Hi All,

I'm about to scratch the long standing Impreza itch i've had on and off. I love the look of the hawkeyes (not a fan of the blobs although I know thats the sensible option) and am looking for an STi, probably with PPP if possible. I'm not looking to mod for more power as this will be my second car for getting to work, dealing with crap weather and enjoying a manual box when the mood takes me!

I've read a lot of threads about the 2.5, and so i've decided to go for it and just make sure i've got a slush fund for if/when the HG fails. Question really is, if i'm not looking to extract more power from the engine then what kind of repair or remedial work should I be needing particularly if I did it prior to a failure happening? Is a fully forged/closed deck motor required for ensuring a standard 2.5 can be reliable for future or would going for better head bolts/studs and gasket be ok provided it's been done properly?

I would say cars with reputations for engine failures resulting in large bills is something i'm quite used to, have to take the rough with the smooth sometimes to enjoy the best.

Cheers!

 

To quote someone else on this forum "a well built 2.5 makes for an awesome road car", I can vouch, as I have a Hawk spec d. For me a well built motor up to 400bhp ish, is generally:

Forged pistons
Arp or uprated head studs
Reskimmed blocks and heads, cylinder head desquish if you can find somewhere that can do it (controversially stock gaskets)
New bearings all round
(Possibly forged rods if you get the itch >420hp~)
Uprated jdm billet water pump
Uprated rad (if old or high mileage), or for safe measure
Full head rebuild, valve regrind, new seals clearance adjusted, etc
Oil pump plunger mod
Oil pickup replacement with aftermarket part
Secondary air pump delete

Then all that mapped by someone who really knows what they're doing.

Hawks are a good choice once the niggles are ironed out!

 

properly built 2.5 is a awesome engine and hard to beat in a road car due to the low down torque that is very usable in a road car ,,, mines running over 500bhp and has been for a few years now without any issues ,, my 2.5 hawk was the same as it also had a built engine ,,, you can buy a 2.5 crate motor from the states rated to 1000bhp with a warranty so explain why you think a forged build will be a ticking time bomb ??

 

 

Compete tosh about 6k redline bud. 400 lbs torque at 7400 revs here on a forged 2.5 with 2.0 sti heads.

 

All helpful stuff guys! thanks

I have to admit i've been back and forth all weekend between a hawk or a blob! Arrgh!!

 

Bug, Blob and Haweye are all essentially the same car. The facelifts are just different bonnet, wings, bumper/grille & lights.

Therefore you can make any model look like any other just by swapping the aforementioned items over.

So if you are more comfortable with a 2.0 Bug/Blob but prefer the looks of the Hawkeye, it's a relatively easy job to make it happen.

 

would it be possible to make a hawk look like a blob? would imagine that the factory xenon wiring and headlight level ecu fitted in the hawk would make it very difficult.

 

It's just a bit of wiring. I don't think it would be beyond the wit of man to run a new headlight loom to the relays or bypass the headlight level ecu and fit a resistor. You could fit Blob JDM HID headlights and take advantage of the factory xenon wiring.

 

Why would a forged build only last 50k miles when all the bits are a lot better and stronger than a oem engine? That just doesn't make sense.

 

 

There's no replacement for displacement

 

 

There ain't no substitute for cubic inches

 

As said above, you really can't beat the 2.5 Subaru engine when it's working well and tuned correctly. Brilliant road car.

I've owned 2.5 engine Subarus for 12 years now.

 

 

I buckled...went blob - pushed the button on one today

 

And what about the forester JDM sti 2.5 engines are they good for everyday use or do they need rebuilding. Just curious as still cant find the right scooby to buy with £10K

 

Forester STIs still have the same potential head gasket issues but are less prone to failure. I was unlucky, mine is for sale cheap and all in fixed would be under your budget.

https://www.scoobynet.com/subaru-444/1055768-highly-modified-2004-forester-sti-project.html