1987 subaru rx aftermarket performance parts

[BrandonZL1]

Hi i have started restoring a 1987 rx and parts are very hard to find for it as there were only 2600 made in the states and even less are probably around. So if anyone has some performance parts or visual just anything since im starting out with nothing, or knows where to get them that would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thank you, Brandon

[vagen]

how many miles are on your RX? What do you intend to do with your RX? and finally What kind of budget do you have for repairs/upgrdes.

 

 

 

BTW this is my RX it's not as quick as I'd like but it will be soon

 

[BrandonZL1]

About 96,000. I want to to a partial restore and drift/race with it just omething to have fun with and tweak. Working with a lower budget dont wanna spend more than 5k So far im starting off great picked up the car for 450

[BrandonZL1]

btw very nice job with your rx

[subiemech85]

SEARCH for subspeed

 

http://web.archive.org/web/20050307041648/http://www.subspeed.com/Rx.htm

 

http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=87980&highlight=subspeed

 

and if $ grows on trees for you, RAM engine$

[GeneralDisorder]

They made a lot more than 2600 of these. Don't know where you got that figure....

 

The RX has the EA82T. The only cure for that weapon of mass destruction is to yank it and put in an EJ.

 

Performance parts? . You're a funny man. Performance parts for that car come in the form of a complete drivetrain swap to EJ series stuff.

 

Pretty much a dead platform. By the time you build it up you might as well have just bought a WRX in the first place.

 

Put the 5k toward a WRX and forget the RX.

 

GD

[Turbone]

They made a lot more than 2600 of these. Don't know where you got that figure....

 

The RX has the EA82T. The only cure for that weapon of mass destruction is to yank it and put in an EJ.

 

Performance parts? . You're a funny man. Performance parts for that car come in the form of a complete drivetrain swap to EJ series stuff.

 

Pretty much a dead platform. By the time you build it up you might as well have just bought a WRX in the first place.

 

Put the 5k toward a WRX and forget the RX.

 

GD

 

So now your going to bash on the car itself?

Theres nothing wrong with the RX if you have the right engine in it.

I've had a few WRX's unable to keep up with my RX.

So stuff it GD

 

To the OP, do a search in this forum and read up on all the stuff about the EA82T. You will find out what your up against.

[renob123]

What do you intend to do with your RX? and finally What kind of budget do you have for repairs/upgrdes.

 

Nice. Someone else asked my standard two questions.

 

Jacob

[GeneralDisorder]

Theres nothing wrong with the RX if you have the right engine in it.

 

The rear suspension isn't that great but no - the car is ok if you just replace everything that totally sucks

 

*most* people will spend more money doing this than they can buy a WRX for. That's just the nature of the RX and other EA82T cars. Can it be done? Sure. But generally speaking if you don't have access to a whole lot of parts and peices and knowledge it's going to take a pretty penny to do it.

 

GD

[Turbone]

Granted, I've been lucky in sourcing a lot of my parts. But I dont believe its going to cost someone close to $12k to make it worthy of WRX capabilities.

You never went that far with any EA82 you owned, so I hope you dont consider yourself a expert on this.

Also, a stock WRX is capable of far more potential if you spend the money to upgrade. A stock WRX is nothing special.

[GeneralDisorder]

Granted, I've been lucky in sourcing a lot of my parts. But I dont believe its going to cost someone close to $12k to make it worthy of WRX capabilities.

 

Stock WRX's can be had for $8k to $10k now. And one's with blown engines for around $5k to $6k. It's pretty easy to source an engine for one with everyone yarding them out for EJ257's.

 

You never went that far with any EA82 you owned, so I hope you dont consider yourself a expert on this.

I don't have to break my arm to know I wouldn't like it.

 

Lot's of experience with Fail is not something I'm familair with - you are right on that account .

 

Also, a stock WRX is capable of far more potential if you spend the money to upgrade. A stock WRX is nothing special.

 

True. But a stock WRX can be pushed right up to 300 HP without any concerns of reliability on the part of the engine and the peices to do such performance mods are inexpensive by comparison to an EJ swap into an RX. Plus you get out-of-the-box suspension and brakes that are adequate for such power without touching a thing.

 

GD

Edited September 29, 2010 by GeneralDisorder

[renob123]

The guy has a $5,000 budget, and he wants to drift/race with it. WRXs aren't allowed at drift events unless they've been neutered, so I'm not seeing the point in arguing over how much it would take for an RX to perform like one. Plus there are a lot of variables. My Brat is faster than my STI...in the mud. The STI can handle power that an RX would take intensive work to handle, meanwhile all I do is wash my car.

 

OP: If people think drifting a Corolla GTS is possible, then there should be no problem with that car. You can do an EJ swap and convert it to RWD for less than your budget if you do it yourself/with friends. Any leftover money should be used for brakes and suspension upgrades along with fixing broken parts. WJM, Turbone and carfreak85 would be good sources of information for how to spend the leftover money. An alternative is to save yourself the time, blood, and sweat, get a job at McDonald's, and use your paychecks/$5k budget to buy a car that's more suitable to what you want.

 

If I were you, I'd just be happy that I'm 18 with a car that has 4WD. Remember that when you were born, that car sort of looked like it came from space.

 

Jacob

[Subarutex]

Well, I've penned a few scenarios for building myself a drift car. Once I get a decent garage and more parking spaces Game On!

 

$800 Clean GL Shell (i'd go wagon... or xt)

$1500 Ej25, wiring, Tranny, driveshaft, etc.. (yes, NA!)

$200 Cams

$1000 Coilovers Legacy GT 05+ (Megan, BC, etc...)

$100 weld center diff and rear diff

$200 for extra rear diff and axles

 

$3800 for a driftable GL. Upside? If you wreck it a week of your time and another $500 should get you swapped into a new shell.

 

If you get to the point you want to tandem, $1000 for simple roll cage and seat.

 

I feel I'm pretty generous with the prices i've set. I'm confident it would be easy to come in under this.

 

And, I acknowledge that you could probably spend the same amount and get into a Gen 1 legacy to do the same thing with... but its heavier, and not as 80's-tastic.

[BrandonZL1]

The rx has alot of potential i dont really want a new sti or wrx like every other kid i want something unique and different. I dont have the kind of money to buy a new car anyways this isnt supposed to be a costly project at least not in the 10k to 20k range

[dwuollet]

I hope you're spending ALOT of time surfing this site, read everything that has to do with EA82s and EJ swaps. Everything you need to know about your car is here... have fun.

[renob123]

The rx has alot of potential i dont really want a new sti or wrx like every other kid i want something unique and different. I dont have the kind of money to buy a new car anyways this isnt supposed to be a costly project at least not in the 10k to 20k range

 

Ok, in that case, much of my advice still stands, and you should definitely be doing what dwuollet recommended.

 

I'd also add that you look into cams. They'll give you a healthy bump in power, and from what I've seen, they're pretty much the biggest power adder short of an engine swap. You could go for cams and focus on suspension/braking and still meet your criteria.

 

Jacob

[WJM]

Hi i have started restoring a 1987 rx and parts are very hard to find for it as there were only 2600 made in the states and even less are probably around. So if anyone has some performance parts or visual just anything since im starting out with nothing, or knows where to get them that would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thank you, Brandon

 

WAY more than that many made. 86~86 were not "real" RX's so to speak. Model year 87 and 88 had sedans and coupes. 89 was Coupe only. Early 90's saw a loyale RS that was N/A or turbo and single range FT4WD, otherwise similar to the RX of 87~89.

 

Do a *SEARCH* and you'll find a lot more info than the bickering found in this thread about how you should go buy a WRX and stop wasting time on the POS everyone calls an EA82T.

 

The EA82T: There's nothing wrong with it except the end user. It has quirks, just like any other engine that SUBARU made. Deal with it or get something else.

 

Search my username for posts and threads. You'll find all the info you need.

and NO, I do not have 99% of the pics I once had posted up and are now gone. Maybe if I get more time and plans work out and I have an RX again I might re-host the metric crap ton of information and pics that may be missing.

 

Also, and I've already tried this, no sanctioned racing organization or drifting organization is going to let you run the RX competitively. Its not "cool" or "new" enough. I've already tried to get the RX classed into most of the major and minor sanctioning bodies: FAIL. They've got pages of excuses and rules and other BS that'll keep the RX out of it.

 

SCCA and NASA autox and High Performance Driving Experience track days/open track days are about as close as you'll get.

 

So, go find the search feature and get to reading. It'll be a lot more productive than this thread.

[WoodsWagon]

There aren't really any bolt on performance parts for the EA82t. Most of what you want to focus on is making sure the cooling system is in top shape. It can be a fun engine, but what you have to realize is that it makes less power than a non-turbo 2.2l out of a legacy or impreza, WITH a turbo. It's not a performance engine.

 

I don't reccomend RWD for a subaru. They handle surprisingly well in RWD, donuts are effortless and the front stays planted, the front e-brake makes for an awesome variable pressure line-lock so you can use it to keep the car from picking up too much speed while your frying the tires off.

 

The problem is that the rear driveline of the subaru wasn't built to take the full power of the engine. All the power has to go through a set of rear output gears to a short shaft that the slip yoke of the rear driveshaft goes onto. I've stripped a couple sets of those out, one set I was in 4wd when it went. Then the R160 rear differential has some weaknesses, stub shafts break pretty often, and the spider gears/carrier aren't too strong either. I've blown the teeth off a few sets of spider gears and one crosspin sheared and split the carrier.

 

Of course you can upgrade to a R180 out of a STI or a R200 out of a 300zx but then you have to have custom axles and driveshafts built as well as fabbing up mounts to support it.

 

But that still leaves you with the rear transfer gear problem, and the only way to fix that is to put a propper RWD transmission in. So then you need adapter plates that noone makes yet, and fabricate crossmembers, driveshafts, and shifter linkages. At that point you might as well have started with a normal RWD car.

 

What I'm getting at is there is a lot better choices for a drift car than a subaru. What subarus are good for is great "performance" daily drivers and weekend autocross cars.

 

Realistically the best performance gain you could get for your $5000 budget is buying a running but totaled WRX from a salvage aution. You can get them for around 3k now pretty easily. Swap the engine, transmission, wiring harness and front hubs out of that into your RX. It's a well documented recipe, makes for a great improvement in power and reliablity, and gives you a unique car with a great power/weight ratio.

[WJM]

You can buy a complete, running and driving, high mileage WRX with a clean title for under $5k. I've seen lots of them listed for sale in the last few months.

 

The WRX did NOT hold its value at all.

[GeneralDisorder]

The WRX did NOT hold its value at all.

 

Glass 5MT transmission

 

Great for us mechanic's that just need the shell . They wash and wax them, blow them up, then I get them .

 

GD

[WJM]

Glass 5MT transmission

 

Great for us mechanic's that just need the shell . They wash and wax them, blow them up, then I get them .

 

GD

 

Not designed to be a race car. Its a point A to point B car. Any vehicle has a glass transmission if you put it under conditions that it was not designed for.

 

Either way, perfectly good working non-broken WRX's are still that cheap. 4EAT ones are even cheaper.

[bratman18]

The 02-05's were the "glass tranny" but then they upgraded to the Forester XT type tranny in 06 which are much stronger!!

[WJM]

The 02-05's were the "glass tranny" but then they upgraded to the Forester XT type tranny in 06 which are much stronger!!

 

Nope. The 2002MY and 2003.0MY had the standard N/A gears in it. In 2003.5MY they "upgraded" to the STi thickness gears which are somewhat stronger.

 

The Forester XT, Legacy GT, Outback XT, 06+ WRX and so on use the same type gear. They've all broken in the same manner. I've seen it all.

[WoodsWagon]

The glass tranny is a crock of ************ as well. Sidestepping the clutch at redline, pounding second while initiating a donut, or any of the other abuses typical immature WRX owners commit is what kills them.

 

One of my friends bought an 02 wrx that's been kicked around the neighborhood for years for $2200 last fall. We dragged it home, replaced the rear ouput gears that had been stripped during a dirt to pavement transition while sideways, and he's been beating on it since. Same 1-5 gearset it came with factory, and it's been running at the 275hp level since 03. It has 165k on it of hard miles.

[bratman18]

I agree, if you don't do crazy ************ and expect it to be a drag car, they will last a very long time!! I know a few with well over 200k with the stock tranny and stage 2