Subarutex

WRX Turbo Upgrade: What it takes to play with the big boys. The Car: '87 RX 3dr. Engine Specs: Freshly rebuilt lower end to stock specs. Polished crank, knurled pistons. OEM quality bearings and rings. Mild cams from Delta Cam. Gen 2 heads. NGK Iridium spark plugs. NGK 8mm wires. New cap, rotor. Stock coil. XT6 flywheel and clutch. Spider intake. WRX turbo and downpipe. WRX intercooler w/GFB BOV. Boost controller. How I converted to the WRX turbo: First, I bought a WRX turbo, downpipe and uppipe. Then, I had Qman help me weld the WRX flange directly to the top of the stock existing turbo flange. As most know, most of the holes line up, except the rear one. I opted to do the flange instead of messing with elongating the hole on the turbo which looked more difficult. With the turbo mounted to the engine, I found that the stock oil supply line works with the TD04. So I used it, it all lined right up. The oil drain tube was right were it needed to be. The lower coolant tube matched up well with the tube coming of the head... required just a touch longer hose than stock. The upper coolant tube also is a touch off, but just a little bit more hose and that problem is solved. The WRX downpipe fits (in my configuration) prefectly. The bracket for the trans even lines up like the stock one. For the air intake, you need a sharp 90 degree rubber bend. I got mine from Overboost.com. Was like $15 or so. This is connected straight to the MAF, the MAF has an adapter with a 3" cone filter on it. All straight through, except the last 90 degree turn into the turbo. Coming from the turbo to the IC to the TB was a touch harder. I purchased a used Samco silicone Y-Pipe for a WRX. Roughly $50 (new is $100) I then cut the 90 degree end off of it that attaches to the turbo outlet. This allowed me to plumb in a piece of steel tubing between the 90 degree piece and the Y piece. So that I could push the IC back a bit (otherwise it sits to high cause of the brake lines and AC lines) Ran into a big problem with the TB. The fast idle solenoid ( I think...) hits the 90 degree outlet tubing off the turbo. No good. So I rotated the throttle body 90 degrees. So the throttle cable was pulled not from the drivers side, but from the top. Yes it still clears the hood. This gave plenty of room for the 90 degree turn tube from the turbo to the IC. It is then a straight shot piece between the IC outlet and the TB. I'll work on getting pictures of it. Oh, BTW... Car is running again. 4 cylinders with compression will do wonders for performance! Turbo Legacy's and WRX's beware, you're being hunted.

Those wheels are 2.5 RS wheels. Available from 98-01. Some of the only 16" wheels to clear the 4 pot sti subaru front brakes. Tint looks real good. What % is it?

I talked to him earlier, after he posted, today. He mentioned he accidently put some 89 octane in. Which probally did it. I suggested he throw in the cheapest bottle of octane booster he can find. Just to see if that is the problem.

Dan, its the drop in temperature that is making the fuel cut worse.

Perhaps it would be easier to swap out the stub axles on the trans. If they work the same way as the rear diff... Also... i'm pretty sure cvaxles.com has made some of these for someone... oh! It was subarustyles.

Its my fault i'm sure. Something about my wagon having more lights than the brat or something...

Well Jay, Noah beat you to it. I'm his date tonight. I'll be there. And yes, i would rather be at home putting my toy back together... but its hard to pass up spending time with Noah. He's da bomb!!

oddcomp, first i'd like to say i was very impressed with the setup. Congratulations on getting it working. I've always assumed i'd do most of my tuning using the data logging feature. Make a couple runs. Analyze, change, run again.

It is intercooled. I'm sure it was intercooled when it blew. I'm thinking the block was already bad. Remember, he got this out of a RX parts car. Even if he did reseal it (not sure if he did or not) if the block already has damage it will still fail when you start to flog your new turbo swap. It now has a good carb shortblock underneath the turbo heads. And its a 3.9 ratio. Its going to be quick. Oh, I did see it running to.

Simply Amazing guys. Thankyou very much for your time and dedication.

Awesome! Atleast your blown motor actually blew up. Mine just kinda wasted away the rings. Well, not awesome, you know what I mean. I hope.

Our luck seems to be just about the same. I'll see you at the show, luckily your RX will make it. Mine won't :-/

I'm gonna get him all setup with some pics. Its truly a sweet ride. Even for an automatic.

Must be the gearing or the weight of the car cause i've done dry pavement dumps with upped boost and not broken anything. Can't wait to see the car at WCSS. Too bad the RX won't have the engine back in by then :-/

Shadow: The last engine went because I overheated it really bad. After that, I resealed it with new used heads. However, the block was already damaged (rings on #3). My doggy feeling was caused by an utter lack of compression on cylinder #3, and very low compression on cylinder #1. For some reason, the heads I put on cracked also in the exhaust ports. They both already had slight cracks between the valves. This time I decided to tear it all the way down, and do it from the ground up. I wasn't anticipating needing new pistons, so I was slightly surprised when the machinist told me 2 were bad (even though they all looked fine to me). I'll be dropping the crank off there tomorrow to get it measured, and see what can be done with it. I'll also find out exactly what is bad with those pistons. The crank doesn't look in bad shape at all. Each bearing surface though (mains) has a ever so slight groove in it. Barely enough to catch with a sharp tip of a knife blade. If it comes down to buying a new set of pistons, I may ended up going ahead and boring it out a bit. Machine shop said 20 over wouldn't be a problem, and is what they've done in the past. Althought i'm not likely to go that far. It will be $125 for honing and decking of the block. Looks like $200 for a set of OEM pistons. Will call tomorrow and see if I can get oversized ones from the dealer aswell. I'm going to ask the machine shop if just 2 of the pistons can be replaced. I know this depends on what kind of piston I get. But that would prove to be a economical solution. I'd already budgeted $180 to have the engine balanced, although before the machinist spotted the bad pistons, he had me talked out of it. Monster in the making... Just a long slow exspensive road. Caleb: I appreciate your offer, I will keep it in mind. Turbone: I'm glad all this trouble is good for something! I want to hear that black beast purrin' like a kitten. Right before I blast the doors off of it. Sorry, can't help but be cocky, its the one thing that will keep me going! That and the wonderful friends I have here. This post made possible by the number 3.

I'm fairly sure I can get the machine work done locally and put it together and still come under the price of a CCR engine.

So... long story short, i've decided to do a full rebuild on the engine. Sourced a new block and heads from a guy for $150. Heads were immaculate, however the block is less than desirable. At first it needed a new hone and new rings. Now, after taking it apart, it needs machining done to the crank. 2 pistons, as 2 of them are shot. Where do I find new pistons? Where do I find aftermarket larger main bearings? Because material will definately need to be removed there. I'm getting very tired of pouring money into this. I'm already over the $300 mark. Thats without any maching done! Or accounting for the full gasket set I purchased or the new main and con. rod bearings! How does a stock block have 2 bad pistons? This clearly shows to me the stock pistons are ****. I'm starting to think of 2 letters. E. J.

Romantic, i'm in

Fine, twist my arm. You OWE me.

Ok, I'm finding it time for me to chime in. I *too* am in pursuit of a WRX slayin' EA82T. However, as of late, there seem to be many trying to do this. Some talk big, some don't. Some of us are already on our second, third, fourth engines. Is it happening? Yes. Sean of Rallitek, ran a RX, stripped out with a roll cage. Its mods were a WRX IC, recirc'd BPV, and 15psi of boost, and a 3" turbo back custom exhaust. It was reportedly "able to keep up with WRX's" Dennisex24 built up a XT. His mods were delta cams (mild) VF11 turbo, thunderbird IC, 12psi (afaik), WRX downpipe to 3" straight pipe. Dennis also talked of similar gains. On the AUforums, there are a handful of people running quick EA82T's with good success. Will is thinking big, he wants to go big. In order for a EA82T as fast as a WRX, you have to shoot to be as fast as a STI. Unlike a lot of people that have spoken here in this thread, I've followed mod'd WRX's through twisties in my modded RX. I've ran against a turbo'd 2.5rs down the quarter mile in my car. I've surprised my peers that drive 20K+ subarus. Its not because i'm beating them. Its because i'm keeping up. I can't wait to hear what they say when i'm beating them. The potential is there. I know it. Will knows it. Really, thats all that is needed. The question I have for everyone else is... Where were all the naysayers when guys started hopping up bug motors? If those people had been deterred, where would the bug be today?

I bet the 3.9 instead of 3.7 ratio makes the car feel damn quick! Eager to meet you in person at WCSS. Nice work.

I have faith. I'm progressing down the same path as you, we will get there. I've had countless people tell me to do an EJ conversion. Why waste money on rebuilding an EA82T, when you could put that money to an EJ swap. Frankly, I'm tired of hearing about it. At this point, i've acquired enough info to do the swap, which I will do, to some car, a couple years down the road. I'm thinking of an XT with a nice ole' front mount on it feeding a UTEC'd EJ20G. Of course, by that time I hope i'll be at the level to just burn money away. My RX will stay EA82 powered. It will be fast. It will handle. Good luck Will, keep me posted.

Will, I understand completely what you are feeling. Its the same everywhere. The trick is to infiltrate, become friends with a select few, then reap the benefits of their hand me downs. They like to spend money, and do things new, so there are lots of oppurtunities to pick up used stuff. I've picked up: SAFC - $125 RS struts - $free. WRX IC - $100 (way back when that was a cheap price) TD04 - $150 (guy even bought me lunch) Turbo Timer - $35 BOV - $90 (Go Fast Bits 50/50) One on one, I can usual make people understand what its all about. This sunday, my "team" is putting on a charity import car show at a local burger joint. No doubt there will be tons of WRX's, STI's, MItsu's, Audi's, etc... I'll be pimpin' the wagon, showing them what it takes to be unique, and passionate about something. I can proudly say, I'm probally going to be the only car there that has been in a magazine. How many people can say that? Its freaking badass someone put a picture of the wagon in a import mag, because it was so unique! PS. EA82T for life... well, atleast until its really fast and handles well. Then stay tuned for an EJ20G powered fmic'd XT coupe.

Variable timing is what will make our engines come alive. Good work oddcomp. I look forward to meeting you at WCSS... I assume you will be in attendance.

Andy... I'm having a hard enough time building a reliable engine. I don't even want to try and mess with running higher compression on a turbo motor!