Engine swap

[massni94]

Hey again forum,
Has anyone heard of or done an engine swap into a 2.5 L Forester?
I'm thinking of putting either the engine form a WRX or a XT forester into mine ( I have a forester X auto).
I know they would match up engine mount wise, but Would I be able to mate the engine up to the stock 4 speed transmission ?
Preferably from australia
Thanks in advance

 

[Ratbag]

Gidday M94

Taza has dropped a 2.5L N/A into his SF Forester. Appears to be more than just happy with it. He is in WA.

His build thread is here:
https://www.offroadsubarus.com/showthread.php?t=3808

Makes for very interesting reading, and he's local to you, so may be able to give you some practical, hands on help and advice.

[EDIT]
Sorry, just realised that you already have a 2007 Forester, and looking to swap in a turbo of some description ...
[end edit]

BTW, a warm to the ORS forum .

 

[Davidov]

You will probably need a new engine crossmember, and you will need a full halfcut for the engine with all wiring easiest would be from a foz xt of the same age. It is a big job all the dash will have to come out and you will have to replace the whole engine harness and may even need wire splicing done. Your looking at more than $10, 000 if you want to do a 2.5 turbo motor swap from an xt or rex.

If you pay a shop to do it price will go through the roof.

To be perfectly honest it would be cheaper and MUCH less hassle to just sell your car and buy an equivalent xt foz. I wish I did that with mine because there are ongoing small problems that come with a conversion and I still havent managed to get it over the pits to make it legal.

 

[Ratbag]

^ Yeah, David.

I sometimes think that one is far better off selling on one's existing vehicle and buying one that does what one wants it to do.

What many people don't realise is that the engine, wiring loom and ECU are not the only bits that are different.

One needs to consider that the drive shafts, suspension, brakes (and EBD/VDC) are also different, leaving aside a myriad of other minor components.

You can buy a lot of change over vehicle by selling your existing one and adding $10K to the money to buy another one ... Without any of the many hassles!

The vehicle inspectors probably wouldn't notice an EJ25 sitting in one's engine bay instead of an EJ20, but a turbo instead of a N/A would be hard to miss ...

 

[hydrowill]

Engine swaps tend to be easier in a manual as you don't have to get it to 'talk' to the autobox. The standard 2.5 you have is a SOHC motor where as the XT has a DOHC motor so even though they have the same capacity they are two very different motors.

You could probably take a lot off davidov's figure by doing the work yourself however good luck getting your head around the wiring. Doing a transmission swap was enough of a head&^%$ for me.

I think you're better off either turboing your current car (I don't think the SOHC 2.5s have much luck with this without replacing the heads) or selling your car and buying an XT. Depends on time frame and how much time/money you are willing to put into it.

 

[taza]

All I'll say is sell it and buy an XT.
I replaced my 2.0l non turbo with a 2.5l non turbo but I replaced the whole ecu. I did it myself as I'm an auto electrician. ...
You'd have to do what David did and do the full swap burn you'd be looking at over 10k. You can buy a decent foz xt in Perth for about 11. So I really wouldn't bother. Plus you'd be without your car for about 6 months.