Okay, so here's the deal. I have a '94 wagon that I swapped an ej22 into in August. I'm looking for more HP, and have a couple of options.

1: I take the heads from the ej18, get a good PnP, regrind the cams, thinner headgasket, etc etc. Looking at higher compression, would need to hack the ecu to get to effective rpm levels. HP levels? Dunno. No one has done it to my knowledge. Cost? I think somewhere around $650 if all goes according to plan.

2: Find a cheap ej25, replace headgaskets, leave everything else the same. Hack the ecu for a higher redline, buy an SAFC-II to cure the rich burning woes of the ej18 ecu. HP? I guess 165, maybe a touch more with my pulley and intake. Cost? Depends on the engine's cost. If I could find one for $500, then everything would cost somewhere around $800

3: Wait till I finish grad school, find a good job, buy a house with a big garage, and do V* swap. :devil: This could be fun, but I don't consider it much of an option, as I want more go power NOW, not in 2 years. :mad:

The other thing I need to start thinking about is a new tranny. The one I have in there has 192K +. Things are starting to feel a little sloppy. I want a read LSD. Best cost to options ratio? Input please! :confused:

go turbo !

three.. but i am biased

But that's two years. TWO YEARS!!! Could you wait that long? Besides, in two years, even if I did do an ej25 swap now, I would probably have both the time and the money to do an ej20.
The benefit of doing no.1 would be the fact that I would pretty much be the only person with that setup. The downside, I would pretty much be the only person with that setup. I'm not sure I want to blaze any trails right now without any backup-mobile.

Any thoughts on the transmissions? Links to threads?

meh prey on the young coeds instead
you won't be able to do that in 2 years

EJ25 is my choice...two years is a long time.

#2 under the circumstances. And unless you get some cams, there is not point in bumping the redline...

Jaxx- I'm in a committed relatioship. If I weren't, I think I'd go that route. :devil:

Homemade WRX- Know where I can get one? I'm sure someone must want to get that pesky paperweight out of the back of their garage. Hey, I'll even give you money for it.

Matt- If I get the regrind, I would need more RPMs, right? I was reading an interesting post about a guy who did some stuff to his ej22. I'm just guessing that opening up my intake passages really wouldn't be that much of a benefit unless I can get the engine up to a high enough rpm to suck in enough air to balance out the loss of torque I'm going to experience.

low boost wrx turbo kit?

It cheaper to do a whole WRX swap.