OK, I'm curious what you guys think of this plan. My long term goal is STi power for my wagon. Now, I know that I can easily put on a new turbo, fuel pump, injectors, and tune, and I've got similar power to an STi. but I want to go a step further. I am gathering parts that will work on my current stock engine, but would also work with a 2.5 block. :naughty: my current shopping list of parts: vf39 - not purchased yet pinks - not purchased yet sti fuel pump - not purchased yet uppipe - not purchased yet downpipe - not purchased yet electronic exhaust cutout valve - purchased ecutek - not purchased yet STi or better TMIC - not purchased yet TMIC water sprayer - nothing to really purchase ok, so I know these items will work great with a 2.5 block. my main concern is that the vf39 will take too long to spool with the stock 2.0. As you can tell, I am going to be going for stealth, so no loud exhaust unless I flip the switch for the cutout. and I plan on using the stock wagon rear sprayer for the IC sprayer with the switch mounted on the floorboard so when I floor it, it automatically presses and holds the sprayer. Is there anything that I am missing? opinions? Thanks.
You asked for opinions... I would go with a bigger turbo than the VF39. Especially with a 2.5 block you shouldn't have any trouble spooling something larger at a reasonable RPM. Maybe look at an 18G? Others can probably suggest more specific turbos better than I... but a vf39 would be a waste if you're going to get a 2.5 block. If you want it to spool ok on your existing 2.0 for now, maybe a 16G or 18G... you might also want to look into bigger injectors than pinks if you want to run a big turbo. BTW, the VF39 wouldn't be bad at all on a 2.0; hell, my VF34 spools smoothly and quickly. Come for a ride if you want to evaluate. Why STi fuel pump? Most people run Walbros and they're pretty cheap and decent... I would strongly consider an AccessPort if you intend to stay mostly stock with some exhaust pieces added for now.. that way you get the benefit of a decent tune and more power now, and get a ProTune when you go with the bigger stuff. End up costing about the same, or less than, Ecutek and you can enjoy it now for a smaller investment. What do you have planned for catback? Even if you don't want to go loud, I suspect a better flowing catback would really help... you can maybe get an STi axleback and be done; flows better and isn't really loud. Cheap too!
and too many of them crack new from what i've heard-poor casting, stay away from em. i can't imagine the OEM sti pump is cheaper than the walbro. you could go with the sti catback, borla hush or a prodrive catback, they are relatively very quiet and you don't have to worry about cutouts. i'm running a full 3" prodrive TBE and noise is not an issue (and i HATE noise, ask siegel lol) also, you mentioned having the IC spray on WOT, you may also want to consider the issue of heatsoak when you're standing still/low speeds. so a dash switch may be a better option. my personal opinion would be to drop the 2.5 in there sooner than later, but that's just an opinion... you could run the 2.0 into the ground and then replace it.
i agreee with moose..if your going with a 2.5 block a vf39 is a waste..the vf39 is on the smaller side..the only ihi turbo i would go with would be a vf22 to run more boost and you could easily get away with an 18g or even a 20g and still beable to be spooled by 3500-4000 rpms. you will probably need bigger injectors than STi pinks if your going with more than a vf22. As far as the STi fuel pump i dont know the flow capacity on it but again as moose said the walbro is inexpensive and can flow a lot of fuel. the uppipe you could gut your stocker and save yourself some money. ive had mine done for months with absolutely no problems. as far as EM im a big fan of Ecutek
i was reading an article the other day in an import mag...not sure which one, and it had a 2.8 crawford block in it!!!! in an STI....crazy stuff.....can't give you any recomendation on turbos but i would agree with the above...with Walboro fuel pump, you can get one for like $95....not too shabby...and bigger injectors than pinks..
OK, so does the 18g work well with both the 2.0 and the 2.5 engine? I forgot to mention that price was a serious consideration in this. As a father of 3 and a stay at home wife, I have a slightly limited budget. the exhaust is going to stay stock for neighborhood reasons, while the cut-out will allow me to open it up if I need. I was going to go with ecutek because they allow two maps with the stock ECU, right? that way I can have the conservative map for normal driving, and the hot map for when the cut-out is open and the IC spray is on. the deal is that I want to be able to have a streetable car with all the parts on the 2.0 block for awhile. then when the 2.0 gets tired, I dont want to have to replace everything when I go to the 2.5. Edit: oh, and dont worry about opinions ever bothering me. let them rip!
Well, I'll add some more comments here... First off, a setup that'll work well on a 2.0 and a 2.5 will be a compromise, period. You will either end up with a turbo that's smaller than you want for a 2.5 or spools too slowly on a 2.0... of the two I think I'd personally live with slow spooling rather than deal with low power later. I mean, the 2.5 is so you can make a lot of power, right? Second, since you mentioned budget concerns: Do a hot buildup and you can pretty much bet on your tranny going to pieces pretty quickly (yeah, some run good power with a stock tranny, but if you're going to mod a lot and have budget worries you have to keep this in mind...). Cheapest option would be the RA gearset tranny for $2200-2300, but from what I gather that one isn't bulletproof either. So you might want to add a STi 6-speed tranny into the plan... they are NOT cheap though. You'll also need to add a new clutch. Third, I'd ditch the exhaust dump idea and go with a nice flowing quiet catback. Fourth, I'd sit down and seriously think about how much this will end up costing, how much downtime you can deal with (is this your daily driver?) and if you're willing to deal with things breaking/blowing up since once you go to a certain level of modding you'll likely have to deal with that... I settled for the VF34 setup since while I'd love to make mad crazy power I don't want to push the envelope quite that far on a car that's my daily driver and I don't want to spend big bucks on.
yeah, I undrstand it will be a compromise when the 2.5 first goes in. I just dont want to have to immediately swap every bolt on part out when that happens. I want a little bit of life from all the parts that I use with the 2.0. 18g might be good. anyone ever use a 17c turbo? I used one on my old DSM and it was great...
OK, I thought about this some more... suggestion if you really want to go with this: run the 18G at low-ish boost (maybe 270-280whp target) on your 2.0 motor. That way the motor and tranny should be ok. Then plan on getting a new tranny with your 2.5... and then you can crank the boost up to the moon.
I am running with a 2.5 hybrid and I will be upgrading to a 20g from a Deadbolt vf22. At first I was runnning a vf34 on it but that turbo was way to small so I upgraded to the vf22. I could kick myself for not going straight to the 20g but I wasn't sure my car could handle it with the higher compression. The 18g is very close to the performance of the vf22 so you will quickly become bored with it. Start with the 20g on your 2.0l. The extra lag will keep the pressure on you to do the swap. And when #4 finally goes on you, you will be forced to do the 2.5 swap
well damn, i was told it was a 3" front to back... i did some searching and it does look like it's 2.5 (not that prodrive's site is forthcoming with specs). that's what i get for taking someone's word for it:weaksauce:
hmmm, 20g doesn't sound bad. I've got a DSM friend that runs a 20g on his 2.0 and his lag isn't all that bad. of course, he keeps it at full boil pretty much all the time. heh. I'll seriously consider that when it comes time to purchase the turbo... First steps are the uppipe, downpipe, and fuel pump because I can run those without a tune... right? I know I would get more power with a tune, but is it necessary with those mods? next step would be injectors and turbo, which would definitely require the ecutek.
Why not get Ecutek earlier rather than later. You'll enjoy the extra power and then its just a simple retune when you get the new stuff in.
Hey Andy, I'd also recommend getting a quiet catback exhaust. I have the Blitz NUR Spec-R and it's VERY quiet cruising around and still puts the power down. I do have a header so that may help too. I also have an STi fuel pump and VF39 in my garage. I got the VF thinking mine was blown only to find out the FMIC pipe had popped out of a silicone hose. :nuts: I've never used it and the guy said it was in working condition when it was removed at 5k miles. PM me if you are interested and want a price.
:eek3: Allrght, I've got alot to consider here now. I appreciate all the options you guys mentioned to me, but now I have to figure out how soon I want to go with the 2.5 block, and how much lag I can deal with until then, and how much I want to spend initially, and how much I want to spend later... sheesh. :wiggle: I think for now, I will go ahead and make the leap to uppipe, downpipe, and fuel pump. I'll go ahead and go with the walbro. I had one on my DSM and despite being louder, it worked very well. I'm going to go with a bellmouth downpipe just because I dont want all that turbulence when it comes to all the air that the 2.5 will push... and the uppipe can be the stock one cleaned out. anyone know a shop in the marietta area that can clean out an uppipe?
I wouldn't bother with the fuel pump at this point. Sure, it won't hurt anything, but it won't do a damn thing for performance. UP/DP sounds good, and when you get some engine management things wil really wake up.