to turbo or not to turbo, that is the question...
 

Hi all, i have been offered a turbo and all pipework etc off a scoob i came across yesterday when a random bloke stopped me at my local petrol station. The scoob in question is a classic 1997 with massive rear end damage but motor etc is still all good. I have a 1997 2.0 sport i have been using as my everyday car since i picked it up as my 1st scoob a few months ago and i gotta say its my pride and joy and i absolutly love it but am now toying with the idea of doing a turbo converion and would like some pros and cons advice as to weather i should make him an offer on it all and turbo my baby :-)

unless you want to scam your insurance and do all the work yourself,will be cheaper just to buy a turbo car and be all legit

Good point.

By the whole car do engine e and running gear change, you'll need to be good with a set of spanners

Pros
It will be fun to drive
It will be faster than it is now
It will be good experience to do the swap
You will know the car inside out and know exactly what you have
You can put it together exactly as you want it

Cons
Its a lot of work
It will be harder on juice
It will be hateful to insure (properly)
It will be worth very little if you ever come to sell (its not a turbo by the VIN, but not a sport any more either)



If you want to do the swap because the cars there and you wanna "just do it" then def get stuck in.
If you want to do it because it seems like an (easier / cheaper / faster) option to gettin into a turbo than selling and buying one then def dont.

Engine swap/ turbo conversion insurance is a doddle if you speak to the right insurers but it's more about the risk that you present rather than the vehicle.

http://www.skyinsurance.co.uk/engine...insurance.html

Do you Guys cover NI ? Specifically a modified Import in NI ?

sorry for the OffTopic :)

The one main reason for me buying a non turbo in the 1st place was about £2000 extra for my insurance o_O but as i wanted a scoob for as long as i could remember fuel economy etc was not on the top of my list of must haves lol. The huge deciding factor in wanting to fit a turbo and intercooler is because i am so sick of being trounced at the lights by people in turbo'd motors.... Very stressfull lol. I not at all worried about doing the work on it as i have built chops on the road since i was 19 and quite confident waving a spanner around in my garage lol if i do decide to go ahead with the conversion is it likely to dramaticly reduce the life if my engine as it is currently very strong and reliable?

bigsigh - they didn't when I contacted them about a year or so ago.

oh, you are looking to put the turbo on the NA block ?

then no i would suggest you either transplant the complete lump, or dont bother it is certainly NOT worth the hassle when by comparison the complete swap would be SO much handier


Cheers Urban :(

Think the internals are different and the compression is defo different,easyer change lump n gearbox,if the cars crash damaged it might be mechanically healthy?

UK Mainland only I'm afraid, I'd love to say otherwise as half of my family are from Bangor/Belfast

if you do go ahead with it i wouldnt bother contacting sky insurance for a quote after admitting the reason you want to do it is because you want to race people at traffic lights lol. seriously tho just buy a turbo if you want one, they can be had in ok condition for as little as 1500 quid these days.

So the general opinion from all is either swap the entire lump, turbo and all or dont bother as it may well kill my beloved scoob in the end which i really dont wanna do. Thanks for all the advice people i think that after hearing from eveyone i will keep the old girl how she is, save up my pennys and buy one that already has a massive, and i do mean massive turbo already fitted and running well. Great advice from all, thanks everyone i shud probly get back to work now iv got the important stuff out the way today :-)

In the mean time i will simply have to thrash the arse off it and hope their motors are just dressed up to look rapid like mine is hehe.

You would have to swap most of the car over to do a proper job of converting to a turbo, the engine on the sport isnt the same as the turbo, the gearbox isnt as strong, the brakes.... bad enough on the turbo but worse on the sport, probably also need to change the rear diff, maybe the wiring loom.... easier to buy a turbo and cheaper.

This has been asked many many times on here, always with the same answer.

Nope. Not worth the bother, if you want a turbo impreza go buy one.