My Fiberfab Californian Subaru Conversion

All sounds good.

Tell us about the MG Midget?  The quad pipes sure aren't stock. 

I see you have rear hoop on bell housing but you might want to add a mid mount or front mount to protect the nose cone with 4x the stock hp (can't see one in picture).  With power you're going for I think an upgrade to a rear truss mount would be good way to triangulate and tighten rear up (reduces stress on mounting horns too).  I assume rear of Subaru engine will be mounted to rear cross member too.  If you haven't added steel to cure/prevent CMC rear butt sag now would be time to do it.

You can do chrome powder coating too.  Its not as sparkly as real chrome but give a nice mellow pop to engine parts.  Black would hide the engine and make it dark.  A mid-grey would be nice too (356's used grey in the day).  Either or just silver would go nicely with the blue exterior.

+1 to grey or silver. Consider a flat silver. Mild contrast is nice.

Thanks for the great input. The trans has the mid strap also. The midget has a tricked out 1500cc engine with big valve high compression head (10.5-1CR) dual 40 Weber carbs and a 4 into 1 header. The tiny power plant is pushing a whopping 160HP the engine in stock form was about 50HP. The old 4 speed trans has been replaced by a modern 5 speed with a nice overdrive 5th gear.The suspension has all been modified and the ugly front and rear giant rubber bumpers have been removed. I am actually getting ready to place it on the market for sale.  $15K will buy it.

I once had a '59 bug eye (frog eye in UK) AH Sprite.  I put a '64 MG 1275 cc engine, trans and front disc brakes on it.  Painted it BRG.  Fun car.

Oh, baby!

Sweet.

How low does that exhaust hang? I drag my A1 header. I wonder how much lower that exhaust is than my A1?

The tip runs a 1/4" from the lower body lip. The system is designed very well. The muffler parts of the Sebring Exhaust run the same height as the lower "J" pipes that run under the heads so it has plenty of ground clearance. It is designed as a solid unit when bolted together. Other systems have the "J" pipes slip fit and these don't offer the rigidity this header does.

Yeah, that exhaust is really, really sweet. I wonder if they make one for a Spyder????

Why would you need a Subaru VIN to buy a Subaru short block?

I have heard that Subaru doesn’t want to sell it’s engines for use in other vehicles.  This is a way to get around that policy.  Not sure why they have such a policy.

Lane Anderson posted:

I have heard that Subaru doesn’t want to sell it’s engines for use in other vehicles...

Maybe if the price is right...

Not Sure, Carey said the first step in the process is buying a totaled Subaru from an insurance offering , once they have the VIn. number in hand they Have a deal with Subaru to procure a new short block. I can ask him and let you know. Maybe Subaru doesn't sell new short blocks to the open market.

There must be some other reason why Special Edition wants a Subi VIN.  You can buy all the short/long blocks your wallet can handle from hundreds of Subi engine builders in almost every state.  Many of them advertise that they get their short blocks or case halves directly from Subaru.  Some give credit for an exchange block, some don't. 

Of course, the newest/trickiest/most exclusive Subi engines don't even have an engine number from the factory, since the entire engine block is machined from billet with a 5-axis CNC machine.  They claim the block can handle up to 1500 HP, with 60+ psi turbos.

Buying a salvage car is for the harness/ecu and core motor. At least that’s what we do on vanagon conversions

Waaay back in the day (like early-mid '80s) we used to get rebuilt engines from a company called ATK. They came with a one-year warranty and we never got one back. 

Junked Subies are interesting though, given their propensity to eat head gaskets and many of their owners' propensities to keep driving them as Stanley Steamers. So it's a reasonable thing to get new stuff, if the budget's there. 

Yup. Right now I've got the motor pulled on Michelle's 2006 Impreza. Head gaskets went at 180K. The hot tip appears to be Fel-Pro gaskets instead of Subaru(they'll just leak again) and spray copper gasket spray on both sides. We'll see this week.......

FYI, it's an EJ-253 SOHC with drive-by-wire throttle body. Had to remove that to get easy access to drive-plate bolts, as it's an automatic. Came out pretty much the same as my 1998 Legacy GT, except that was a stick.

Thank you for the input...According to Carey at Special Edition they are aware of the weak areas  Subaru engines have and take measures to improve them during the engine assembly.  They have done many conversions and new builds using this power plant. I trust they have the bases covered.

Head gaskets are a problem in these cars.  I always add Subaru conditioner to the anti-freeze mix in my car, and no problems so far (2007 Impreza).

I have read on some Subie Tech's site that the way the head gasket is replaced is often the culprit to cause premature failure and the type of head gasket used is also important.  They seem to indicate that there are newer type which I cannot remember the name off hand that are more heat resistant. 

I used Evans cooling in my subie engine to prevent damage to the head gasket I feel the issue is the lack of coolant movement in the head when the engine is off.  Jim has an auxiliary pump that keeps the fluid coolant moving for x minutes after you stop to prevent this which is something I am thinking of adding.  The way I see it at 6K miles per year the gasket will never need changing anyway  

All Wheel Drive Auto in Seattle... look them up they have interesting articles.

Jimmy V yes Carey is aware and takes care of these issues so you'll get a nice reliable powerplant. I was just noting the issues for others that may not be aware.

My lady's car was bought used so who knows what care it received in it's previous life?

To clear up the question some posed concerning buying new short blocks from Subaru, I confirmed with Carey at Special Edition that a VIN number from a donor car is required to buy a new short block from Subaru. I did hear him correctly. I am not sure why Subaru requires this but that seems to be the case. 

They can justify replacing parts but not selling engines to other vendors ... to themselves

Update, Carey has given me a date (7/16) to bring my car and new transaxle in to have the newly built EJ25 Subaru engine installed. They are going to upgrade the rear drum brakes to discs while the car is there also. I am so excited the get the car converted and get to driving it. The engine is built using a brand new short block from Subaru. The heads and ECU from the donor car have built rebuilt. This delayed gratification thing is hard. On another note I sold my 1975 MG Midget this past weekend to a nice gent in California. I listed it on Ebay with a buy it now price and he hit the buy it button the first day it was listed. Now I have some extra room. I am thinking of buying a Miata converted to look like a 65 Mustang. It has a V8 instead on the Miata 4 banger. I have seen these before and thought it was a slick idea. Classic look with modern drive. What do you all think?

Great news on your Subaru & trans update, Jimmy! Now it will be so hard waiting to get that bad boy back and out on the road. Keep us posted. Woo Hoo! 

@Jimmy V.

A Miatang. Never heard of that.

Yes, They are kind of ingenious. The after market has so many Mustang parts available there are people that strip the body panels off of the Miata and fit after market metal Mustang body parts to make a two seat version of a 65 Mustang convertible. There is a V8 conversion kit for the Miata if you require more power. The car I am looking at is a very nice example of this. Mazda and Ford almost sold these as a dealer sold car.

Musta. I'd never heard of that either. It's fabulously bizarre. Full-sized Mustang body panels on that? Because I would have thought it'd turn out something like 7/8 size, for that subtle nod to NASCAR rules....

I came across a company doing this some 15 or so years ago and almost had one built by a guy doing this as a business full time. When I bought my Speedster last year The guy I bought it from had many collector cars and this Miatang was one of them. I  haven't seen one of these in many years and this is one of the best examples I have seen. He wants to sell it now and I am considering buying it.  The owner told the me the story behind this one last year and if my memory serves me this car was one of several that was built as  prototypes used in a presentation to Ford in a deal that was in the works for these to be made and sold by Ford Dealers. The deal fell with the great recession and never got off the ground. I had in process pics of the building of one of these and since deleted them. I like the car and the idea. The car is more usable and drives many times better than the best early Mustang ever made and I have owned many. The convertible tops are better and actually keep all the elements out. Look at the quality of the door. This is the actual Miata door with Mustang door skin attached.  I think it is one cool Miata.

The wheelbase on an early Miata is approx. 88-90" The wheelbase on a 1965 Mustang Convertible is 108".  The lost length comes from the back seat area behind the door.

A Mustata!

I found the website for the guy who converts the Miata to the Mustang look a like. The thing is called a M1stang the web site address is http://m1stang.tripod.com/

Ok it's two weeks until I take my Fiberfab  Speedster to have Carey at Special Edition install the 2.5 L Subaru engine they have built for me. I need to decide on the type of exhaust they fabricate. Dual exit, single center exit or hide away.  What is the consensus for what looks best? Does anyone have Speedsters with any of the exhaust types I have listed and pics they would be willing to post? At first I thought center exit but now I am leaning toward the dual exit that would give a closer to vintage look. Any thoughts?

My experience is that anything that hides away points down. That kicks up dust and debris from the exhaust.  When I park or back out of my driveway the dust it kicks up coats the rear of my car. 

Im having mine converted to dual rear exit.

Have you seen Joe Fortino's Beck, it has a pretty cool sounding subie exhaust set up, it might be a bit loud IMHO on a long hwy cruise for me, but with the top down real sweet sound... ask carey about it.

Actually it’s not that loud (for me) at highway speed, I can still hear my music. I dig the look and it sounds very close to my previous AC motor. Carey painted the engine to match the car and added red accents, they are amazing  I’ll try and post a video in the morning   

It is the closest sounding subie I think to AC for sure that I have heard of the subie engines installed.  At least that I have heard anyway. 

Hey Joe I would love to see the entire exhaust system. Do you have any pics of the underside? You engine install looks great. I am so exciting to have Special Edition do this work.  What transaxle gearing are you running?