I have a friend whose engine blew up and is now debating to swap his 03 wrx, or move on to a cheap daily driver.

Do you guys think its really worth all the hassle? If he decides to not swap, the daily driver will cost the same amount as the swap + price of whatever he can get for the wrx.

Thanks in Advance,

Kevin

 

I say swap the parts into a GC.

 

seconded. My dad and I swapped my wagon in a week. It wasnt that hard.

 

swap for sure. Worth the time. so much fun/way cooler lol

 

What are your friends vehicle demands now and in the next couple of years? Is the car paid for? Who will be doing the work? How much money is available for the project? What swap are we talking about, 2.5L shortblock or full STI drivetrain? Does he have another vehicle to drive while swapping and when bugs pop up with the WRX?

 

Another vote for swap!

 

Swap it!

 

swap it into a 01!!!

 

Check this out - http://wrx-tx.com/enginedrivetraincoolingheating

You can get a full STI motor w/ accessories and turbo for $3500. You can sell your WRX engine parts + turbo, whatever you don't need for probably a good $1000.

Add in labor for install and you're looking at around $3k to swap to an STI block w/ the vf39.


Of course that swap won't give you AVCS, you need to pay another $500 to wrx-tx for the harness and ECU (WELL worth it - you'll have to plug up AVCS anyways if you only go for the motor and retain your WRX ECU)




It's a no brainer IMHO. Tune that ish and be pushing 350hp through the stock exhaust - WTF daily driver can your friend get that will be better than this swapped wrx?

 

Everyone should be asking these questions before giving their input to swap...

Even though swap is cooler of course, but engine swaps does take time and TLC

 

On an equal token though, a lot of people just don't realize how easy it is to swap. It used to be a big deal (for example when I did a hybrid) when 2.5 blocks were rare and you basically had to buy the shortblock from Subaru and endure the plethora of bullcrap that can happen when building a hybrid, but there's so many used complete engines around nowadays, and to swap a complete motor is so simple that really nothing can go wrong in the hands of a competent mechanic.


Now of course, if this is a high school kid whose parents know nothing about cars and he's lying to them to get them to pay for the work, this kind of engine work has bad news written all over it...

 

usually the second one

 

haha sorry not high school but just students at ucsd.

Thanks for the info verc, that sounds like a better deal than some beater civic or prelude he was eyeing for 5k

 

This still does not address several of my questions.

A 2.5l swap may be easier these days, IF the owner is an experienced mechanic, or IF he has a bunch of money to spare to get it done.

The questions of what he wants out of the car, and how far he is willing to go (or how much he is willing to spend) are still perfectly valid....and unanswered.

 

^ Oops, sorry there. Well he is a wrx owner so he does enjoy the fun of driving like any of us, but in reality we are both college students living off microwaveable food.

i'm gunna go see how much crawford charges with him since we're in socal. no garage, so will most likely will have to have a shop do the swap.