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Hello everyone!

 

My name is Cory and I am new to this board, but not new to Subaru. I am usually on RS25.com, but I have found a lot of good info on this site.

 

I purchased a 1997 Impreza Brighton ~3 years ago. My previous car was a 1985 300zx Turbo... which I crashed. :-\

 

I financed the car and just paid it off last month for a grand total of $5,000... :eek:

 

I started with the knowledge that AWD was cool and that Subaru had perfected the art... for a decent price. My original goal was to swap out the EJ18S for a JDM EJ20G but when I researched the specifics of such a swap, I realized that is was out of my league... I'm now 22, live in a apartment, and have very limited tools and only self taught knowledge.

 

I finally chose a reasonable path and bought an EJ25D from a 1998 Impreza 2.5RS with 128,xxx miles and a slightly cracked headgasket. I sat on the engine for over a year waiting for my EJ18 to die before I swapped. The EJ18 eventually died, 300 miles from home, in a prison town with the primary language being Spanish. A good friend towed me home, and let me store my car and swap the engine in his driveway.

 

This is my first engine swap and head gasket job. I have had my "live and learn" experiences with it, but I am coming into the final stretch. The car started yesterday, but with broken intake manifold gaskets it shot to 3k RPM and there was a terrible grinding noise coming from the clutch. The clutch issue was resovled here:

 

http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=120724

 

I am planning on getting the engine back in the car, running correctly, then I am going to see about installing the Venom VCN-2000 Nitrous kit, and Eibach Pro Lowering kit...

 

I will post pics when I figure out how. Is it a matter of post count or is it just not possible with this forum setup?

 

-Cory

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I know I'm not the only one going to say this, but be careful with "upgrading" your engine.

The EJ25D's already have a disdain for their HG's, so be careful when throwing nitrous at it.

 

And before the racers get a chance to rag on you about trying improve the car's handling, improve your own handling before you spend too much upgrading your car.

And by that I mean learn how to drive your now slow car, fast, before you go and make it fast.

Believe me, you'll be happy you did when you hit that unseen patch of ice/wet pavement and start to lose it.

 

Twitch

 

PS: Doesn't nitrous have a nasty habit of shortening engine life?

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I know I'm not the only one going to say this, but be careful with "upgrading" your engine.

The EJ25D's already have a disdain for their HG's, so be careful when throwing nitrous at it.

 

And before the racers get a chance to rag on you about trying improve the car's handling, improve your own handling before you spend too much upgrading your car.

And by that I mean learn how to drive your now slow car, fast, before you go and make it fast.

Believe me, you'll be happy you did when you hit that unseen patch of ice/wet pavement and start to lose it.

 

Twitch

 

PS: Doesn't nitrous have a nasty habit of shortening engine life?

 

I just changed the headgaskets with the updated 4-layer gaskets before I dropped the motor in.

 

I have the Eibach Pro-Kit springs... just waiting for a good deal on struts! Also planning on a RSB in the nearish future. Trust me, I have been taking my time... I learned my lesson in power with my Turbo Z that I crashed. Thats why I have been taking my time with this swap and driving my tired 70 whp EJ18S for the last 3 years. I drive more than anyone else I know. It is my favorite hobby next to working on cars.

 

As for nitrous, its all a matter of setup and proper usage. The majority of nitrous KABOOMS are a result of trying to push the motor too far, or just completely irresponsible use. Not to mention that my nitrous system is not the typical NOS fogger system...

 

I have a band new, never used, never taken out of packaging, Venom VCN-2000 computerized nitrous kit. It needs to be tapped into the Throttle Position sensor, each fuel injector, coil pack, and O2 sensor. It has its own FULLY programmable computer system. While it is a dry shot, I believe it is the "safest" nitrous system out there. If the cars ignition or A/F ratio go out of parameter the nitrous system shuts off immediately whether is use or not. The nitrous will shut off before the cars ECU even detects a problem.

 

Theory is for safe usage you should never run more that half of your cars peak power in a shot of nitrous... So I am going to play it safe again and say that the EJ25D puts ~125hp to the ground? So my plans are to run my Stage 1 @ a 25hp shot, stage 2 @ 35hp, and stage 3 @ 50hp for when I need to walk away from WRXs :banana: I also intend to set the nitrous to kick in at only 100% throttle from 3,300 RPM and cut at 5,500 RPM... again not pushing anything. Just running colder, more combustible, gas through the engine in short bursts well under safe parameters.

 

 

Therefore I will have the reliability of a N/A stock engine, with that extra WOW when I need it.

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Well, sounds like you know what you're doing :)

That's good, because we get a lot of n00bs on here who like think they can

tune a car and end up blowing it up, sometimes quite literally.

Just do a search for "EA82 Turbo" and "EA82T" and you'll see what I mean.

 

Also, you sound a lot like me, lol.

I like driving my car more than most other things.

And mine has 70bhp, not even close to 70 gets to the ground :banana::lol:

Anyway, welcome and enjoy your stay :)

 

Twitch

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Well, sounds like you know what you're doing :)

That's good, because we get a lot of n00bs on here who like think they can

tune a car and end up blowing it up, sometimes quite literally.

Just do a search for "EA82 Turbo" and "EA82T" and you'll see what I mean.

 

Also, you sound a lot like me, lol.

I like driving my car more than most other things.

And mine has 70bhp, not even close to 70 gets to the ground :banana::lol:

Anyway, welcome and enjoy your stay :)

 

Twitch

 

HAHA! Awesome! I'll check it ou! Thanks for the welsome.

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