STi short block on my 99 LGT

[blackgtbeauty]

What would this require? is it just as easy as putting on a stock shortblock? would i nee to change any wiring? if i slap a avo turbo kit on it, will it be that much more reliable?

[Wiscon_Mark]

compression is a lot different. I don't know whether your ECU would like that or not. It bolts up, certainly, but without boost, you'd have some poor performance.

[belladonna]

are you talking a complete sti engine swap or what?

[blackgtbeauty]

i was thinking just the bottom end, and keeping my stock dohc's. i'm aiming for something more reliable than the stock block if i boost it.

[Huffer]

If you boost it, don't even bother with your DOHC heads.
With all the hassle of turbo'ng a stock STi shortie with frankenstein heads, you might as well just swap.

Based on your posts, I think you're the kind of guy to be unhappy with the constant hassle of taking care of the ECU - do a straight swap with the STi harness & ECU, get a Cobb AP and bob's ya uncle.

[SubiesportEd]

Our car has basically the swap you are talking about, however, the pistons are custom becuase of the combustion chamber. However, I have been told that you can use STi take off parts (pistons/rods) in your phase I block, and for light boost that wouldn't be bad. However, STi Block, WRX heads and a thicker head gasket would work too. EM would be the hard part, swapping the harness is very time consuming, which is why we aren't doing that.
Piggy back would work as would a standalone. Remember your ecu isn't as finicky as a current WRX/STi. It is still kinda dumb so piggybacks will work. Or just get a hydra/AEM, but that isn't so easy either.

You could do pistons and rods and just run a smaller (VF39) turbo and it wouldn't kill the block. But for the price of all that motor work, you could just get a used WRX long block or an older EJ22.

[sheepdog]

indeed. You'd need at the very least an EM solution to deal with the lower compression, if you still wanted to do this.