My bugeye wrx wagon is getting close to 200k miles and I am unsure of what to do next. I feel like I should get and engine rebuild done, however with the engine pulled and everything would it be better to just do an engine swap? I would like to start making more power. Would it be best to just clean up the old engine and use like forged pistons and such? or should I get and sti engine? I am really unsure of where to go from here.
Budget, well hopefully less than 5k, it is my daily driver, and I hope to keep it forever. I will eventually get another car to daily drive, but that is a long ways down the road.
5k?? geez, just buy a good used STI engine and have someone install it. wish I had a 5K budget for my car.
also... I just pulled my engine out which had 216K on it, and it was a time bomb waiting to go. might want to consider something sooner rather than later if you do not know the maintenance history like I didn't.
Options are endless. Build it to what you want it to do best. http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2141800
Holy buttload of information thanks! If you don't mind I do have a couple of questions. SO I have my current engine at about 200k miles. Would it be best to just get a rebuild done and timing belt and other stuff to get it cleaned up and then tuned? I would like to make 300+ whp by the time I am done, and still be able to DD it. I am thinking I should probably get a turbo back exhaust or at least a different up pipe and down pipe, and then a newer turbo as I believe it is still the stock one on there.
it all depends on how much money you want to spend, are you rebuilding it, or is someone else? best bang for your buck in my opinion, and I'm sure 80 people would disagree... rebuild the engine, nothing fancy, you could probably get away with all stock rotating assembly, assuming you are not racing it. Find a VF-39 turbo, and a STI intercooler, they are cheap and get it tuned. Once you start, you cant stop.... make sure this is something you want to do, and you have money for it. If not, just put a stock rebuild in it and let it be.
Alright I would like to keep the initial build under $2k and someone else would have to have do it. I don't have the time or money or knowledge to get the tools I need and do it over the summer. Also would an E85 tune be a good or bad idea?
You will pretty much have to go e85 to reach your HP goals. And $2k is a very small budget for your ambitions. A used bigger turbo and intercooler will run you almost half of that budget. Better start reading up on DIY motor rebuilds! I'm guessing that, if I wouldn't have gone brand spanking new with my motor build, that i would have easily paid $2k-2,500. And that would have been keeping the stock td04 and everything else. Sorry...i'm not trying to crush your dreams. But someone needs to give you a ballpark of what you need to get where you want to be. I personally would double that budget to allow for all of the necessary steps and upgrades needed to reach 300hp. Good luck!!
I am honestly clueless about how much this all would cost so I do really appreciate. I will be able to expand my budget, but it might take another year to do so. I guess at the end of the summer I will see how much $$ I have saved up after paying off the rest of loans. Thanks again! I would really like to do the rebuild myself, but I just dont have the space and doubt my parents would let me take over the garage for a while
