What would SLi do?

[redlegacygt]

so unfortunatly, i believe my car bit the dust last nite. I heard a ticking noise which sounded like an exhaust leak on my way home from work. Didnt really think it could be anything else since i knew one of my header gaskets was alittle messed up. Took it home, changed out the gaskets and started it up. Still a little ticking but not as bad as before.. So i took her down the road and what do you know.. pop and there she goes.. loose all power and drift to a stop... Now here's where it gets weird..

When it popped, it sounded like peices of something flew out the bottom, however we inspected every inch of that road, and the bottom motor I couldnt see a whle andwhere and Its not leaking oil. Cranked it for a couple seconds once and the pulleys start to move, but doesnt seem like anything engages in the motor.. Im thinking that its messed up pretty bad internally, but at this point i really dont know because im def. not a mechanic... The ticking would go away when i accelerated, and it would sometimes disappear even at idle..

so now im in a dilema, i've got a car thats mine (made the last payment 2 days ago) with maybe a blown motor..

do i A) swap motor and tranny out for wrx or sti?
B)find a cheap EJ25 to put in and use this car as beater, and get a newer car
C) part her out and just move on..

there's alot more cirrcumstances that i'll get into when i have some more time and once the car reaches a garage to get the offical report..

Sorry if this post is alittle confusing.. my mind is running a million miles a minute.. Im getting married tomorrow and between this and that, i've had just enough time to breathe.. and to think, i was supposed to ride off into the sunset in my red legacy :cry:

[MR.MCSICK]

Wrx swap is better than a new car payment. That one has my vote!

[deadlydave]

Wrx swap is better than a new car payment. That one has my vote!

I agree, and your insurance will be the same as before, providing you don't tell the insurance co. about the mods. Of course, it costs a lot of money to do it.

[Huffer]

^^ not tell the insurance co? And when you get into an accident, have them deny a claim? Heck no.

Buy another EJ25 - throw it in there and tear down the broken one.

My bet is that you threw a bearing or similar.

BTW - congrats on getting hitched!

[RadeOn]

Get married (congratulations), go on honeymoon, and think about the car later!

[redlegacygt]

thanks.. yeah after this week, a hooneymoon is exactly what i need.lol

i got alittle time so i'll lay out some of the circumstances.. First of, this is basically our only car. My wife (sounds weird :lol: ) has a p.o.s cadillac that is on its way out. its paid off and has been for a long time. My goal was to keep my car and keep it running for as long as possible so that we could get a newer car for her to drive and only have one payment. I wanted to do it this way because we planned on building a house after the wedding. The reason i leaned toward a swap is because a buddy of mine has wrecked wrx sitting at his house that i've wanted to buy or around 3000 for the whole car, 1500 for the 04 motor wiring etc.with only 12,000 mi. Not to mention i know alot of subaru knowledgable people who could help do the swap to save on labor. But something is telling me to just spend the 650 for a motor, have my buddies help me drop that in, and then buy another car and still have the one paymment.. ok enough rambling again, back to work on the wedding rehersal stuff .lol

[RadeOn]

Ok, my advice then.
Starting a family is not a time to do wrx swaps imho :)
Lots of expenses to come up, especially since you plan on building a house etc. I'd swap in 2.2L, that will make it last long and be cheap. And think about wrx swap in a year or two.

[Reason]

If you can find a cheap motor and do all the work by your self it would be cheaper than getting another car. Anything else (unless you have cash) you will have to borrow from the bank. And when it comes down to buying a house you don't want all that money out there. The process of buying a house at the start is a lot of out of pocket cash.

Remember, theres a EJ22T for sale up here in RI :wink:

[Huffer]

I would still go with a direct engine replacement, get the car running again.
Avoid another payment - get a cheap replacement car for the caddy because extra payments (however small and regular they might be) will suck money out of the house in the long run.

Cash is king, always will be. Payments will drag you down and limit what you can do - because you will always end up having to owe someone.

A mortgage is the only kind of payment I am willing to have. Everything else is avoidable with enough patience and wise planning.

[redlegacygt]

yeah i see what your saying. i think the only reason i was looking at a swap was because of the motor aspect. I know i can find an EJ25 for 650 but it will have some miles and would need the headgaskets done before it got dropped in. Not to mention id still have to crack open the tranny because i the solenoid is shot. I figured by the time im all said and done with that, id be just a couple hundred dollars shy of a wrx swap. however, reliability at this rate is what i want and i dont think id have it if i went with a swap (unless it was xcntrx75, lol) i think my best route will be to spend alittle more cash, get this car back to the best operationaly state and then buy one good car. Then i just have the morgage and the car payment. Which for a 21 yr newlywed w/ a son and a house isnt a terrible start :lol:

[Huffer]

If the swap is done right (the wiring will be the hardest job) then the swap can be considered just as reliable as an 8 year old car.

However, given that your transmission is pretty rough (dutyc dead?) you'd be looking at having to swap in a pedal box and other associated items. I doubt you'd be looking at a cheap and quick swap as a result.

[Reason]

Get yourself a STi block from Subaru.

[redlegacygt]

Get yourself a STi block from Subaru.

see i thought about that as well. i thought about keeping the dead motor of course and then building a motor to swap later down the road if i put in another 2.5, or even a 2.2.

[legacy92ej22t]

Hmmmmm, my boost, er, I mean brain is saying swap, my heart is saying replacement motor though since the wedding and stuff is coming up. Especially for reliabilities sake. It's one thing if you went to that shop we talked about that could do the swap, it's another to have the local scooby crew all pull together to do the swap. There's bound to be some bugs that would need ironed out going that way.

This sucks, I feel your pain as I've been in the almost exact situation before.

[Svenerachi]

^^^^
I agree....

but if you do decide on a swap, check out www.gruppe-s.com (http://www.gruppe-s.com) they have the jdm ej257 brand new for 3,000 or the jdm ej207 for 2,000

GL

[Huffer]

The reason i leaned toward a swap is because a buddy of mine has wrecked wrx sitting at his house that i've wanted to buy or around 3000 for the whole car, 1500 for the 04 motor wiring etc.with only 12,000 mi.

Not to mention i know alot of subaru knowledgable people who could help do the swap to save on labor. But something is telling me to just spend the 650 for a motor, have my buddies help me drop that in, and then buy another car and still have the one paymment

Seems that all the people telling you to buy a block don't know how to read.

[redlegacygt]

ah, well its time to bump this back up. So the honeymoon is over (atleast the vacation part :lol: ) and now its back to work. My wife and i were able to get rid of her car and got her a new one which is reliable. So here's where the fun begins.

My car was towed to a garage where they were able to confirm that the motor is shot internal. However, i didnt have them open it up yet to see what the exact cause/damage is. He did say however that he's pretty sure it wont look good. So now its time to look at my options.. Find a cheap EJ25, make the repairs to it (headgaskets, waterpump,timeing belt etc) and drop it in and hope it lasts, or have the swap done by a guy who's got lots of experience doing swaps.... desicions, desicions :lol:

[ivwarrior]

Well, I vote for swap, but then again, I'm not the one that has to pay the bill, or the extra fuel $$ that'll come with a swap. :grin:

[Plays_with_Toys]

Just drop an ej25/22 hybrid with some cams and call it done. Much cheaper, and since you're building a new motor anyway, it'll be reliable.

[redlegacygt]

Just drop an ej25/22 hybrid with some cams and call it done. Much cheaper, and since you're building a new motor anyway, it'll be reliable.

i thought about that route as well, but for some reason i like the swap idea better.. not to mention. if i decided to ever get rid of it, i think i'd have a better time selling it with a swapped wrx motor..

[deadlydave]

Well, selling it on an enthusiast forum, it sure would go fast :razz: . But Joe Schmo/Jane Schmo average buyer may not appreciate a modded car.

[redlegacygt]

Well, selling it on an enthusiast forum, it sure would go fast :razz: . But Joe Schmo/Jane Schmo average buyer may not appreciate a modded car.

indeed. however i've seen alot more WTB threads on nasioc looking for swapped cars, and alot of them are look for BD's or rs's.

But thats all if i decided to get rid of it which would be extremly hard. Hell, i can't bring myself to get rid of it now and all its doing is giving me headaches and costing me money :lol:

[redlegacygt]

ps.. im thinking that i might make this project a DIY as well..i wonder how many people would be interested in a "how to swap your BD" dvd... :lol:

[strat81]

swap gets my vote...

i'd be more than willing to help with the mechanical aspect of it... just keep me away from wiring... me and electricity don't get along too well :shock: