Why didnt you get a 2007 WRX? They are 2.5 liter, come with big brakes and wheels etc.

 

good thing this is all available using the search button because I dont know what I would do...

 

hi im owner of a 2007 2.5 rs and im looking into turboing it out just dont kno where and which kit to purchase for my car... if u guys could please help im lookin for a turbo/intercooler kit with good spool and no lag but very reliable and wont blow my engine! im looking for everything it is going to take in order to finishing this project with success and reliability!

I hope you know that to do it right, will cost you as much as buying a WRX would have cost you in the first place, and with the WRX you'd just be getting started, while with the 2.5i, you're pretty much making as much as you can make without spending a LOT more money on a new bottom end. Buying a brand new n/a subie with the intention of turbo'ing it right from the start is probably the worst decision you can make, both financially and logistically.

Here's the kicker, there isn't a bolt-on kit for 05-and-later n/a cars. The AVO kit from rallitek *almost* fits, and rumors are out that they're making an 05+ friendly kit, but it's not here yet, and any kit you find will involve significant modification to work.

 

I hope you know that to do it right, will cost you as much as buying a WRX would have cost you in the first place, and with the WRX you'd just be getting started, while with the 2.5i, you're pretty much making as much as you can make without spending a LOT more money on a new bottom end. Buying a brand new n/a subie with the intention of turbo'ing it right from the start is probably the worst decision you can make, both financially and logistically.

Here's the kicker, there isn't a bolt-on kit for 05-and-later n/a cars. The AVO kit from rallitek *almost* fits, and rumors are out that they're making an 05+ friendly kit, but it's not here yet, and any kit you find will involve significant modification to work.

True that..I learned the hard way. Please take my advice..go back to the dealership, trade it back, and get a WRX. You will be saving ALOT of money/time/pain. I didn't follow this advice when I decided to turbo my 05' and I'm paying for it dearly now. $6k later my turbo setup still isn't great...

 

Wow... I remember my first couple post sounding almost exactly like this...

I'd say look around and keep reading this forum as well as subiemods, wrxfanatics, and one other good forum (Don't take nabisco seriously, full of re-tards). On average, put in about 10~15hrs of actual technical reading and you'll have a good idea of what you're going to get yourself in to. Then you'll have to put in 15~20 hrs of actual research and learning to get your car parts to become boosted. Then you'll have to put in 15~30hrs to begin working on putting it all together. (hrs vary but it's proportional to your intelligence level).

Your success is directly proportional to the amount of energy, money, and time you spend. If you have time and energy(educating yourself on car mechanics), then you'll shell out less money. if you have more money and time, then you'll spend less energy and vise-verse. In the end, you'll have to either pay for it by balancing the three variables.

And, if you cut too many corners or keep yourself too stupid to make a mistake that many people have done, you'll break your engine.

Personally, I read about everything for a year and did all my own mechanical work. In the end, I boosted my rs and loving it. I did it right and I did it on the cheap and the engine is still trucking just fine (but I didn't get boosted until 2 years after I bought my RS). You'll heard horror stories of people who's "boosted" their rs incorrectly and paying the price. You'll also hear story about people who've done it right and love it. I can tell you right now, my custom kit will beat stock wrx's and it's still cheaper than a WRX.

You'll find my stories about how I did it through looking at my posts. Oh, don't PM me because I won't reply, I've already said what I need to and you can find the posts with the search button. Hard work will actually allow you to learn more than if someone were to spoon feed it to you.

Some Important Life Formulas to remember:

(Time + Energy + Money > Failure) == Success
Time, Reliability, Cost: You can only get one without paying the other two.

An ounce of prevention (learning to boost it right) is worth a pound of cure(cost of fixing your broke block from a mistake).

Good luck.

 

Wow... I remember my first couple post sounding almost exactly like this...

I'd say look around and keep reading this forum as well as subiemods, wrxfanatics, and one other good forum (Don't take nabisco seriously, full of re-tards). On average, put in about 10~15hrs of actual technical reading and you'll have a good idea of what you're going to get yourself in to. Then you'll have to put in 15~20 hrs of actual research and learning to get your car parts to become boosted. Then you'll have to put in 15~30hrs to begin working on putting it all together. (hrs vary but it's proportional to your intelligence level).

Your success is directly proportional to the amount of energy, money, and time you spend. If you have time and energy(educating yourself on car mechanics), then you'll shell out less money. if you have more money and time, then you'll spend less energy and vise-verse. In the end, you'll have to either pay for it by balancing the three variables.

And, if you cut too many corners or keep yourself too stupid to make a mistake that many people have done, you'll break your engine.

Personally, I read about everything for a year and did all my own mechanical work. In the end, I boosted my rs and loving it. I did it right and I did it on the cheap and the engine is still trucking just fine (but I didn't get boosted until 2 years after I bought my RS). You'll heard horror stories of people who's "boosted" their rs incorrectly and paying the price. You'll also hear story about people who've done it right and love it. I can tell you right now, my custom kit will beat stock wrx's and it's still cheaper than a WRX.

You'll find my stories about how I did it through looking at my posts. Oh, don't PM me because I won't reply, I've already said what I need to and you can find the posts with the search button. Hard work will actually allow you to learn more than if someone were to spoon feed it to you.

Some Important Life Formulas to remember:

(Time + Energy + Money > Failure) == Success
Time, Reliability, Cost: You can only get one without paying the other two.

An ounce of prevention (learning to boost it right) is worth a pound of cure(cost of fixing your broke block from a mistake).

Good luck.

Are you serious? He has an 07 2.5i, he can trade it back and not lose too much. For the price of a turbo kit he could probably get a 04-5 WRX as an even trade or put some money down and get a newer/new WRX. It makes no sense to turbo the 2.5i when a WRX is within reach. With a WRX you still have plenty of room to mod it, RS's can't go much further without upgraded internals/fuel system/EM...

And regardless of how much you know, it's not going to change the fact that the RS was not made for F/I. It can't take much boost and regardless of how careful and smart you are about it your always running a chance of blowing your engine and you are DEFINATELY shortening the life of your motor.

 

True that..I learned the hard way. Please take my advice..go back to the dealership, trade it back, and get a WRX. You will be saving ALOT of money/time/pain. I didn't follow this advice when I decided to turbo my 05' and I'm paying for it dearly now. $6k later my turbo setup still isn't great...

Exactly same here!!! trade it in!! at least wrx, not even the sti...i wanted to do something different by turboing my 04 rs...now im spending almost double the amount trying to make it run perfectly than if i just get the wrx....but i couldnt do it in the first place because of my parents and i went to fast before reading about turboing my rs....now im still alittle stuck,, still planing to move forward but im paying and will continue to pay a hell amount of money with my 04 rst!

wats your 07imprezapooin reason why you didnt get the WRX instead?

 

Sigh, I guess I'll get sucked in to the conversation.

My situation:

2002 OBS.
Rallitek Custom Turbo Kit.
Stock block
FMIC,
etc, etc, etc.

Total cost of parts: ~3,000.00
Total cost of labor: ~1,000.00

And I beat stock WRX's.

And I still pay 65 per month insurance because I'm still technically driving an OBS. And all parts are covered under my after-market insurance coverage- anything happens, I'm totally covered (Full 100/50/100 coverage). How much do you pay? Do the math, you'll eventually spend more insuring your car. Does your insurance cover aftermarket parts when you start modding it? Do you know how much your rates would go up if you did on an WRX at your age?

And I bought my car at 24k miles for 12 grand (3 years ago).

When everything is said and done, I've spent about 14 g for a relable car, gets great gas milage (I get better than stock at 24~29mpg), pay dirt cheap insurance, have piece of mind, and is fast enough to destroy all ricers out there with their Type-S, ITR, SI, fart can, etc, etc...

I'm not the only one to pull this off. There are others out there that have done it cheaper because they have their own shop. Where do you think I learned my stuff from?

Oh, and I've met many people that have run the Rallitek AVO turbo kit and put down 65K+ miles on it. The only reason I quote 65k is because he sold it so he could swap an STI block in his rs. I've met a guy that gave his gc rs-t to his wife and then he bought an STI. The rs-t is still running fine even after 45k (last I checked). So it's not unreasonable to easily get 65k out of a solid turbo kit. AVO has been making them for 20 years, they've done it right and have the number to prove it. All engines will have reduced life when you drive it. It's a matter of it's if's done right so the engine won't die prematurely. This again, with a turbo kit can and has been done.

AND I'm happy with my power. Of course I've maxed out my block but I've made the decision to be happy at ~265hp. You can push a wrx block further and faster, but in the end, it's no longer fun to have a undrivable car putting a huge hole in your wallet. There is a happy medium between power and driveability and given I use my car to get to work, I like driveability and comfort over raw power. Oh, thieft rating on a OBS is almost non-existant but a WRX... Man does everyone want to steal them...

Something for ya newbz to much on and think about.

inexpensive, sleeper ftw.

 

Wait, are you the blue OBS with the T3/T4 that Kelly did before he left? How are those pistons holding out?

 

You can push a wrx block further and faster, but in the end, it's no longer fun to have a undrivable car putting a huge hole in your wallet.

I like holes in my wallet. and what does undrivable mean??

i drive my hole in my wallet daily down and up Germantown Road daily. OutbackSpt and hatchbuilder must know the road. Sorry, now I'm just begging people to come play with me.

 

Heh, I used to drive that road to and from work everyday when I worked at a certain Subaru performance company.

 

wow. I'd love to see that monstrocity of yours do germ town road... So wait... you do Germ Town Road every day?

 

I used to do German Town Road everyday a few years back, when I lived in North Portland, and worked in Hillsboro. Good times, unless you get stuck behind some little old lady in a VW Vanagon.

 

Not any more, it has been some time, almost 2 years. I would commute from bethany rd. out the back way to the St. John's bridge.
I live in Eugene now though. The crappy thing is that I had a Ford Exploder then, but I would still drive it hard down and up that road, I went through a few sets of pads and rotors on that truck becuase of that road.

 

I don't want to argue, but it's a fucking 07. He just got the damn thing. If he turbo's it now his engine most likely won't see 100k...then there $20+k down the drain in a matter of a few years

 

I don't know how many times I have told people the same thing, sell your RS and buy a freakin WRX.
They always respond with "That's what everyone keeps saying..."
A 2002 WRX can almost be had for less than $10k. But they never do learn. It's not your money so who cares.

 

If you're not going to be a serious enthusiast, (4 out of 5 are not serious enthusiasts) then I would recommend going the route of getting a WRX. Getting something cheap, effective, and custom takes serious dedication which 4 of 5 people probably don't have and when they do it half assed, it eventually ends up with a premature engine failure. In General Hatch-Builder is right- just sell your car and get a WRX. In the long run, only hard-core subaru fanatics will work the numbers and get the greatest bang for the buck without sacrificing reliability.

And yes, my car was the last one that Kelly did before he left. My car is now a rare collectible! No other guys can put on a Rallitek Kelly Kustom on their subaru.

 

If you're not going to be a serious enthusiast, (4 out of 5 are not serious enthusiasts) then I would recommend going the route of getting a WRX. Getting something cheap, effective, and custom takes serious dedication which 4 of 5 people probably don't have and when they do it half assed, it eventually ends up with a premature engine failure. In General Hatch-Builder is right- just sell your car and get a WRX. In the long run, only hard-core subaru fanatics will work the numbers and get the greatest bang for the buck without sacrificing reliability.

And yes, my car was the last one that Kelly did before he left. My car is now a rare collectible! No other guys can put on a Rallitek Kelly Kustom on their subaru.

Is anyone else getting the "asshole" vibe here?

 

Yeah, OBSdrvr has a big turbo on a stock block. It's a timebomb.

 

I recall reading somewhere around here that the pistons in the EJ25 were made lighter after '01 or '02 and are therefore a lot less able to handle detonation. Not that they were that strong before that date, but the later ones are significantly weaker.

I'm going to weigh in on the side of 'trade for WRX'. Yes, there are some guys running reliable stock-block RSTs, but they are a minority. Personally I think there are two good reasons for building an RST:

You have a GC/GF/GM body and you can't just go buy a turbo model off the lot. You're unwilling or unable to sink the money in for a swap, or you really want the torque of a 2.5 and can't/won't pay for an EJ255/257 swap.

You have an earlier nuskool car and can get all the WRX parts you need to go turbo for cheap, and are willing and able to do proper engine management to make it last. You have an iron will and can resist the temptation to turn the boost up.

My advice to the OP is to put some decent tires, a performance alignment and bigger rear sway bar on your RS and really learn to drive it. Go do some track days. Get comfortable with the car until you can drive it to the limit of what the stock engine can do. Then go to the dealer and trade it for a WRX. You already dropped a bundle in depreciation driving the RS off the lot and it isn't going to be any more painful a year from now. May as well get something for that money. It's easier to learn how to hold speed through corners and conserve momentum, and drive smoothly in a car that's underpowered. It will pay off in the long run.

 

I recall reading somewhere around here that the pistons in the EJ25 were made lighter after '01 or '02 and are therefore a lot less able to handle detonation. Not that they were that strong before that date, but the later ones are significantly weaker.

I'm going to weigh in on the side of 'trade for WRX'. Yes, there are some guys running reliable stock-block RSTs, but they are a minority. Personally I think there are two good reasons for building an RST:

You have a GC/GF/GM body and you can't just go buy a turbo model off the lot. You're unwilling or unable to sink the money in for a swap, or you really want the torque of a 2.5 and can't/won't pay for an EJ255/257 swap.

You have an earlier nuskool car and can get all the WRX parts you need to go turbo for cheap, and are willing and able to do proper engine management to make it last. You have an iron will and can resist the temptation to turn the boost up.

My advice to the OP is to put some decent tires, a performance alignment and bigger rear sway bar on your RS and really learn to drive it. Go do some track days. Get comfortable with the car until you can drive it to the limit of what the stock engine can do. Then go to the dealer and trade it for a WRX. You already dropped a bundle in depreciation driving the RS off the lot and it isn't going to be any more painful a year from now. May as well get something for that money. It's easier to learn how to hold speed through corners and conserve momentum, and drive smoothly in a car that's underpowered. It will pay off in the long run.

+1

 

Hatchbuilder- Give me a date or milage and I'll get back to you on the status of my block. Do you think my block will go boom in 10k? 20k? 50k? 6months? 12months? 2 years?

Name the miles or time and I'll take pictures and get back to you. Either you'll be eatting your words or I'll be proven an idiot.

I've put money where your mouth is and one of us will be proven right or wrong.

And I apologize if I sound like an ass, sarcasm can get lost in translation.

 

n00b... yea, ya heard me

 

I have seen enough stock block turbo kits to know that the integrity of the stock ringlands or even the entire pistons has been compromised. Plus, you have a GIANT turbo, about the size of a 30R on your car. Time Bomb. Not even STI pistons can stand up to a 30R for too long.
So you are running only 6-7psi... that does not matter. 7psi on that turbo is about twice the airflow of a TD04, which would have been a better turbo to use for a stock block application.
Of course, you can save your block by driving like a grandma, but then why have a turbo?
I am not going to put a mileage number on the lifespan of your pistons, but you basically had someone build you a kit, and then someone else tuned it for you.
Now you are telling other people on the board that you need to be a real enthusiast to do what you did, otherwise people should just stick to their slow NA cars and be happy with an intake.
You have a little bit of knowledge, a credit card bill and a big turbo on a stock block. What you are lacking is experience. But that is cool, do what you want, just don't say that you are a somehow better than, or more enlightened than, others who have not decided to turbocharge their NA cars.
So explain to me exactly how you put your money where my mouth is?

In the end, there is no "best kit." The big factor, is tuning, If you have detonation, your engine won't last, no matter what turbo you have. The best kit would be the one with the most complete fueling and engine managment options. The other half of the equation would be the person tuning your car. Find the best tuner you can find and tell them exactly what you want, this can have a huge impact on your enjoyment of and the life of your car.

 

Providing anecdotal evidence such as "mine works just fine" isn't really evidence that a DIY turbokit is the right choice. That's like saying we might as well remove all speed limits because -I- know how to drive and have never gotten into an accident even if I speed. If I can do it, so can everyone else. It's a falacy that doesn't hold up. Personally, I think the OP should learn how to drive the car first. Power isn't everything. My 0.02, nothing personal and not trying to flame anyone.