legacycentral bbs

Keeping the story short, my Legacy SS has a bad transmission thanks to a combination of a heavy-handed friend, bad shifter bushings, and a rallycross. I don't feel the car is worth the money of transmission transplant. I have a 2000 RS I would love to swap the ej22t into. I want it to be as simple as possible, goals are an eventual 225hp at the crank. Unfortunately, OBDII to OBDI is not simple, or legal, although no one cares in Arkansas.

How feasible is it to drop the ej22t short block, leaving the phase II SOHC in place. This would allow me to use the RS's wiring harness, and use a DIYAutotune megasquirt kit that plugs directly into the RS's wiring harness. From what I have read, the coolant passages don't line up between these heads and block, but I believe I have also heard of people running a similar setup. I know the heads are also not drilled and tapped for turbo oil cooling, but I believe that could be solved.

If this would work, all I am really missing to complete the swap is a the megasquirt. If it wasnt clear, the reason I want to use phase II SOHC heads is because 1) I have them, and 2) the car is already wired to use them. Phase I DOHC heads from a different ej25 may be an option, but I am not sure how they drop into a newer RS. Obviously, I am over simplifying much of this, and things like injectors, etc, would have to be research and figured out.

I have a bunch of parts that were waiting to go the Legacy, intercooler, TD04, 440s, which, with engine managment, should put me close to my hp goals.

Thanks guys.

I thought of another possible way to do this. In my research, I came across a guy called Fuji on nasioc who is/has run USDM WRX EJ205 heads on a EJ22T block. I can buy a merged RS/WRX harness pre made, then use a WRX ECU and free tuning software to run everything. Hell, it might even run decent on just the WRX ECU. I don't think this would be too much more expensive then the megasquirt option.

We are almost 10 years past the heyday of EJ22T swaps.

We now have cheap and reliable EJ255/257. More power and more torque. If you include the cost of a rebuild, cheaper too. A stock EJ255/257 shortblock will easily support your power goals and be more sustainable long term.

The EJ22T, with any heads but the stock EJ22T SOHC will result in very low compression or the need for custom pistons.

The EJ22T, while romantic, really is a dinosaur. The value of the closed deck is only seen above 450+ horsepower.

If I had an early 2.5RS, I would do a WRX swap with a EJ255/257 shortblock. Basically that's your seconf option, just with a better shortblock. Sell the Legacy to somebody who "Has to have" the closed deck block, and laugh your way to an EJ255/257 hybrid + some pocket change.

You are completely right. I understand the EJ22T is not the end all, be all of motors. I was only interested in this because I happen to have the two cars. My forum scanning has fallen off significantly in the last few years, just how cheap are EJ255/257 short blocks? And how much is a Legacy Turbo with a bad tranny worth? I think I would be hard pressed to sell it for $1k, even with a good interior, decent body, and fairly low miles (120K).