legacycentral bbs

The subject line says it all, but here is the background.

I have a 2003 Legacy L with manual transmission and dead engine. Its a broken piston I think, as there was aluminum fragments on the spark plug and in the oil.

The salvage yards say the engine to replace mine must be out of a car with a manual transmission. Unfortunately, those engines are few and far in between. When asked what the difference is, they could not or would not say.

If any one can educate me on this issue I would appreciate the information.

thanx

woofe

Has to do with the timing system. Iirc the crank or cam pulleys have different timing markers. So you could swap your everything on the new bare block and run that.

Mike, what about the cams, are they different too?

This is from my research I did a long time ago for swapping an ej25 sohc into my Impreza. The cams may be different, but it was the timing setup that causes it not to be an interchangeable direct swap.

If the OP is talking about installing an AVCS drive by wire engine, then I have no idea. His 03 is not AVCS.

All, thanx for the replies.

Mike, could you expand a bit more on the timing issues. Sensor locations are different, ECM issues??
I have checked the cam p/ns on some of the subuaru parts sites and they appear to be the same.

Any futher comments are appreciated.

woofe

just make sure your cam/crank trigger are the same on your new engine as your old one, and if they are not swap the crank gear and the drivers side cam gear and it will run. all those motors are the same otherwise

Woofe, It has been a while since I looked into it, but the sensor locations are all the same. The timing pickup marks on the cam sprocket (and possibly crank sprocket) are different between auto and manual for some years. If in doubt, just put your stuff on the new engine.

If you can get a bare long block for cheaper, that's better cause you'll just copy over your intake and all sensors, sprockets, etc.