I found this engine for sale up in San Francisco, a 2001 2.5 liter Subaru motor, complete with the wiring harness, ECU and a bunch of other stuff. I called up my good friend Jeff and said "hey why don't you drive for a couple hours and go look at this engine for me, and while you are at it, pay for it and brign it home and store it until I can either come up and get it, or get someone to bring it down." He agreed, because well, he's a good friend and a good guy.

So I got a call today from him and he had picked up Fiid as well and they were checking out the compression, making sure everything was in order, and cleaning up spilled coolant (from the new engine) in the back of Jeff's nearly new WRX wagon.

Needless to say, next time I'm up in norcal, I owe these two guys dinner.

-Tony

So how many frozen pizzas did you pay for this engine?


Andrew

QUOTE (phantom914 @ May 16 2005, 07:48 AM)

So how many frozen pizzas did you pay for this engine? Andrew

oh i have a feeling tony and i will be talking a lot

when ya going to get it tony?

[QUOTE] So how many frozen pizzas did you pay for this engine? [/QUOTE]

A LOT of frozen pizzas. This engine wasn't free, but I did get a good deal on it.

[QUOTE] oh i have a feeling tony and i will be talking a lot [/QUOTE]

Yeah, probably. Its going to be a while before I even think about lighting off the engine. I still have a lot to do... Such as..

Finish prepping the engine bay (removing the engine tin surround and a general cleanup. Also have to do a little welding in there. One of the trunk hinge points is missing, as well as one of the engine lid hinge points. Also need to figure out where to put the battery. I'm even thinking of deleting the stock engine mounting points, though I'm not sure yet.

Body work - Need to weld on the front fender, and do the back fender as well. Also have to finish fixing up the windshield surround damage, and a few other spots as well. Paint.

Brakes - Need to get a set of those spaced out calipers for the rears. I have vented rotors back there, but no calipers. Front has SC A calipers.

Suspension - probably ought to replace the rear springs with something heavy, and put in Bilsteins to match the front. Also need to install rear sway bar.

Interior - Maybe another coating of POR-15 and then put in all the trim pieces, dash, instruments, etc. Seats and door panels need recovering as well. This stuff will probably come after the car is running though.

Electrical - Need to figure out how to wire this whole thing up. Being an electrical engineer I am obligated to overdo the electrical system.

[/QUOTE] when ya going to get it tony?[QUOTE]

Soon hopefully! Have to figure out when my coworker is going back up to visit his family, or when I can take a road trip up.

-Tony

Tony, I'll most likely be making a trip down to Long Beach mid-June. If you don't mind waiting until then, I can bring it down with me. I'm real close to Jeff's place, so it'll be no problem picking it up.

Jen

Jenny, sounds like a plan, let me know when you decide on a date.

Thanks!

Already know. Heading down Sunday June 12th. Anything to help a fellow 914er. Especially since I've received help from so many of you in the past.

Jen

QUOTE (Jenny @ May 16 2005, 01:35 PM)

Already know. Heading down Sunday June 12th. Anything to help a fellow 914er. Especially since I've received help from so many of you in the past. Jen

Just make sure to agree to the number of frozen pizzas Tony will pay you ahead of time.



Actually it's great that you are going to do this. The title of the thread will need to be changed to jkeyzer, fiid anfd Jenny are awesome.



Andrew

QUOTE (phantom914 @ May 16 2005, 03:48 PM)

The title of the thread will need to be changed to jkeyzer, fiid and Jenny are awesome.

No need. Everyone already knows I'm awesome.

I don't want to steal Jeff & Fiid's thunder. Both of them helped piece my car together before WCC '04. I'm still indebted to them.

Jen

Hey,

No probs man - glad to be of help. Sorry Jenny - I don't think I actually did help with your car, but if I can be of help - do let me know :-). I have a nice 1.7 you can have :-). LOL

Jenny, believe it or not I will also be going to Long Beach on June 12th, except I am flying in for a work conference. If I hadn't already booked tix I would have driven and expensed the miles, but oh well. I can load the engine into your truck on the 12th and help you unload it when you get there.

Nice!!

Jen

Update: Something very, very amusing (and a little bit spooky) unfolded regarding this engine.

About 2 years ago my roommate wrecked his 2001 Subaru 2.5RS by falling asleep at the wheel and driving into a ditch. He didn't have anything more than liability insurance and had to part out the car so he could afford a new one. He sold a lot of parts separately but in the end sold everything that was left of the roller including the engine and trans to a guy in SF.

This weekend, I bought a 2.5RS engine out of a 2001 Impreza from a guy in SF. The guy had bought a roller from the south bay and yanked the engine but never got around to putting it in his Ghia. I noticed that his story sounded very conspicuously like the one my roommate told me. 40,000 miles on the car, rolled in a ditch, insurance problems, etc.

Tonight I confirmed it. THIS ENGINE USED TO BELONG TO MY ROOMMATE!!!

How weird is that?!?!?! I am not joking. This is 100% true. My roommate was even able to point out little details that he remembered from back when he owned the car. The AC compressor for this engine is sitting in my backyard. The wheels off the car are there too. And now the engine has come home, and is sitting in the SAME GARAGE that the car used to be parked in, 2 years ago before it was wrecked.

SCARY!

Here is the car it used to belong to.

dude. that's whacked.

Here's the engine.
The jar cap over the oil filler is the same one that is on the engine now (you can barely see it in the photo at the top of the thread).

Here's the car after it was wrecked.
Poor thing.

Oh and that last pic is taken in my backyard.

The damage is pretty severe. I have my fingers crossed that Tony's engine isn't bent in any ways we haven't noticed yet!

eep! Thats a serious looking crash. Looks like it was nice and squarely heads on, which may be better or worse, I'm not really sure.

-Tony

That's so sad - I used to have the 4 door version of that car. It really was pretty awesome. Good times... good times.

His jaw dropped when he realized that I had just bought the engine from his old car.
What are the chances. 1 in a million? We weren't even looking for an EJ25 more than a couple weeks ago...

I guess the interesting question is: Did the intermediate owner make or lose money on it? :-) Although - that might not be a polite question to ask - so feel free to tell me that's not cool.

He did make some money. Probably $300-500? But he had to dispose of the chassis. I think I'd rather buy the engine alone and not have to worry about getting rid of the other stuff, even if it costs a couple hundred bucks more!