subaru FB25 engine interchange

Thank you for that I embarass myself with engine components sometimes! Hoping to hell I can get the new motor in with the intake attached, running to the store now to get the m8 nuts to seat the coil packs, and it sounds like some longer mounting bolts for the coils to the block. Got the entire engine harness swapped over and the different sensors changed to the 2011 ones on the legacy block.. going to swap the engine mounts and try to hoist it in tonight hopefully.. separating the bell housings wasn't easy got the engine out and left torque converter in, used that access hole for the torque converter bolts you mentioned.. the flywheels seemed identical but going to swap them anyway.. sorry for the rambling :)

Still need to do the alternator/ac bracket and figure out these coil packs before I can try to get it in.. assuming it's going to be very hard to get the torque converter at the right angle to slip the engine back in since it was so hard coming out?

Once you get those two long studs into the transmission case it shouldn’t be horrible.  Did you jack up transmission?  You will likely need to if not. 

I’m excited that i got to pioneer a cheaper alternative that’s actually helping someone besides just myself.  

Your a good man Patrick! I didn't jack it up to get it out but I didn't like the way the bell housing was sitting on the cross member for the engine so I threw a floor jack under it and raised it a little bit. Noticed the grounds straps on the bottom of the engines were both flopping around and disintegrating, thinking of grabbing some lawn mower battery cables and just using those, assuming I need them lol..  hopefully this thing is going in tonight!

Had an all night get it done marathon last night, stayed at it until 9AM! Had a hell of a time getting the right angle and the right chain setup for the cherry picker to drop it in and get the transmission guide pins etc, got it as close as I could with the studs and just went for it and started mounting the engine and torque convertor casing with the jacks and engine hoist still connected.. seemed very dangerous in that I could have easily bent those bottom two studs but I did it. Got everything in, before I called it quits (lol!) I got all accessories mounted, every bit of wiring I could see etc.. my two questions for now. 1.) I must need a legacy belt for some reason? The one I took off now seems about a 8 inches too large, can't figure out how this could be for the life of me. Also there is a hose that is on the right side of the engine, the right most of the two under the air conditioning bracked, it is a rubber house that is sent to the back of the engine near the firewall routed under the intake, can't figure out where the other end goes, is it just a vent of some sort?

Probably trying to route the belt incorrectly as your original will be the same.  Can you post a picture of the hose?  I don’t have the car here anymore to reference.  

here is that hose, looks like some water hose?of course you were right about the belt.. doh

I believe that hose goes to the throttle body area of the intake.  It was the same on both engines, i wish i had the forester in front of me to give a better answer.  Did you remove it from the original engine with the intake?

thank you Patrick yes figured that out too when i put the air tubes back on lol..

got it running kind of.. flashing check engine light, little power, glowing red cats on passenger side.. assuming maybe a bad coil or a bad job spacing the mismatched coils.. though driver side not glowing on the cats and did all coil packs the exact same way

what do you think? going to find my code reader

had a ton but reset thet, only have a po301 and po302.. cylinder one and two misfire.. hm.. coils?

Did you use the rubber spark plug boot and spring from the 2014 coils on your originals before installing them?

yes swapped over the springs and boots one at a time for each, all in there nice and tight with that m8 nut between

Probably time to check connections and grounds.  

Where are you at anyway?

good call, especially everything on passenger side of the harness i imagine, NH you?

.. weird coincidence that both are on the same side, if I mismatched the plugs for each coil I guess it's a possibility but with the lengths what they are I would have had to actively try to mess that up I think lol

Ohio, slightly too far to help. 

I’m not sure it’s even possible to switch the coil wires because subaru routed everything so neatly

.. you mean you don't want to cover the towing to Ohio? :)

Yeah exactly, I was amazed how everything was like legos, literally only one spot for most everything to go, all the connectors only went one way etc.. way easier then I was imagining..

on my way to grab some coils from the salvage yard, hopefully going to get it going today.. I hope :)

Got it, just had to swap the connections at the coil packs on one and three.. :) Thanks for all your help!

Freakin A!  How’s it running?

really good no lights or anything yet :)

Patrick this effort IMHO deserves some special recognition...https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/are-awards-given-for/142463/page1/

I appreciate that, but the right thing to do when you pioneer an affordable fix is to share it.  

So modest! haha :) I wonder if this would work for any of the FB/EJ25 engines.. i.e. could we have done this with the engine from a 2016 Forester into a 2011 Legacy.. it seems that as long as you stick to the same EJ or FB 25 engine all should be the same idea? Can't really be that easy can it?

Hey guys, great job to both of you. I’m in a similar situation with my sisters ‘11 Forester non-pzev ‘b’ engine. Do you know if I can swap over to a pzev long block? I cant find any mechanical differences. Thanks for any info you can help with. 

Well I finished it and although I generally have good luck gambling with choices like this it cost me a little over a 700 mistake. 

I want to add to the great info that is already here and add to it to share with anyone that comes across this thread. I thought I would venture outside the original proven idea of using an engine from a 2014 legacy and try the fb25 from a 2014 Forester 2.5i. I picked it up from lkq for $720. It looked great low miles. Before anyone gets exited the way it is will not work. The timing cover only has mounting for 1 idler pulley because they removed the hydraulic power steering. I suppose if you are brave enough to swap timing covers it’s not impossible but take great care as to install it properly because if you don’t it will leak oil. Also the bottom of the block has an additional cooling line that will need to be capped. The the cross block cooling line under the intake will need to be swapped because of an additional line. The flex plate or flywheel was different and would need to be swapped and the sender on front under the oil fill. Also same as the other guys with the wire harness and coil packs and boot swap, use the new boots with old coil packs and a spacer mounting the coil pack. 

After realizing the issue with the idler pulley I decided to get 2014 legacy engine cost was just under 800 with 14k miles on it. I swapped the wire harness, the intake, the ac mounting bracket, swapped the flywheel. Swapped coil packs and boots. 

Some additional items that I picked up

1. Oil filter and plug gasket and oil

2. Intake gasket

3. Exhaust manifold gaskets and pipe gasket 

4. New belt

5. Coolant 

6. Top and bottom radiator hoses 

7. Quart of atf, I had to pull the engine with the torque converter due to full seize.  

8. Box of gloves, paper towels hand cleaner

9. Pb blaster penetrating oil, and anti seize for putting back together

additional info I picked up an engine stand but ended up not using it. I also used a load leveler to pull the engine, it made it possible to remove and install by myself I highly recommend it.

Overall still cost far less then an exact replacement. Thanks again Patrick you made it possible.

Cool.  Sorry i missed your other post before you asked, but I didn’t have an answer anyway.

the one I did is in the hands of my chiropractor’s 16 year old son and he’s thrilled.