[seagrass]

Probably not going to get much guidance for this swap on this forum as it is an uncommon swap.

At a guess there may be one or possibly two forum members out of 164,000 forum members that may have some knowledge of this swap.

I believe there are other forums (maybe legacygt) that will have far more experience and knowledge.

Good luck with your project, maybe you can give us some updates as you do the swap.

Seagrass

 

[Brucey]

I'm not sure how much I can help with non USDM cars but I've done this swap from an EJ251 to an EZ30D. (Non R, unofficially)

The easiest way to do this swap is sell your current car and buy an H6.

 

[cardoc]

You need the H6 wiring harnesses, engine and interior, and all the computers; ECM, TCM, ABS/VDCCM, BIU, instrument cluster. The engine and trans are wired different. The interior is wired different. The ABS/VDCCM has to match the ECM and TCM for communications and all that runs through the BIU.

The rear diff is the same gear ratio between the two cars, you may want to verify that. 4.11:1

If you got the H6 car on the cheap, have plenty of time and patience, then put the two in the shop and tear them apart. Label everything. If the H6 is a sedan, you'll have some extra work for the tail lights and rear wiper on the Outback.

 

[cardoc]

Also, taking the interior harness out means removing the dash panels, so may as well swap over the whole setup, including the cluster. May as well swap the steering column.

 

[MADagain]

You need the H6 wiring harnesses, engine and interior, and all the computers; ECM, TCM, ABS/VDCCM, BIU, instrument cluster. The engine and trans are wired different. The interior is wired different. The ABS/VDCCM has to match the ECM and TCM for communications and all that runs through the BIU.

The rear diff is the same gear ratio between the two cars, you may want to verify that. 4.11:1

If you got the H6 car on the cheap, have plenty of time and patience, then put the two in the shop and tear them apart. Label everything. If the H6 is a sedan, you'll have some extra work for the tail lights and rear wiper on the Outback.

Yeah I got the H6 on the cheap, crashed front end and evidence of the car being rolled (has roof damage)... so Yeah I'm fully willing to do the swap just want to know what talks to what and if I need the entire loom. Don't think ABS needs to be swapped from the H6, should just work with whatever uinit it's plugged into, they shouldn't be paired/coded to one particular computer (from memory).

When you say loom do you mean the entire car loom? Can't I just chop it from the firewall/cluster back and join onto existing harness? Match up wires, I'm sure Subaru wouldn't have made completely different harnesses for the 2 cars... surelyyyyyyyyyyyyy.

I was just gonna swap the cluster, TCU, ECU steering column with ignition barrel and the key reader and call it a day... but when I ask about this swap nobody seems to give me the direction just how annoying it will be?

 

[MADagain]

Also, taking the interior harness out means removing the dash panels, so may as well swap over the whole setup, including the cluster. May as well swap the steering column.

Yeah, well the interior is cream so I'm not swapping that uglyness into my car... but I get you. All that stuff will be scrapped I don't need it... may as well verses ACTUALLY NEED TO DO are completely different. If I don't need to remove this I won't. I originally was going to keep my original everything and just swap over the ECU and delete the immobilser requirements from the ECU... but it's not that easy

 

[cardoc]

The TCM between the 4 and 6 are different and that makes the interior harness different. Check the part numbers on the ABS.

 

[Brucey]

You're going to have to remove the dash. There is simply no way around it.

The wiring is completely different between the four and the six.

You'll have to remove the crash beam, the air bags, the ECU/TCU, the glove box, the gauge cluster, the center console, likely the seats, the heater core, blower, and entire HVAC system is going to have to come out.

The wiring harness is the first thing that goes in these cars when they're built. So everything else is on top of it.

Here is an idea of how far you have to go:

I did go a little further and also swapped the VDC system in from the donor car which added more work for me. However, the interior is going to have to get to the same point shown in the video.

I have a thread as well documenting everything:

Outback VDC H6 Swap to Baja

(It's technically going into the Baja but I know it will get more feedback here) So as much as the wife loves the Baja she's never been happy with the power it has. We've looked into a couple of ways (super charger, turbo swap) and keep coming up with the same result as far as being a daily...

www.subaruoutback.org