EJ255/257 Compatibility between GT and '09 WRX

[KZJonny]

As the title suggests, curious if there is anything I don't know about thes two short blocks being meaningfully different?

Mainly asking because I noticed a local guy selling a 130k km 2009 WRX "shell". Engine runs fine, but has some "piston knock" whatever that means. I assumed rod knock, but maybe not as bad as spun bearing.

Any case. What got me thinking a little was that he's asking a pretty reasonably price for a low-km car, and I've got a EJ257 short block  in my garage that just needs a cleaning up. (have the heads as well, but those are spares for me, and if I were to need anything for the GT I would pony up and get the RA short block...) It's a replacement engine with unknown kilometers, but ran fine when pulled from the car.

Simply put, the guy is asking around 3K USD for a very clean WRX, which at best just needs a short block, which I have... Seems to me a running, clean MT 2009 WRX should sell for a fair little bit more than that.... Could be worth the time to do the work. Of course, if it has the forbidden glitter, then it's a whole another story and I don't think I would take it on.

Curious what others might do in the same situation. I don't think there is any money to be made if buying a new short block, and replacement engines would be the same thing. Worth the cost if you want to keep the car, but I don't.

Edited September 14, 2023 by KZJonny

[Rusty9]

I doubt it, just put a new RA shortblock in my '08 with rebuilt D25 heads. Slightly higher compression ratio, but other than that, everything else bolted right back together.

[KZJonny]

Yeah. More research suggests it's all the same, really. The differences between the engines are are all in the heads and tune, etc...

In any case, I took a look around at the value of WRX's in my neck of the woods, and it turns out that '09s are worth a bunch less than I expected they might be. By the time I work in all the new parts and the machine work required for the heads, etc... there isn't much left. Not if I count my time as worth anything.

I suppose I'd rather spend a weekend working on my own projects for me than rebuilding another old Subaru for maybe a 1K in profit once I sell it.

[blackobxt]

The cost to get these things back on the road is getting more and more expensive every single year. It’s almost 3x more expensive than it was when I got into the ynasb game which is probably why I actually saw a few lgts and obxt’s in the salvage yard when I went home. Why pay $8k to put a motor in a 20yr old car when it’s not even worth that.

[ttnio]

nothing to comment... my O2 is all i have ... greetings TO ALL.

Edited September 16, 2023 by ttnio