legacycentral bbs

Basically just wondering if I can put a set of EJ22T heads on one of my NA block and run it NA for a while. I suspect that all I would have to do is either plug (or loop around) the feed and return lines on the passenger side head. Will this work without poor results (poor power, nasty mileage)?

Eventually I would like to put a little VF11 in this car to make it a little bit more driveable daily driver. The reason I want to swap heads right now is that I believe I have a bad valve seat on one of the NA heads. The NA head was originally pulled from a horribly abused longblock. I was a poor college kid at the time so I didn't have money for a good set of heads or a rebuild.

Thanks!

I've read somewhere on here, that the NA heads flow better than the turbo heads. Aside from that, I don't see, why it wouldn't work. I don't think, it's going to affect the compression ratio, as it's mostly in the pistons.

Subaru_for_Life

Barely a difference. Don't know if there was any at all from the heads or the difference was almost all in the lesser compression from the turbo block. Cam profiles aren't drastically different and I think one of the valves may or may not be just a little smaller. You can plug the lines on the back of the head and a water line off the turbo water pump (if you're using one). I used some brass plumbing fittings and some radiator hose.

Smaller valves and different cam grind are the differences, along with some extra plumbing on the back for the oil and coolant stuff for the turbo. Shouldn't be any problem running them NA for a while, though you might want to throw in your NA cams in the turbo heads. Should only add about 15 minutes to the whole assembly process...