Hello, im about to rebuild my ej205 from my 96 impreza gt (european wrx),
I found this nice combo in the US, with Manley rods and JE pistons, but its for the 2002+ wrx, but will the pistons fit in my impreza? Is there a compression difference and which compression whould i want to buy? Hope someone can help?

 

They will fit but the compression height and bowl size of the 2002+wrx piston is different to your MY96 as they are designed to be used with later 49cc (combustion chamber) cylinder heads.
You need to calculate what compression ratio you will have with the late pistons,early cylinder heads and choice of head gasket thickness.

Mick

 

It might be worth looking at the Wossner range of forged pistons as they do a direct replacement 4032 grade forged piston for the Version 1~4 (phase 1 and 1.5) engines.

Mick