prior185

ANyone thought of doing a Subaru 2.5 boxer swap

From 2004-'07, Subaru also sold the ultra-high-performance Impreza STi. This special variant of the sedan came with a 300-hp version of the 2.5-liter turbo engine, a six-speed manual transmission

The renamed 2.5i trim levels came with 173 hp, while the WRX sedan and wagon gained a turbocharged 2.5-liter engine producing 230 hp.

These could be fun to try.

scuba

so try it, let us know how it works out
never thought of it though

dcg9381

These motors are a "flat" 180 degree design, I doubt that they'll fit in conventional engine bay, but I might be wrong...

MMA_Alex

they might. its a pretty tight fit inside the subaru engine bay tho...measurement time

prior185

the subaru is a friends idea. he made a good point that the 4.3chevy is a dog on fuel. I was lookiing at doing that swap and i can not see any gains if it uses more fuel and about the same economy as a 3.slow. after talking with some people who have do that swap.

it would be fun to put a lighter and more powerful engine in. i will be looking into finding out the dimension of the subaru and try and figure out if possible. I have another guy who is a subaru fan(big fan) so I will see what I can find out.

duburban

im excited about this idea. sounds great to me, i wonder how much more fuel those engines will burn in the bigger car, is it going to be truck or 4runner?

abecedarian

If the subaru swap would work, why not a 6cyl air cooled porsche? hehehe
no radiator... hmm... turbo?

Alex 400

that would be an interesting idea. a old 911 turbo from the mid 70's. those made good power. you just got to get a trans to bolt to it. nothing a little machining and modifications wouldn't take care of.

thinking about the sube motor and trans, i doubt that trans would take the abuse of a 300 horse motor through it couple to a transfer case spinning those bigger tires. don't see many impreza's rolling on 32's

abecedarian

From what I gather, the thing that kills the trans and such quickly is a lot of off idle / low RPM torque and the driveline 'shock' the trans and shafts get from the torque coming on quick and low, something most turbo'd 4's and 6's don't come with a lot of but wish they had.
One reason you don't see a lot of 8 and 12 cylinder (thems are some torque monsters) semi's running around anymore without some serious beefed up transmissions and drivelines- usually you'll find that on the heavy 'wreckers' (tow trucks). oh, that and the fuel economy.

Matt16

Are we talking automatic or manual transmissions? All the semi's I've seen are manual and all the tow trucks are auto I think.

I bet the Subaru develops its torque up high. I think there would be better candidates for a swap.

prior185

a friend of mine has a SVX subaru and is is a horizontal 6. the SVX is a heavy car and all wheel drive that is very fast 160km and it still has power left over. the engine from this subaru would be great but it is huge.
I told him about the idea and he is interested in looking into it.
funny thing there is a 2.5 boxer on ebay for sale for $3400

Matt16

The 3.4L V6 shares the same mounts as the 3.0L. It is a very popular swap.

943kgt

iTrader: (1)

I work at a subaru dealership, the swap would be difficult because the mounts are directly on the bottom, so some fabrication to the frame would have to be made. Also the upper mount connects back toward the firewall. I have no doubt that it will physically fit in there and would definetly be cool if you could get your hands on an STI engine. As far as the svx is, its kind of a dog, I would definetly go with an sti engine.

DragonLTD

I doubt the SVX would have the same mounts as the 3.0, i actually owned a SVX and that engine is really wide im not too sure it would fit in the engine bay of a 4runner or pickup (without some serious mods). As for the wrx or sti I see a couple of problems, one being that those cars are high compression turboed enignes which might not be great for off roading, considering that you wont get most of the tourqe from that engine until probably 400-4500 rpms. The other would be finding a heavy duty clutch that wont get burnt up (I guess you could use some heavy race clutch but i dont know how that would stand up to off roading). I would still love to see it done!!!! It would surley be a sleeper...

Alex 400

double post:

this might be a good upgrade if you are doing a lot of high speed running where you run the engine at higher rpms and need that upper end power to maintain speed.

norcalsvx

the 2.5l is pretty pricey but the dune buggy guys love um, i run that motor in my forester xt and it has lots of power (much better than my svx) i dont think the tranny would hold the abuse though-

highonpottery

iTrader: (1)

like everyone else stated, good for high RPMs which would be a good engine for a racer 2wd, but IMO the ultimate 4wd swap would be a 4cyl turbo diesel. if MY engine ever goes, that's what my investment would be. power and fuel economy...and the option to go green. someone once told me propane injection on diesel is like NOS because it helps burn like 90-100% of the fuel whereas without it, it only burns like 80% and makes black soot. made sense to me at the time. haven't really looked into it too much. some buddies and i were thinking of the ultimate road trip vehicle would be a VW TDI with a chip, bigger injectors and propane = power and high MPGs

tommy316

Propane is not like nitrous for a diesel. Propane is a fuel, unlike nitrous which adds oxygen. It takes oxygen and fuel to burn. You can inject both of these, even at the same time, on a diesel to get the best performance.

Alex 400

crysler is trying to decide if it is going to market the 2.8L turbo diesel from the liberty as a crate motor. price with wiring harness and required parts, close to 11,000 bucks. the motor makes 150 horsepower and 285 foot pounds of torque, and it's really compact.

turboale

Don't subis have trans issues on their own w/o 33s? My mom had an Outback (manual) in the late 90s and she even had trans problems (she drives like a grandma). Would be an interesting build, but the trans is definitely going to be the deal breaker. I'd also stay away from the turbo'd guys. They make good power, but its way to late for my liking in a truck that I take off-road (unless you like to pre-run, that is a whole other story). I like the diesel option, veggie oil makes things more enticing. $11k? I'd get a small cummins before anything with the Chrysler logo on it. I know they stole it from benz, but still...