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Old 08-28-2010, 01:34 PM   #9
Loomin
Scooby Guru
 
Member#: 118113
Join Date: Jun 2006
Chapter/Region: VIC
Vehicle:
98' Stagea 260RS
Autech Ver.

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Quote:
Originally Posted by iht View Post
for things like a tranny and other none electrical stuff, it's pretty basic. But swapping out an engine, which requires a wiring merge, is a bit of work. minifreak should know, he did Milkface's swap.

much easier to upgrade something that already has a turbo motor in it and far more cost efficient.
milkfaces car was a chassis harness replacement like my swap. also it was a WRX to STI swap so turbo engine to turbo engine. the mechanical aspect of the swap is easy, however collecting every part needed to make the swap complete is a real pain in the ass. the best way to swap your car is to simply fork out the cash to have someone else do it. my buddy had an EJ207 swapped into his bugeye for about 8 grand. its alot of money.

you could try to do it yourself but you will have to have a lot of mechanical experience and you MUST MUST MUST be able to easily read wiring diagrams and actually understand what it all means. if you bugger up one wire, it could fry the ECU or cause a fire or something. not to mention youd spend countless hours trying to figure out what went wrong.

So heres the options:


average asking price for a 2005 2.5RS on craigslist is between 9000 and about 14,500. however thats the asking price not the actual "sale" price.

average asking price of an 05 wrx is between 16-20,000. even if you sold your car for 15, you would still have to put in a few grand of your own money. however a few grand is better than 8 grand for a swap. and a few grand is better than weeks of labour, scrounging for misc parts, waiting for stuff to be shipped, screwing up wiring and then having to re assemble EVERYTHING.


just to scare you off even more, here is a pic of what was involved in my swap:





plan on stripping EVERYTHING off the front end.

plan on stripping most if not the entire interior. this was necessary to swap the chassis harness. merging requires less removal but you will still need the seats, carpet, dash, heater/AC assemblies, and finally the harness where you will start to hack it apart and splice in each of the wires. cound on making hundreds of solder connections and double checking each one then shrink wrapping each wire.


if you have the time, skills and another car to drive for a month or two, access to a donor motor, complete harness and some cash sitting around for extra bits and pieces, swap it.


if you have the cash to drop on a complete swap from a shop like rocket or DHP, and would rather fork out 8+grand because you have an emotional or other attachment to your particular car: swap it

if there is something screwed with your current engine and you are upgrading rather than replacing with a stock motor, ok swap it

if your 2,5RS is already heavily modified and you cant remove the mods (custom bodywork, paint etc) swap it.


if you are looking for more power for relatively little money, almost no wait, a WAY cleaner car than ANY swap and want to just sign some papers, sell the RS and buy a wrx.
thats my $0.02

good luck!
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Last edited by Loomin; 08-28-2010 at 01:39 PM.
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