Replacing stock Air Intake for Non-Turbo

[s.baja]

Recently I have been toying with the idea of new a intake for an 06 Baja. I'm looking for a little jump in power and slightly better gas mileage. For a non-turbo all I can find is the Weapon R intakes. I have heard mix opinions about the Weapon R company, leaving me undecided. Does anyone have any experience with Weapon R or know of anything better I could install?

Appreciate any help thanks.

[Acro2pilot]

The plenum (plastic box on the throttle body) is beneficial on this engine (we discovered that back on the late 90's Impreza RS) so replacing the entire system with an aluminum tube is not going to help and will actually hurt you some. Also those types of intakes draw hotter air than the stock one. The most practical solution is to remove the hose and resonators that make up the intake track and run a flexible hose from the plenum inlet to the fender where there is a plastic plate you can remove and draw cool air from there. Don't expect much of a gain in performance or MPG, I did this mod and removed all but one cat and gained very little. I will be swapping to the 3.0 H6 this summer or fall as time permits.

[s.baja]

Thanks for the input.

Doing a swap for the H6 is something i have never heard of, but you have me curious. About how much would this cost (for engine, if any parts are needed, and labor)? Do you know where could I go about doing this. If you could throw me the basic info it would make my day.

[Acro2pilot]

Since the Baja is pretty much just an Outback the firewall forward is nearly identical, Subarus in general don't vary much even between generations. I always say they are like lego blocks, you just snap together what you want. Engine swaps I have done on Subarus include an EG33 with VF10 turbos into an XT6, an ER27 into a Brat (that was allot of work, had to do a top mounted radiator), and for fun I did a gas turbine engine into an XT6 that I called the XT747. The physical fitment of the engine is very easy in this case, it just bolts right in and is only about an inch longer than the 2.5L so nothing major needs to be changed. Remember, the Outback came with both engines. That part is the easy part and will take about a day. The real work is in the plumbing and wiring, that breaks down into several tasks;

Air in, I will use the OEM Subaru intake tract from the H6 donor
Air out, stock header with a custom 2.5in to the tail and some sort of aftermarket muffler intended for the STi
Cooling system, stock radiator is probably fine but if the one on the donor is beefier I will go with it

The electrical is the part that takes time to sort. I am likely going to use the ECU from the H6, but I am considering using a LINK stand alone ECU. If I use the OEM one the process will be to unwrap the harness and strip away the wiring that is not needed and integrate it into the existing harness for its needs such as ignition switched power, ground, etc. What I have not decided on yet is if I will swap the H6 instrument cluster or translate the RPM/VSS etc. signals.

As far as the donor parts go, I will try to find a front clip first, if I can't find one I will buy the engine as complete as possible then hit the salvage yards to pull all the needed parts. The cost will totally depend on what I can find a front clip for, or engine plus extras, the price varies ALLOT on what you see listed. I am hoping for around 1k for donor parts. Labor isn't a factor since I am doing all the work, I have a lift and hoist and am set up to weld, fabricate etc. If you took it to a shop you would spend a few thousand, there is a shop that does JDM turbo swaps and they charge 4~5k over the cost of the engine for the swap.