Why not the WRX? Options

[Brett W]

I was checking on the net today and you can pick up a WRX motor for about 650 used. This is pretty complete. That would make a great 914 swap. Better turbo, and some cleaning up of the engine wiring and such you could have one bad ass daily driver.

You would still have the flat four and you could over come the limitations of the T4 engine.

[airsix]

Why start screwing around with aftermarket knock-sensors when the engine comes with one from the factory? Getting the stock unit to funciton with your chosen ECU would be the best bet since the mounting location and sensor design were chosen by the engineers who designed the motor.

Next question: Variable valve timing (AVCS). Fiid, you've got a stock ECU, so if you wire that up I guess you're good. Jon, what are your plans? Something like Honda VTEC would be a cake walk - it's either on or off, but I was reading up on the AVCS system and it's infinitely adjustable based on solenoid duty cycle. Yikes! Many of the aftermarket ECU's can handle auxiliary inputs and outputs, but I don't know any that will output a variable duty-cycle signal. The more I dig into this the more I am leaning towards a factory ECU or a Link (because it's made for this motor).

Did you guys both get your engines from Nippon Motors? Fidd, did you get the ECU with the motor and are there any assurances that they match? I'm leaning toward the single turbo but I've learned that there were like 8 versions! Were the importers you bought from easy to deal with? I'd like to be able to check engine codes before purchase to be sure of what I was getting, and if an ECU was purchased w/ motor I'd like to be able to confirm that they match.

I hope you guys aren't getting tired of me dragging this thread on. I can't believe I'm the only person falling all over this. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wub.gif)

-Ben M.