Porscheru Engine Choices, 2.2, 2.5, or 3.0 ?? Options

[R_u_dd]

Added a poll Here

Building a Porsche 914 with Subaru power and transmission Porscheru. Looking for a donor car with a 5mt transmission. I've considered many engine combos. The 2.0 wrx turbo is very popular for this build at 227 hp but I want NA power without the turbo lag. I've narrowed it down to these combos:

EJ22 99-2001 142 horsepower. Less power than I would like, but easy to find a car with a stick shift and fewer head gasket problems. Good potential for additional power. Strong motor.

SOHC 2.5 1990-2004 165 HP. This is a good power range for the lightweight 914 (2,400lbs). Easy electronics. The negative is frequent HG problems. The donor car is hard to find with a stick shift. If I buy a donor car with an automatic tranny, which 5mt will fit, just match the year?

EZ30D 2000-2003 212 HP. The donor car will need a tranny. Which should I buy?

So the big question is which donor would you buy and why? I don't want to buy individual parts if I can avoid it because it's much more expensive and the combinations might not work well together. Individual parts are about $2,000 but I think I can get a donor for around $1500.

[DBCooper]

The Canbus electrics have made it impossible to use the later Subaru motors (2009 and newer, if I recall correctly) with the OEM ECU's. With Canbus you can't just peel out the whole wiring harness out and strip out unneeded sensors, you need it all, intact, with the fuel level sensors, auto trans info, etc. etc. So if it's Canbus it's been that you need an aftermarket ECU, using the OEM isn't really viable. Except that I just noticed on the Subarugears site they have a box that fakes all those other Canbus signals, so you can use the Subaru ECU. I could never sort out that mess of wiring, so for me an aftermarket ECU makes sense, but if you're after a nearly new engine and want to use the OEM ECU that box might make it viable. I don't know details, cost or anything, just noticed it.

Also, by the way, you DON'T have to have an ECU that controls the later AVCS valve system. An alternative is to install non-ACVS cams, meaning you can go hot-rod cams at the same time if you like. It's a slightly dumber engine without AVCS, but same peak torque and HP. So there's no particular need to stick with the older engine models, whether OEM or aftermarket ECU.