Hi all - A friend has a 2008 Forester turbo - badly cooked engine - can I easily fit a non turbo engine ? (cheaper + more available) or must it be an identical motor ? Cheers. 

No. That's an AVCS twin-cam turbo. The ECU will not be able to run the NA engines. They haven't got the right cam sensors. 

 

Additionally - used EJ255's aren't worth having. Just rebuild his engine or buy a new one from Subaru. He needs to understand that his engine is essentially the same as an STi and needs to be treated with the same respect or it will (has) take a giant $hit on him. Best to sell it to someone that understands this. These are delicate machines making well over 100 HP per liter and require excellent maintenance and a watchful eye. 

 

GD

Edited May 9, 20187 yr by GeneralDisorder

"These are delicate machines making well over 100 HP per liter and require excellent maintenance and a watchful eye".  Definately why I am not a big fan of turbos for me.  I don't need that power and am not interested in the extra work to maintain it.  All fine and good for those that want that power but as mentioned needs to be well treated and maintained.

 

I've noticed that a lot of newer cars seem to have gone to 2.0 L engines with turbos and am wondering how they will fare in the long run with people that can't figure out to check their oil, use synthetic, change it often and use proper cool down technique after running the car hard.

The 2L turbo setup of other manufacturers are most likely to fit in with wrc class reason.

 

Best of luck with the rebuild!

 

Cheers

 

Bennie

Apparently the radiator was somehow damaged and not noticed by the lady owner - cooked good and proper - heads gone soft - bottom end questionable - only one second hand engine found in Queensland (1000s of kms away) for $6000.00 ----- an AVCS  EJ204 non turbo motor wont fit ?

. 

Edited May 15, 20187 yr by Mike104

Apparently the radiator was somehow damaged and not noticed by the lady owner - cooked good and proper - heads gone soft - bottom end questionable - only one second hand engine found in Queensland (1000s of kms away) for $6000.00 ----- an AVCS  EJ204 non turbo motor wont fit ?

I have no idea. We didn't get those. Maybe but I wouldn't count on it without significant modifications.

 

GD

So it would seem that it is a catch 22 situation - a car that should be fixed - but is not worth fixing --- it will probably end up in my dead car pit - ratted for a few parts - and end up in the crusher.

So it would seem that it is a catch 22 situation - a car that should be fixed - but is not worth fixing --- it will probably end up in my dead car pit - ratted for a few parts - and end up in the crusher.

 

Sadly that happens many times at least here in North America.  Car is deemed to expensive to fix (paying for shop rate) but too nice for a crusher.  Often they get sold to auto wreckers, stripped of parts and then crushed.  Often I see cars with bad engines/transmissions that an individual could have fixed and had a nice car much cheaper than buying  new one.

 

Always amazes me that people will abandon a car because it needs a couple of thousand dollars in repairs and then turn around and spend 10's of thousands on a new car