As said problem with the 2.5 is head gasket and ring lands. You can check at the time there ok, but nothing stopping them from failing 10 miles later. Personally if i was going for a hawk sti i would budget to drop in a set of decent pistons and rods, headgasket and head bolts. Takes away all the issues they have, but doesnt come cheap (prob 3k-4 Assuming all other parts are ok.)
any car can. Failure rate on the 2.5 is just massively high by comparison. I'd want to find the cause before rebuilding. also need to check the block to see if its warped or ovaled etc
Does bugger all mate, not worth the money. Theory sounds good but doesn't do anything in the real world. Casing isn't the issue.
Andy forrest was running uprated gear kit in a normal casing for a while with no issues. and that's not exactly subtle treatment it would have received lol
Options are uprated gearkit or 6 speed
the hawk wrx is a push clutch as oposed to a pull clutch. or is it other way round? one or tother anyway lol
iirc the blob and classic clutch is the same (sure someone will correct if not)
Widetrack is different stud pattern. Also it wont clear your wheels (unless they are from an sti with the larger offset) to fit brembo's expect you will need to get new wheels or spacers.
WRX-PRO is just a copy of the standard caliper.
for the money your looking at your gonna basic get pads and disk.
Will have a used excede for sale soon (assuming it passes inspection when it comes off the car), only had about 3k miles on it since it was put in. It's for a classic 5 speed but should in theory fit. Let me know if your interested.