Here at BangShift, it’s no secret that some of us have a soft spot for turbocharged Subarus. If you live where it snows, they are an interesting option for daily driver duty, and are a blast to hoon in snowy parking lots while doing your best Colin McRae impression. We’ve featured and have test driven them before, and some of us have even owned them. I’ve had two of them myself over the years: a 2002 WRX wagon and a 2009 WRX 5-door hatchback, and both were tons of fun while I had them. But, there’s a big caveat: with all that fun comes with the inevitability that it WILL blow up. Most of the EJ-series turbocharged Subarus (2002-14 2.0/2.5 and the 2015+ STI 2.5), even bone-stock examples, struggle to crest 100,000 miles on the odometer before the bottom end of that Boxer Four eats itself. Whether it’s poor oiling, improper maintenance, bad factory or aftermarket engine tuning, or just a series of design flaws, I’ve seen many loyal Subaru enthusiasts installing new short blocks and everything that goes with them a lot earlier than other performance-minded cars would. Some even look at this as regular maintenance, and an opportunity to mod the car for more power.

Well, if you want to kill two birds with one stone, and you don’t care about “the beauty of All Wheel Drive”, you can ditch the Boxer and toss in a V8!

Since GM’s Gen III+ V8’s have proliferated in junkyards everywhere, people have been stuffing them in all sorts of places, including Subarus. And since so many of these cars are blowing up all over the place, they make great candidates for a swap. McTaggart showed you this one almost a year ago, which was a super clean install of a GTO LS2. The one we have served up for today has a slightly smaller 4.8L V8 from a Silverado, but keeps things turbocharged! Let’s have a closer look!

From 20ft away, it looks like your standard 2005 Legacy GT wagon with some weird wheels in the back. These are one of Subaru’s best looking cars ever, and unfortunately, one of the most unreliable. The 2.5L engines that came in these liked to grenade early, partly due to oiling issues from a clogged mesh screen on the turbo oil return line. Removing the screen early on in the car’s life would have helped it live longer, but most people didn’t find out about this until it’s too late. I actually had a friend with one of these, and less than a month after buying it, this happened. It not only wiped out the turbo, but the rod bearings and the cams as well. I’m guessing the original engine in this one suffered a similar fate. Subaru stopped installing the mesh oil line screen filter on later engines, but not before many of the earlier ones scattered parts.

It looks like the current owner added some flares out front to hide the wide front tires, but they fit well. Speaking of fitting well, that 4.8L V8 looks right at home in there, doesn’t it?

Here’s a closer look under the hood. Whether you like LS swaps or not, you have to marvel at how compact they are and how you can fit one just about anywhere. Since the stock 2.5L boxer engine is fairly wide, there’s plenty of room for a small V8 and a turbocharger in here. The engine itself has been warmed over with minimal mods, and still employs it’s stock rotating assembly. With a 78mm On 3 Turbo capable of supporting up to 800whp, that’s a bold move. There’s no word on how much power this combo makes, but with proper tuning, it should be capable of 400+ making it’s way through the 4L80E and the rest of the driveline.

To ensure proper engine fitment, the 4.8L’s stock exhaust manifolds were re-used and modded to accept the turbo plumbing. While it doesn’t look pretty, it gets the job done.

The most curious aspect of the whole build for me is not the engine; it’s the fact that an old-school 8.5″ 10 bolt with a four link is sitting out back! Why is this weird? Performance Subarus came with one of two indepenent limited-slip rear differentials: the R160 or R180. I believe the Legacy GT would have come with the stronger R180, which is used on many Japanese performance cars, and with minimal mods they can handle big power. Swapping in a 10-bolt seems like a step sideways. Maybe it’s due to unfamiliarity, or maybe the owner had one he was tripping over in his garage, but it should be able to handle whatever abuse the turbo V8 throws its way. I did once see a LS-swapped early WRX have it’s stock R160’s gears absolutely obliterated by a 6.0L from a GTO, so maybe the guy who built this car saw the same carnage pics I saw and got scared? Who knows!

Since there’s now a GM 10-bolt under there, the bolt patterns for the front and rear are different. Instead of bolting on a set of wheel adapters, this guy just bolted on a pair of Olds SSIII’s with white letter tires! Is that a good thing or a bad thing? That’s for you to decide.

Now here’s the thing with modded Subarus: many people who are selling them think they are worth their weight in gold. There’s along, ongoing thread on the biggest Subaru forum out there (NASIOC.com) that explores the curiosity of people trying to get insane money for their cars. A lot of the time, it’s to the point where it’s comical. This wagon, however, is being offered up for $10,000. Is that a fair price?

Thanks to NASIOC member bheinen74 for tipping us off on this one!

You can view the original ad HERE. 

See below for the original ad text:

2005 Subaru Legacy gt
condition: good
cylinders: 8 cylinders
drive: rwd
fuel: gas
odometer: 156000
title status: clean
transmission: automatic
selling my 2005 Subaru Legacy gt wagon
4.8 and 4l80e driveline with a solid axle 8.5 10 bolt swapped in and 4 link.
Reason for selling is I got a job offer in Utah i can’t pass up and I don’t have a way of taking the car with me.

The car itself is rust free and has almost brand new wheels and tires (2k miles) and 100 miles on the new rear tires for the solid axle
engine/maintenance:
-resurfaced heads
-valve job
-honed block
-stock rods and pistons
-head studs
-ls9 headgaskets
-ls9 valve springs
-ls6 cam
-trick flow chromoly push rods
-zzp lifters
-ls1 intake manifold
-exhaust manifold studs
-gto oil pan (clearance on the crossmember)
Fueling:
-Holley efi fuel rails
-Fid 750cc injectors
-magna fuel fpr
-braided fuel line
-dual aeromotive 340lph in tank fuel cell setup
(1400hp)
Forced induction:
-custom log t4 turbo manifold
-custom v band to connect both manifolds
-cx racing 44mm ewg
-motion race works timing cover with turbo return 10an fitting
-on3 7875 turbo
-50mm bov
-fms 4 core intercooler
-3 inch Downpipe (not finished)
Suspension:
-Cx racing 32 way adjustable coil-overs
-polyurethane lca bushings
-Moog balljoints

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