Subaru Motor

Good constructive comments and content! I learn something new everytime I visit this site!

@ Stan - I knew we were of kindred spirit! My ideal Speedster replica would also have a '70 Porsche 2.7 911S blueprinted to RS specs.

ALB-you are not off base but add another 5K to the 75K and you can get a 911 IM-6 built in any color you like.  And like a real Porsche if you want options on your 911 IM-6 start checking boxes and the price will continue to climb to 90K and more.  Are the special? You can’t even imagine.  It’s like driving an old school 911 but only better because of the size and shape (and it’s topless).   I had the pleasure of driving Howard's Blue Bomb IM-6 at Carlisle and I could not even get it out of third gear.  Carlisle has open country roads and 80 MPH in third gear felt just right.  Yes, you can go fast in a built up Type-1, but it’s a totally different experience of sound, suspension, and power all melding together at one time.  It’s magical and that’s what you pay for.  

IM-6's are pretty rare and I think that Intermeccanica will build more Subaru powered cars than any other going forward.  Jack Raby is on to something with the High Performance Naturally Aspirated Water Cooled Boxers he is developing and I cant wait to see where that goes in the future.   

Hey, glad you're looking for a tub.

Just as an aside, now that we're back in snow-bound New England, Kathy bought a new Subaru Outback.  2.5 liter, non-turbo, in a station-wagon kind of thing, about half again bigger than the Speedster.  I gotta tell ya, when I stomp on that thing it really moves.  I was more than a little surprised at the power and it soounds just like Pearl (only a lot quieter).  Put one those in a Speedster with a well-set-up suspension and it would certainly be cool.  No wonder everyone loves their SAS cars, especially the coupes....and for less than half the price of an IM-6!

Welcome., Mark---I hope you stay around --you certainly have walked the walk!

@ Stan - I stand corrected; I meant a '70 Porsche 911S 2.2 blueprinted to RS specs. I realized after my post that 2.7 came into production 6-7 years later. I love those old school 911's!

Stan, I love your line.....The engine held together (mostly), but exhibited all of the characteristics you would expect asking Usain Bolt to run the marathon instead of the 100m dash.

My IM is used manly for long road trips.  After I sold my IM (before the buy-back and rebuild) I bought a V8 powered Miata.  I loved that car!  Sure, it was a girlie car, but damn that thing was fast.  I took it on two road trips and it broke down twice on both trips (overheating).  That was enough for me-I sold it.

I'm hoping (crossed fingers) that my present builder can put this engine together so that it is both powerful and reliable (Lord knows I've spent enough money on it).  Right now I'm willing to give up some horsepower for reliability...to a point. 

One thing for sure-if I have any more serious problems with my IM's engine I'll be switching to a water cooled engine, but it won't be in a 356 replica.

 yes I am looking for a car, I wish I could get a sas car with ac .&never have to mess with it again........ya right.  All of my race stuff is for sale,(car&motors v8 stuff)I doubt in this economy I could get $30000.00 for all of it so I think Ill have to stay with the vw type 1 style stuff.but it wont be slow & wont have to be worked on , and wont be broke down. do it right, do it once,be done and go have fun.

Last summer, my 1600 crapped out on me halfway to Vegas. I have no attachment to air cooled engines, I plan on having this car for a long time (I'm 29 with no plans to sell, in fact I'm toying with buying a coupe to match #themadness), and above all else I WANT THE CAR TO RUN RELIABLY ALL THE TIME. After researching my options, I had John Steele throw a Subaru 2.5 in there. The cost was right around 10k and that included the following:

The engine

The 50K mile tune up performed on the engine (even though it had many less miles on it)

Brand new Rancho pro street tranny

Disc brakes all around 

Radiator, including a custom fabbed box for it

Alternator

Wiring Harness

FI/Computer whatever blah blah

Custom exhaust John developed for Subaru conversions

Obviously all the installation as well as removal of the old parts

Probably some other things I'm not thinking of

And oh yeah, included in that price was me having my Fuchs taken from the awful black the previous owner had them to factory polished.

Some of the better money I've ever spent from a joy/satisfaction standpoint.

Newsflash - This car is very very very fun now. It was already fun before but this is a completely different ballgame.

Another newsflash - For that price, this was all done while I lived my normal life. Did not lift a finger unless you count going down to John's shop and hanging out a few times.

Yet another newsflash - I can leave Los Angeles at 11am and drive to Vegas in the middle of an August heatwave, do 100+ mph the entire way, and never look at a gauge once except for the gas gauge. Which brings me to...

Oh yeah one last newsflash - I'm getting close to 40mpg 

Again, my main reason for doing this was the reliability. The added power (quadruple the horsepower at least, I didn't have the strongest 1600) is just icing on the cake. I can honestly tell you I would have done the conversion for the same price if it only had half the hp. 

If you are like me and don't want to tinker/upkeep/maintain your car and instead prefer to drive it, you enjoy looking at the twisty roads you're destroying or the drooling at the beauty of the car half naked beach babies you're about to be destroying (Vince, can I get a pic?) much more than you enjoy looking at an oil temp gauge, you require reliability over everything, you like having a lot of power, and you don't want you car to leak... YOU WOULD BE AN ABSOLUTE BUFFOON TO NOT GET A SUBARU. I cannot be clear enough about this. They aren't for everyone as Stan very accurately pointed out, but if your desires are similar to mine it must be considered.

Colin....considering the extras put on the car I's say you got a smokin' deal ! Very nice to hear.

Colin, you outlined exactly why I am going Subaru with my new build.  I want to enjoy the ride and really don't care to mess around with adjustments, issues etc. I just want to drive it, drive it and then drive it some more.  Now I'm all fired up!!!! If you have one, please post a pic of your ride and your Subaru motor....

There you have it: Soob=half naked beach babies.

Probably need the 6 for fully naked. But pretty good.

my bug gets 35+mpg with a 2332 or 2028cc motor,I would of figured the suby would of got a lot more than that in a 356style car.and what adjustments I seem to just adjust my seat belt this time of year.

   it's cold hear in fl, now(around 50 degf) where are the half nakid beach babes I miss them.

    yes I do agree the suby is the way to go if you can do swing it, but I have somuch performance vw stuff & I like making new parts&motors,(keeps my brain from shutting down)( or that might be why I cant shut it down)I wish I had time to work on my own crap.(1 more outside motor&Im done,then can do my stuff.......I hope)

   the whole reason I want a replica is no rust&hit the road and go,no wories,no problems,no ugly bug,& better mpg from aero.I would like to have a hard top(coupe),but dont see that happening.

Colin, 10 grand for all that is an awesome price.  Hell, my 2276 alone cost me $8000. 

The last two coupes we put into production were both Subaru motors.  One is a 2.5 w a Supercharger and Mendeola 6spd Trans, the other is a straight 2.5  as buyer wants AC and Heat with reliability as main goal.  We at CCW love air-cooled, and continue to play with Porsche and VW motors, most notably working with 911 2.5 and 2.7 in Coupes, Speedsters and 550's, but I think the future of these cars will end up being water-cooled powerplants.  The reliability, power and accessories for the younger crowd and the newbies is very tempting.  The great thing about this space is that you can do almost ANYTHING you want, and keep true to your intentions as the car owner.  

Colin,

you got me curious

- what is the bhp/torque rating of your new subaru engine?

- do you a have a pan chassis ? any changes required (chassis, suspension, steering) to cope with the increase in power?

- how does it handle at 100 mph, is it sustainable assuming conditions allowed it ?

Thanks for sharing your experience..

Z

Colin,

Forgot about the engine sound of your suby -

is-it notably different (better ?) than an air-cooled engine ?

Thanks

Zdog,

Subaru EJ-25's run 155 to 175 HP and about 140 to 165ft lbs of tourqe.  Here is the sound of my freshly rebuilt EJ22 with machinced heads, a low grind Delta cam and some custom exhaust.  Peter Ventuti and I have similar setups except fot the cam grind.  Never on dyno but I figure about 150-160HP.  This video is a single muffler setup but Henry knows my wife and he decided on two mufflers before he sent me the car. More refined but still sounds very good.

Marty,

Great engine sound - seems better than the aircooled !

I'll second that, but adding another muffler was a good idea.

In the end its all a matter of personal preference as to which engine base is best. We continue to create our type 4 based engines and nothing has changed there and it won't. The demand for what we create has maintained it's self over the past decade, right through the middle of the economic crunch. The issue is now finding solid cores to build from and continuing to score quality components. We find ourselves having to produce more parts in house and that has raised prices 10% every year since 2008.

The ACVW industry has committed suicide and since I have never been known as a conformist I went my own way and have to say that I couldn't be happier. Using the EJ and EZ Suby base engines for my own JR series of engines have proven to be a lot of fun. With zero advertisement and a website thats basically blank more people find me than we can even supply engines to. Most of those engines have been bought by those who have already had me create an engine for them in the past as they are building new cars and want my latest and greatest. When 80% of your business comes from those who are already on your books you have to be doing something right.

The developments and things that we have done with the modern Porsche engines take what we have done with the Suby to a somewhat parallel level and thats a much higher level than generic Subaru engine ownership, stock or otherwise.