Some might find this interesting as a follow up to the recent Donut Media Hi Low WRX video (see $21,000 vs $43,000 Subaru WRX Build - HiLow FINALE! - YouTube for the finale) by MrSubaru at Do-nut Let The Guys At Donut Media Near A Subaru! What Went Wrong & Why Subarus Aren't That Bad! - YouTube .
The tl;dr: Donut media did a few no-no’s of the EJs, specifically:
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Factory oil system isn’t designed for racing, and one of the EJ mods you need to do is replace components of it with a baffled oil pan (so it won’t starve the engine of oil) and also get a welded oil pickup line cause the OEM braised one is known to crack and start sucking up air.
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They didn’t break in most of the engines after building them.
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The used the 5 speed WRX transmission instead of the 6 speed STI transmission. For those that don’t know, the WRX STI comes with a 6 speed transmission that I’ve heard people sending 700 HP through and it works just fine. The 5 speed WRX transmission isn’t designed for racing, and those exploding when you push power is known to happen. There’s a reason why the STI transmission swap is a thing for all generations with the WRX STI.
What people around the Makerspace should know if they want to mess around with Subaru boxer engines (especially the EJs): Do your research with the supporting mods because there’s a lot of stuff like the oil system upgrades that you will need to do to make the engine capable of pushing, cause if you don’t do your homework (or don’t break in your engine properly) it’s going to blow up.