STi engine swap into WRX

Discussion in 'Modifications & DIY how-to' started by sol drums, Mar 11, 2005.

  1. sol drums

    sol drums Active Member

    I know this sounds crazy. But if they are never going to make a STi Wagon & my engine is pretty much modded to the max. I was thinking... why not put in the larger STi engine? Anyone ever heard of someone else doing this?

    -drums
     
  2. socrates42

    socrates42 Member

    yeah ive seen it, there is a guy with a silver 02 on long island who did a full jdm v8 swap into his wagon. its silver. I think it was even in turbo mag or something.
     
  3. moose

    moose Infina Mooooooose!

    If you're going to go through all that trouble, why not go with a nicely built motor that can handle whatever you want to throw at it? I'm new to the Subarus, but have read about the 2.2 block and some other options that'd let you make some wicked power...
     
  4. ScoobyMike

    ScoobyMike OG Mod

    I would build a race ready motor
     
  5. GTscoob

    GTscoob Black is Beautiful

    You could go with an EJ22 shortblock out of an older Legacy Turbo (2.2L closed deck), USDM STI shortblock (2.5L semiclosed deck), or various JDM STI, STI RA, etc blocks (2.0L semi closed, closed on RA).

    I think thats how the factory engines sort out, and then there's Axis, Crawford, Cobb etc built blocks that use aftermarket rods/pistons.

    Lotsa people have been swapping motors now in WRXs (check it out on NASIOC). Pretty much any of the new generation engines (STI ver7+) bolt right in and use the factory wiring I believe. The engines with AVCS require a little bit more wiring.
     
  6. sol drums

    sol drums Active Member

    Well i'm not sure i'm going to do this. My friend Tommy was over at my house and we were talking about when he was going to start modding his WRX & what he wants to do. He sugguested that if I do anything more to my car, I should put in the STi engine or the RS engine. Said a turbocharged RS engine will get major HP gains. Something about a low compression engine w/ a turbo added?

    I was just thinking of how, or if I could get more HP out of my car. Just thinking... Cause I haven't even gotten into my car enough to know what it is truely capable of. (don't want any tickets) That's why I want to get it on a drag strip. Find out how much power it really has.

    -drums
     
  7. sol drums

    sol drums Active Member

    Wouldn't it be great to get our cars on the autobaun?!!!! Damn, i need to get on a track! Never done it before though.

    -drums
     
  8. miloman

    miloman Retired Admin

    ive been thinking bout a USDM STi shortblock... gotta wait a while while i save the money and it will give me enough time to research the options
     
  9. BelvnAWD

    BelvnAWD I'm Vin, Bell-Vin...

    Liquid Force, who lives in Dunwoody, and posts on Nasioc did a STI block into his WRX sedan. He actually did all the work in his garage with some help from Nasioc members and a large investment in tools...He actually gave me a Futon, seems like a nice guy. Try pm'ing him over there if you want more info.
     
  10. ScoobyMike

    ScoobyMike OG Mod

    sweet
     
  11. Alex

    Alex Community Founder Staff Member

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    North America's first STi-powered WRX wagon


    If this month's cover car looks vaguely familiar, that's because it isn't the first time you've seen it in this magazine. Owned by none other than 2NR tech editor Gary Castillo, the 2002 WRX wagon has been the subject of several tech articles and Power Page sessions in the past twelve or so months, and now that it's finished we think it's pretty damn good--good enough for the front of the book.

    It's usually something of an anomaly when one of our magazine staffers goes out and purchases a brand-new car. A lot of guys are intent on modifying their cars, naturally, and usually the used car market is a much more practical venue for finding a project car than the dealership showrooms. When Castillo got his WRX, though, the car was still a new item and none had really filtered down into the used car market. To make matters worse, he developed quite a taste for the platform while spending significant seat time in XS Engineering's coupe, the first modified WRX we got our hands on--hell, probably the first tricked out WRX in Southern California.


    http://www.importtuner.com/features/0311it_wrxwagon/
     
  12. FTZ

    FTZ ^.^

    Doesn't Kreeger have a Version 7 STi engine in his Wagon?
     
  13. GTscoob

    GTscoob Black is Beautiful

    Yep.

    Thats funny what you said about your friend telling you to turbo the RS motor. It can make good power but wont last too long.

    "The First STI Powered Wagon" my ass, there are a million people on NASIOC with STI motor swaps who I'm sure did it before this guy.
     
  14. miloman

    miloman Retired Admin

    alex... wanna trade engines? u could be the first WRX powered STi :D
     
  15. BelvnAWD

    BelvnAWD I'm Vin, Bell-Vin...

    :slap:
     
  16. Porter

    Porter Member

    Yep!

    The very first one that I know of was done by Dale Teague back in 1999, a JDM v5 STi drivetrain into a '98 Impreza Brighton Wagon converted completely to STi specification, all the way down to the interior and the STi identification plate on the dash. It was awesome.
     
  17. Kokopelli

    Kokopelli Active Member

    Just get the sti short block and call it a day. with your basic vf34 setup it performs nicely. 300ft lbs of trque at 3400 rpms is a hell of alot of fun to drive. Unfortunately one gets desensitized to it over time. After a year of running that way I am moving on to bigger turbo.

    The added displacement adds a lot of turbo options that just really don't work as well with a 2.0l.




    Modding: The quest that never ends.
     
  18. siegelracing

    siegelracing Registered Vendor<br><b><font color="#666666">bion

    There are LOTS of options for drop-in blocks. We'll have a USDM shortblock with <3000 miles on it available for $1600 in the next 2 weeks or so.

    Stock USDM shortblock should happily do 360-380 to the wheels all day every day with no worries. As you approach 400 whp longevity under heavy driving becomes a concern.

    Of course if you're going to spend that, you might as well get a Crawford or Axxis stage 2 block. There identical and only about $2299. You get forged pistons so 420-450 whp every day should be worry free. If you want to break that on pump gas for daily abuse, or highway running, or even for extended road-course abuse $3800 gets you forged everything....

    Sol Drums, if your itching to drop some $$$ a block is definitely the way to go. You are near the limits of your 2.0

    If you have any questions, drop me a line,
    SS
     
  19. sol drums

    sol drums Active Member

    Thanks Scott.

    I don't have the money now to put in the larger block. But it's something that I'm thinking about doing in the next year. What I need to do now is get my car tuned. I'm trying to decide if I'm going to stay with my current ecu or make the switch to EcuTek. I'm leaning towards EcuTek. I think Mike may have called you about my car.

    -drums
     
  20. married05gt

    married05gt starting over

    Just do ecuteck, the money u will spend to tune what u have will cost almost the same thing as selling utec and getting ecutec.:bigthumb:
     
  21. ScoobyMike

    ScoobyMike OG Mod

    brett-

    You will be maxed out on HP for the stock block after you get it tuned!!
     
  22. sol drums

    sol drums Active Member

    yeah, so true... but i guess that's a good problem to have!

    -drums
     
  23. miloman

    miloman Retired Admin

    like ive said before.... i'd strongly recommend the ecutek
     
  24. sol drums

    sol drums Active Member

    WRXatlanta.com managed by EcuTek!


    just kidding... that's the route i'm gonna take.

    -drums
     
  25. ck02wrx

    ck02wrx Member

    If you plan on doing an USDM STI longblock swap, its pretty easy and can be done over the weekend with alittle help. If you have any questions e-mail and I try to help. I did mine by myself in 3 days. Just working on it after I got home from work.

    You can find everything you'll need at the following link.
    http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=523486
    The install in that link is for a JDM Forester STI engine which is the same as the USDM STI engine.
     
  26. miloman

    miloman Retired Admin

    what about the short block?
     

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