Upgrade or get rid of

After everything, a GT or JDM motor swap will cost more than the car is worth. Even if doing it yourself.

If you really love the car, and it's a wagon, it's worth while. If not sell it and start over. If you still want a LegacyGt they are fairly cheap now.

Building from scratch I'd say >12k. If you had a complete donor car with a wrecked body then it is worth contemplating.

Unless you just enjoy building a very expensive project car, if that's the case then have at it. Otherwise I agree with the opinions expressed above.

Just not worth it.

Either sell/trade-in the 2.5i and buy a GT. If you're mechanically inclined you could also swap the leaky engine with a junkyard engine 2.5 (as Coldsoda said). Then you'll get more out of the car.

Trust me when you're selling a Subaru the first question people ask is about the head gaskets leaking and no one wants to buy a car that needs a $2,000 job done right off the bat.

Anyway, I say just trade the car in on a GT.

If you are reasonably mechanically competent you can also just swap the head gaskets yourself, combined with fresh seals, valve gap adjustment and a new timing belt.

If the oil consumption on the engine is low it may be worth it.

Getting a junkyard engine can always be a hit&miss - you never know what you get.

Why is everyone suggesting a new engine if it's just the head gaskets? It's only got 65k on it and you wanna drop in a new engine. Just replace the head gaskets. You won't find anything that low mileage at a junkyard

that may have been my fault. when I read the OP I thought he said he needed a new motor, not just head gaskets. After re-reading... Its completely reasonable to just do head gaskets on the car rather than swap the entire engine, not sure if his statement "but definitely gonna need motor work" only meant the HGs.

Why is everyone suggesting a new engine if it's just the head gaskets? It's only got 65k on it and you wanna drop in a new engine. Just replace the head gaskets. You won't find anything that low mileage at a junkyard

OP stated he was thinking of upgrading the engine:

"Was thinking of upgrading to the GT motor..."

OP stated he was thinking of upgrading the engine:

 

"Was thinking of upgrading to the GT motor..."

Which is not advisable considering all other stuff that has to be done.

Better fix the engine, sell the car and buy a GT. Or sell it cheap to someone that can fix the engine.

I'm gonna go ahead and disagree with all these whisteblowers ; ) getting NA Turbo'd up is stealthy. Closed deck 253 and bolt up the AVO kit, solved. You'll have Brand new ; FMIC, 3" DP, and Turbo as opposed to some stock LGT.

So this is cheaper than buying a GT, stage 2 it, and swapping to 2.5i hood, wheels and black FMIC setup?

Which is not advisable considering all other stuff that has to be done.

 

Better fix the engine, sell the car and buy a GT. Or sell it cheap to someone that can fix the engine.

I understand that but this is irrelevant to the question asked that I was responding to.

It sounds like the OP's current engine is toast, which makes his car worth very little $. A clean 05-09 GT with decent miles will be $10k-15k with everything stock. Stage 2 on top of that is another 1500-2000. He wants to upgrade the motor- it's going to cost money so the rebuild is just an option which costs roughly the same as getting a solid used GT( in his situation).

A blown headgasket is hardly what I'd call toast, but it requires some work.

A toast engine is when the conrod makes a hole in the block or parts start to come out the exhaust.

I've seen several '05 GTs in Denver recently for around the $5-6 range. Some with nice mods. What's special about your present car that it makes sense to dump loads of cash into it to still be inferior to a GT? If the GT wasn't an option, or this was your deceased grandpa's car then I say go for it, if not....

The AVO kit is $3,400 on an engine not designed to run boost. It makes about 200whp on a dyno at 5psi according to their specs. Going higher probably means a built engine rebuild. Having someone else build an engine for you is an easy $5k or more. Your tranny wasn't designed for it either, will that be the next to go.

A stage 2 LGT also makes about that power on the dyno and, with more parts, can be turned up to about 200 more whp than that on a good tune without popping. You can go stage 2 with a downpipe and tune, $1000 if you want to get the good parts.

Putting a GT motor into a 2.5i just isn't an option. To be reliable you'd need engine, trans, ECU, exhaust, all turbo and intercooler parts. You'll need to completely remove the dash to merge the wiring harness, which is often estimated at 25 hrs of work for someone who knows what they are doing. And then any little thing you've forgotten about.

Here's an idea, join a local Subaru club. Offer beer, pizza, whatever to anyone willing to help you learn how to pull the engine. Not do it for you, help you learn. Pull the engine, machine the heads ($500), drop it back in and sell that 2.5i. Use the money to find a GT. You'll still come out ahead.

So yeah i realize that the cost of the swap would be worth more than the car. Motor work alone on building a new Sti motor would probably be worth more. But isnt that part of the deal. You will almost never get your money back out of it. Just trying to get a better idea from people who have tackled this or thought about it. Price range to do this. 10-12 K ? More ?

We can really start splitting hairs and discuss how much money a 400whp GT could cost, or get back to the 10-12k our inquisitive friend here talks like it's nothing. A real gangster.

If a professional told me it cost $2200 for a look. Smells like toast. And unfortunately I can't snap my fingers for a Subie crew. Yes, buying GT is smarter- wealth of information on here to help new owners troubleshoot while upgrading.

The car he has is clean and 65k miles. He's happy with the car. $$$$$. Make the

car frankencar

1stick3pedals has an extensive thread on Installing the AVO turbo kit. Another guy just put one on his 09 5mt last spring, Euromut.

Remember this for the new built 253 "Closed deck"

If the motor's coming out anyways, a decent intermediate step between "Junkyard stock 2.5" and "AVO Turbo kit" would be having the heads rebuilt with hotter cams, and a tune to use slightly higher octane. Add in some breathing mods to allow you to spin whatever torque you make up to higher rpm and you wouldn't make huge numbers by any means, but you could at least get a fun powerband out of it.

Maybe it's because I come from the honda world, but I don't buy into the idea that NA subaru's are complete performance dead-ends.

I paid around $12k for my 2009 this summer with 127k miles on it. It is pretty clean with no HG leak, timing belt was done. I overpaid though. If I had been able to more thoroughly inspect it or take it to the right shop I could have gotten the car for 10 or 11k.

Don't bother with the 2.5i. They have no power and because they are so underpowered they get poor gas mileage anyway - at least that was my experience with my 2.5 non-turbo Legacy.

Sell the car as is or have it fixed and sell it.

I paid around $12k for my 2009 this summer with 127k miles on it. It is pretty clean with no HG leak, timing belt was done. I overpaid though. If I had been able to more thoroughly inspect it or take it to the right shop I could have gotten the car for 10 or 11k.

 

Don't bother with the 2.5i. They have no power and because they are so underpowered they get poor gas mileage anyway - at least that was my experience with my 2.5 non-turbo Legacy.

 

Sell the car as is or have it fixed and sell it.

Here in the Denver metro area these cars seem to be holding their value pretty well. I purchased mine a couple of years ago and sale prices today don't appear too far off from what I paid then.

If the motor's coming out anyways, a decent intermediate step between "Junkyard stock 2.5" and "AVO Turbo kit" would be having the heads rebuilt with hotter cams, and a tune to use slightly higher octane. Add in some breathing mods to allow you to spin whatever torque you make up to higher rpm and you wouldn't make huge numbers by any means, but you could at least get a fun powerband out of it.

 

Maybe it's because I come from the honda world, but I don't buy into the idea that NA subaru's are complete performance dead-ends.

It's not that it's a dead end, you can add power to anything if you throw enough money at it. It's just why spend the money to make one car try to be like another car when you can just buy the other car? For the same amount of money you could either have a 400ish hp GT or a 200hp 2.5i. Both will be at the edge of what the stock engine can handle and adding any more power will become quite a bit more expensive. If you want a fun "project", do an LS swap into an old 240z or something.

How much do performance cams and a tune cost, on top of the $2200 he was quoted for the headgaskets? Can you get performance cams for the 2.5i?

Here in the Denver metro area these cars seem to be holding their value pretty well. I purchased mine a couple of years ago and sale prices today don't appear too far off from what I paid then.

I'm in Denver (hi!), that $4-6k range was LGT's I saw on South Denver Subaru Club last week.