I just like the feeling of seeing an Sti or P1 in your mirror, then the look on there face at the next set of lights when they couldnt catch you

 

if you still have the ironing board fitted..

 

NS has saved me the trouble to post all that. Some prices are a bit optimistic and have been achieved by being in the right place on Ebay or S'Net at the right time - BUT broadly that will give ANY WRX; STi performance with no drama, no downside, and NO RISK to reliability.

I'd go decat as it is a bit cheaper £ 150.00 + Wrapping. AND unless you are really bothered about trees and dolphins - will not end the world tomorrow. It will make a huge difference to the power delivery. Sports cats are good these days, but any pipe with a sponge in it is going to be worse than an open pipe.

We do this sort of 'conversion ' at least once a month and never had anything less than favourable comment every time.

It works and it is cheap enough.

David APi

Agents for:
Simtek, the most exciting new Ecu for years
Buddy Club exhausts
Scoobysportexhausts
Eibach suspension
Hybrid front mount intercooler kits
AP Racing brakes and clutches
And of course; the well known APi Performance Exedy organic clutch

www.apiengines.com

01926 614333

 

at the moment I have an 03 WRX with ppp was planning on adding a decat up pipe and ppp downpipe, a fuel pump and sti pinks, then add a TD05 as they are cheaper to pick up, also is an sti top mount required for low 300's as I thought the WRX intercooler was ok with the ppp hose.
What difference would a VF34/5 make over a TD05

Any comments welcomed

 

Might be worth seeing what trade in you could get with your car against an STi of similar age.

Try a few cars, and get an average cost to upgrade to an STi.

Then compare with the above costings, and also look at what money you have to spend.

The STi is a far better car as standard, and as a base to modify in the future.

 

I started with the same, have been upgrading for a couple of years-you may find it helpful to have a look at my scooby
cheers

 

modding a wrx is a lot more work than a sti, first you need to get it up to sti figures which will probably cost you 2k.... then a nother 2k+ to get anything over 300bhp
ive had mine for 5 months now, from standard ive got it to now 275bhp... and hopefully a lot more by saturday after some new parts plus bigger turbo is fitted

wiley

 

Our modded WRX cars make 320+hp safely, time after time, for less than 2 grand. 4 grand will get you a long, long way further.

David APi

 

Wartch out for used TD05 /16G the old ' snorkel type ' from the early WRX's. They are pretty old these days and suffer from cracks around the cast iron turbine housing.

Lift the wastegate button off its seat and look for cracks on the seating and remove the stainless clamp band around the middle of the turbo and check that the turbine case [shroud] is not cracked all the way around the clamp ring groove.

Do this before you pay.... I have lost count of the amount of them that customers have brought in and then asked us to throw away for them....

Any cracks are death to that turbo, don't even try to weld it.

David APi

 

The VF34/35 and mods is a well proven package for the WRX, as David says.

One other thing to remember is this, a WRX weighs ~100kgs lighter that an STI..! (c1380kg v 1480kg give or take for various MY's)

Now some weight will be added whilst modding (ie STI TMIC ~1.5kgs heavier, ARB's heavier etc...) but then again if you're careful you can keep that weight advantage and maybe improve on it.. For instance, a good decat exhaust will weigh significantly less than the cast oem catted system. Removing the heat shields around the headers and wrapping instead. Some nice lightweight alloys (not sti 17's as they weigh a ton..!), lightweight battery ~7kgs lighter..

An STI needs at least another 30-40 bhp to make up for that weight, so a well modded 330-340 bhp WRX is more than capable of handling a 360-380 bhp STI..

How much does it cost to get an STi up to these figures..?

 

Ive got a modded wrx for sale if you cant be bothered yourself lol

https://www.scoobynet.com/private-sa...st-my-car.html

well i can try

 

view my scooby, cost me just around £2800 to get to 330+ bhp/torque

I know what you mean, but when I bought my car the STi's I saw were all a bit dogged and abused, mine was a very tidy low mileage example.

Depends what you want out of the car, mine had the PPP to begin with, great but the Turbo lag really did my head in, some simple mods like a decat uppipe and sports cat downpipe will make the turbo spool up quicker and make a real improvement. however once you start you wont want to stop !!

At the end of the day a nicely modded WRX is still a very quick road car ....

 

some interesting points made... I dont want silly BHP ie im not after a 450BHP Sti.. basically I drove a STI PPP and thought that it was very good.. thats the performance im after :-)

David (APi) you mention over 300BHP for under 2K... what sort of additional items would i get/need for that? I imagine 320BHP in a WRX will be quicker than same in the Sti as others have said.

been looking at all these modded cars and that combined with the fact it will cost a lot to change has me moving back towards sorting mine out! .. il prob change back in a few days lol

 

I was like you for a while, but with the market as it is I'm like sod it, I've got it so I may as well enjoy it

The main STi part I wish I had was the dccd .......

 

im spending 2k on my wrx 98. iv been looking at loads of parts from everywhere, and currently bought wiseco pistons, eagle rods, rcm modified oil pump, walbro 255 pump, japspeed 3" full decat exhaust inc down pipe, fmic, apexi ecu and commander, acl race bearings, arp head bolts, japspeed race rad and apexi avcr.

iv bought it all for under 2k, very close tho apexi ecu and exhaust, fmic r 2nd hand, and im doing all labour, but its possible to get performance and budget as iv done.

running a vf22 turbo for now.

think it will run nicely over 300 when done,

 

Why? Don't worry about it Iain, it doesn't add anything that decent suspension can't beat

 

I know I just like the idea of changing the diff settings ..... or just wanting what I cant have !!

 

If we did it we'd fit;

VF series turbo;- anything from VF29/30/34/35 range will get the result
STi pink injectors on a new age, yellow side feeds for any GC8.
High pressure fuel pump
Decat downpipe as a minimum - better system if necessary.
Foam panel filter
Tek 3 remap on anything after 1999. Probably Simtek before that age car.

Hey presto! 320 ish depending upon how much 'safe' boost and timing we can get into an engine. It depends upon engine condition really. Older ones tend to be a bit noisy once the timing goes in and we pull it all back to keep the noises down. In any case, it is not hard to better the PPP set up, as it is a one size fits all and this is a bespoke conversion to suit your car.

I won't price it on here, call me and l'll do it face to face. l can't stand the 's

That tend to appear.

David APi

 

make sure you add in a decat uppipe, when Bob mapped my car he was impressed with how well the turbo held boost at high revs and said that was down to the decat uppipe. plus you wont have a cat that can fail and munch your turbo

 

If its any help, I have just traded my 54 plate WRX in for an 05 plate STi.
I only got £7500 for the WRX but then again, I only paid £12500 for the STi.
So it's all relative really. All the prices have dropped substantially so I wouldn't be put off by the low price you will get offered for yours.