Subaru army, let's talk frankenmotors.

In CA, the max octane available at places like Tahoe is 85-ish.

We have the same problem in our remote gas stations too, just regular 85. I'll probably stash a bottle of octane boost in the van just in case.  GJ is at about the same elevation as Tahoe. Working with turbo Miatas, you get a bit of a feel for fuel quality across the US and it doesn't really get any worse than CA :)

I'm about to embark on this journey, and I'll fill in my experiences as well.

My engine has been quite happy since last we discussed this. My goal of lots of torks has been achieved, and when combined with the reversed Subaru 6 speed transmission the Westfalia has unoexpected performance. Fuel economy on the highway is good. I'm feeding it 91 octane, I don't know if I ever checked for a knock sensor. I don't think I'm getting 100% throttle opening yet, I should unpack my drive by wire conversion project and finish it.

The mystery wire I mentioned earlier turned out to be for the neutral switch on the trans - the VW trans didn't have one. 

Glad to hear your engine is holding up well, Keith.

I'm doing it as part of this thing here, and much like you I'm doing it with what I already have laying around. That'll be an EJ25D block with non-interference 2.2 heads from the Legacy wagon.

I'm going to put the block up on the engine stand sometime this weekend and start collecting the parts for the assembly sometime after that.

Keith , do you have smog checks up there yet ? My friend in Denver was thinking of doing that conversion on his Westy Syncro  but was worried about smog checks , 

thanks for the info

In reply to californiamilleghia :

I do not have smog to worry about. However, it can be a legal swap (without the Frankenmotor) in California. The new engine is far cleaner than the original. My car still runs a cat and (some) OBD-II. 

I'm seeing conflicting information about what timing kit to use.

Some say use the 2.2 timing kit (with the 2.2 timing belt cover, I assume) 
Others say use the 2.5 timing kit (with the 2.5 timing belt cover, I assume)

 

In reply to Brett_Murphy (Agent of Chaos) :

Here's what I used. I imagine used the 2.2 timing belt cover because my 2.5 donor was a DOHC. I just gave away those 2.5 heads and timing cover on Friday.

Timing belt kit was EJ25 for the 1998-99 Legacy, which IIRC matches the SOHC heads and the other generational parts from the short block. I did swap over the timing belt tensioner bracket from the SOHC EJ22 on to my DOHC EJ25 block and used the old-school tensioner instead of the newer design. I suspect I could have sourced a newer bracket from a SOHC EJ25 but I was trying to build all this with the parts I had on hand.

Edit
But then I posted this later.

The timing belt kit bothers me. It's a Continental TB277LK2, which fits the earlier DOHC EJ25s and which matches the short block. Did I get a second belt for the SOHC, and purchased the DOHC belt because it had everything else I needed (other than a surplus tensioner that is probably for sale if anyone wants it)? I have no idea.

I know there was a spare timing belt floating around my shop, it's probably still in a box unless I finally tossed it. So apparently I thought I would be helpful and now I am not.  

I checked with a friend of mine who has built many, he says "i used EJ22 everything except for the short block and head gaskets".

Thanks!
Of *course* the 2.2 timing belt cover is the one that broke.