Yeah that's the massive plus side to the LS, the less tech and fancy stuff the easier it is to identify problems, fix and mod. First car i ever worked on was my brothers 1.3i Austin mini, so simple u could pull the thing apart and have it back together in a evening :D! Also i didn't know that the ali LS where that light! Being able to say you have a 2 door v8 coupe is cool but I think the engine sound alone will tell people without having to say a word.
Also you might of wanted a turbo 86....but why not have a LS turbo'd 86
Only way i could really see any engine matching the CoG would be a straight swap for another subaru engine or a porche one. After owning a kayman S for 2 months, finding out it had a scoring on the section the pistons are and its a common problem Porsche are aware of but did nothing, costing £11,000 to repair, I don't think i'd ever trust them again. As for the SR20 i never understood why anyone would use one instead of a FA20....in a standard s14a its 0-60 is 7 sec, and only does 22 mpg tops. Its old hat and just for the sake of having a common turbo engine, its not worth the downgrade, especially since you can turbo a FA for around 3-5K anyway.
I'm also with you on the side of not being the first, give it a few years and I think at the rate people are destroying LS/RB26 and BMW's are becoming more common and cheap it wont belong before there's a sea of people doing it. Just gotta be patient
THAT'S FIGHTING TALK MR !! 🤣