The Engine Swap that wasn't

By Dave

March 15, 2005

Lets be honest here, the EJ25 is a fine engine until it has 60k miles, then it's only a matter of time till one of the headgaskets blows, and you're stuck with a huge bill. Thankfully, SOA is covering a lot of headgasket replacements up to the 100k mile mark, but that still doesn't solve the main issue of why it's happening. In the old Phase I EJ25 block, the lack of sufficient support for the cylinder walls meant that under stress, they could move around a bit. The Phase II was supposed to have fixed this, once and for all. Some late 98 and 99 models of the Outback were even fitted with a Phase II block and DOHC heads from the Phase I engine, in hopes of preventing future problems. The problem still exists.

I sold the wagon in late 2004 because of a number of reasons, but i was looking to replace it with something more reliable. I was in a bind when it came to finding a reliable engine in the car, so I went with the "best" engine I could find in a body style I like: the EJ25 in the BE Sedan. Sure, the engine had over 90k miles on it at the time, and had gone through two sets of headgaskets and a radiator already, but that normally fixes the problem for good. Normally.

On December 31, 2004, while taking a quick trip to Salt Lake City with my brother and a friend, the car overheated for only the second time since I'd purcahsed it. The first time was on the trip home from Las Vegas, where I'd purcahsed it. The car had taken me some 400 miles or so without issue, so why did it decide to overheat as soon as the temperature dropped at elevation? I limped it another 50 miles to a friend's house, and the problem seemed to go away, till New Years Eve.

Following the NYE event, I figured the problem was gone again, and that there was something as simple as air in the system or a flaky thermostat. It turns out that the thermostat was about six months old, though it's been replaced twice since then. I have frequenty heard bubbling and gurgling in the heater core lines, but was told that is normal. I found no way to bleed the system, as the newer model radiators have no bleeder valve on the radiator. I thought nothing of it until I tried to go to SLC again several weeks later and spent most of my time on back roads, trying not to blow up the engine and wondering what in the world was going on.

Because the head gaskets had been replaced in mid-2004 at a dealer, I was still covered under a service warranty. I had purposely avoided pursuing this route in the past simply because it went away, but the problem was definitely getting worse. I set up an appointment with Nate Wade Subaru in Salt Lake City to have them look at it. Nate Wade is known for having a very good service department, and even though it's 50 miles or so from home, the local dealer has one of the worst reputations in the land.

I took the car in and waited a few hours while they did some diagnosing. The wait wasn't so bad, because they offer free Wi-Fi access, but the results were less than thrilling. The headgaskets were definitely gone, but I was told that my investment would be nil, as the service warranty would cover the work. A bit frustrated, but otherwise content, I left it in their hands for the weekend. The next Monday, I went to pick up the car, with a new set of head gaskets and a clean bill of health. The heads were checked and good, so was the radiator, water pump and everything else. I jumped in the car and headed back home. 25 miles later, I left the interstate to a state highway, and noticed the temperatures, which had been steady, began to rise again. I had perfected a method of getting the car to cool down by accelerating hard after a stop. This method held true, and I was able to coax it back home, where I contacted the dealer once again. I was asked if I could bring it back as soon as possible. Thankfully, on the way down to pick up the car, my friend's car had been hit with a rock and the windshield was chipped. He was barely on his way back, and agreed to meet me halfway so we could get the car back before anything else happened.

It turned out that the headgaskets had gone again, but that this time the radiator was to blame. For the second time in six months, the radiator had been clogged by some mystery substance. The first time was right after the Subaru Coolant Conditioner was added to the car, and the second time was probably a result of the same. For some reason, Subaru insists on putting the equivalent of Stop-Leak into the coolant, even after a new set of head gaskets has been installed. For whatever reason, this coolant additive seems to be reacting with something and creating a calcification inside the radiator. The first time it was in the form of hard, gravel or stone like concentrations. The second radiator was more sand-like, but with similar results. After 3-4 days of trying to get documentation from the dealership in California that the radiator was replaced at, they were able to replace it. This time, instead of simply taking it for a ride around the block to test for leaks, they wanted to take it up to Park City and really get the engine warm in order to see if the problem was indeed fixed. They found that they could get the temperature to rise, but not overheat. Some diagnosing again was done, but they couldn't come to any conclusion. The decision, at that time, was that one of the heads must be cracked, which SOA would not warranty. I decided that a $2400 bill for replacement heads wasn't worth it, and took the car, unsure of what I was going to do next.

The idea of an engine swap into the car had always been on my mind, more because I wanted more power than not liking the engine as it was. Everything from a JDM EJ20G to a USDM EZ30R was entertained, both in my head and in various online discussions. I surely bothered quite a few people with my incessent questions and boggling trains of thought, but it's all part of the process. Finally I ended up calling the mechanic who had done my 5MT swap and asked him a few questions. During the discussion, he mentioned that he knew someone with an engine that may work for a swap, and that it was probably affordable. He looked into the possibility, and it turned out that the engine was from a 2000 Legacy, with 42k miles, and for less than $1000. I immediately decided that simply ditching this engine was probably the best thing to do, and that this swap out was going to be much more affordable and effective than swapping in an turbo engine or working on the engine in the car. An appointment was set up, and we were off.

I decided that, along with the engine swap, I might as well get a few other performance parts installed while the engine was dismantled and removed. A new lightweight Exedy flywheel, ACT clutch, Cobb Street Performer cams and Cobb Power Pulley were purchased from, of all places, Cobb Tuning, which is less than a quarter mile from Charlie's shop. I must mention at this point that my brother was insistent that we could, with the help of a friend or two, be able to pull this swap off with no big difficulty. I agreed with him, to a point, but a voice in the back of my head insisted that if something did go wrong, I'd regret not having it in the possession of Charlie. Charlie also asked if I'd like to use one of the new TranQuil throwout bearings and sleeves, which are now being installed by a lot of shops to eliminate clutch shudder and TOB wear.

After getting the car to Charlie's shop, they began removing bits and pieces in order to facilitate the removal of the engine. The radiator, cooling fans, AC and Power Steering were moved or removed entirely. The design of the engine and accessories makes the engine removal somewhat easy, with the exception of the engine mounts, which are a chore. The donor engine arrived a few hours later, during the teardown, and was somewhat complete. It had no flywheel or any accessories, but included the intake manifold and related sensors, but no coilpack. This was no problem, as my engine had everything necessary. I decided to head out with the guys at Cobb for some lunch, and to get away from the shop for a few hours while Charlie did his magic.

A few hours later, Charlie called me with some less-than-encouraging news. It seems as though the engine, which had been out of the car for two years, had something wrong with it. When Charlie put a breaker bar on the crankshaft pulley and tried to rotate the engine internals, he ran into resistance at about 180 degrees of rotation. My hope faded, so I arranged to get a ride home while Charlie said he'd take a look at the donor engine on Monday. As it turns out, the engine had been left to the elements, without an exhaust manifold in place, for at least two years. This had allowed moisture to get into at least one of the cylinders and rusted the liner and piston rings. It was not usable in the state it sat, so I ended up not knowing what to do...again.

Charlie was very interested in checking to see if my heads were indeed cracked, so I let him have at it. The first thing he noticed was that the timing belt was two notches off, which was very odd. After removing the heads, he was able to visually inspect them and found no immediate signs of cracking, but used a straight edge with some disturbing results. He sent them off to a machine shop to get looked at, and his initial assesment of no cracks was confirmed. There was some warpage, however, and well past the specifications allowed. Both heads were warped 8 thousands of an inch, which is a very small amount for sure, but more than four times the thickness of the Phase II EJ25 head gasket at 2mm. Both heads were shaved down to flat and reinstalled with new headgaskets. At this point, I began to regain confidence in the engine itself, and lost much of what respect I'd had in the capabilities of the dealer. Not only were the heads warped, not cracked, but the timing was off. Charlie took some action and spoke to the Service Manager at the dealer, giving him a piece of his mind on the quality of work done during the time they were in possession of the car.

Charlie went ahead and installed my new parts and put everything back in order, ready for me to pick up on the coming Monday. I picked it up, dropped off my old stock cams for core at Cobb, then headed home with no incident. The new clutch was going to take some getting used to, the flywheel felt great, and the cams were making me smile. The lifters were noisy, but this is to be expected after upgrading the cams. An adjustment or two will be made after 1500 miles inorder to bring the tolerances in closer, which should quiet things down a bit, but they'll always be louder than stock. Everything ran great during the week, as I got used to the new feeling of the engine. I decided to head back down to Salt Lake City to visit Charlie again, and talk to Justin at Cobb about a few things. I stopped in Layton at the Barnes & Noble to pick up the most recent issue of SubieSport magazine, which happened to feature my car in the Reader Rides section. I then stopped by Nate Wade, in order to give them a bill from Charlie for the headwork, for their consideration. After talking to Charlie and Justin for a bit, I headed to a friend's house to check out Gran Turismo 4, which I'd yet to even see in action. After a few hours, I then decided to head home, and my frustration resurfaced.

Now I can probably tell what you're thinking right now, "not again!". This was precisely what was going through my mind as I putted along down 6000 S. and stopped at a light, then watched the temperature rise and the fans kick on. "It was supposed to be fixed! What in the hell!" After a few more coarse words were let loose, I decided to simply drive it home and give it a few more chances. After getting back into town, after having no problems whatsoever on the freeway at 70+MPH, I had the temperatures rise twice more, but nothing since. I've since taken the car over a few of the more demanding canyon roads in the area, with steep grades and a lot of corners at speeds from 40 to 70MPH, with no change in temperature.

As of this writing, March 15, 2005, the car is acting normal. After all of the numerous designs and plans I'd formulated about engine swapping before, I do have more of a base for future decisions related to replacing the engine with something more reliable and powerful. My most ambitious aspirations of swapping a USDM EJ255 from a Forester XT or Baja Turbo could be realized, but the engines are expensive and the wiring could be a nightmare, nevermind the time involved. Other possibilities included using a Crawford Performance EJ257 short block with high-compression pistons in a normally aspirated form with my SOHC, as direct replacment for the bottom end. This would definitely give me a very reliable engine, with more punch, while still being able to run on pump gas and the stock ECU. I've recently heard that Subaru is offering a "Hybrid" solution for a short block replacement. For $2000, they're offering a remanufactured short block that includes an oilpan, oilpump and water pump already installed on the engine. That's a fair price, and a much better solution than some I've seen. Finally, CCR Engines offers fully rebuilt engines for under $3000, ready to drop right in, and with a very promising 3 year, 36,000 mile warranty.

Honestly, I am not planning on driving the car a lot during the summer months, so I won't be putting a lot of miles on it. If the engine does get worse, I'll address it at that time.

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