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Just sold my 2276 engine this week. When it didn't sell I was looking forward to installing it so I could use my Speedster until the mid July date I have been given by Special Edition to do the Subaru Conversion. Of course soon as I didn't want to sell the engine, a buyer came along and offered me asking price. Go figure. The practical Jim had to fight off the want to run the engine awhile Jim... Practical Jim won out this time. The buyer is using the engine in a Beck Spyder and couldn't use the exhaust so I have the Vintage speed Sebring exhaust for sale for $900.00 (Cost $1300.00)

 Anyway, Here are the details of my upcoming sooby conversion.

 Carey initially thought that the car only had room for a 2.2 liter engine. After some measuring I was happy to find out that we could go with the engine of choice, a 2007 or later JE253 VVT drive by wire engine using the stock ECU and comes with a warranty. I am told this engine has variable valve lift and produces 175 Hp. With some extra head work we are looking into possibly 190 plus HP. I am convinced this amount of power will be plenty.  I am impressed with the way Special Edition handles the conversion. They buy a totaled Subaru car from an insurance auction so they can use the vin. number to buy a new short block from Subaru. They then send out the heads  and other parts from the donor engine for rebuilding. They clean and powder coat all the parts like the intake and valve covers. They use a custom made Griffin radiator to handle the cooling. I am having them add rear disc brakes and heat/ defrost while they have the car. I had a transaxle built for the 2276 type 1 engine I was going to use. It is a pro-street swing axle with 3.44 R&P ,Super Diff,HD side cover and welded hub 3rd & 4th gears. It will be used with the Subaru engine. Special Edition is currently waiting on my Short block and looking into the cost of the extra head work to see if the potential gained HP is worth the extra bucks. I like the fact they do everything professionally and legally. I will send some pics of the engine as it is being built.. I need to choose a color for the parts of the engine they powder coat. Any ideas of what would look good with the color of my car? I am thinking, bright red or black.  They will have all the parts needed for the conversion ready before I bring the car in. They said they would have the car 2 weeks or so.

 That's all I have for now. I will post more as the process moves forward. I can only imagine how nice the car will drive with smooth cool quiet power. No more beetle sound!!

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Images (4)
  • speedster transaxle 2
  • Fiberfab Speedster engine compartment 1
  • sebring exhaust 7
  • Speedster and MG Midget Jims Garage.
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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.

Image result for vw mid trans mount

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.

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.

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Images (3)
  • MG Midget 3
  • MG Midget drivetrain
  • Midget twin webers with filters

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.

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.

Last edited by DannyP

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  

 

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?

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Images (6)
  • Miata- Mustang 1
  • Miata- Mustang 17
  • Miata- Mustang 9
  • Miata- Mustang 11
  • Miata- Mustang 7
  • Miata- Mustang 3

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.

Last edited by Jimmy V.

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.

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Images (3)
  • Miata- Mustang 15
  • Miata- Mustang 5
  • Miata- Mustang 14

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?

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