Subaru engine, Which one Options

[r_towle]

Not trying to be a dick, but please (pretty please) answer just my specific question because I am old, I don't understand all these numbers, and I want to start shopping.

What is the biggest, most horsepower, turbo, gas, Subaru engine that easily ( no drive by wire or anti theft stuff) can be swapped into the car?

[matthepcat]

The great thing about a turbo EJ motor is the great aftermarket support. Hundreds of companies making parts to support these family of motors and if the urge for more power is there, it is cheap to buy a tune and turn up the boost. I don't really understand the argument for simplicity, as the turbo does not really add much complexity. You still have to fab a custom exhaust on both motors. You just have to relocate the air to air inter cooler to fit, or run a water to air.

[r_towle]

The great thing about a turbo EJ motor is the great aftermarket support. Hundreds of companies making parts to support these family of motors and if the urge for more power is there, it is cheap to buy a tune and turn up the boost. I don't really understand the argument for simplicity, as the turbo does not really add much complexity. You still have to fab a custom exhaust on both motors. You just have to relocate the air to air inter cooler to fit, or run a water to air.

This project needs a turbo, and needs to be in the right family of engines so I can boost the power if required over time.

Simplicity for me is to know what motor to buy, a turbo, a 4 cylinder.
As all of these threads go, there are so many opinions that do not answer the initial question, thus why I get confused with all the numbers and give up again....

Six cylinder motor is not an option.
Using a stock ECU would be my first choice to keep the up front costs down initially, but have that option later on.

Rich

[DBCooper]

This project needs a turbo, and needs to be in the right family of engines so I can boost the power if required over time.

Simplicity for me is to know what motor to buy, a turbo, a 4 cylinder.
As all of these threads go, there are so many opinions that do not answer the initial question, thus why I get confused with all the numbers and give up again....

Six cylinder motor is not an option.
Using a stock ECU would be my first choice to keep the up front costs down initially, but have that option later on.

Rich

OK, real simple, buy an STi motor, U.S. market, any year but the newer the better. You're going to find that those are a bit expensive so the next option would be a U.S. market WRX motor, again as new as possible, about half the price and not much of a step down from the STi.

That's the answer to your question, but I don't think you're asking the right question. The problem will be the drive-by-wire, variable valve timing, immobilizer, etc. If you use late model versions of either of those engines with a stock ECU you'll need to incorporate so much of the donor car's systems into the swap to satisfy what the OEM ECU needs to run that your project won't be simple any more. And those lower "initial" costs will turn into a lot more time, work and expense. I don't want to TELL you what to do, but I'd suggest you consider using an aftermarket ECU, even if only a Megasquirt, to keep the whole thing simpler, and in the end cheaper. And that's going to be simpler/cheaper even after paying someone for a nice dyno-tune at the end.

The next alternative is Matt's suggestion, an older 2003-2005 WRX EJ205 engine that may not be the pinnacle of the monster power map, but is a straightforward engine with 230 stock horsepower that's simple, proven, and well supported by the aftermarket so can be easily modified when you want. It's what I have, and I'm pretty sure it would have more enough power to keep you entertained for a long time. A long long time, you being so old and all ( (IMG:style_emoticons/default/poke.gif) ). The nice thing about the EJ motors is that they aren't too expensive or hard to find, so once the work to finish the basic conversion part is done you can plug-and-play with lots of different variations if you happen to blow one up, want more power, do some experimentation with E85, stupid big turbos, or whatever.