Hi all, ive just broke my vectra b gsi and im now on the lookout for a subaru sti.

I have been chatting to somebody who has told me instead of buying a standard sti, i should buy one with a fully forged engine.


My question is, how strong is an sti engine in a 1997/98/99 sti? and will i be able to add more power safetly, and upto what bhp?

sorry for all the questions, but im completly new to the jap scene and dont want to spend a few thousand if its not worth it

thanks for any advice guys/gals

 

It depends on your budget, you can buy one with a fully forged engine, but if its not had all the supporting mods (brakes, clutch, gearbox etc) then your still going to have a money pit.
The above 3 cars are all reasonably strong in the engine department, its not advisable to run over 350bhp on the standard engine (no matter what people have run or are running), they do let go, normally quite catastrophically.
Then the gearbox is a weak spot, the 5 speeds are not as good as the new age 6 speed, the newage cars (2001 onwards) have better clutches, gearboxes, brakes etc, and people will say they are much heavier, well yes that is true, mainly due to the stronger parts they upgraded over the previous incantations.
If it were me looking, then I would be looking at a new age car, japanese domestic vehicles have more power and are better specc'd but require 100+ ron fuel if not mapped for uk fuel, these cars first came out in 2001 and in 2003 they had a major overhaul of the design with massive changes to the engine and drive train (certain models did not have the A-DCCD fitted which transfers torque between the front and rear wheels).
UK cars pretty much stayed the same from 2002 to 2004 with a facelift across the entire market range in 2003, but mechanically similar to previous models.
In 2005 the wider track came in along with the Spec C geometry which improved handling, ALL markets had this but the engines were the same.
New age STI's have very strong engines compared to their classic counterparts, for the cost of upgrading a classic (including buying the car) you could end up with a 4 year old JDM model (the UK 2.5's are not exactly good compared to the twin scroll 2ltr JDM models), or an old 97-99 model classic.

Tony

 

thanks tony, i have about £4.5k at the moment, so what would you recomend i do? I doubt i could afford a newer spec car, so looks like a classic, but there seems so many choices. The only thing i do know is the jdm's seem better than uk spec

I dont want to go stupid at first as this is my first subaru, so will obviously need to get used to the power and handling capabilities, but at the same time i dont want a dog, if you get what i mean.

thanks again

 

Doubt you'll get one with a forged engine with that budget fella. JDMs are generally the better cars although there are some well modded UK cars around. I'll take a look in for sale section for you & post a few links.

TX.

Edit - £5.5k might get this one https://www.scoobynet.com/private-fo...ti-1999-a.html

 

much appeciated

 

That one that Tx has pointed out isnt bad, wouldnt like it myself, the flexi pipe will crack (they always do, doesnt take long either) the turbo is too big (laggy) and I would revert back to a better suited turbo for that car (350 is tops bhp for reliability on standard internals).
There are much better choices out there here is one but be warned, you will have to travel for a decent one.

I like this one better than Tx's personally but it will probably need a rebuild
http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/1692699.htm
This one is a new age bargain
http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/1790659.htm

Tony

 

what sort of price for a rebuild? Thanks for everybodys help

 

Depends on whats up with it, API start at about 1800+ vat, makes that new age one even more of a bargain

Tony

 

I had a v3 sti tuned by a forrest, and she was producing 330bhp, they advised not to go any higher than this on stock internals.

You can pick up a forged impreza for around 6k, nice one near me at the moment http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SUBARU-IMPREZA...Automobiles_UK

A rebuild can cost around 2k depending on damage,turbo etc for rebuild with forged internals 6k +.

Personally id buy a nice sti that you will get your cash back on when you sell and save a few quid up to put to buying a ready forged one.

Good luck, theres a lot of nice stis out there with decent hp.

 

I had a v3 sti tuned by a forrest, and she was producing 330bhp, they advised not to go any higher than this on stock internals.

You can pick up a forged impreza for around 6k, nice one near me at the moment http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SUBARU-IMPREZA...Automobiles_UK

A rebuild can cost around 2k depending on damage,turbo etc for rebuild with forged internals 6k +.

Personally id buy a nice sti that you will get your cash back on when you sell and save a few quid up to put to buying a ready forged one.

Good luck, theres a lot of nice stis out there with decent hp.