NachaLuva
Product Developer
I thought I might do a thread on engine swaps, perhaps admin could make this a sticky. Others have written about their swaps buts its hard to find the info. I'll write about my EJ22 swap into an SF Forester, others please feel free to add info about their swaps too...
EJ22 into SF Foz:
The idea was to use a donor engine as a long block swap while keeping all the original equipment. The donor engine in my case was an EJ22E phase I from a 92 BC6 Liberty going into a '97 SF Forester with EJ20J engine.
I started by stripping back the EJ22, removed the manifold, knock sensor, cam sensor, crank sensor & in my case the coolant crossover pipe. The alternator, AC compressor & power steering plus brackets had already been removed.
I did a complete timing belt kit incl water pump & all pulleys (Gates TCKWPT254) but used genuine crank/cam seals & WP gasket.
NOTE: you must swap the crank sprocket to whatever is original for your car so the ECU can recognise it. My original engine was a EJ20J and has a different sprocket to late SFs which have a EJ202, different again to the EJ22:
EJ20J left, EJ202 middle, EJ22 right
Torquing the cam bolt using the old belt:
While the engine was out, I also put in new genuine:
rear main seal; valve cover gaskets & bolt plugs; coolant crossover pipe O-rings; oil pump O-ring; oil filler O-ring; cam plate O-ring; Oil separation plate; resealed oil sump; PCV valve; NGK Iridium plugs PKR6EIX-11.
I also used my original EJ20J crank sensor & knock sensor. My EJ20J engine didn't have a cam sensor so I swapped the plug that goes in the sensor hole.
Note: when ordering new inlet manifold gaskets, you need the corresponding gasket for your manifold, not the engine. Mine was different.
Its also a very good idea to do your clutch now. You need the clutch kit that corresponds to your gearbox, not the engine. For me, I used Excedy clutch kit FJK-7115 incl:
pressure plate, clutch plate, release bearing, spigot bearing and alignment tool.
I also had the flywheel machined and replaced the clutch fork, clutch fork spring, pivot ball, release bearing clips and got new genuine flywheel bolts.
Everything went pretty smoothly with the usual problems of separating the engine & gearbox & later mating them together.
The only real issue I had was mistakenly using a EJ202 crank sprocket not knowing it was different to the EJ20J sprocket. After a lot of effort trying to start the new engine without success, I checked the old removed engine & sure enough, it was slightly different as you can see in the above pic.
Lesson here is do your research, learn these differences so you're ready for them. Unfortunately, it meant I had to swap the sprocket with the engine in the car...means redoing the timing belt. Not as hard as I thought it would be but certainly much easier out of the car lol.
EJ22 into SF Foz:
The idea was to use a donor engine as a long block swap while keeping all the original equipment. The donor engine in my case was an EJ22E phase I from a 92 BC6 Liberty going into a '97 SF Forester with EJ20J engine.
I started by stripping back the EJ22, removed the manifold, knock sensor, cam sensor, crank sensor & in my case the coolant crossover pipe. The alternator, AC compressor & power steering plus brackets had already been removed.
I did a complete timing belt kit incl water pump & all pulleys (Gates TCKWPT254) but used genuine crank/cam seals & WP gasket.
NOTE: you must swap the crank sprocket to whatever is original for your car so the ECU can recognise it. My original engine was a EJ20J and has a different sprocket to late SFs which have a EJ202, different again to the EJ22:
EJ20J left, EJ202 middle, EJ22 right
Torquing the cam bolt using the old belt:
While the engine was out, I also put in new genuine:
rear main seal; valve cover gaskets & bolt plugs; coolant crossover pipe O-rings; oil pump O-ring; oil filler O-ring; cam plate O-ring; Oil separation plate; resealed oil sump; PCV valve; NGK Iridium plugs PKR6EIX-11.
I also used my original EJ20J crank sensor & knock sensor. My EJ20J engine didn't have a cam sensor so I swapped the plug that goes in the sensor hole.
Note: when ordering new inlet manifold gaskets, you need the corresponding gasket for your manifold, not the engine. Mine was different.
Its also a very good idea to do your clutch now. You need the clutch kit that corresponds to your gearbox, not the engine. For me, I used Excedy clutch kit FJK-7115 incl:
pressure plate, clutch plate, release bearing, spigot bearing and alignment tool.
I also had the flywheel machined and replaced the clutch fork, clutch fork spring, pivot ball, release bearing clips and got new genuine flywheel bolts.
Everything went pretty smoothly with the usual problems of separating the engine & gearbox & later mating them together.
The only real issue I had was mistakenly using a EJ202 crank sprocket not knowing it was different to the EJ20J sprocket. After a lot of effort trying to start the new engine without success, I checked the old removed engine & sure enough, it was slightly different as you can see in the above pic.
Lesson here is do your research, learn these differences so you're ready for them. Unfortunately, it meant I had to swap the sprocket with the engine in the car...means redoing the timing belt. Not as hard as I thought it would be but certainly much easier out of the car lol.
believe me, I'm at that point lol
