is there a bolt on or mostly bolt on turbo swap out of another car that i could get for cheap? and whats a good intercooler to use. 87 rx coupe

I don't want to dampen your enthusiasum, mods to a RX are rarely cheap, and not usually easy. My current board name was given to me by other members of this board because of my knowledge of the Subaru RX model. I have known many people who have tried to improve the performance of the RX, some have sunk a lot of money into trying to do this only to throw in the towel in frustration. But if you want to give it a try, you may be the one to succeed. The most common upgrade that I have heard of was using the turbo and intercooler off a 2002 WRX, this is not a bolt up mod, will require some rework to the exsisting up-pipe, but it has been done. My frustration with trying to get more out of the RX is what lead me to build Ultimate RX, where I installed the drivetrain out of an EJ20G powered Legacy into the RX. I never got the car running well enough to be satisfied, so I sold it and built an Impreza. The current owner of Ultimate RX, did get it running properly, and was impressed with the performance he got, I believe he is still driving it. Good luck on your attempt, please keep me posted as I would like to see what you come up with.

Heres the best info you can find on the subject.

http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=88249&highlight=TD04+turbo

maybe i should just part it out

maybe i should just part it out

 

That should depend upon your finances and mechanical abilities. You need to weigh whether the money that you have would be best spent in trying to mod the RX, or possibly upgrading to an Impreza. There are many more aftermarket speed parts available for an Impreza.

well i got a 03 wrx intercooler with all the trimmings for pretty cheap. looks like it should go it pretty easily. ill let you know in a day or two

Hello,

I have to agree, do your mechanical skills qualify you to do turbo swaps? Not necessarily difficult, but experience is helpful, and if things dont go together right, bad stuff can happen to your engine...

 

That said, if you feel up to it, here's a fairly cheap and easy swap for you.

 

I dont know if it qualifies as "aftermarket", but the stock 2002-2003 WRX TD-04 turbo is a very simple, straightforward installation, and can usually be had very inexpensive as well.

 

You will need:

 

The turbo TD-04

The up- pipe for this turbo, or the flange from it

Any WRX downpipe you choose to use

The Intercooler for this turbo.

 

I got all my parts in trade for a little bit of labor, I have found the same parts for total less than 300 bucks before, used of course.

I have since built a complete header for my car, but the first stage of the build went like this:

I took the factory up-pipe for the VF7, cut off the flange, used the flange/ up pipe for the TD04 and welded it back together after measuring how high the turbo needs to sit. After that, it's a matter of bolting everything together and making some mounts for the intercooler. You will need to find some silicone boots to go from the intercooler to the intake manifold, a little bit of creativity is required but not much money... Worked for me!

If you are not skilled enough to weld it all together, have your local exhaust shop perform the welding, and you can do the rest of it.

 

P.S. Do not part it out....

 

Good luck!

88RxTuner

thanks for the info guys. dont worry rx tuner i think im gonna keep it. i got it for 600 because it was rearended. not bad but im gonna have to take a shot at body work. as yes i am very capable of working on cars and confident in myself so no issues there. so your saying i can drop a td04 in with the wrx uppipe and down pipe? and it all bolts to the ea82 gear?

Edited May 13, 200916 yr by SoobGoob