Thanks for the quick response guys. As for the engine, it's done 127,000km. Oil changed every 7000km. Valvoline Synpower 5w-40. Genuine oil filter. Yes checked regularly. In fact I checked it the day before. It didn't use oil (I hardly ever needed to top it up before the next change). Oil always looked good when drained.
I'm the first NZ owner and had it tuned for 95 when I got it. Running Ecutek fine for 3 years then decided to do fuel pump, catless PBMS downpipe and Grimmspeed EBCS recently. Did the bearing while doing a logging pull for the tuner. He's looked over the logs and can't see anything in the tune that would cause it. I have no reason to doubt him either. I think the age/ k's of the engine plus a redline run in third gear probably didn't help the health of the engine. Had another 1500k's before next oil change.
I've never tracked the car, just did 1 quarter mile event at local car club. Was a total of 4 runs. I absolutely baby this thing, it's only got close to redline while doing pulls for the tuner!
Apparently new replacement short blocks are not available from Subaru.