A Good Place to Start

[darkandshiny]

Hello Gents and Ladies,

I first saw a factory five cobra in a kit car magazine in 1998. I've wanted to build one ever since. Life has gone on quite happily since then but I have not taken seriously my dream and desire to build my own unique speed machine. I plan on rectifying that in 2013. Turns out I need a new car anyway and if I don't get serious now I never will. I'm turning to this forum for advice on a car that will eventually transform into an 818.

Here is my best candidate so far.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2007-...t_22241wt_1165

I'm looking for an everyday driver that will eventually turn into a frequently used but not a daily driver 818. My goals for the 818 are to have an incredibly fun car for street use. I've never taken a car to the track before but I am a "graduate" of Skip Barber's High Performance driving school (lots of fun pretending to be a race car driver). I don't plan on my 818 on being a track car, just an awesome street machine. Since I've never really been a Subaru enthusiast (I've always liked the cars but never owned one) the potential of the platform is still something that I'm researching. I just need some advice on where to start. Please be kind, I'm aware I know less about Subaru than everyone on this forum.

Thank you,

DS

[Xusia]

My first thought is that is a LOT of money for a donor - a car that will be taken apart. If you need something to drive between now and when you order your 818, get a junker of some make/model to get you by; spend as little as possible. I imagine most folks will be looking for a donor that has some crash damage (that way you get most of the parts intact - maybe even all, depending on the damage - and pay far less). That would be another way to go.

My plan is to pick up an Impreza with some crash damage or a blown engine. I want it for all the parts EXCEPT the engine. Then I plan to source a rebuilt WRX engine with a 5-speed and put an STI turbo and tune on it. This should be good for around 300hp according to other folks on the forum (I'm no subie expert either!). Depending on the donor, I might even run my 818 with the stock Impreza engine for a while and swap for the WRX/STI later. That way I can get into it with very little expense and have a fun, driveable car that also gets good mileage.

[BipDBo]

The goal of the 818 is low cost, for the entire project to be able to be completed for $15,000. That donor alone is nearly that. Also, it's a really nice car. It would be a real shame to tear it up. I've seen a bunch of ver gooddeals on Craigslist. One was burned out from the interior, the other was in great mechanical shape, but had a lot of body damage that looked repairable, but expensive. Both were WRX, had around 80,000 miles and were asking $4,000 and $5000. There's no shortage of wrecked WRXs out there. The typical WRX driver isn't driving miss Daisy. Even is you get something with high millage, those Subaru engines are good for a lot of miles, and you could if you want, get a shop to rebuild the engine and transaxle for much less than it would cost to buy a newer donor. Also, if you're going to use it as a daily driver, you may want to consider going naturally aspirated. You could find a base Impreza or Forester for a lot less money. That would still make a pretty quick car.

I was especially tempted by the second one, but conceded that now is not the right time. We have a baby on the way, and I'm going to want to wait until a coupe is available anyway.

[BipDBo]

If you're in Florida, you might want to look at this:
http://orlando.craigslist.org/cto/2836088439.html

[skullandbones]

You know, this is not a bad exercise to go thru because it really makes you put "your money where your mouth is" so to speak. Personally, I would follow the above advise as this ride is about 10K over what a donor should be. If you can justify the extra money in fun and usage out of the vehicle, I can see where you might want to do it (not much time to work with considering the launch target). However, that value is hard to guage. Sometimes the "fun factor" is just something you do without cost analysis in mind. If you were able to part the car out completely you might come out OK (not to much in the hole). This reminds me a little of when someone gets a really nice "Cobra" donor for their roadster build. It's hard to justify the extra cost but you get some really cool stuff! Good luck no matter which direction you take. WEK.

[riptide motorsport]

Thats way too nice to be donor!!

[DaJudge]

If you're in Florida, you might want to look at this:
http://orlando.craigslist.org/cto/2836088439.html

So happy that is not on Dallas! Too much of a temptation.

[wallace18]

I am doing some price work up on a 2002 Donor that is high miles and cheap verses a 2007 donor with 50K miles and high price. I have done some project cars over the years and found that you can easy add 5K to your initial estimate of cost. If I get a cheap 2002 donor 3K, Install a rebuilt engine, Trans, brake system, wheel bearings, tires, clutch and axles. I can do it for 7K less than a premo 2007 donor. I would have all zero miles major components. What is your opinions. I have lots of GM and Import experience but not much Subaru. It seems most donors are very high mileage.

[Nuul]

I would have all zero miles major components.

I think it depends on your application. If you're just going to motor around town and occasionally stomp your foot down at a red light then even a 2.5L NA engine with 100K on the clock will work OK most likely. However, I plan on taking mine to the track on occasion so I'm going to be beating the living @%#^ out of my engine and would like to have 0 miles on it

[BrandonDrums]

Thats way too nice to be donor!!

Right on, something that nice and I would never have the balls to take it all apart. That's a good looking WRX for sure...

After looking at pics of the engine bay, looks like it was modded a good bit. Not sure what the turbo is, could be stock but I can gaurantee it had a bigger one on it if it doesn't still. There's an aftermarket (looks like it's catted) downpipe, upgraded turbo inlet pipe, and either it had or still has an aftermarket boost control solenoid on it.

Considering how dinged up the IC is, I believe that was swapped out at one point. Those types of dings usually happen the first time someone tries to swap out the TMIC as it's a bit tricky and there can be some sealant on the hoses that make it difficult to remove the first round.

However, considering the quality of the aftermarket parts that are on there, namely the nice looking downpipe and turbo inlet, I'd say that there was probably a good quality tune on there (that might still be on there considering the AFR of 11.4 they caught on the dyno). Stock AFR targets at WOT and peak load are in the 10's most years. The stock 06 map I just opened had a rich target of 10.6 just as a reference. 11.4 is around the target I run on my tune which is about the sweet spot for most wrx's for a road tune.

It's also lowered still. I, honestly would be hesitant to buy it at that price, most of these cars sell for less with aftermarket parts, not more because they are telltale that the car has been driven hard. Smart guys put their cars back to stock before trade-in to disguise signs of abuse as well as return the car to factory levels of reliability. Being that this car is selling close to bluebook which isn't entirely unreasonable, I imagine you can find a better deal elsewhere.

It does have really low miles though and cosmetically is in great shape. I'd just be worried that you'll have the dreaded ring-land failure in 30k miles and have to drop another 3k to rebuild the shortblock...

Just my .02

[slopoke]

I'm assuming you read the entire vehicle history report ...