I'm back in the Subaru community yet again! During my stint at SoK I had the opportunity to pick up an 06 Forester XT 4EAT with 164K and a blown motor. The customer was looking to offload the car after a rather large repair bill for an inherited vehicle. After some contemplation, I was able to purchase the car for $800 and the build began. The motor was shot, turbo toast, but heads salvageable. A friend of mine hooked me up with a "spun bearing" STi 704 block for really cheap and then it came time to source parts. The car has very high mileage on it and I will be a bit concerned about the transmission but it's a 4EAT so if I blow it up sourcing another one shouldn't be hard. Tuning will be a little tricky to manage low end torque but Joel from QED seems confident we can work it out. Mods: EJ257 704 STi motor Manley 99.5 9.8:1 Pistons New STi Crank New ACL Standard Size Bearings STi OEM Engine Gasket Kit ID1000cc Injectors KillerB Oil Pickup Forced Performance 71HTA Turbo Cobb Downpipe Agency Power UEL Headers Secondary Air Pump Delete TGV Delete w/ help from Joel Walbro 255lph Fuel Pump Perrin Turbo Inlet Mishimoto Radiator & hoses Mishimoto TMIC Cobb AP v3 w/ future pro-tune from Joel from QED Tuning Suspension, wheels and brake mods coming soon!
Update: So after building the motor myself and learning a ton about the process there were a couple things I messed up and needed help fixing. I dropped the car off at Allpro to get those odds and ends fixed and get the car checked out and now I am "enjoying" the joyous break in process. 100 miles down and 900 more to go. The car is oddly quiet from an exhaust standpoint because I have the stock setup post-COBB DP. Still looking at my options there. Next up is to tackle the UGLY tan/band aid colored interior... If anyone has parts for my car I'm always looking.
Sold the car to a friend in Alabama for him to build and do a manual swap/finish the STI swap. No more Subaru for me for now.
Sounds like it may have been a difficult decision for you @benfrancis but understandable nonetheless!