550 Phil posted:Type 1 and Type 4 engines will continue to get more expensive and subies will remain dirt cheap. And I'm sorry to say that the folks that can work on air cooled engines will get fewer. I can tell you that my millennial sons love my car. And I can see them buying a P replica some day. But it would NEVER be an air cooled engine. The future is water cooled.
Jim Kelly posted:It is common for a Subi tuner to almost double the HP on a stock EJ engine with add-on parts and not touch the bottom end. Pretty wild, eh? Not many platforms can make the same claim.
Phil's statements are irrefutable facts. As much as I love the air-cooled engine, it's a dead end. I envision a time coming VERY soon when nobody will order a $35K car with a glorified lawnmower engine. I think it's amazing that they can be made to make 200 hp, but that's really kind've a yawner in today's world. A Subaru can make SCADS more power for pennies on the dollar.
And Jim's statement regarding the bottom end of a Subaru EJ engine is something very, very important. No matter how much a guy spends, the VW bottom end is rickety. I'm fully shuffle-pinned, have a forged, welded, counterweighted crank, H-rods, 911 piston squirters, etc. I threw everything I could think of at it, and it'll never, ever be even half as robust as that EJ short-block.