Baja turbo swap

[00legacy]

Trust me, I used the search function before posting this. I'm coming up on doing a head gasket/timing belt/water pump service (standard maintenance, nothing wrong) on my Legacy. Basically, I can get a 2004 Baja turbo engine for the same price and have the eletrical and mechanical know how to swap it (though I'd probably take it to a shop to be on the safe side). I was looking at USDM WRX and STI turbo motors, but thought about the 2004 Baja turbo, basically the same front end as my BE legacy along with the dash, etc. (I'm assuming of course). Wouldn't this just be a straight up plug and play from Baja to BE?

Or are the driveshaft and rear diff so different or something to that effect that would make it just the same as doing a WRX swap? My main concern is just ease of install and the wiring harness, my thought with the Baja turbo is it would just require no modification with the wiring harness and no weird fabbing to fit on my BE chassis.

I'm a noob to legacy's, but have owned 3 impreza's over the years, just not familiar with this chassis at all. And don't tell me to just buy a Baja turbo car, I purchased my Legacy for $1, its in excellent condition and it only has 47k on it. I doubt I could find anything cheaper than that! LOL You can scream at me if I'm wrong, I would take no offense :smile:

[Huffer]

Engines are not relative to the transmission. Any tranny will bolt up to an EJ series engine.
You can run your existing drivetrain with the 04 Baja engine, you will need the ECU, harness. It'll be the same as any other boosted engine swap - xmember, engine, exhaust, headers, harness, ECU, intercooler, hoodscoop, etc.

[00legacy]

Okie doke, I was thinking it would be somewhat easier for some reason. Thanks!

[rougeben83]

also check the throttle cable. I *think* the baja turbo's were all dbw, or at least the last year it was. In which case you need the gas pedal/pedal box assembly as well.

[00legacy]

Good point, was going to stick with 2002-2005 WRX engines as I know they are not DBW, unsure on the 2004 Baja turbo or the 2004 Forester 2.5XT. Its actually cheaper for me to get the 2.5XT for some reason.

Edit: actually, I think all of the 2.5L turbo engines are DBW.