ZuluKing

10 hours ago, KZJonny said:

Hey dude,

I'll generally be the last person to tell a person that they cannot do a thing. Should not? Perhaps, but I've too often seen people told "you can't do that", then they turn around and pull it off. In the world of my other project car, engine swaps are common and extremely varied. I've watched as people pulled off projects they'd been told by plenty of others they'd never finish, or that weren't possible. On the other hand, I've seen quite a few that ended in lots of dollars spent, hit a brick wall and either get sold off half finished, or the person just stopped posting. Such is life. All that being said, the people who generally were able to finish some of the tricky ones were crack fabricators, able to make and weld parts out of steel and/or aluminum, form CF from homemade molds, etc.... a very broad skill set and the money to back it up.

You won't find a walk through for what you're trying to do, not here. BUT, you may find @RumblyXT's thread on his EJ20Y engine swap useful. He goes through all the process with lots of photos, however, he is replaceing en EJ255/7 so everything in the car is already set up for a turbo engine, and as mentioned above, you can trick the ECU into working with it. (Sounds like you already have and ECU and trans, so there is part of the problem solved.)

Aside from making sure the EJ20 you have is healthy, making sure all the gaskets are good, and ready for service, (which even if it is "low mile",  is 100x easier with the engine out of the bay, so now is a good time) there are a couple of other things you are going to want to consider if you decide to try and put a turbo engine in your NA shell.

-Wiring will be the big one, making the JDM ECU talk to a USDM (?) car, and they may not be very happy doing it. If you have complete wiring diagrams from the donor car and for yours, repinning should be possible. very nice that you have the engine harness. Lots of hours of work to be sure, but probably doable. Remembering tho, nobody but nobody around here tunes JDM ECU's... If you go this route, you're probably stuck with the stock tune, unless you decide to find a USDM ECU and go that way from the start, but then you lose the exhaust cam AVCS. Maybe there are other options? STi ECU from a year that is quad cam AVCS, but now it won't be happy talking to an old Legacy chassis. Piggyback? Standalone? $$$!!!

- as mentioned before: complete exhaust system. I am not even sure the engine subframes are the same between NA and turbo, since the piping path for UP and DP does not exist on the NA car. I think they're different, but am not sure.

- cooling? I am also pretty sure that the NA cooling system has less capacity than a turbo car... new rad and fans are probably required.

- as above; brakes. Add nearly 50% HP to a car and you're definitely going to need more stopping power. NA Legacy braked are fine for the 150HP it comes with, NOT 250 (ish) So, calipers, rotors, probably a bigger master cylinder, etc..

- fuel system: NA car fuel pump and FPR are not gonna cut it. Complete aftermarket replacement or swap from a GT.

- as above: if using the provided JDM ECU, defeat the security system/chips in the keys. Dealership may be able to rewrite this for you, but unlikely for a car this old, and especially a JDM unit. I very much doubt the North America SSM's came with the parameters for those.

 

There are a handful of other things you may or may not want to address. You won't have the GT steering rack and it's faster ratio, but that's not required, and you can get away without replaceing the hood with a scooped one, if you go to a FMIC, etc...... more heat sheilding in the bay etc....

 

If you decide to plunge on ahead with this, people here will probably be able to help you a little. But for a lot of it you'll be on your own, or spending hours going through wiring diagrams. Seriously, I am not saying don't do it, but DO take a look at the list of "things to do" and imagine some of the price tags associated with each. I'm very willing to bet that if you're honest with yourself, you'll end up with a final price on just the above that is a lot more than buying a running LGT, and you're going to end up with a car with a smaller engine and very little support. If it's more than just the price tag to you, it's about the doing of it, then go for it. 

I'll say for reference, I am probably $8-10K (CSD) into my LGT, and it came to me as a relatively clean, if slightly rusty very low km car. And that price is for a lightly modified car with maybe 270whp that just handles nicely and has some of the reliability things worked out... not even a fast car....

I appreciate you, thank you

It’s really just something I wanted to do and try. Wasn’t much info I could find on it. My 09 2.5i came 5 speed, but when I bought the ej20x it came with a tranny, ecu and harness. I didn’t believe it was as simply as plug and play, and that’s what I’m simply trying to find out 

I bought an ej20 turbo with ecu and harness, to swap into my ej25 non turbo, and was wondering what else I would need, and what I would need to get a full function engine, if maybe there’s a post for step-by-step how to swap ej25 to ej20

What do you mean by not a legal swap? 
 

My motor blew on my 09 2.5i, and I got a new ej255 out of a BR9, I have the ecu and harness out of the br9, but was wondering what else I might need or things I might run into. New to the forum and semi new to Subaru's!