisfied with a 2.5 swap though and I think you can make that work with the stock ecu and little other modifications.

[kimokalihi]

The thing with the non turbo engines is theyte not worth upgrading for more power. Its too expensive with little to gain.

[jp233]

Yeah, I've looked into making a turbo car out my NA car and it just doesn't look worth it unless there were a lot of local parts around on the cheap (which there isn't here in Georgia, but if I were in Seattle that's a different story). You'd need a hood (or would hack your NA hood), a bunch of plumbing, expansion tank, wiring, exhaust, turbo, ECU, etc etc.....

I'd rather just buy a turbo car.

Your cheapest alternative is to either rebuild the motor you have (and do a few things while you're in there like getting the injectors cleaned/tested, maybe have the heads rebuilt, etc), find another EJ22, or find a donor car if you wanted to go the EJ25 route.

a JDM engine may be a decent alternative, but remember 30k miles in Japan might be like 100k miles in the US

[Legacy777]

Personally, I would suggest just sticking with the ej22. They are pretty easy to find and are going to be the easiest thing to swap back in. You can use one from any first generation Legacy 90-94. What I'd suggest is just using the long block and swapping on your intake manifold. That will keep all the electrical connector plugs the same and should make it a pretty easy swap.

[Apex3]

Ej22t, would be the cheapest and easiest worthwhile swap. Alternatively look for an ej20 of some variant, most Subaru swaps will be fairly straightforward anyway