richbaker78

hi all,

My project is possibly slightly different..........
I therefore need some advice from you subaru experts

The project

A 1970 VW camper, with uprated everything, full cmaping trim in sickly 70s pea green. Its been my project for the last 1.5 years and so far runs brembo 4 pot porsche 944 S2 vented discs all round, air suspension, narrowed front suspension, porsche rear suspension, uprated gearbox, porsche boxster 17 inch cups blah blah blah. For the time being I havew built a mild performance beetle based engine for it so only about 110bhp and the original plan was to turbo this engine to about 200bhp. However when pricing up parts i see that I can get a complete and running impreza engine for about the same - and the power for £ ratio is much more attractive.

The plan:

To fit an impreza engine to my bus to make full use of my brake and suspension and gearbox mods

I need:

Lots of torque cos its a van, a turbo of course, an engine with tuning potential, and a strong reliable performance in standard trim ideally withing a budget of £1500 including ecu & loom etc.

Information: obviously I have no background in impreza engines but I need to know....

what i can get for around £1500 - i am able to completely rebuild engines so if its a matter of getting a knacked engine and then spending time to rebuild its not a problem if I can ultimately obtain more power or a newer /better engine by doing this. Ive been doing some web research and it seems there are many imprezza engine variations

Can anyone direct me to the impreza engine which fits this bill. I then need to know the spec of this engine and to which spec cars etc and in which years these were made so I can begin the hunt. ie will a 97 Sti engine do and if not whats the difference between this and an engine not form an Sti etc etc, what the score with type r stuff - do all engines share same block etc

A strange request I know - please dont ask me why im doing it - its just because I can and I want to embarass some nova boys.

Cheers for your help.

ps any links gratefully recieved!

scoobynutt

hi richbaker78 first thing you will need to do is find some more funds as even in you buy a subaru engine that needs rebuilding you would spend your current budget just rebuilding to standard ........


hope this helps

as for engine supliers try here : http://www.gradea-subaru.co.uk/

matt

richbaker78

cheers for that scoobynutt - I should say that the budget is not a problem at the moment there is some flexibility here so budget aside please any info is helpful (thanks for the link)- for the time being the objective is to identify the best engine for the job -sourcing and paying for it i can deal with later!

p1prodrive

iTrader: (3)

Hi there mate you can find a few engines on ebay for abot £800 - £1000 so well in price range, there is someone on there selling sti engine and looms, give that a try.

p.s sorry for no links

matt

Jake

There was an article in scooby mag about someone who has done exactly this. Wrx engine into VW bus. I will dig it out tonight.

p1stew

i think i'm right in saying that powerstation or litchfield motors have a supply of turbo engines that have been stripped out to produce the T25. I'm sure they were selling them for £ 800.00

Markus

have a peek here: http://www.tsrdragracers.co.uk/index2.html

Might be worth emailing them to see what they have done.

I seem to recall an article in Volks World a few years ago where a chap had dropped an impreza engine in his bug.

Also have a look here: http://www.clubvw.org.au/steve_carter.htm

I know you have a Camper instead of a Beetle but the processes involved could possibly be similar.

911

That is for the short engine only I think.
They use the heads and other parts for the 2.5 conversions.
Graham.

David_Wallis

you could also use the legacy engine, but the heads are crap. Personally I would try and use a 94 - 96 impreza engine, preferably uk.

richbaker78

HI guys - this is excellent thanks for all your reccomendations to be honest i didnt expect such a positive response!

- i have spoken to TSR and they were really helpful (cheers markus). THey cna provide the appropriate adaptor plate whcih saves me the hassle of importing one from the states. They also strip down the loom for ya for what seems like a reasonable price so bonus there!.

Ive also been doing some research into breakers and douglass valley have knackered 03 Sti which would do me nicley (still awaiting a price on that one).

David Wallis - Ive seem lots of people use the legacy engine but no-one really says why!! i guess cos its cheaper than the imprezza, however I was wondering if it had more torque and is therefore more suited to the bus? Can you also tell me why you would use the 94-96 engine over any other - as much tech info as possible please - I want to choose the right engine!!

The fabrication etc to fit it all is no problem in fact it will be very straight forward its the details of the engines im after primarily.

At the moment its looking like Ill be able to do the conversion for the price of selling my old engine!!!which means a free 100hp at least :-)

Thanks to all fro the enthusiasm and help - much appreciated - keep it coming.

Im looking forward to having a decent heater in the thing as well now!!!!

richbaker78

ive just been offered a complete 16000ml 03 Sti wrx engine for £1250 plus vat - is this a good deal?


IS this better/worse option than the 94-96 engine DavidWallis has suggested.

SPEN555

Make sure it has what you need, Block, Heads, Inlet etc.

David_Wallis

that sounds very cheap, its not from a crashed car thats been bumped at the front, as it may have smashed the cam pulleys and snapped the cambelt.

92-96 for simplicity with the loom, no silly coded key fob alarm / immobilisers.

Legacy engine, simply becuase it is cheap, and would get you running easily and cheaply.. probably pick up a full legacy estate turbo for less than £1000

Also it may be easier to use the charge cooler, rather than an intercooler.

David

richbaker78

right - the old engine is up for sale and the g/f has given her blessing (she even sounded enthusiastic??!!) - now awaiting funds before I cna commence - better get on with finishing the rest of the project in the mean time. Cheers for all the advice guys. Feel free to continue to add info and advice.


Cheers
Rich

richbaker78

update -
the old engine is provisonaally sold so i can start the hunt in earnest.
So far ive got a WRX (not Sti) on the cards for £1250 form a 2003 car with 16000 miles - what do you scooby experts reckon on this choice of engine (it coming out a crashed car so i can get all the goodies such as fuel pump, loom, heater matrix etc too)- ive heard a remap could sort out more torque should i require and a ball bearing turbo would also net a bit more power. True? If so am i better of with this rather than the Sti engine in terms of valus for money?