Engine overhaul
 

Hi

Looking for engine advice.

I am currently running a 1999 (V reg) Impreza it has done 128000 ish miles.
I have owned it since May 2010. The engine is running fine but I feel it is getting a bit old.
Luckily or unluckily for me, I have my old 98 (S reg) Impreza (which bounced off a tree and is an insurance right off), I was planning to remove this engine and give it an overhaul during the cold winter months and fit it in the spring.

I am not planning any major engine mods, I was thinking of new bearings, piston rings, oil pump and gaskets etc.

I am trying to find a good link for engine removal and engine overhaul including torque settings, also a good source of all necessary parts.

Cheers
Steve

You understand that the engine from a 98 isnt the same as one from a 99 dont you?

Tony:)

Really, aren't they both EJ20's?

Both are UK models.

the engines change from year to year, but the blocks are the same but the heads do change as the gent above states. Its possible to swap them over with a little work, I dont know much about the classics but i think its the breather setup that is different

Bump

You can use the short motor. But come fitting time you will have to fit your heads onto the 98 block.

engine removal is relatively easy if youve got a hoist

4 bolts on gearbox plus the starter motor nut
1 bolt on each engine mount
5 bolts on turbo to downpipe
remove the clutch fork pivot from gearbox

obviously remove rad and airbox and anything connected to the main loom like alternator,starter motor but most of the loom is on the inlet which is 2 big plugs so you dont have to mess about with alot of wiring.
the only thing that can get confusing is the vacuum pipes, mark them b4 you take them off so you know what goes where.

i believe the heads are actually longer for the 99/00 models so the 99 inlet wont fit on 98 heads and 99/00 have different icv which cannot be changed for 98

They're both EJ20s, yes. However, all EJ20s are clearly not the same. Assuming the "98" car is a 1998 model year (you haven't actually said), it has an EJ20G engine. The '99 will have an EJ205.

While not wishing to sound unduly negative, if you don't understand the detail differences between the different engine revisions, are you sure an engine overhaul is a job you want to be doing right now?

Assuming the answer to that is a yes, if your plan was to overhaul the engine from a 98MY car and stick it into the newer one, the bottom line is that this simply won't work due to the various (quite significant) differences.

As Ciaran has said, if you wanted to use the older engine into the newer car, you would have to take both to pieces and use the older block and newer heads.

That's clearly a bit of a pointless idea. Under those circumstances it simply isn't worth mucking about stripping two engines and trying to create a chimaera out of them (with all the problems that would cause) when you may as well just rebuild the newer one.

If you are going to do this job, the best bet would be to take the engine out of the '99 car, rebuild it and put it back in. Alternatively you could always just run it til it won't run no more and then take a view on what you want to do. If it's currently running okay without actually giving off any symptoms of illness or impending death, electively taking it to pieces doesn't really make sense.

If you're worried about it from a pure mileage point of view, if it's standard and has been well maintained, it's probably got many thousands more in it.

Thanks for the replies.

I feel that I may have misinformed you all, when I said my old 98 (S reg) Impreza this car was first reg in November 1998, which I believe is commonly called MY99? From now on I will call is the Green one.

My current car was first reg in October 1999 (V reg). From now on I will call is the Blue one. I think this makes them both MY99.

The engine number on both the green and blue ones are EJ205NWIKD. The engine layout looks the same.

I have known the green one from new I was only the second owner, previous owner was my mate. The engine has done 107 thousand mile, not been thrashed and been maintained well and is very clean free from leaks etc.

The blue one has done 20 thousand more miles and has developed a very small water leak under the OSF inlet manifold area which is annoying me. It has a noisy tappet or two.

You're in a similar situation as myself, to a point. I have both an MY99 amd MY98 - that latter with a shot engine. However, in my case, the MY98 is earlier than yours and has the Phase 1.5 manifold while the MY 99 has the Phase 2 manifold. As long as the Coil packs are in the same position - you should be OK. Your coil packs will be offset to the passenger side - thus Phase 2 manifolds.