can anyone tell me the difference between a long block and a short block?

my m8 has brought an ej20 engine for his uk turbo 2000, then gone to fit his inlet manifold and it doesn't fit. the engine is out of a wrx. why are the blocks different as they are around the same year?

can everyone advise?

 

A long engine has cylinder heads fitted. A short engine doesn't.

If your mate's replacement engine doesn't fit his inlet manifold then either it's a phase 1/1.5 engine going into a phase 2 car, or vice-versa. The design of the heads changed for the 99MY (aka phase 2), so you can't drop a '98MY engine in a '99 car, for example.

 

oh no! thats not good! his shell is a 2001 classic. is it possible to fit the phase 1 anyway?

thanks for the reply

 

That will be a late 2000MY car then.

You can make anything work if you're bl**dy-minded/stubborn enough but trying to make this happen would be a total tit of a job, and once done you'd be stuck with the reality that the older engines aren't as good.

If your mate has an 00MY car then a 99/00MY engine is the only direct drop-in replacement. If it's a UK car, it needs a UK engine too, unless, again, he wants to deal with compatibility issues.