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Turbo + mud? Ya or nay?


Demolition
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Pretty much says it all im wondering if it would be (smart) to put A STI motor in my rig just to get more power out.

I'm kinda working on the impossible here.:DI'm pretty sure I know the answer but is it worth it or should the swap just stay with a Legacy motor or so?

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Unless you want to spend LOTS AND LOTS of money, just get an ej22. Or even an ej25 if you want a bit more.

I dunno what kind of car you have, but a GL transmission wouldn't be very happy with an STi motor, so you'll need a turbo 5speed to hold the power, the price goes up and up the more you think about driveline and wiring.

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I have a 93 Loyale And there is no way im gonna keep that transmission haha. If anything I wanna swap out everything underneath with whatever (ej22, 25, drive train) And luckily I have some buddies that are wizards with wiring.

Just seeing if its smarter to run a non turbo motor.

Never really seen a turbo off road-er :lol:

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yes, please define what you'll be doing in the mud. if you want to run mud drags, you need high power and huge tires for clearance... mud racing + big tires + STi engine + Soob axles = frequently blown axles

 

if you are wanting muddy trail riding then EJ22 should suffice... heck even your stock rig would be fine becasue you'd rather have high speed wheel spin to clean out the tires than low speed spin with better gearing....

 

I have hear of hot turbos shattering when suddenly immersed in cold water/mud, but it was on a different vehicle. the soob turbos are pretty well protected most of the time...

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the turbo itself should be fine assuming you let it cool down a bit before going into a mud hole.the turbo when under extreme load for a long time can actually glow cherry red.as long as the turbo isn't that hot when you mudding it will be fine.I would be much more concerned with dirt entering the turbo than the heating and cooling.If your really concerned with it you can always run a splash shield/heat shield around the turbo.

 

 

axles and stuff should live if you go with EJ parts.the ej stuff was designed for a heavier car.So I can only imagine that going down in weight would make them last longer provided you didn't go big on tires. if you figure that a wrx roughly weighs 3000 lbs and has roughly 25" tires and a gl weighs about 500 lbs less. thats roughly a 17% reduction in stress so a tire 17% bigger would put it right at about the same stress as stock.but everything is designed to go like 200K miles at that stress so you could go a fair bit bigger on tire size for a corresponding decrease in axle life. if you ran a tire that is 33" that is 34% bigger so it would effectively half the life expectancy of the axles.

 

 

thats just kinda a baseline though,because there is a whole lot more variables acting on the axles than weight and power and tire size.not to mention if a wheel is spinning and catches traction it could blow an axle.

 

so with that being said in real life with 33" tires and wrx/STI power I would expect broken parts somewhere between 1 month and 1 year after the swap depending on how hard you are offroad.assuming you started with brand new parts in the first place.

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Well I'm not gonna be doing any hard wheeling, Mainly because I would be worried about mud and dirt getting in the spool or blowing it after entering a mud pit. I guess I just want to have more power on the free way pushing big tires and being able to get around fairly quick :burnout:. Everyone loves the sound of that turbo whistle. If this was possible could I do straight pipe? I'd love to get the regular exhaust but that four inch tip that comes in WRX/STIs would be ridiculous on a rig. So im thinking straight pipe if possible.

How loud would it be if I just cut the exhaust in half? Cause we all know EA's sound like a bat outta hell with the exhaust cut :D plus it doesn't put damage on the motor.

Would same apply for a STI motor or.....?

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except that the DR 5 speed isn't known to be that reliable when pushing power through them.The rear transfer gears tend to die.theres several people with EJ22's that have had to replace a DR 5 speed.ej20t would just be worse.

 

from what ive found out turboing a non turbo ej22 is a bad idea so I wouldn't try it.

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except that the DR 5 speed isn't known to be that reliable when pushing power through them.The rear transfer gears tend to die.theres several people with EJ22's that have had to replace a DR 5 speed.ej20t would just be worse.

 

from what ive found out turboing a non turbo ej22 is a bad idea so I wouldn't try it.

 

Nobody ever said anything about adding a turbo to the ej22. The ej22T is the closed deck legacy SS engine.

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Unless it's competetive mud drag racing.....you are wasting time and money with a turbo.

 

I've wheeled with a turbo car......constant heat issues.

 

You want torque, not high end HP. And when the Radiator and everything else under the hood is coated in mud, the turbo starts to get hot real quick.

 

and the D/R trans isn't gonna hold up to that much power with big tires.

 

keep it simple....EJ22 or EJ25, or even a "frankenmotor" 2.5 block with 2.2 heads.

 

Cheap, reliable, easy to wire up, easy to replace parts.

 

Turbos are a waste for offroad.

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So what would be the "ideal set up"? when doing a swap cause flooring it all the way to barely hit 65 isn't fun, And hills are worse. Getting a engine that will "throw" me in my seat a little would be nice.

Im liking the ej22...

 

How big tires do you have?

I have 27" tires on my 89gl with the ea81. It does 75 on the highway quite happily.

Maybe your engine just needs a tune up.

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