hey all heres the breakdown i plan to do an sti engine swap within an year. i have a 05 rs and i heard you can get an sti engine with about 10k miles on it from japan. i got 10k to spend which should more than enough buh problem is i dont kno wuh the hell im doin hahahah im sucha noob :furious: help me out experts i heard i also need good suspension costin around 2k? i dont kno hit this up

If you've got 10 grand(12 if you include that suspension #) to spend and an 05 RS, trade the RS in on a WRX or STi. Less work, and you'll get more for your money.

Unless you just need to be JDM, that is.

i dont want to just "buy" an sti then i would have gotten it years ago i want to work on my car and make it unique kinda lyk a sleeper

I promise you, it'll cost more than 10K even if you got a great deal on the engine. Especially if you want the full monty STi treatment. You bought the wrong base car to build an STi from, you might as well have bought a shell. And when you're done, you're stuck with an "STi" with 2.5RS resale value to anyone but a fellow enthusiast. Imagine how amazing an STi would be with 10 grand strategically spread on it.

If you're absolutely intent on making your own car, a better base car would have been a 2000-2001 2.5 RS, your car doesn't even have a limited slip rear end :(

i dont want to just "buy" an sti then i would have gotten it years ago i want to work on my car and make it unique kinda lyk a sleeper
Ok... thats good, but in the end its going to cost you a whole lot more then it would to just buy and sti and slap on an RS hood and rip off the badges. If you do all the work yourself figure many many weeks of lost sleep and always make sure you have a daily driver/way to get to work while your brand new car is in tiny pieces along the garage floor and house and basement... and just about everywhere. O ya make sure you have a exta $2k or so at all times just for all thoes little things that may and do go wrong along the way.

Are you still paying for the car? Are you going to do all the work yourself? Have you ever worked on a car? Done a motor swap? How good are you at hacking up a wireing harness? Figure $2 or 4k to and at least a month of down time before you get your car back.


Good luck turning your brand new ~$20k car into a over $30k dream/nightmare.

Ps. Dont think turing an RS is unique or in anyway makes your specal... anyone who knows anything about cars will laugh at the crazy amount of money you spend. As for sleeper... add a heavyer RS hood and some black wheels to a STi and you have as much of a sleeper as your RS is going to be.

We really need a sticky on this.;) This question seems to be a weekly occurance these days...

We really need a sticky on this.;) This question seems to be a weekly occurance these days...

But who would read it? :confused:

I promise you, it'll cost more than 10K even if you got a great deal on the engine. Especially if you want the full monty STi treatment. You bought the wrong base car to build an STi from, you might as well have bought a shell. And when you're done, you're stuck with an "STi" with 2.5RS resale value to anyone but a fellow enthusiast. Imagine how amazing an STi would be with 10 grand strategically spread on it.

If you're absolutely intent on making your own car, a better base car would have been a 2000-2001 2.5 RS, your car doesn't even have a limited slip rear end :(

then how do i make my car faster

Ok... thats good, but in the end its going to cost you a whole lot more then it would to just buy and sti and slap on an RS hood and rip off the badges. If you do all the work yourself figure many many weeks of lost sleep and always make sure you have a daily driver/way to get to work while your brand new car is in tiny pieces along the garage floor and house and basement... and just about everywhere. O ya make sure you have a exta $2k or so at all times just for all thoes little things that may and do go wrong along the way.

Are you still paying for the car? Are you going to do all the work yourself? Have you ever worked on a car? Done a motor swap? How good are you at hacking up a wireing harness? Figure $2 or 4k to and at least a month of down time before you get your car back.


Good luck turning your brand new ~$20k car into a over $30k dream/nightmare.

Ps. Dont think turing an RS is unique or in anyway makes your specal... anyone who knows anything about cars will laugh at the crazy amount of money you spend. As for sleeper... add a heavyer RS hood and some black wheels to a STi and you have as much of a sleeper as your RS is going to be.


my dad is professional mechanic and has done over 100 of engine swaps includin sti so you can cancel out the installation. dam this is tough :furious:

my dad is professional mechanic and has done over 100 of engine swaps includin sti so you can cancel out the installation. dam this is tough :furious:
Thats good its always the longest and hardest part. Heres the fun looking harness that came out of another members car as he was doing his swap. http://www.pbase.com/totoherbs/image/32347509

Well You Don't Know How Many People Have Come Into My Work And Seen How They Have Put All Of This Money In There Sleepers From Leg Sedans To Wrx To 2.5 Rs's You Name It And Every Time You Tweek Something That Wasn't Ment To Be Ie. Engine You Have To Change Your Clutch Plate Then The Trans Then The Brakes To Stop You Faster ....it Costs You Way To Much To Even Bother. Then Try To Get You Money Back .... Just Buy The Sti Heck I Have Just Taken Off A Sti Spoiler And Put It On A Wrx With Just A Trunk Swap & Peal Off The Sti Emblem With Dental Floss And Some Bug Remover Bam A Sleeper With Torque =c)

Well You Don't Know How Many People Have Come Into My Work And Seen How They Have Put All Of This Money In There Sleepers From Leg Sedans To Wrx To 2.5 Rs's You Name It And Every Time You Tweek Something That Wasn't Ment To Be Ie. Engine You Have To Change Your Clutch Plate Then The Trans Then The Brakes To Stop You Faster ....it Costs You Way To Much To Even Bother. Then Try To Get You Money Back .... Just Buy The Sti Heck I Have Just Taken Off A Sti Spoiler And Put It On A Wrx With Just A Trunk Swap & Peal Off The Sti Emblem With Dental Floss And Some Bug Remover Bam A Sleeper With Torque =c)
im goin with avo turbo still rape a wrx =P

just shut up...

I have both a 05 WRX and an 05 STi. I am interested in swaping engine, drivetrain, breaks, etc. what do you guys think of that idea?

-Quick

I have both a 05 WRX and an 05 STi. I am interested in swaping engine, drivetrain, breaks, etc. what do you guys think of that idea?

-Quick
.... what? You want to take your wrx motor and put it into your sti?

sell the new age RS, go get an old school RS.

Older RS will cost about $9,000 for a good one. Then you can spend all of the money that you sold the new RS for and invest in a USDM 2.5L STi drivetrain swap (yes, drivetrain, STi stuff is much stronger than RS stuff and you WILL need a new set of transmission gears in your current RS or any other 5MT from subaru).

Then you have a VERY fast car, one of 2 that I know of (with the USDM swap, there are many with the JDM 2.0L swap). And you can even make it look like an L if you want to...

what on gods green earth was that wire harness?!?!? and how do i avoid ever seeing something like that on my garage floor... or anyones garage floor?

what on gods green earth was that wire harness?!?!? and how do i avoid ever seeing something like that on my garage floor... or anyones garage floor?
Dont do a swap or pay someone else too.

For 10-12k you can buy a FULL v7 JDM Sti and swap EVERY part over to your car. When i say full, i mean the entire car from the wheels up.. Forget the usdm sti, but the suggestion of getting an older Rs is defenitly a good one as it will be MUCH lighter and even that much more of a sleeper..

Wrong base to start of, stupid move. If you wanted a sleeper STi you should have bought an STi and then bought an RS wingless trunk or RS trunk with wing, and an RS hood and an FMIC. it would have been cheaper.

Or an old school RS and a swap....

Here's what you to do. Ship your car to I-Speed and pay them to do it. Or buy the harness for the new motor, and take apart the entire interior, untape the old wiring and then tape in the new wiring. Then put the whole interior back in.

Or even better! Cut the looms behind the connectors to the fire-wall, and in front of the ECU connectors. Then use any wire off the cut ends and a tone them before making the connection. It doesn't matter what color is in the middle just as long as the ends are correct! (I actually saw this being done. It was very scary. But the engine did run first time with no bad traces.)

Piece of cake! 12 year old cake maybe. Just have enough milk, and you can choke it down. Beer works too.

you should have bought a WRX then a JDM sti engine. The wiring all plugs up except for the 8 or so wires you have to run for the AVCS...

u know what i wrote a big long thing out b4 but forget it shouldn't even b on this website.

First, type in English. Second, sell your new RS and get a GM6 era RS to do a swap into. What you're talking about sounds like it would be a great but completely pointless way to learn about your car.