Subaru Turbo 2000 transplant

[wudi]

OK. I've now been donated an R reg Impreza Turbo 2000 with big bore (de cat) exhaust and possibly increased boost pressure. Expected to acheive 260bhp (antisociably loud too).

I'll be getting parts from RJES when funds allow to replace our asmatic 1.9 petrol (5 speed box and LPG) along with brake upgrade.

Doing research at the moment and building up to strip the donor vehicle (also have another baby due- 3 days over term an counting).

Can anyone point me in the direction of detailed build threaads or PDFs on this or other sites? Of particular interest are:
- stripping the donor vehicle.
- exhaust set up
- intercooler set up (or remote charge cooler)
- running Subaru turbo's on LPG

The T25 is currently our only vehicle so it needs to be easy to live with (and return good MPG) so may have to bite the bullet and look at sensible exhausts or even running without the turbo (or using a smaller turbo).

Thoughts please...

[Aidan]

i found the haynes manual very useful when stripping the car but it's pretty straightforward the whole dash had to come out to get the loom on the legacy and the heater units
make sure you label everything and take everything off the car initially you can discard it later when thining the loom
all i left was the airbag wiring which was separate and coded yellow

[AdrianC]

OK. I've now been donated an R reg Impreza Turbo 2000 with big bore (de cat) exhaust and possibly increased boost pressure. Expected to acheive 260bhp (antisociably loud too).

The T25 is currently our only vehicle so it needs to be easy to live with (and return good MPG) so may have to bite the bullet and look at sensible exhausts or even running without the turbo (or using a smaller turbo).

That car might be free, but is it the right starting point for you?

- It's pre-chavved. For an Impreza turbo, that's gotta ring warning bells about how it's been treated up to now. How good's the engine internals?
- You don't particularly need or want a turbo, let alone one running increased power.

If you remove the turbo, you've got an engine that's going to be down on power from one that started off without a turbo, since the compression is reduced to cope with the boost.
If you leave the turbo on, you've got a much more complex installation, and more power than you want, and quite likely regular transmission rebuilds in the future.

The big-bore Subaru exhaust is no use to you anyway.

If you want easy to live with and good economy, wouldn't a 1.9 diesel be the obvious choice?

[Plasticman]

As above ^^^^,, why ? just fit a std engine and if you want economy and its petrol then gas it, if you want then go 1Y for simplicity, very cheap to do compared to what you have in mind,good fuel and cheap
turbo scooby/family man/everyday economical /easy to live with err nope
mm

[wudi]

I appreciate your comments and recognise that they are the sensible options.
However if all I was after was a bit more power and fuel economy then would probably just go for a good 2.1 from the local T25 breaker, keeps everything essentially stock (I'm told that its tonnes better than the 1.9) and would be fairly cost neutral.

As I can't afford two cars then if I want something more interesting then it needs to be a conversion of the T25 (and manage the Mrs' expectations/ moaning).

I can't really see how the Subaru engine would be difficult to live with, in fact I was almost dissapointed with how tame it was at lower revs and with the LPG modified to suit the it should also be relatively economic.

The donor car belonged to my brother and was only brought over from Jersey relatively recently so there are about two years (where it was chavved) that we don't know how it was treated, but the car has required NOTHING for over three years.

I am slowly warming to the Subarugears conversion as that takes the weak VW gearbox out of the equation.

[wudi]

I appreciate your comments and recognise that they are the sensible options.
However if all I was after was a bit more power and fuel economy then would probably just go for a good 2.1 from the local T25 breaker, keeps everything essentially stock (I'm told that its tonnes better than the 1.9) and would be fairly cost neutral.

As I can't afford two cars then if I want something more interesting then it needs to be a conversion of the T25 (and manage the Mrs' expectations/ moaning).

I can't really see how the Subaru engine would be difficult to live with, in fact I was almost dissapointed with how tame it was at lower revs and with the LPG modified to suit the it should also be relatively economic.

The donor car belonged to my brother and was only brought over from Jersey relatively recently so there are about two years (where it was chavved) that we don't know how it was treated, but the car has required NOTHING for over three years.

I am slowly warming to the Subarugears conversion as that takes the weak VW gearbox out of the equation.

[AdrianC]

in fact I was almost dissapointed with how tame it was at lower revs

Of course it is. Until the turbo starts to provide boost, you've actually got less power (due to the lower compression - together with poorer economy) than you would have driving the non-turbo version of the same engine.

[wudi]

but as n/a is 125-145bhp then even at low revs it could be similar to an 8v GTI lump which if memory serves felt quicker to pick up.