Our 2003 Impreza WRX has been been faultless for the last 6 years. Perfect in every way as a family car, reliable, fun and practical.

I noticed it was going through a bit of oil the last few months but kept an eye on it. Went in the garage for it's yearly service, mot and to have cambelt done. However, it didn't even get that far, garage phoned and asked me pop in. Sadly, the bottom end has just started to go. When you rev it, you can just start to hear it knocking.

Totally gutted but the wife is even more as it was hers and she adores it.

Considering the car is probably only worth £3500 it's not going to be worth fixing. It's a shame as the inside is mint and the outside condition is pretty good as well. It's still driveable but obviously could go bang at anytime.

Some have said just trade it in against a new car but I do kind of feel bad doing this for the next owner. Do people buy cars for spares or repair and will I get much for it? I don't want to break it as I don't have the time, space or skills to do this.

Not really sure what I can do with it.

 

If you can do what I did and get the engine work done and keep the car.

ive spent a lot more than my RB5's worth in fact probably several times over!

It depends on how you view your car I suppose.

 

We had planned to keep it for another 5 years or so but I'm just a bit worried of throwing good money after bad and ending up with a huge bill and finding more things are wrong with it.

 

Buy a used engine off one of the good breakers on here.

 

Mmmmm that's not a bad idea. No idea on how much that would cost but something to look in to for sure.

 

If the rest of the car is in good condition then a rebuilt engine is a safer option than buying a completely unknown vehicle that would probably cost much more. And if you think your WRX has another 5 years left in it then actually it's an economical job, and you keep your much-loved car.

 

If you are planning to keep for a few years yet then I would definitely rebuild. You said it's been reliable so in the grand scheme of things a car that could serve you 10+ years and cost you just one engine build doesn't work out to be such a bad investment. It will also be worth more post rebuild (assuming you go somewhere reputable) than a high miler that is likely to start being troublesome.
Ring for some quotes but I can't imagine a wrx rebuild being too expensive with standard components
Paul

 

Try matt on here he is always breaking imprezas. Get yourself sti lump in there

 

Yup, he's away breaking some decent cars.

If the car's in generally good nick, a replacement engine or a rebuild is definitely your best option.

 

Thanks everyone for the replies. The rough quote for the engine rebuild is anything from £2k up but I have been told that it's more than likely closer to £3k/£4k but could easily be more depending on anything else that could be wrong. I'm kind of reluctant to go down the rebuild route in case there are more things wrong with the engine and I just end up throwing more and more money at a bad engine. Not totally against it though.

I've tried Matty and he only has STi engines. I have also sent Scott at Scoobyspares a PM. Any other recommended breakers on here?

This leads me onto my next question, how much of a job is it to put an STi engine into the WRX? Pretty straight forward or am I going to need lots of other parts?

 

Always the risk that a second hand engine has had a hard life.
I would expect to pay £2k for standard wrx rebuild.
Also depends where you want to go with the car power wise

 

Yes, very true and if we buy another Scooby then the same thing could happen again.

As for power it's just decat, afterburner vortex back box, panel filter and remap so not huge figures. Probably be under 300bhp easily.

 

First thing I would do would be get a second opinion at a specialist if you haven't already.

 

Straightforward mechanically, as long as you have the STi ECU to go with it. It is a direct swap, with the main issue being that the STi has AVCS whereas the WRX doesn't. But that's an easy wiring job that you can do yourself if you're handy that way, or we do an add-on loom for just this purpose that's as near to plug-and-play as you can get.

I'm sure there's something you need to do with the immobiliser and key coding but I think that's straightforward to sort.

5 speed box should be OK at standard STi power levels, but you might want to consider a 6 speed if you are considering higher power.

 

Go the sti engine route m8

 

Guess you'll need the STi turbo as well otherwise the ECU will need remapping?

 

Thanks Tim for the help. I think we will stick with the WRX route. Just got to decide new engine, rebuild or new Scooby.

 

One thing that worrys me is that this happened when the car was not with you.

I'm not saying its the garages fault, but i'd get it looked at, as if you don't set the cambelt up correctly that would have naffed up your engine good, be worth getting a garage to take a look

 

Just to add, I know the garage very well including the owner. They have worked on my wife's Scooby for many years as well as my DC5 and EP3 before that. They race Honda's in the Brit car championship and currently the 24hr Endurance series. They also do work for BTCC and many other race series. I totally trust them 100%. They also do work on Scoobies with the owner having them in the past along with Evo's.

They hadn't even started any work on the car. When they started it up after I had dropped it off a few days earlier, they noticed it was a bit smokey. They then immediately heard the slight knocking noise when the engine was revved and phoned me straight away. So no work has been done to the car yet.

 

I found a private seller on here selling a WRX engine from a classic for £180 and whacked it in myself. People on here will tell you I'm not the most mechanically minded person, but found engine changes a doddle if you take your time and do a bit of research.
It's been in mine now for 5 months, it could go bang tomorrow, it might last another 10 years its a gamble.
These things can get out of hand, you may as well do x, y and z while you're there, and by then it's become a money pit.