Speak to an import wrecker
They should be able to source one from Japan for you
I cannot stress enough how much bang for buck these motors are if you have the required platform to support the swap without much headache (which you do).
Going to sound like a big time fanboi here - no other EJ motor comes close unless one has been purpose built with 400kw atw in mind (which translates to big dollars - in the vicinity of $20,000 aud just for the long block).
This is my honest and sincere advice to you.
A 2.5 shortblock will be ok. But I would much rather the option I put forward for cost, reliability, flexibility and sheer quality.
No hybrid motor will come close unless built by a specialist who has a torque plate for an EJ motor and specialises in assembling these on a regular basis, and on top of that will blueprint the motor for you.
Reliability is unbeatable for these motors assembled out of the factory for big power. It's a multitude of things:
- head flow
- piston to bore clearance
- piston to deck height clearance
- crank (double cross drilled, nitrided and balanced forged crank)
- rods (factory forged)
- pistons (hyperteutetic in the v8,9 and 10 which are not absolutely fantastic but far better than the ej255/257/205 cast
pistons)
- overall balance of the engine, with the heads and block working harmoniously as compared with any hybrid motor.
- factory assembled reliability for high performance
For interests' sake - in Japan, Subaru (or Sti) list the ej257 as "Sti engine" and the ej207 as "high performance power engine". This is available by looking at Subaru Japan website and searching.
This tells you just how much better Subaru themselves rate the jdm 207 over its counterpart. Another indicator is the fact that Subaru left the jdm ej207 exclusively for their own domestic market whereas all other Subaru motors were worldwide released. The japs were onto something here I think.
That's my advice - hope you took some benefit from this
Mick