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

[lapuwali]

Everyone I've talked to says the 2.0 turbos are torqueless. Nice top-end punch, but nada down below. Perhaps that's just a matter of tuning, but starting out with a 2.5 sounds like the ticket to me. Stock Soob exhausts are pretty far from optimal, and there's little reason a 4-valve 2.5L engine shouldn't be able to make a flexible 200hp in NA form.

Alfa was getting 200hp out of their 2.5 V6 20 years ago in streetable (but not US legal) trim. Their 3.0 4-valver ultimately made 240hp in full US emissions compliance mode, or 80hp/liter. A late 1.8 Miata made 140hp, or 78hp/liter. So, a 2.5 Soob engine should be tunable to 195-200hp NA while maintaining streetability, esp. since there are no smog considerations.

You can always get even more silly and add a turbo to the 2.5 if you decide 200hp isn't enough. Soob gets a smog-compliant 300hp out of the STi, and the turbo'd 2.5 has enough torque to drag a 4000lb Forester around at pretty silly speeds.