I want to go with a bigger engine but don't wanna havta change a lot of wiring or other things. Which 2.5L engines will have "plug and play" capabilities with a EJ22 and are they single port or dual port exhaust? By the way I have a 97 OBS SOHC EJ22. I'm not looking for a lot more power, just enough to make it over long climbs on the interstate. I live at 6700ft and I can't climp more than about 300 ft/min at 80 mph and dumping it in 4th isn't an option being that it runs about 5k on the tach at 80. thanx

if ur going to do a motor swap, u might as well bite the bullet and do the wiring and swap a wrx engine in, you will be so much happier. Even keeping it stock. I dont know if u will be happy with the results of going from 2.2 to a 2.5rs engine, its a lot of work to swap it and the power is only marginaly better.

boost

FI motors perform far better at altitude than NA ones.

guess I'll start the search for an 20T

um, I think 97 OBS's are DOHC

97 obs is a sohc 16v. Just outta curiosity here, how much power gain is there by adding aftermarket cams and where can I find some? I've looked all over but can't find any for the EJ22.

Go with a WRX motor, ecu and splice the loom.

This is not a little weekend project. Even though you may really hate yourself in the middle of it, you will be happy in the end.

my main concern here is that my car is a daily driver. I know I can do an engine swap in a weekend or a day if pushed to (a long day). I'm probably pushin about 160 HP with the mods I've done and I wouldn't mind having about 15-20 more.

i would never swap to the NA 2.5... if your going to swap either turbo swap or build a more powerful 2.2 NA motor

what kinda things would you recommend to pull some horsies outta my engine? keeping in mind that I don't have all the money in the world. I've already added cold air intake and gutted the cats.

cams, headwork, headers... http://www.techworkseng.com/
or swap for turbo...

If you swap a DOHC 2.5 in like I did there is no wiring with significant gains. Do a search this has been discussed before and you can read up on it. A DOHC engine can be found pretty cheap as well, must cheaper and easier than any WRX swap.
Joshua

The 2.5 is significantly faster. You can feel it right away. There is also more parts available for it like cams and headers. The hard part would be sourcing a good DOHC 2.5 that doesn't have piston slap or a borked block from a failed HG.
The plug and play ones are 97-99 from a Legacy, 98 Forester and 98 RS. The 96 Legacy motor is not so great, stay away.
By the way, what makes you think you are getting 160hp from your 2.2l? An intake and gutted cat might be good for 5 hp. I seriously doubt there is more than 10hp to be gained unless you do cams and head work.
There was a post on cams for the 2.2l on the N/A forum yesterday. But by the time you add the cost for new HG and various, you would be better off going with the 2.5l.
I am seriously considering putting a 2.5l into my impreza. It will allow me to stay in a lower autox class and with mods you can get to 190hp reliably. Also I would prefer the low end torque compared to the EJ20.

Also going with the turbo swap puts you into other parts requirements like headers, front sway bar, cross member, ecu, steering rack lines, fuel pump, pedal box, hydrolic clutch, aftermarket clutch, tranny after awhile, etc. It is a much bigger deal.

ok maybe it isn't 160 hp but it was a significant increase in power and gas mileage I might add. I'll start lookin for a 2.5. am I gonna need the ECU or any wiring or anything else to put it in?

You don't need to convert the stock tranny. I'm using the stock L tranny in my swap. You may chew through one or two thou. :)

I would like to eventually get a new tranny and rear diff just cause of the change in gearing.

you will need the ECU and the potential is definately there for wiring modifications.

my buddy and i swapped a 2.5 into his '99 2.2l with NO modifications needed, and like the others said it made a big difference. not only, you've got a better platform to work with than trying to mod the 2.2. since you said this is your daily driver, i'd recommend it over going FI. you can use the existing intake manifold, and computer, (we did it and it works fine) just need a header or factory exhaust manifold for the 2.5. should take no more than 6-8 hours with two people on it.

The 2.2 ecm will control the 2.5 as long as it's a sohc 2.5. I have a buddy that did it and it works great. He changed out the injectors with some other ( don't have a clue which ones) and the car runs hard.
You can easily get over 200 hp from a 2.5 engine and 250 isn't that far away. True a forced induction car will do better at higher elvation, but that is more work.
You could also get a turbo legacy engine. Those are 2.2 sohc and your ecm will control it just fine. I have one if you want to buy it and i'm close too.
Pm if you want it.
B

How many miles are on that 2.2 I have a 96 obs with a 2.2 I would like to replace the engine is smoking pretty badly.How much do you want and will you ship?

the thing with my engine is about 20k ago I spun a bearing so I just replaced the short block with one that had about 40k on it. the heads are from the original engine. (243k miles on them) when I did the swap, the cams valves and rockers were in great shape and I'm sure they still are. I only run chevron premium gas and injector cleaner every third tank to keep everything running good and clean. The engine runs great. If I were to sell it I know I couldn't ask much for it though. If someone can make me a good offer on a good EJ25 sohc I'll sell the one I have now. My car is a daily driver so I would have to make the swap in a weekend. If you have any other questions about it feel free to ask.