I am picking up the motor this weekend. I trust the seller but I just want to make 100% sure on the condition of the motor. What are common results for a leakdown test for the EJ25 motor?

What exactly do I need to perform a leakdown test on site when picking up the motor, and how do I go about it?

I have a compressor Im bringing for a compressed air source, so what else do I need to buy and do? what are the steps? and what are ideal results so I can make absolutely sure Im not swapping my current paperweight for another one lol.

You will need a leak down tester as well to do it right
First remove the spark plugs. Turn the engine to TDC on #1. Calibrate your tester per your testers instructions. Lock your engine so it will not turn and connect hose to spark plug hole, Connect pressure gauge to the compressor hose connection. Read your leakage.
If your just looking for coolant/head gasket leaks you don't need a guage and may connect compressor directly to cylinder (you want about 90 lbs) If the engine is in the car remove the radiator cap. If coolant sprays out when you turn up the pressure you have a head gasket problem. If your engine is out of the car stick your ear by the hose outlet. Do the same test on all 4 cylinders. Remember to set TDC of each piston before testing each cylinder. This test is can also good for diagnosing valve problems.
All engines will have some leakage past the rings. I have no idea what it is normal for this engine. This is a very good test to do on this particular engine as it has a history of head gasket problems. On head gaskets your looking for more of a pass fail. Why not practice on the engine in the car that you have first. If you need a connector to the engine drill out a old spark plug center tap it for a pipe thread and go by the appropriate bits at the parts store
Good luck John







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wow I never thought of the spark plug drilling thing!

I guess Im gonna go to napa to see how much a leakdown kit is going to run me for the guage and whatnot. I appreciate the help that was mighty thorough. How do I go about locking the engine? Put a socket on the timing gear and hold it with a breaker bar?

Oh! and how long do I leave the pressurized air in the cyl and take guage readings for? a few seconds? 10 seconds? 30 seconds?

IIRC, if the engine is out, there is a spot at the back of the engine that you can put a pin in, locking the flywheel in place. What year swap you doing?

IIRC its 2001 ill check my email and get back to ya on that one.

*edit* its a 1999

Same year as my swap!
I just had it dyno'd on Saturday. All I've done for mods are Delta Cam regrinds. It has the 2.5 exhaust, and that's it....

158.3 A.W.T
150.0 A.W.H.P

I just checked in my 2001 FSM and it appears that the "recommended" method is to use a service tool blah blah blah. It's simply a flat piece of steel with 2 holes in it. A bolt goes into the flywheel, and another goes into the transmission mounting hole.
However, if the engine is still in the car, you might be able to get away with just putting it in reverse or 1st gear. That usually works, unless your trying to change the crank pulley.
How many miles? AT or MT? AWD?

Here it is, picked up, ready to be prepped and dropped in!

This being the thread I am going to document the swap into, can a mod please move it to the conversion forum? Or can someone report this post to a mod, As I am the creator of the post I cant report it. Thanks!

So, where are you located?
just curious how you were going to go about the swap. ie; wiring, spark plug wires, any EM...
How many miles on the motor? If it's past 60k, you might want to consider doing a timing belt job. It's relatively quick and easy, well worth the $75 for the belt.
Good luck!

Im currently reading all my options. Im stuck with wiring/spark on whether or not I want to use the 2.5 coilpack and do the 4 wire mod to make it work or whether I want to use the stock coilpack and make a custom bracket with custom plug wires. Both have been done and Im going to decide the cheapest most reliable route in a few days after some more research. EM is going to be run on the 1.8 ECU and sensors for now until I save up enough money and balls to throw in Emanage. Id like the motor in and running with all bugs fixed before I dive into re-wiring it.
Its a 2001 ej25 with 59k on it. The timing belt looks great but as you said I may just go ahead and do the belt while its outta the car. Im currently awaiting getting the pdf files to find out EXACTLY how Im going to go about all this step by step. Im also going to replace the main seal if I do the belt since that was what went bad on my old motor and it caused all sorts of a mess on highway drives. Im gonna prep the motor, clean it up and do some preventative maintenance to it before dropping it in. Im glad keith included the subframe since I needed new mounts anyway. These are in good shape.

Im still in the process of compiling every SOHC ej25 swap info from every forum I can before I make detailed decision of exactly whats going to be done to get this bad boy running. As of now if it is bolted in and sitting in the car Ill be happy lol.

Oh and the subject ^^


I got WRX brakes with the motor too so those are going on as soon as the car is up and running and Ive got a set of RS or WRX wheels.

Nice color. Definitely keep us updated. I'm curious to see how it goes. I hope everything works out.

Those are great numbers! you could spank a mustang gt and get 28 mpg

I already have!

But, I only get 27mpg...

Well, if I may offer my 2 cents...
My car is a '93 sedan, AWD, 5mt. I swapped in a 2001 2.5 with 45k on it.
It runs really well, but it could really use an Emanage. I have to run 91+ octane, or I get some serious pinging (detonation). As it is now, I still get very light det when I'm under load over 5000 rpm. Otherwise, it runs wicked good!
For the plug wires: The cheapest is to re-wire your coil pack harness to accomodate the 2.5 coil. That is the route I should have gone, but I was really not interested in re-wiring the harness. As it was, the only thing I re-wired was the fuel injectors.
If you decide to get custom wires, give Kingsbourne (IIRC) a call. For about $45 shipped, I got a set. Beware though: They have done several wire sets for this swap, and I think it has created a small prolem: It was once posted that the wiring set for this swap was a tad too short. Well, when I ordered my set, I asked them to be a half an inch longer, figuring that I would be just right. Well, they are about 2-3" too long. It's not really a big deal, it just looks like the engine bay isn't that well put together. Not a reall biggie

As for the timing belt..With that amount of miles, unless it's cracked or something, I wouldn't change it. It's gonna be good for another 20k, and you can use the $75 elsewhere. But, by all means, take it off, change the seals, and put it back on.
Is your car an auto or manual? What about the 2.5? Only reason is because of the "crank sensor trigger ring". Again, some have said that if the donor came out of a standard, and the donee was a standard, they would need to have the crank sensor rings changed. THIS IS FALSE!...Well, at least when it came to a 2001 2.5 into a '93 1.8.
If you need any on-line help, don't hesitate to PM me. I'll normally get back to you really quick. This goes for anyone contemplating this sort of swap.

As for vacuum hoses and what not, except for the EGR and one other sensor, EVERYTHING is hooked up. The 2 sensors, I just capped off.
When you swap the 1.8 harness over to the 2.5 engine, it would be really easy if you just take off the 2.5's intake. And while you are at it, you can change the intake manifold gaskets. mine were really brittle.
Good luck! It's good to see another 2.5 swap in the works.

As for the FSM's You could try:
http://www.ken-gilbert.com/wrx/impreza_manuals.htm
While they are for a 2002, All the info is the same, as I do have an actual real live hardcopy of a 2001 2.5 engine service manual.
One more thing to note: The FSM has an error, in regards to the timing belt. It states that there should be 40.5 teeth to one sprocket, and 44 to the other. It actually is 44 and 47. I went to the dealer and they lent me a new belt. I counted the teeth to the white witness lines, and that is what I got

Guys, this is EXACTLY the stuff I want this thread loaded with. Ive had to search quite a bit through jumbles of info including only specific problems and not a walkthrough of the entire swap with documented pictures etc. Im planning on doing it. And as far as the motor, both the 2.5 donor car and the 1.8 donee are manual. With the 2001 will I have to swap the crank ring thing? Thats the only thing I wasnt too excited about lol.

And as far as 91 Octane with the 1.8 harness/ecu and detonation. Is there not a way to adjust timing on these cars and back it off a bit?

hmms. various people have better luck with various ecu's. a 01 sohc 25 into a 95 in my frineds was just great on poop gas. my 98 dohc 25 on my 93 ecu was really good on poop also.

As for the ring thing, you are probably are all set. You want the one with something like 6 fingers on it. Versus the auto that has a lot more on it. If you are going to be doing the main seals, I would take a minute and pop the timing cover off the 1.8 just to make sure. It only takes a few minutes, and then you can save the timing job until you have the motor out. That way you don't end up doing it twice.
As for the ECU...There were a few peole a while back that got there ECU hacked, but the guys that actually did the work are no longer in the country.
In all honesty, you are going to be fine. Just run 91 octane. It isn't really all that much more expensive than 87; it's going to cost you $3 more to fill up, on average.
I'd just save up for an Emanage, which is what I am in the process of doing, after I get a tranny.

As for the pinging at high RPM's, it was only noticeable on the dyno. It is very very light. And that comes from having timing advanced so far. So, you could get an A'Pexi timing controller, but there is still the problem of running lean at the 2k-3500 rpm range. Hence, the E-Manage

Also I think Ill be a bit more safe now that summer is essentially over. No more 100-110 degree ambient air temps to make detonation worse

Im gonna search for documentation on the people who were able to modify the 1.8 ECU Id like to be able to do that ideally. Im wondering what a wideband readout of a stock 1.8 motor looks like, a stock 2.5 motor, and then a stock 2.5motor on the 1.8 harness. Id hate to have it run well but actually be a bit lean or a bit rich and foul things up later on down the road. .7L is quite a bit of a difference as far as displacement of motors go and running a different ecu than what was designed for the motor.
Im confident it will be fine and will be doing the swap this way but it just seems odd that it supposedly runs so well seeing as how the maps are for a motor .7L (around 25% smaller)

And just so you guys don't think I'm b.s.'ing:

There is your wideband on a '93 2.5! ^^^^