Hey all,
So, my great uncle has apparently killed his Subaru Forester's motor (I'm unsure of the year), and there is the slim possibility I can talk him into letting me have it rather than scrapping it if he doesn't get it fixed.
Technically speaking, it'd be very easy for me to get a replacement motor, even go crazy and stuff a Legacy/STI motor in there and have a sleeper. That said, I'm already doing performance work on my Corolla, so why reinvent the wheel? I could really use the beauty of Subaru's AWD, plus the Forester's room and cargo space. Subbies are not known (generally) as high efficiency vehicles, though.
On one episode of Top Gear (S12E4), though, an 'efficiency race' as it were, in which James May chose a Subaru Legacy powered by some sort of Eco-Diesel engine. AFAIK, this doesn't even EXIST in the US, and if it does, I've never heard of it, but it should be possible to import the engine and its associated bits (harness, ECU, etc). If I can get everything I need, I should subsequently also be able to convert that over to bio-diesel, perhaps with some aftermarket kit, and run it for all the distance I want with either bio or dino. In the episode, it got around 50mpg+, which on bio would be very efficient as well as being green.
I'm wondering, what's your opinion on this potential project? Some questions I'm trying to answer here would be:
- Is this a fairly solid plan in your mind? Feasible, reasonably priced, and economical?
- What alternatives might you suggest if not the diesel? EV is out, I don't have the money, time, knowledge, or workspace.
- Any other comments or thoughts?
Thanks all!
