Subaru Fever, Choices, choices--2.5 or 2.0 T.... Options

[tgbo]

Okay, all you avid Subaru converts, my 914 1.8 is up on stands for rust removal and re-engining...I'm mostly a Fiat guy who has wanted a 914 for years and finally acquired a one owner from a friend who just gave up! Been searching the Suby threads ( wow, some nice work) and made the decision to go with more modern power--sooo, what I have gleaned is this: the 2.5 (ala Scott T., etc) will allow radiator in the engine room, the turbos won't--correct? (Fiid's pix show way more cutting than I want to have to do). The Suby ecu will work fine, with minor fiddling--Fiid, are you willing to share some MS knowledge from your conversion? (yes, I have studied the squirter and may put it on the Datsun, too).

That said, motor mounting--Scott's bar or something like the Downunder bar seems the way to go. Scott, have you decided to make copies for sale, or are you allowing reproduction by members for personal use?

Last question for today: engine vendors -- lots on Ebay, any recs on non-ebay vendors for JDM or NA motors ( and price ranges on recent buys if you don't mind)

Yes, pix will come as the work starts!

Thanks,
John

[Matt Monson]

If there are any Subaru questions you guys have ever had and haven't had answered, ask away. I am one of the founding members of NASIOC and have been in this game for the last 6 years. I have done both USDM and JDM engine swaps, both with factory ECU's and piggyback units.

But a few things from the remarks above. There is no compression difference on a JDM engine. The differences are in ECU tuning. But the Subaru ECU's are smart. They will retard timing and run just fine on US gas. You just don't make the factory rated HP on them.

Not all Ej20's make 240hp. In fact, most of them don't. It really depends on year and model. Ej20's were first used in the early turbo Legacies. These engines are Ej20G's. They were 200hp for autos and 220hp for manuals. These engines have 8.5:1 CR. These are the only EJ20's Nippon ever gets. They look old because they are 15 years old. I have purchased two of these engines from them with no problems whatsoever. Just replace the timing belt, check the seals and hoses and you are good to go.

When the WRX was introduced in '93, they were 220hp for auto and 240 for manuals. When the STI was released in '95, it was 250hp. You are not going to find these at most of your average California import warehouses. Specialty importers are snatching up most of these engines. In '97 they redesigned the Ej20 and upped the hp. Autos went to 250 and manual to 280 and STi to 300. Good luck finding any of these as a complete swap for less than $2500. $4000+ is usually the case on the newer ones.

I could go one about hydraulic lash adjusters vs shim over bucket vs rocker heads, and open deck versus closed, what turbos were used on what year, max hp, and max boost,etc etc, but don't want to bury you with info that isn't desired...