Hey guys i got myself Impreza 1.6 AWD 1999 manual car to use as winter car mostly because of it gets good mpg and cheap parts to get but i want to make this car more of "drift" to use it to slide in rain and all that blabla but the problem is my friend has 2.0 impreza with welded RWD he said my car isn't worth to make RWD because of no power,  I'm removing my rear seats and spare tire tomorrow.

 

So my question is would you guys agree to him not doing my impreza RWD because lack of power?  couldn't i just straight swap in EJ20E 135ps from another Impreza ?

 

Remember this car is only gonna be used to have fun with...

any ej engine can live where any other ej engine lives. swap away

 

personally i would learn how to drive the car safely and efficiently in offroad/slide scenarios as it is and add power later as you become a more skilled driver

I'd leave it AWD and bump the power output. 1.6L isn't the greatest for power and you'll need all the RPM you can get. Cheapest HP maker is a Frankenbuild setup. Guys run EJ22 heads on an EJ25 bottom end. Run 91 or 93 octane as it raises compression. Supposedly, HP is around what the EJ25 has, but with the compression and heads aimed for velocity = more fun especially for the intended purpose + it's very cheap to do. Or stick a smaller turbo on it and get the steepest gearing you can find (something has 4.44's, but unsure what. Might be the Outback. Big difference going from a 4.10 to 4.44 if you have the latter). Otherwise, go with steepest gearing and a small turbo like GT2556 (270hp) or GT2560 (60 trim version as it makes 300 hp) and you'll have all the low-end hp and tq to spin with, but you'll need an ecm that can be adapted to run boost, plus injectors, FP, etc.. Standard Legacy seats weigh around 35-40 pounds each (manual tracks) so sticking aluminum buckets in can pull 50 pounds give or take, so Impreza should be very similar. Sticking a lightweight hood would be smart too. Apparently aluminum rims for these are already very light compared with other cars. Another option is getting a 3.0L or 3.6L to work with a carb. It's doable and the toughest part will be fabbing up a spot to mount the carb and make sure it's feeding enough fuel to each cyl. and the HP will be in the 250 range, which should be plenty for this curbweight. Hell of a lot cheaper sticking a tiny Holley 2 or 4 barrel on and adding regulator to drop pressure or adding an aftermarket fuel pump than swapping ALL the electronics from a donor. Saw a guy do this on a Saab with it's factory intake by machining a spot for the carb. Didn't think it'd run but it did.

 

I can drift mine in the snow and loose gravel easily even with a bunch of added weight (tools and stereo stuff) and it's an auto with just an EJ22 (and it's a wagon). Pretty fun as I can hold it almost sideways on heavily snowed roads. Facing 12 o'clock, I can keep the rear at 4 o'clock on left turns and 8 o'clock on right turns and this thing is lucky to make 130 at the crank. Forcing RWD would be boring on this.

any ej engine can live where any other ej engine lives. swap away

 

personally i would learn how to drive the car safely and efficiently in offroad/slide scenarios as it is and add power later as you become a more skilled driver

I've had cars that i used to drift with Volvo 240, bmw e36 325i and toyota corolla 4wd 1.6 those cars did it pretty easly in wet and dry but not the Volvo in dry it had to much bodyrolly and automatic

Edited November 26, 201411 yr by icelandmister

I'd leave it AWD and bump the power output. 1.6L isn't the greatest for power and you'll need all the RPM you can get. Cheapest HP maker is a Frankenbuild setup. Guys run EJ22 heads on an EJ25 bottom end. Run 91 or 93 octane as it raises compression. Supposedly, HP is around what the EJ25 has, but with the compression and heads aimed for velocity = more fun especially for the intended purpose + it's very cheap to do. Or stick a smaller turbo on it and get the steepest gearing you can find (something has 4.44's, but unsure what. Might be the Outback. Big difference going from a 4.10 to 4.44 if you have the latter). Otherwise, go with steepest gearing and a small turbo like GT2556 (270hp) or GT2560 (60 trim version as it makes 300 hp) and you'll have all the low-end hp and tq to spin with, but you'll need an ecm that can be adapted to run boost, plus injectors, FP, etc.. Standard Legacy seats weigh around 35-40 pounds each (manual tracks) so sticking aluminum buckets in can pull 50 pounds give or take, so Impreza should be very similar. Sticking a lightweight hood would be smart too. Apparently aluminum rims for these are already very light compared with other cars. Another option is getting a 3.0L or 3.6L to work with a carb. It's doable and the toughest part will be fabbing up a spot to mount the carb and make sure it's feeding enough fuel to each cyl. and the HP will be in the 250 range, which should be plenty for this curbweight. Hell of a lot cheaper sticking a tiny Holley 2 or 4 barrel on and adding regulator to drop pressure or adding an aftermarket fuel pump than swapping ALL the electronics from a donor. Saw a guy do this on a Saab with it's factory intake by machining a spot for the carb. Didn't think it'd run but it did.

 

I can drift mine in the snow and loose gravel easily even with a bunch of added weight (tools and stereo stuff) and it's an auto with just an EJ22 (and it's a wagon). Pretty fun as I can hold it almost sideways on heavily snowed roads. Facing 12 o'clock, I can keep the rear at 4 o'clock on left turns and 8 o'clock on right turns and this thing is lucky to make 130 at the crank. Forcing RWD would be boring on this.

is this little 1.6 engine gonna handle any boost? haha i have turbine from diesel Pajero lying in my garage it would be cool to add it just to bump the HP a little but i dont think it eould handle it