legacycentral bbs

So I just bought a motor that I was told was an early RA and I'd like to know how to be sure. Sorry if this is old news, I searched, couldn't find much, pics would help if anyone has any. I'm especially interested in the heads, theres an odd lifter setup Ive never seen before, dosen't look like there hydrolic so I'm thinking there not RA but just the same they dont look like standard 20g heads either. Oh and the valve covers have been painted so I cant tell if they were gold earlier. Any help would be great, I'll try and post some pics later.

EDIT, thay do have hydrolic lifters just never seen it done that way, hydrolic assembly in the cyl head neer the spark plug tubes with the valve actuated by a small rocker arm.

Those are Legacy EJ20G heads. That lifter setup is perfectly normal and common on the early Legacies. Do they look ported with the dividers knifed edged? RS/RA heads will be.

There are some old posts (with pics) by Matt Monson and Splinter detailing the RS/RA differences. But, going off memory, ported heads, hotter cams, gold covers and intercooler, ballanced and signed crank, and forged pistons would be the key indicators. If the heads are off, the higher compression forged pistons will be a dead give-away.

Ok then i'm thinking that it is one because the pistons have much larger valve reliefs than the ej20g pistons I've seen. The heads dont look as refined as i would imagine that they would be but the port deviders do look like they have a more defined edge on them.

Oh and it has a metal oil fill tube. Now my concern is how do i find parts for it. If it is a RA I'd love to put it in my SS but the headgasket blew on the right side and the coolant caused some pitting in the cyl wall. I'm also missing some misc. stuff like cam gears intake mani (i know a eg20 one will work) and I'd like to run COP but I know those coils are a PITA to find.

All the early Legacies had the metal fill tube. Parts are not going to be a strong suit. That engine designnever came to North America, much less the RS/RA version.

The head gasket should be the same as a normal EJ20G Legacy. Check UK/AUS/JDM sites and Ebays. You used to be able to import complete gasket sets from UK Ebay sellers.

As far as finding oversize pistons? Gonna be hard, if even possible. It's likely easier to find a good EJ20G block with standard bores to replace your pitted one. If you find a closed deck Legacy EJ20G, it's exactly the same block. Or go with custom oversize pistons that are machined to match the design of the OEM ones. That type of custom machining will not come cheap. Rings, however, are likely the same as normal EJ20G Legacies.

You could follow Aerotech's lead and install the nice heads on an EJ257 shortblock.

Or you buy Splinter's freshly rebuilt, documented RS/RA motor currently for sale. Then sell some of your RS/RA parts to offset costs. The heads should sell fast, possibly even to me.


Post up pics of what you have. That way somebody can verify it's a RS/RA before you drop a ton of cash on an "everyday" motor.

I know about the headgaskets and such (roomate has a stroked 2.2t, now a 2.37, with 20g heads). I only wanted the block because its a possibly rare piece of subaru history but if its going to be that hard i'll just build the spair 2.2t block in the garage and put the heads on that. I'll take some pics tomorrow and post them up. I also have a ej257that needs a rebuild too, something tells me that would be cheaper but I'm a stickler for doing things that everyone else hasn't already done.