02 ej 205 vs 04 ej205

[subenewbe]

My 04 wrx has a blown motor in it. My friend has an 02 wrx that was wrecked. His motor is good. What is the diffrance between years? I see that the 02/03 have a diffrent timing belt set and diffrant gastket kit than the 04/05. Do all i need to do id bolt my 04 heads to his 02 bottom end or i there more involved?

[zax]

The only difference of which I'm aware is the 2004 EJ205 has shimless buckets for the heads, whereas the 2002 has bucket-over-shim style heads. If built to rev over 7500 RPM, 2002-2003 heads were known to spit the shims out...

Your 2004 heads will bolt straight to the 2002 bottom end.