Hey guys,
I'm up in Washington state visiting my folks and see a VF39 for sale at a decent price ($250 OBO). In any case, I'm about to take my old WRX back from my brother and since departing with my STI, I have had many withdrawals of the power of a stock STI and feel that a stock WRX just won't cut it anymore. In any case, what I'm looking for is stock reliability and drivability of an STI but in my newfound WRX since I'll be going to grad school full-time, hence I won't have the time, tools or means to deal with car problems . I'm sure this question has been asked a million times but the reason why I'm posting in the regional section is b/c:
1) I was planning on installing the new turbo, injectors and fuel pump when I return to NorCal and wanted to know if anyone wanted to help. Also, do I really need new injectors and a fuel pump?
2) I need a tune and need some recommendations for local places and also pricing for a tune for the new setup.

Hopefully some people will chime in soon so I'll know if this is a feasible upgrade or if I should just be happy to have a stock WRX that'll treat me right during school.

TIA!

 

Well you may not "have to" have injectors and fuel pump installed, but you'll WANT to have them installed if you want a safer and more reliable set up.

2.0L WRX owners upgrade to VF39's quite often, and its a mild set up. Not too much more strain on the drivetrain, but still yielding significant gains.

You'll probably want a more mild tune if you want to keep your WRX reliable.

 

you will want bigger injectors and a bigger fuel pump and you will NEED A TUNE! And you also want to get TBE if you don't have that already if you want sti+ power

 

It was less than a year ago that I started doing research for upgrades and got associated with the group/community thing. Based on my old notes you're looking at:

Turbo- vf-39 in your case
Fuel Pump- Walbro comes highly recommended
Fuel Injectors- those 565cc STi Pinks will do the job and are generally easy to come by.
Top Mount Intercooler- the STi top mount does the job and in case you are interested I have one for sale. Excuse the plug

Gutted or catless up pipe- I have a gutted one for sale as well
Turbo back exhaust- a down pipe and cat back is also possible

Engine Management- Get tuned or get some off the shelf thing at the very least. This is my only personal note in the post: EQTuning will work wonders and set you up with a solid tune while keeping your driving needs in mind.

These were my results with the above set up using a vf-35 on my '02 WRX. I imagine your results would be similar.

 

sup man i got an 02 with a vf39 im pushing 275 to the wheels i like it is koo

 

do your home work before posting bad advice like that to a forum because nobody should ever do this to a stock 2.0L WRX unless they are looking to blow their engine. No tuner in their right mind would touch a car in that scenario.

The TD04 is a tiny turbo. I have an uppipe/TBE on my 2.0L with stock injectors and STI fuel pump. I frequently hit 100% injector duty cycle on my tune. a VF series turbo requires bigger injectors, and higher flowing fuel pump.

 

My post was a bit misleading. But thats what I meant.

To OP, you'll want a bigger intercooler as well. STI's tmic is a common choice.

 

Hey guys, thanks for all of the helpful advice. Unfortunately, my aspirations were just eliminated when I found out that the VF39 turbo was sold already. Oh well, more money in the bank I guess... Thanks again and now I know how to properly set up a 2.0L WRX VF39 setup. Happy 4th of July!

 

I'd still pitch an up pipe and down pipe if not a full turbo back and a solid tune. It won't be anywhere near STi levels of power but the difference will be noticable.