Got a bit of a nightmare, agread to sort my mates car, he has an accident damaged v5 uk which was thought to be repairable, but now after looking at it, its too much work to get it straight, so he has bought a v1 wrx import which is tidy but has knackered bottom end, i know id have to change heads but was wondering if it would be best to transfer the loom and dash over and use the full running engine and turbo and ecu from the v5, but he would prefer to keep his pre facelift dash, would the engine loom be too much hastle to join into the v1 loom?
Any help on this would be very greatfull.
Cheers
Jay

 

we just finished getting a V5 engine into my V3 car and it wasn't straight forward! was told it wasn't wise but no one had specifics so i did it anyway lol

I went for the full engine loom from a V5, V5 dash, full dash loom from a V5 (because needed a V5 compatible ECU and harness, also different clocks etc). there were complications with the wiring for the lights, ABS and electrics in the doors too as the plugs are different when you go to the V5 dash loom. You have two complete cars so you have everything which is at least a good starting point! if you keep the V1 dash it could prove quite a bit of work to get it all hooked up to your V5 ECU.... Also V5 heads have the different coil packs and electronic idle control rather then mechanical as i'm sure you know so you must use the correct V5 ECU. Basically it is all a bit of a mess but it can be done, but you are letting yourself in for a ton or work!

I'm not sure how much sense that made, i'm not the greatest at dealing with nightshifts! All the best

Ash

 

Cheers for the reply mate, yeh kinda thought its going to be huge work, its all going into an ra so no abs or electric windows but will probably end up fitting the electric window motors in, much easier just changing the heads over but my mate wants everything from the v5 into the v1, looks like uve got a few busy weekends on my hands.
Jay

 

Personally I would just split the knackered engine and check for any damage in the heads. If the heads are fine, I would swap the short block, it's much less hassle than messing about with harnesses, ecu's, looms, dash's etc.

That's my 2p

 

Its a bit of a bodge wrx heads on a uk bottom end and jap management (would probably knock out the bottom end after a while again), the uk one was mapped and well set up safely, i would rather do it that way(swapping heads) but my mate does not want to split the engine, so looks like a lot of work for the next few weekends. if not im just going to talk him into breaking the uk car and getting some money to rebuild the wrx engine.

 

Did you figure this out mate as I'm fitting a v5 engine into a v1, think I can make everything work apart from the idle control valve and throttle sensor as the plugs are different. Any ideas or help would be great.
Thanks
Jason