Got a 99 Forester with 200K miles. Car's in good shape, but I gotta wonder about the mill. Does anyone know if there's a better OEM engine I can get from salvage to put in there, if I can get one cheap enough?
Got a 99 Forester with 200K miles. Car's in good shape, but I gotta wonder about the mill. Does anyone know if there's a better OEM engine I can get from salvage to put in there, if I can get one cheap enough?
Any modern Subaru engine should swap right in.
You can get a JDM twin turbo 2.0 for about $1000.
We just bought a '02 Forester yesterday. 
One of the Subaru-only dealers I spoke with regularly SELLS 200k+ cars on his lot. He says with few exceptions they are no more trouble than younger ones. He believes, if taken care of, they will easily do 300k. Our Impreza has 225,000 on it and shows no signs of stopping, though oil consumption has begun to show between changes.
Pretty much any Suby engine can be swapped in there, but if you elect to go with a turbo you're going to have to deal with the wiring differences as the biggest headache.
I sold Subies for 4 years , unless it's the 98 4 cam motor , I wouldn't worry , they are like small tanks.
My Fave Demo was a 5spd Forester XT... I smoked so many cars with that breadbox. S2000's Lt1 Camaro's E36 M3's Maximas 350Z's
What a sleeper.
AutoXR wrote: ...My Fave Demo was a 5spd Forester XT... I smoked so many cars with that breadbox. S2000's Lt1 Camaro's E36 M3's Maximas 350Z's What a sleeper.
Yup. That's why we bought one. 
Any EJ series motor will work. I bet you could find a WRX swap for ~$1500-1800. The twin turbo 2.0L is a bear to swap as it was designed for RHD JDM cars. The left turbo interferes with the LHD master cylinder.
Don't forget to call your local Subie dealer and have them fax you over the car's service records. I've done this with two different cars and my local dealer has been more than helpful.
I found out my '99 Forester already had it's head gasket's done so that was sort of a relief.
I've seen several Subie's with over 320,000 miles on them in the salvage yard!
Also, I believe about 2 months ago they began another recall that covered the '99 Forester and I think they add a Subaru conditioner to the coolant that is supposed to help the early 2.5L head gaskets.
I just replaced the head gaskets on my '96 outback just as they started leaking. cost a bunch but I figure we will keep it another 5+ years. coming home fron Albany, NY to Manchester, NH last weekend anne was driving. She went into a downhill decreasing radius turn on Rt 7 about 30 mph over the posted speed. She just braked heavily, turned in, trail braked to the apex, picked up the throttle and acellerated onto the straight. Amused, I asked where she learned to do that and she simply said, "Watching you play rally driver for 40 years." I responded. "Good. Now we can have fun on these roads."
If you want to go with a turbo engine it's not as easy as just swapping in the engine. The entire car's wiring harness has to be redone. But it's been a more popular swap the last few years so the information is out there. I'd look around on nasioc.com or clubwrx.net
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