I'll be doing an EJ20R with a vf39 swap into my Legacy soon. Will my stock radiator be sufficient or will I need to replace it with a bigger one? As well, I have a top mount intercooler sitting around the house. How much of a difference will a top mount vs a front mount make?
It should but if you want to be safe, get an ebay one for $100 shipped. I got one and has been perfect since June of this year. The only issue you might have is the fitment of the factory fans. Just a slight bend on a couple of tabs to line things up and notching the holes bigger to allow perfect fitment of two fans would work. Also the threads on the fan screws might be different...Take it in to HD with you and figure out what thread patter they are and you can find out which ones work perfectly. I got the 2 core one...that's all you'll need. Also, before I forget, you will have to cut both the top and bottom hose just to make sure they don't hit the pulleys and no restrictions in the bends.
if this image is truly of an EJ20R, the fill tank is attached to the motor, whereas, your radiator has the fill hole attached to the top of the radiator. I'm thinking you'll need a WRX spec radiator for it to work properly. here is what I found for a 97 Legacy GT motor:
Every seen the old Water to Air top mounts they used to put on subarus? Pretty cool stuff if you can find them.
Matt, My car is currently like the second image, and the engine im getting is like the first image. I didn't think of the fill spot. Thanks for pointing it out I must say though, could you have found a more rusted out photo of the Legacy engine? lol shoot me if I ever let my engine bay look like that