well, I have been into Volkswagens for the past 5 years now, and have decided to make a change. I am really a fan of the older 2.5Rs imprezas and am curious to find out an in depth look at whats needed to get a JDM or USDM WRX or STI powerplant into one, it would be a 99-01 Impreza. I'd also like to have both front and rear Diffs and the tranny 5 or 6 speed, is this even worth doing or am i better off buying a 2002 WRX and slowly modding it. I have searched through the forums on the site for a few days now but havent really found a good how to or whats needed for a full STI/WRX swap into an older 2.5rs suby, all your help and information is much appreciated also i am in Toronto so if anybody knows some good shops around here i'd like to know where they are so i can get some prices and see how they can help me.

Thanks

DOOOO EEEETT!!!!!

There are a few threads in here about doing the swap. Here's mine:

http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=820299

I'm sure supermoose will chime in with his.

I was no expert when I started it, I just had some tools, dived in, and bought more tools as necessary. Don't be scared of teh swap. I got mine from www.JDMImporters.com (give them a call) but there are plenty of importers if you look around the community.

PS if you're up yonder 4starmotorsports does imports in your area.

thanks man, i'll be sure to check em out

i still cant find a good source

http://www.fourstarmotorsports.com/CatalogData/Products_0.htm

They're in Ontario. That sounds Canooky.

thanks alot, i am going to call them up tomorrow, other than that is there anyone here who has a 99-01 RS with a FULL STi swap JDM or USDM if so any thing i should look out for which is better and why what motor or tranny to get or certain problems with certain years, like i said i am new to the suby world and all i know are volkswagens inside and out, and im already learning tidbits of information here and there on subys and i find them to be very interesting and cant wait to build my own. my quickest car was a mark3 turbo VR6 and it was a low 13's car. i'm hoping to build a streetable 2.5RS swap that will make that look silly.

start here:
www.northursalia.com
Look under technical documents for the impreza model history. That'll give you the skinny more or less on the JDM cars.

thanks again

if you find yoshio or the toronto subaru boards, theres a TON of NAAASTY subarus hanging out there.

yoshio tunes them pretty hardcore too, he can eprom chip just about all of the JDM ecu's. too bad i dont live in michigan anymore....


as far as clips, tiger has them in canada, so do bunch of dealers up in canadia land. id offer to hook u up on a sti v4... but the shipping might be nasty.

the swap is easy. it really depends on what you are looking for, if u got lucky and hunted really hard, you could get a north american 02 ish WRX for about 8/9 K that needed some work- like blown motor, gearbox or something. its really a pretty good deal. I was actually thinking about getting one fo those.......but then this GT-R we have sitting around caught my eye :P

the swap is easy. if u do DIRT cheap budget build, youll have a 280ps wrx that tracks good for 8K or so. not bad imo. sti, and newer builds are obviously more expensive. there are guys that have built up 30K++ monstor gc8's, and other guys that have spent minimal. im in about the lower 20K range on spending on mine, but its gone through alot of differnt phases.

is it worth to go JDM, or stick with USDM. Also what years has issues which tend to be better to build on, IMO being new to suby's i think a 2.5RS with a USDM 2.0 WRX motor with turbo upgrades would be sweet, but if its not alot more money id love to have the full powertrain out of an 04-05 USDM STI. 300hp with a few mods i would probably have close to my 300WHP goal in a 99-01 2.5Rs

jdm may be cheaper. they're all about the same to modify, just pick the newest one your budget allows-

the usdm 2.0 ej205 is regarded by many as rather lame. id stay away from that one, unless you're on a really tight budget- its the cheapest.

the usdm 2.5 motor isnt happy at high revs in stock form, although it makes its grunt on the bottom. the usa 6mt has lame 5th and 6th gears. no fun.

the j spec version 7/8 is probably the most desired driveline set. you'll pay alot for it, but its quite quite quite nice. i dont know the exact pricing, its too rich for my blood.

the usdm 2.0 ej205 is regarded by many as rather lame. id stay away from that one, unless you're on a really tight budget- its the cheapest.

you seem to trash the EJ205 a lot. The engine is purpose built and there's plenty that are running just fine. Correct me if i am wrong but doesn't your V2 have Hydraulic lifters? What's so lame about a USDM swap. I can pass emissions 100% no questions asked. I don't have any rare JDM replacement parts to get ahold of. I'd have loved to do a V7/V8 swap but they are just WAY too expensive. Also this engine was mass produced world wide. I just am curious where you get your bias that the motor is lame?

There is also a place in Guelph (an hour drive away from TO) that I've personally heard good stuff about. It's not as big as the others, but they do good jobs.

Take a look: planetmotorsport *dot* com (haha, apparently I'm too n00b to post urls)

Good luck

so definately not a usdm wrx motor, so if i cant fit a JDM into my budget the next best thing is the current UDSM STI motor 2.5? If so wouldnt it be just as expensive as a JDM one because its just so new. thanks for all your help guys i am slolwly beginning a plan for my build finally.

another question whats the difference here im seeing both version 7 and 8 but some are 2.0l and some are 2.5 which is the more desired of the two

so definately not a usdm wrx motor, so if i cant fit a JDM into my budget the next best thing is the current UDSM STI motor 2.5? If so wouldnt it be just as expensive as a JDM one because its just so new. thanks for all your help guys i am slolwly beginning a plan for my build finally.
wait why did you decided against a USDM wrx motor?

V7=EJ207
V8=EJ207 w/ Twin Scroll Turbo

I'm newbie also.

Meh, EJ205's are plentiful, but if you're getting a swap, you might as well get one of the JDM blocks instead. You get forged goodies and a higher redline. Basically you get something that comes with 280HP stock out of the box rather than something you have to modify to get there. No that modding is bad, but it makes me feel better knowing my block was actually built for that level of power.

But if you get a JDM block, is it much harder to do the swap keeping it LHD?

ok so if i decide to go wrx 2.0, i should go JDM EJ205 (which has 280 if i read correctly) because it has a stronger bottom end and revs higher, and if i decide to go sti 2.5 i should go USDM or JDM ver7/8 which STI is better? if i go STI id like it to be 2.5L and not 2L and unless im reading incorrectly some of the JDM STi's are 2L.
Also in response to why i decided against a USDM wrx motor is 1> i dont think ill be happy power wise, and would rather have factory made horsepower instead of building a WRX to match an STi, and also if i did go ej205 it would be JDM only because of what i wrote above.

also are they all identical to swap in, or is one of the three more/less difficult?

v2 ra has mecha lifters.

JDM swaps pass cali smog. that is fact.

why bother with modding a 205 when u can just leave a 20k bone stock?

My WRX motor swap cost me 1300 :-) and that includes paying Zephyer to help wire it.

v2 ra has mecha lifters.

JDM swaps pass cali smog. that is fact.

why bother with modding a 205 when u can just leave a 20k bone stock?

What are you talking about, why mod a UDSM wrx when i can get a _______ instead, you lost me on that one dude

Italian guy, the EJ205 is the US WRX block. Not sure if they had an EJ205 in Japan. But the JDM STi blocks you're looking at are the EJ20G, EJ20K, and EJ207. You can find the old schooler blocks for less money, reasonably low miles, and still high power, or if you can afford it you can get the version 7/8/9 which has a little more torque. I think that 8/9 have hypercast pistons rather than forged though. US STi has a LOT more torque and a little more power. It'll pass OBD 2 for sure and it's easy to keep LHD. If I were choosing today and money were no issue I'd probably go this order:

US STi
Ver 7 EJ207
Ver 6/5 EJ207
Ver 4/3 EJ20K
Ver 2 EJ20G
US WRX
Ver 1 EJ20G

20k=EJ20K engine

thanks for that list, but a version 4 is 20 grand? is that what you meant

No, I think he was using 20k as short for EJ20k, since they all have an EJ anyway

so thats a JDM 2.0 motor right 280hp? it would be a good swap into a 2000 2.5rs

Yes, the EJ20K was JDM for version 3 and version 4 STis. Swaps just fine into a GC.

so its an easy swap that can be done in the car, and still make good power. how much less $ roughly alltogether using it instead of say a USDM Sti?

are there any differences between eg20G, eg20K and eg207?

my notes on ej20 wrx transplants.-

ej257 (usdm 2.5L sti). longblock is good to 530 awhp, probably would live all day at 400 chp. i dont like it because it dosnt rev high and isnt constructed to the level of the JDM 2.0L blocks. heads are crappier too. if you want to build your own torque beasty, just get the shortblock ($1400 new) and throw some 2.0 l heads on it and make custom frankenstein. works very well. kinda pricey for me

USDM ej205. i wouldnt bother with it, but if you goal is 300 chp and a max usable power rpm of 6500 or so, its easy to find for cheap. wiring is a bizzle, but the parts are plentiful. full motor conversion ranges from $1500 on the dirt to $4K installed. Toys are always extra, so you probably looking at an up pipe and a full turbo back exhaust with a upgraded ECU (accesport,ecutek etc). 300 chp is be easy with stock ecu, td04 and IC. its not bad, but JDM is better. the EJ205 is hampered with stupid things like TGV

JDM EJ207 (v7/8). the best thing money can buy. but it costs alot of money to buy. power is all in the heads, open deck (technically semi-closed) but it'll handle 20 psi ++ no problem. problem is the price tag. whole drivetrain will cost you about 7K, just motor a nasty $4500 or so. Varients like Spec-C, RA are pricy. very very good though. with the proper setup you can make 400 AWHP daily on a stock motor. the heads are where the power is.

- guys like gruppe-s and kingpin deal in these things. $$$$$$$$$$


subaru dosnt have a problem with open deck motor breaking, the idiots in the US just tune it bad and crack piston ringlands. even a EJ205 is good for a reasonable 400 chp if tuned very well on a bigger tubine. longevity is a differnt story.

JDM ej207 (v5/6) almost a 7/8 motor, but with smaller valves than v8 and no AVCS heads. obviously a good motor, but pretty expensive. $2700 or so just for the motor, $3200+ for a sti-RA engine only. $6K++ for the front clip. spendy and not good deal in my opion. obviously the sti-RA models will be faster than hell. trick stuff like sodium filled valves and hollow camshafts - i think.

EJ20K. v3/4. a good deal.a wrx clip will cost you a little over 4K with everything complete , the plane jane WRX is a arguably a better deal than the STi - to some. wrx comes with a VF22 turbine, STi has a faster spooling but smaller vf23. pick up the normal WRX and give it an exhaust, then....... has open deck block (which was never a problem IMO unless u want 500 awhp or somthing nasty). u can run high 11's with a VF22. no joke. the K motor also has hte mechanical valvetrain - rather nice. im a fan of mechanical valvetrain. i import mostly EJ20K's

EJ20g. 93-96 v1/2. the beloved OG of all clips. i import mostly Ej20K and some ej20G - ej20g is hard to find in good shape. its also getting old.

EJ20G comes stock with TD05 16g in sedan form. some issues to note with the EJ20g-
90 degree turbo inlet- has differnt airbox, and intake bits than all the other ones (new style K+ is high arch intake with airbox underneath). differnt powersteering pump (resivoir on pump), differnt style intercooler (angled mount not square)

if you want to FMIC, its hard. all the FMIC kits ive seen are for the K+ style intake manifold.

the wagon WRX's had TD04 small turbines (same as usdm EJ205, and had a ecu tuned to less power ~230hp). more power is a turbocharger and ECU away.

realistically, for most a EJ20K will be the best in the long run. a EJ20G is a good engine (thats why i have myself), but some more serious modding may be required if you want to FMIC or run a GT30R type rotated turbine kit.

with Ej20k's besides the turbo what else is different between wrx and sti? i'm trying to decide if i should get clip or just the motor and use my stock rs tranny, then buy the other things i need seperately.

this page (http://www.catherineandken.co.uk/sti/engine.html) shows differences between the WRX and STi engines. Looks like the STi motor has forged pistons, higher CR and higher boost out of the box, if this site is correct.

You would probably be fine with the RS tranny; the gear ratios with the 4.11 final drive are very similar to the STi ratios with 4.44 fdr. Do you know if you have a hydraulic or cable clutch?

dunno, stock clutch. gonna swap that out though. if im not gonna run stupid high boost levels is it worth it to have forged pistons? i dont plan to tune, just get exhaust and maybe increase the boost a little

supermoose, thanks alot, thats exactly the information i was looking for. I think i am gonna go the 20K route unless i decide to go with the ej207 v7/v8. out fo the box they are both 2.0L right and both have 280hp? jus tthe the v7/v8 has a really good flowing head, or ar there any other differences even in the trannys, any differences other than the head and being a newer motor?

IIRC the EJ20k were only making arond 245-250 HP

the 280HP barrier was not until the V6/7/8

Negatron, the k had the 280hp peak too. The version 5/6 got a wee bit more torque (like 1 kg-f-m)

Although when it comes to JDM peak HP you don't really know since they never reported above 280. So you know that the K had at least that, but it's possible the 7 had more

http://dyno.scoobynet.co.uk/jap/sti4_vs_sti5_std.htm

theres v4 vs v5, v5 has a few more hp and ftlbs but v4 still puts out 284 bhp

That's at the wheels I presume?

http://dyno.scoobynet.co.uk/jap/sti4_vs_sti5_std.htm

theres v4 vs v5, v5 has a few more hp and ftlbs but v4 still puts out 284 bhp
keep in mind that's on 98 Ron fuels...which is approx 94 Octane. It will drop a bit with the fuels we see in the US

keep in mind that's on 98 Ron fuels...which is approx 94 Octane. It will drop a bit with the fuels we see in the US

There's no good direct comparison of RON to PON. 98 RON may have a rating of 88 MON, which would make it 93 PON.

yeh well its not exact for #'s but it shows a good comparison in the different versions

http://www.fourstarmotorsports.com/CatalogData/Engines_135.htm

using this page the best motor to use in order?

further narrowing it down, what ever path i choose it should be JDM and a 2L , correct?

all jdm are 2L, only usdm sti are 2.5 (ej257)

i c, so definately going with a JDM swap the newer the better