So as Jay mentioned, he was kind enough to let me come over and oogle/play/work on this insanity. The pictures don't do this thing justice, it may look a bit rough, but it is going to be absolutely sick when it's finished. I know many people have suggested a flat 6, or other transversely mounted engines, but when you're in a mid-rear longitudinal setup, you're fighting one thing, the space from your firewall to your rear axle shafts. Anything longer would have pushed into the rear cabin. Yes you could have used a shorter Porsche transaxle like a G50, but at $10k for a 'built' one, that doesn't make a whole lot of sense. This setup leaves 4-6 inches of clearance from the front of the engine to the firewall, easily fits side to side (without the gas tanks there's over a foot of clearance inside to each head from the body), and more importantly the axle shafts are in perfect alignment with the trans, which even blanked off is still nicely inside the bumper support bracket with enough space for the exhaust.
I've never seen better/easier access to a Subaru engine while it's in a car, any car. With the back seat panel out every part of the front part of the engine is accessible from inside the car including the timing belt, the plugs and valve covers are simply a wheel-pull away, from the rear, well it's like standing behind your engine if it were a front-engine-rwd car, so everything is right there.
The intercooler can sit on top as is but needs the bracket bent down, or it could be moved over to one of the fresh air intakes with an exit out the tire well, but either will work well with minimal effort. The 350z muffler looks stock, it fits perfectly and the extent of exhaust fabrication is a 2' mostly straight pipe from the downpipe to the muffler inlet that won't have to follow some crazy route.
This is my first time up close with a 70s Ferrari, and let me say they really are built like a DIY home-built kit car. You might be thinking ewwwww, when in reality for something like this it's perfect. In fact, given how simple they're constructed, I'm shocked more people haven't gone to swapping these older ones with something lighter/more powerful/modern. The frame is square tube, no bends, no gussets. The one place by the trans that had to be cut (6 inches), the tie in bar they put in literally looks factory.
Jay hasn't said it yet, but he's 2 steps away from turning over the engine:
1) Motor Mounts
2) Run new Battery cables, get some ground straps attached