i need a new engine, help and suggestions

[ryanmiller]

a little history. in january, i bought a '98 outback off a dealer lot for a little under 3 grand. i love this car. a couple of months later, i noticed that it was a 2.2 and not the 2.5 under the hood(i have no idea how i didnt notice this when i first saw the car, it wouldnt have been a deal breaker anyway) a few months after that, the power and mpg's dropped off and it liked to overheat. so i replaced(in this order) the spark plugs and wires, timing belt and water pump, coil, fuel filter, rear o2 sensor, knock sensor.

so, my mechanic told me that my engine is shot. i now find myself in a bit of a pickle. do i go back to a 2.5 or stay with a 2.2? can i put a newer sohc 2.5 in the car with using the dohc 2.5 computer?(i figured maybe this would work since the dohc 2.5 computer is managing a sohc 2.2) if i stay with a 2.2, do i go with a phase I or II? i have heard that the phase II is an interference motor. if i go with a 2.5, do i find one at a scrap yard or get a jdm one? what is the deal with the jdm engines anyway? they all have low miles. why are they taken out with such low miles? there cant be that many totalled subarus in japan. what would you do in my situation? i dont want to hear any turbo this, or sti that. i dont have that money, or the need for that much power. i really liked the 24 city/28 hiway mpg's that the 2.2 gave me. help??? i guess i will be taking all the new parts off that i bought in the last few weeks

[TGX4776]

I think this fits your price range
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Porsche- ... _596wt_939 (http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Porsche-911-997-Twin-Turbo-TT-Complete-Engine-Exhaust-_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQfitsZMakeQ3aPorscheQQhashZitem483cb4cf0fQQitemZ310256127759QQptZMotorsQ5fCarQ5fTruckQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories#ht_596wt_939)

in all seriousness if you were happy with the 2.2's power then stick with that otherwise you should try a 2.5 with the head gaskets already done.

[ryanmiller]

it could have used a bit more power. it only had 132bhp stock. i found a '97 2.2 with only 54,049 miles on it on ebay. that is a phase II an an interference motor, right? either way, the phase II 2.2 had a 10% increase in power(to 142bhp, so says wikipedia) and a 3% increase in mpg's. and with the low mileage, it will feel like a brand new engine in my car that has 212,000 on it. will this be a daul port or a single port engine? i can allways put my lightweight crank pulley and shortram intake on the new one.

[ryanmiller]

that porsche engine probably would fit nicely into my outack's engine bay though.

[Reuben]

Compare the 2.2's reliability with the 2.5's.

On average, it's actually pretty rare to kill a 2.2. 2.5's on the other hand pop every second tuesday.

In short, you got unlucky with the 2.2, but i wouldn't let that sully their reputation in your mind, i'd say go with another.

[lord flashheart]

u need to put the EJ257 in there. ;)

[TGX4776]

he said no turbo/sti

[lord flashheart]

yeah it was a joke.

[ryanmiller]

if i really wanted to go turbo on my budget, i would be better off just rebuilding the ej22t that i have from my old subie. i really dont want to deal with the price of premium gas anymore. but, thanks. i will be using the lightweight crank pulley off of my old n/a 2.2, and i never did get around to putting on the ebay short ram intake, so that will be going on as well(as a hybrid intake). then after all this nonsense in paid for, i can start saving for a header and magnaflow muffler. like i said before, i dont need monster power. if i can get it closer to the 165hp of the 2.5, i'll be happy.

[1996Battlewagon]

I basically did the same thing you are in the process of doing. My Outback was a 2.2 swapped car that ran fine at first, but in a little over a year it wanted nothing more than to die (never would though). Even though I have complete and total faith in the EJ22 and loved getting 26+mpg, I felt it would be much more kosher putting in the engine that was meant to be in the car in the first place (the Phase I EJ25D). Plus, my ECU (like yours) is a DOHC unit.

On engine choice, I went with a JDM unit from TigerJapanese. I bought it off a guy on craigslist who bought it for his BH, not knowing he needed a Phase II. Knowing the stupidness of the Phase I headgaskets, I replaced them. This gave me a chance to look at the quality of it's insides to confirm its low miles. Japan is weird with old cars; they have way too many taxes on older vehicles so keeping them is not really worth it. That's why these companies part the cars out: they can make more money shipping parts around.

If I were you, I'd hunt for a JDM Phase I EJ25, scoop it up, do headgaskets and anything else that you'd like to while you're at it and then swap it in. You'll lose about 3 mpg's, but the added noise and torque are a noticeable plus. Good luck brother.

[subie/legacy]

it could have used a bit more power. it only had 132bhp stock. i found a '97 2.2 with only 54,049 miles on it on ebay. that is a phase II an an interference motor, right? either way, the phase II 2.2 had a 10% increase in power(to 142bhp, so says wikipedia) and a 3% increase in mpg's. and with the low mileage, it will feel like a brand new engine in my car that has 212,000 on it. will this be a daul port or a single port engine? i can allways put my lightweight crank pulley and shortram intake on the new one.

the 97 is not phase II.. Phase II was issued in 99 for legacy, and 99-01 impreza I believe.
A 97 2.2 will be an interference motor, and be single port.
EJ22 were only a non-interference engine from 90-96 in the U.S.

[Huffer]

Pull the old engine, drop in a used 2.2 and run it. Strip down the old engine and find out why it's toast. Then rebuild it and turbo it. ;)

[lord flashheart]

did the EJ22E (N/A) and the EJ22T (turbo) use the same block?

[Yamazaki]

did the EJ22E (N/A) and the EJ22T (turbo) use the same block?
I don't think so. I never had anybody with a BC turbo post their ID plate in my data gathering thread so I can't be sure, but I think the turbo EJ22 (I know it's not EJ22T) is a closed deck, and I'm fairly sure the EJ22E is not.

[Huffer]

Yep - not all EJ22's are the same. The ones in the BC turbo cars are closed deck and the non-turbos are open deck.

But you can build any EJ block to handle boost.

[TGX4776]

yes and apparently the ej25d can handle 30 PSI of boost with the open deck heads. Still reading through the whole thread.

http://www.rs25.com/forums/f7/t39629-boosted-ej25d.html