maybe some had gone this route before, but im thinking about doing a fast and easy swap with a 2.5i motor onto my 97' Impreza AWD, pretty sure theres minor rust under the car to the point where its bearable. Hmm, not sure on what year the 2.5i should come from but, I will FOR SURE have to swap out the Drive Train (Tranny, Diff, Drive Shaft) Yes? No? Good? Bad? Easy? Hard?
Not worth it, if you are going to make the effort for a swap, you better make it a turbocharged powerplant, by the time you get it running correctly (not likely, unless you have an ENTIRE CAR) to swap from, you'll be into it for just as much money as a wrx/sti swap, with a 1/4 of the potential.
If you happen to find a '96-'99 Outbacks at Upull, the engines will work fine. I would do a HG on them first and deck the heads.
