turboing a non turbod ej22

[theboyo19]

so it has come time to rebuild my motor
is it possible to add a turbo onto a non turbod motor.. if so what do i need to make this happen
i will be tearing down the engine soon to re ring the pistons so any info would be good on parts i would need for the turbo
thanks

[deadlydave]

it's not a good idea to run a turbo or supercharger on the NA EJ22 engines, they just cannot handle enough boost to make it worthwhile. You're better off looking for an old-school EJ22T from the 1st gen legacy to start with. Or you could go 2 liter WRX engine.

This is probably not what you want to hear, but there's no sense in wasting time and money.

I've seen pics of the EJ22E having gone boom...the pieces anyway. May have been one of our members here...

[sheepdog]

To answer your question: Yes, you can do it. However, he's right, it would be a waste of the time and money in my opinion.

You'd be better off putting the money you'd spend rebuilding it to the point to match a wrx motor towards swapping a wrx motor in and having money left over to modify it, your suspension, or your brakes.

[SammyDaFish]

eh, depends on if you want fast and easy or hard and fun. I turboed my old wagon, it was pretty fun, now I'm working on an engine for my new wagon. EJ22 NA->turbo, stock short block. Talk to Doug Vincent, he SCed his wagon. haven't seen how that project has been coming in a while, but he had some pretty good success. Doing a wrx swap or something along those lines will be more reliable, but for someone like me, that takes all the fun out of it :)

[Sarra]

An NA EJ22 can, depending on which block, handle a bit of boost if you upgrade pistons and heads. otherwise, you'd be better off getting an EJ22T and going from there, as mentioned.

[jey]

If you're rebuilding the motor and want to go turbo, ditch the shortblock and either get an EJ22T or EJ257 shortblock. Not only are those turbo blocks stronger, they will decrease your compression ratio so you can turbo the engine without worrying as much about detonation.

The other problem you might run into is finding an uppipe for your EJ22, if your heads have only one exhaust port each like mine did. I had to ditch my entire EJ22 and I'm running an EJ257 shortblock with EJ25 SOHC heads.

I'm a big believer in OEM reliability, so the good news is that the WRX/STi intercooler, turbo, up-pipe, down-pipe, all bolt right up to an EJ25. We bought it all very cheap from a WRX owner who was upgrading his setup. You'd have to replace the front crossmember with one from a WRX in order for the uppipe to clear it. I'm just running wastegate pressure so the only EM mod I have is an S-AFC.

It's an interesting alternative to a full EJ207 swap, especially if you want to avoid the wiring work of the swap.

[Bdubs]

If you are going to do it, think about swapping the tranny out as well, because the ej22 tranny wouldn't last you very long once you boosted it.

[AJM]

Honestly, there are alot of NA upgrades that can get you more reliable power on this particular engine.


If you were to turbo it, low bost 3-5 is probably all you could aim for. I've been actually playing with supercharging mine.

[SammyDaFish]

the tranny can take it, no problem, and I ran 7psi for a pretty long time making 150whp on my turboed NA EJ22. it wasn't until I passed a length of cars on a 90+ degree day running 87 octane that I blew it up (busted a ringland) I wasn't very nice to my car at all and it was pretty reliable. I really want to see how far the NA shortblock can go if you treat it nice, that's why I'm doing it again on the new car, but you guys who say it's not possible likely have never done it, so I'm not really sure where you're coming up with your answers. on the legacycentral forums there's a few people who have turboed the NA ej22, all with varying levels of success. the project is fun and pretty cheap (less than 1,500 in my old wagon including the car) had I not blown it up I was going to enter it into the GRM $2006 challenge last year.

if you like to tinker and fabracate, then just do it and learn. if you don't, then well, swap a wrx engine or sell the leggy and buy a faster car

[jey]

If you are going to do it, think about swapping the tranny out as well, because the ej22 tranny wouldn't last you very long once you boosted it.

Yeah, and I think that depends on how much boost you're running, and what kind of clutch you're using. I'm running wastegate pressure on a stock Legacy L clutch. I can get it to slip under certain situations, but everything has held up for 2 years and 36k miles so far with the engine swap. (130k total miles on the tranny.)

[ivwarrior]

While it's possible to turbo any engine, some just stand up to it better than others. A block like the EJ22T that was designed to be a turbo block is going to stand up to a lot more boost than an NA block like the regular 22. I think what everyone else is trying to say is if you're going to do it, why not start with a good foundation, so you can really build up the power.

[Sarra]

An EJ22 shortblock will take more than an EJ25 shortblock. Example, the dual port EJ22 NA block can take more boost than an EJ251 or EJ25D. And an EJ22T should take more boost than an EJ257. The non USDM 2 liter turbo motors should take the cake, though, being stronger and closed decks, would rule the boost war.

[ivwarrior]

The 22T is closed deck, as well.

[sheepdog]

BTW, pretty much any 5 speed (barring JDM ones w/ cryo treated gears) are about the same strength wise. Breaking your transmission has more to do with how you drive the car.

[theboyo19]

im not very nice to my automatic and i hate the delayed reaction downshifting it does when im trying to pass someone.. although that could be my engine...anyway
ive already planned on putting in a manual tranny.
my auto is acting up pretty bad and i really like having manuals.... i like the feeling of shifting.. :cool:
well for now.. im probably going to a junkyard and finding a 22 or 25 untill i have enough money to buy a turbod motor...
if anyone has ideas or more suggestions they would be appreciated :grin:

[jey]

BTW, pretty much any 5 speed (barring JDM ones w/ cryo treated gears) are about the same strength wise. Breaking your transmission has more to do with how you drive the car.

Are you saying the tranny in my Legacy L has the same strength as the WRX's 5-speed??

[Wiscon_Mark]

the tranny can take it, no problem, and I ran 7psi for a pretty long time making 150whp on my turboed NA EJ22. it wasn't until I passed a length of cars on a 90+ degree day running 87 octane that I blew it up (busted a ringland) I wasn't very nice to my car at all and it was pretty reliable. I really want to see how far the NA shortblock can go if you treat it nice, that's why I'm doing it again on the new car, but you guys who say it's not possible likely have never done it, so I'm not really sure where you're coming up with your answers. on the legacycentral forums there's a few people who have turboed the NA ej22, all with varying levels of success. the project is fun and pretty cheap (less than 1,500 in my old wagon including the car) had I not blown it up I was going to enter it into the GRM $2006 challenge last year.

if you like to tinker and fabracate, then just do it and learn. if you don't, then well, swap a wrx engine or sell the leggy and buy a faster car

Yeah, but not everyone is as crazy as you or Douglas. Unless this guy is the mad scientist project kind of person, I think he wants the reliable power that a turbo block would provide.

I'm not taking anything away from you guys though, what you're doing is very cool!



BTW, pretty much any 5 speed (barring JDM ones w/ cryo treated gears) are about the same strength wise. Breaking your transmission has more to do with how you drive the car.

Are you saying the tranny in my Legacy L has the same strength as the WRX's 5-speed??

Not the 05 5 speed, but the original WRX tranny wasn't really any stronger than ours, no.

the thing is, the WRX tranny has taller gears than the newer Legacy trannys with the 4.11 FD ratio, and that does cause more stress on the gears. When the 06 WRX came out with a 3.7FD, more problems were reported even after they did some work on the 05 tranny.