Which Subaru to Swap? Opinions

[Musicman811]

Which Subaru engines have y'all used to swap your buses/bugs? I have a 73 Westy and I hear that IF you want to make that swap it is best to use an EJ20? Do y'all have a preference of Outback? Legacy? Forester? Other?
Let me know what y'all think.
Thanks!

Update: I have the EJ25 along with the ECU and Wire Harness - Should I find a Subaru fuse box or should I find a 73 westy fuse box? and what is the name of the wires that run from the ECU to the engine? I cannot think if . . . maybe it doesn't exist . . .

[ImAddicted]

Search under user skills@eurocarsplus, he does a frankenmotor that might be the best option.
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1979 Transporter (sold)
KC1MUR

[skills@eurocarsplus]

the 2.2 is long in the tooth at this point and honestly, a bit more complex with the water controlled (and expensive) IAC

yes, i did a frankenmotor and although it pulls like a billy goat on meth i don't know i would do it again using the 2.2 management. plus it requires head work and custom head gaskets

any 2.5 will be fine. if you're greedy a 2.5 with a set of cams makes for s pretty fun setup as well.

any 2.5 from 99 on will be fine. 04/05 was a switch to drive by wire which complicates things a bit. personally i like the drive by cable for the swaps
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[Vee Dub Nut]

[vacca_rabite]

I've driven a ton of these engines.
The 2.2 would struggle to move an Outback Sport up hill with the AC on sometimes. Putting it in a bus would be better but you really want the 2.5.

With the 2.5 you need to be wary of engine temps as the headgaskets can fail faster then the 2.2. But the extra 30odd HP and torque more then make up for this.

Zach
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1972 T2 Bay Westy in restoration
1976 Porsche 914
196? Empi Sportster Dune Buggy

[TDCTDI]

[skills@eurocarsplus]

ok, between all the swap i have done over the years collectively all of them have 210K miles and counting (post conversion)

only failures

1) water pump started to leak

1) coolant level sender got flaky

2 engines were used. one with 150+/-k on it before the swap and one had 199k on it.

the one with 199k on it was for a customer i had serviced the T4 for about 6 years prior to the swap. we went into it knowing the engine will go pop at some point.

that bus has been to 20 states now and they literally drive it like it's a taxi.

other than the above mentioned, it's all been gas and oil changes. nothing else
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[TDCTDI]

Trust me, I’m not shitting on the idea of a swap, or even the choice of donor, it was just that 4,000 miles a year was not a great testament of long term performance. That engine hasn’t really hasn’t even been broken in yet.
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Everybody born before 1975 has a story, good, bad, or indifferent, about a VW.


GOFUNDYOURSELF, quit asking everyone to do it for you!


An air cooled VW will make you a hoarder.


Do something, anything, to your project every day, and you will eventually complete it.

[cmonSTART]

I'm going to piggyback on this thread post with another question:

Does it matter whether the donor is a auto or manual?
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'78 Bus 2.0FI
de K1IGS

[panel]

[danfromsyr]

where da hell did ya hear the 2.0 was the one to go...
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[geristauffer]

I can't speak for the 2.2, but the 2.5 is awesome. Only issue i have is not enough time off of work to go camping.

[skills@eurocarsplus]

[blue72beetle]

[skills@eurocarsplus]

manual transmission cars had the hoop for the timing belt. automatics did not.

that has nothing to do with the ECU
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[Oil Phil-M]

[blue72beetle]

[skills@eurocarsplus]

[richparker]

[skills@eurocarsplus]

there is something about that bus that makes me moister than an oyster and i'm not really a late bay guy
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