Talk to Cromwood Auto Service, Burwood. They know their subarus so should be able to point you in the right direction.
cromwood are litraly right around the corner from where i work, im at Pierre Collet Motors.
My 02 RS is good on fuel, and surprised alot of people at track days and general hooning with mates.
Tried reading a Subaru service manual?
iv found the exact same thing with my car, the only thing i dont like is for some unknown reason i have a major fuel surge issue around rh corners when im under half a tank
SURELY they could give you some idea, even it were to humour you? 
they have given me a fair amount of advice, but due to being a small company (3 people including myself) we have to outsourse rebuilds 
Keep the hell away from the DOHC 2.5L NA gen 2 motors. They are renowned for doing head gaskets.
But the cheapest way out is a second hand long motor. Otherwise you're up for head studs, gaskets etc. Not worth it unless you really want to do it properly and rebuild what you have.
Service manual will tell you everything you need to know, inc. tolerances etc. Sounds like it wont be too hard for you to get a hold of one. Chat to your parts interpreter to get an idea of the individual parts you need, and you should theoretically be able to get good prices on what you need.
Cheers,
Ben
yeah iv done plenty of H-G jobs, the main reason i dont want to pick up another engine is because i wont know the history of the engine, i dont want to fork out money to get a usedy and then have to rebuild it in a few months because it wasnt in the best condition...
You can score genuine VRS kits from the states for $300 landed. Comes with every gasket youll need on the engine. Ordered one when my head gasket went in the forester
are these kits any good, i was looking at them but i was a little wary about it because of the price, iv bought plenty of things off ebay but not essentual engine components. what would you rate the VRS kits?
