Hello all you subaru guys,

 

I have just joined the ranks, i have always watched from afar as my friend posted on this forum getting some great and funny information back about his subaru...but watch no more I AM HERE....ok enough of that.

 

Yesterday i bought the following. A 1997 Impreza L Sedan. Sport Red. Body is in great condition just some rock chips here and there. All windows, trunk, suspension, etc is all in great working condition. Only thing is it has 278,000 miles on it. But it runs like a 100,000 mile car i love it....shame its an auto though. oh yes and i bought it for $3100

 

So with that said let me know what you think of that. Also i wanted to know about what you think about the engine. IF and WHEN it dies, should i replace the engine? or have it rebuilt. I have found a few engines with a few K miles on them but most of them say that the 8th number of the VIN must be a 4. Im not sure what to look for as far as i know any impreza engine works in any impreza but hey thats why im posting cuz i don kno.

 

Any other pearls of wisdom would be great

 

Thanks from the newest subaru junkie,

 

Cory

 

When i take a pic i will post for you guys

Get a new used engine from japan

 

Subaru engines are cheap enough from overseas to not worry about rebuilding them.

 

Rebuilds are for american engines is my school of thought because we have no cheap place to get low mileage used engines from.

Also what impreza engines would fit in this car. any 2.2, 2.5, WRX, any?? also what is the diffrence between a engine that is setup for manual or auto. Where is a good inexpensive place to get engines.

 

Cory

also what is the diffrence between a engine that is setup for manual or auto. Where is a good inexpensive place to get engines

 

go and buy yourself a front cut (i dunno what they call them in the states) which has the manual gearbox on it, and install that.

 

Uni/.

Get a new used engine from japan

 

Subaru engines are cheap enough from overseas to not worry about rebuilding them.

 

Rebuilds are for american engines is my school of thought because we have no cheap place to get low mileage used engines from.

I have heard that Japan has such severe auto emissions regulations, that when a car there hits 100,000KM, it must get a NEW ENGINE. Not a tuneup, not an overhaul, but a NEW motor. Yikes... 100,000KM is 62,500 miles... which is just barely getting broken in good for a Stateside Subaru.

 

So what do they do with these 100K engines from Japan? They crate them up and send them here and sell them... to folks like us with 97 Imprezas with mega miles who's engines finally passed on. It's a strange business, but hey, it works.

 

James

Also what impreza engines would fit in this car. any 2.2, 2.5, WRX, any?? also what is the diffrence between a engine that is setup for manual or auto. Where is a good inexpensive place to get engines.

 

Cory

i said this in another thread. a 2.0 legacy twin turbo should fit in it. you might want to look into it. search e-bay, that's where i saw it. buy it now for $1350

can anyone verify this Japan import thing??? sounds kinda nice.......

I used two of those "used Japanese engines" and one tranny for Toyotas. Had to swap out intake manifolds becuase of emmision stuff, but that was easy. The junkyards in SoCal used to advertise them, since most go to ports on the west coast.

i said this in another thread. a 2.0 legacy twin turbo should fit in it. you might want to look into it. search e-bay, that's where i saw it. buy it now for $1350

Careful with twin turbo setups... most of those will only fit in postal legacy wagons, not normal cars. If you want simplicity get a 2.2 liter engine. If you want performance get a 2.0 or 2.2 turbo.

Anyone else think paying that much for a 97 with that many miles it way to much?

Also what impreza engines would fit in this car. any 2.2, 2.5, WRX, any?? also what is the diffrence between a engine that is setup for manual or auto. Where is a good inexpensive place to get engines.

 

Cory

Any ej series engine will mate to your tranny and all that ****, wiring will be the issue. Ej series engines include, the ej18, ej20, ej22, ej25, ez30 and eg33, the later two being six cyl's. There is no difference in the engine as far as manual or auto setups. The jy is probably going to be the absolute cheapest.

can anyone verify this Japan import thing??? sounds kinda nice.......

It would be nice except that noboby in Japan wastes money maintaining an engine that they know must be tossed at a certain mileage. Most of these engines are worn out at replacement time.

Would you waste money maintaining an engine that you knew the government was going to force you to replace at 60,000 miles??

About those low mileage japanese engines, a different opinion.

Ha ...you see you havent driven the car yet. Engine runs smooth with no valve noise or anything. Body is in great conditon. Has nice racing alloys. interior is flawless. only this is it has a lot of miles. my friend and I seem to think that there was some major engine work done at some point during its life time. No that is not too much to pay for a awesome car that when the engine dies will turn into a WRX =) just jealous i think ...haha

why do you think there's been engine work done? it's not an ej25 Properly cared for you wouldn't have to do anything be preventative maintanence to keep the engine running for 275k miles.

I was thinking the same thing! $3100 for that many miles is a lot of money. My 1995 Impreza had 110,000 and I got the guy down to $4400. (He wanted $5000) It has been a wonderful Sooby, my 4th.

5 year old thread, little out of date.