Subaru-Powered Porsche 997 GT3 Trades One Boxer for Another

Engine swaps are of course very much part of the SEMA tradition, but swapping certain engines into certain cars creates the ideal conditions for what some might consider blasphemy. We’ve already seen it this year, what with Stanceworks’ K-swapped Ferrari 308. And now Japanese oil supplier Eneos is availing itself to similar judgment with its 997-generation Porsche 911 GT3 that just so happens to be powered by a boxer not built in Zuffenhausen. You know where this is going.

Rest assured, no flat-six was unceremoniously discharged from its duties in the making of this Porsche with a Subaru heart. According to Eneos, the car was purchased at auction, having already been crashed and stripped. Faruk Kugay of DevSpeed Motorsports decided it was the ideal vessel for an EJ25 out of a 2008 Impreza WRX STI, and that’s why this 911 GT3 proudly wears the Star of Pleiades.

Extensive work was performed to extract well over the GT3’s stock 415 horsepower from this EJ. A custom exhaust system, BorgWarner turbocharger, Vibrant Performance intercooler, and a comprehensive fuel system upgrade courtesy of Deatschwerks and Nuke Performance push the total to 550 hp. All in an engine that weighs 170 pounds less than the original M97 mill, sized about a liter smaller with two fewer cylinders.

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The Impreza’s six-speed gearbox, featuring a bellhousing and reverse-cut ring gear from Australia’s Subarugears, sends that power to massive 345-width Toyo Proxes R888R rubber on the rear axle. Gold 19-inch Rotiform 917 wheels and a full 911 GT3R-inspired bodykit by way of VAD design in the U.K. give Kugay’s creation incredible presence. Inside, a bespoke CageKits roll cage perfectly measured to fit the 911’s interior through the use of 3D scanning gives it the rigidity necessary for the track.

The car’s livery harkens back to the #23 917 prototype prepared by Porsche Team Salzburg that won the 1970 24 Hours of Le Mans, as well as Subaru’s string of World Rally Championship-leading Imprezas in the ’90s and early 2000s. I spy a little Castrol Toyota in the curves adorning the front fender and wrapping around the B pillar, but I’ll just chalk that up to pure coincidence.

This 911 GT3 STI, as DevSpeed calls it, isn’t Eneos’ only contribution to SEMA 2022. The company also brought a Nissan Frontier trophy truck built just for drifting royalty Dai Yoshihara; a Tesla Model 3 designed to attack Pikes Peak; a Datsun 521 pickup restoration; and a very carefully modified Acura Integra Type-R I’d describe as “stock-plus.” You can check out the whole family over at the Eneos site.