ppk

Hi everyone, (I'm new here)

Okay so I just recently bought a 2001 impreza rs (coupe). It has 91,000 kms (about 56k miles) and overall it is in excellent condition. There was only one owner before me and he took excellent care of it. I was thinking of adding a little grunt to it, because while the 166hp block performs pretty well it could use some extra power. The budget I'd be willing to put towards the modifications is about 1500-2000$. I know a bit about cars and tuning but not as much as I'd like, so I have a few questions.

I've been thinking of getting a short ram, headers, high flow cat, and a free flowing cat back. From nosing around the web a bit I could probably get all of that easily for under 1500$. What power gains can I expect from an installation like that on the RS?

Is there a better option in terms of pure power gain per dollar invested? For example would a nitrous oxide installation be viable on the stock block if I didn't run too large a shot? I heard nitrous on subarus was baaad but I'm asking anyways just to be sure.

In any case, I'd much rather have a consistent power gain that's ''always there''. Which brings me to a turbo kit. Would it be better to hold off the money for now and wait until I have enough to buy a turbo? I also heard that the 2.5RS motor was a bit weak and couldn't handle much more than a 9psi boost. I don't want to affect the car's reliability too much cause it's my daily driver and I need it to get to work every day.. So is a turbo a bad idea?

I've also been thinking of getting new camshafts. The engine being SOHC however, I wonder if it's possible to turn it into a DOHC and advance the timing to make it a bit more agressive. Now I'm not quite sure how much that would cost or if it can even be done...

I know cams are a bit expensive sometimes but if I could squeeze that into my budget along with a good intake, headers, a cat & cat-back I *think* I could get an interesting power increase at a reasonable price without altering the car's long term reliability too much.

But maybe I'm wrong. So.. I need your opinion folks! Thanks for the help.

andythejock01wrx

Hello !

Where are you, by the way ? (In the States I assume !). I'm in Scotland.

We don't have the RS model here. Is the 166hp at the wheel or at the fly ? Is the RS a non turbo model ?

ppk

I'm in Canada. The 166 ponies are at the crankshaft, not the wheels. The RS is pretty much a WRX look-alike without the turbo and some of the higher performance parts... So it's not as good, but insurance also is a lot cheaper...

Something I didn't mention is that I could also wait muuch longer (I'd need about 8000$ I think) and do a full STI swap with the six speed tranny and 2.5L turbo motor. But that's really expensive

EDIT: I should probably say I'd rather stick to my 2k$ budget though. I have things more important to take care of than a 300 hp engine.. So what should I do?

andythejock01wrx

Most people recommend simply going for an STi rather than going to the troulbe (and cost) of doing stuff to the non turbo models. How much would that be in Canada ?

ppk

Well I'm not quite sure but it's definitely more than 5 grand to do the swap. I might have been exagerating with 8000$ but with the labor time it could be around that (I'm not good enough to do that myself). And the cheapest used STI's go for around 25,000$ so buying one isn't really an option right now. I got my RS a month ago for 9000$ and right now I have about 5000$ left in the car budget but I need to save some in case something breaks down. So you think going for intake/headers/cams/hf cat+exhaust isnt a good idea? As long as it's noticeably faster I'll be happy.. But that brings me back to the original question: does anyone know if doing that to a 2.5L non-turbo H4 will net me a good performance increase?

myblackwrx

iTrader: (1)

have a look on North American Subaru Impreza Owners Club (slightly closer to your home)or try .:ImprezaSport.net:.

ppk

Alright thanks I'll try that.

andythejock01wrx