GC turbo/Motor Swap

I have noticed that a few of you on here have GC's with turbo's and or motor swaps. My question is what is the most common route to go and what is the most popular route to go? I have my eyes set on a turbo RS but if it's more of a pain than its worth I'll keep looking at the WRX. Just looking for some true advice.

 

My opinion is =

the easiest/cheapest route i've seen is to buy a JDM V1-4 2.0L sti engine and RA tranny w/diff, axles etc. they're pretty easy to find. That'll run you like 4 grand from a reputable importer shipped and warrantied. Then you spend 50 hours doing the wiring and drop it in. then sell you old engine/tranny etc. to a Impreza L owner and make 1500-2000 back.

^= way better then WRX

Otherwise, I've heard only amazing praise on at least 4 boards for BikerBoy's engine building ability. So contact him and see what kind of magic he can work for you.

 

What should be considered in building a turbo RS? I know the motor should be rebuilt and the tranny but what about diffs and others things? Also what about an ems? How do i get around Subaru's super smart factory ecu? Is stand alone my only option?

 

front clip is the easiest if you are going jdm then you can just switch over wiring and just have to wire in for the rear of the car, some places have prespliced harness for around 500 it all depends how much money you want to spend but as far as reliability goes it is much better to swap.

i bought a front clip 4 years ago and had little to no problems with it.and with less than 8k including original price of my car i have a fun toy than can easily hand it to a new sti.:biggrin:

go swap you won't be dissapointed.

and yes bikerboy is someone who could easily do the swap for you and he will do a very good job.:biggrin:

 

Agreed, japanese front clip ftw.

 

A turbo build on the NA 2.5 plant in the RS can be done, but it's exepensive to do properly and in the end you're pretty much doing a swap anyway. However you don't need to do internals or much engine work to get a reliable build, but you will need to put in standalone engine management and limit your boost to keep it from blowing up (the fate of most turbocharged RSs). I had one of the original Minnam kits on my 99 RS running 5-8psi and Haltech engine management and it was quite a bit quicker than even a modified WRX. The nice thing about not messing with the high compression ratio of the stock plant is that it makes torque just as fast as it did without a turbo bolted on, which is faster than even the STi or LGT can produce torque. I liked it a lot more than a swap since it was far more unique, but it had its problems occasionally just like any modified car.

The most important thing to keep in mind when considering any modifications to a car like that is funding. If this is your only car make sure to have alternate transportation ('the beater' or 'the daily driver') and plenty of extra cash. Things happen and you don't want it costing you your car and loosing all that time and money you spent on it.

 

What he said, but replace haltech with a hydra

 

a swap is more ideal. There are less headaches and also more supporting mods/parts out there. For my swap it's only the wiring, but that's why you have places out there that can do the wires for you. You can just do the engins swapping but then send them the wires and you save yourself a bunch already too. I ALMOST completed my wires but...the hell with it...lolz! So I sent in my wires to Garage Tuning...so we'll see when they get back...probably the 3rd quarter of Jan.

Depends what you want on power and yoru type of driving. For street you can't go wrong with a 2.0L swap. I'd do a 2.0L USDM WRX swap with complete wiring and put on a 18G turbo and call it a day. It's not fast like some FAST cars out there...but for street...you need something that you can drive around in.

Want a FAST FAST CAR? Well....you can certainly build Subaru....but like said, you gotta have $$ to have a fast car. Anyone got deep pockets? lolz!
My pockets are shallow so I just have an EJ22T swap...it's just a small and NOT so powerful swap. My big build is with the other EJ22T block.