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I favor the JDM engine route.

At least I can get that stuff here - I wanted to get a couple of cans of their MP HD (on your recommendation) and found it's not sold in Soviet Canuckistan. Had to smuggle 'em in from Montana two summers ago.

Amsoil Break-In oil: https://www.amsoil.com/p/break-in-oil-sae-30--brk/ GD

I had a coolant weep from a head gasket for almost 200,000 miles, the subaru / holts rad weld conditioner kept it under control up to and beyond the combustion leak into the coolant. If something was beyond a weep or maybe a small trickle yeah it probably wouldn't work.

The VDC system uses a yaw sensor, steering sensor, wheel speed sensors, and more information from the ECU and TCU to determine if it thinks you're sliding sideways and can grab the brakes individually via the ABS pump to help regain control. If the VDC light isn't on all the time, you probably don't have an issue with any of those sensors themselves. But if the suspension isn't in good shape, that can throw off the readings. Our '04 VDC would grab the brakes on some LH curves until I got an alignment, but worn suspension components (ball joints, rod ends, shocks/struts and of course any of the 18 bushings) can confuse the system. I bought some Rallitek overload rear springs and KYB Excel Gs that will be going on our "new" '02 VDC once I get to it.

Yes, I've done a few - both front and back (and a couple of non-Subaru). Again, one of those things I don't do often enough for it to be "natural" and I usually seem to make one minor mistake or another during reassembly and have to recompress the spring - just dumb not-paying-attention stuff. I don't think I've ever replaced a top perch, and just used Rock cheapies (FCI?) in non-demanding applications. I'll check with the dealer shortly, but to date have found that "not priced outrageously" does not necessarily apply north of the border.

worked with a guy with railroad experience, used thermite packs for welding rails.

Understood. I still plan to go ahead with this, but want to stress that I absolutely respect the rationales offered above. But where they are driven by necessary commercial/time considerations, I'm not so constrained; if I have the time available to invest so I can put my limited cash elsewhere (my eye's on a Supercat 20 in Texas at the moment), that's what I'm going to do. But the time/money equation isn't the only thing driving me, either. As the old Stiff Records slogan goes, "Try everything once, except incest and folk dancing". I haven't yet pulled apart an EZ30, I know that I'm going to learn some new stuff, and if that includes, "They were right, this is stupid, I wish I hadn't done it, and it's time to buy a JDM", I can accept that outcome too.

My shop, as is the case with most dealerships, will not perform HG's on any H6's. Replacement JDM engines are CHEAP. Much cheaper than we would charge for a HG job. In our opinion, the EZ30's are good for about 175k to 225k and then they get replaced. GD

So I finally got around to uncovering this relic, pulled the spark plugs, squirted some oil in each cylinder, put a wrench on the crank pulley........and spun that sucker so easily that I almost feel that I could've done it with my bare hands. I was totally surprised. I am dropping the fuel tank to bring over to a radiator / tank shop to have it checked and boiled out. I will check and clear fuel lines (they look pretty good on the outside) while I wait for the tank to come back. Then I will try and start it up. Thanks for the encouragement.

Exactly! Thank you for your Feedback. Also, this Photo of your Subie and Landscape: is just Wonderful, thank you for Sharing, Kind Regards.