get an inconspicious WRX from Japan ?

Don't know about Oz, but in the US I see plenty of plain-Jane looking WRX's with no spoilers and fairly tame stock wheels. The exhaust isn't particularly loud either. And there are automatics here as well. If it were me, I would simply purchase a standard WRX and maybe just replace the wheels and remove the spoiler (if it has one) - replace the trunk lid with one from a standard Impreza.

Dan D '99 Impreza 2.5 RS (son's) Central NJ USA

I don't think I've ever seen a WRX in the Japanese auctions without alloy wheels. I just had a look for tomorrows auctions and out of 135 Imprezas only 3 are WRX autos so you're going to have a very hard time finding something with your specification. It would probably be easier to buy a WRX and replace the wheels and bodykit with items from a basic model then sell what's left.

It's a huge trade but you might need to have some association with a vehicle trader to get in.

You could have a look here:

A sleeper WRX? That's just not sik enuff!!! Actually, a WRX without drainpipe exhaust, spoillers, and running steelies would probably stand out more! ;-p

The local blue-slip/performance shop was telling me there is a large market in importing engines to turn a subaru RX into something with at least as much power as a WRX. I think he was talking about twin turbo motors. Maybe this is an easier option?

If the engine is the same spec as a local engine, then it should be a very easy conversion.

Dale.

A friend of mine bought an early WRX new from Subaru in sleeper form. IIRC it still had the bonnet scoop, but the boot lid was from a non-WRX, etc.

If doing the engine transplant, do you need to add a bonnet scoop?

yeah, just get an RX and spend a few grand on tweaking the engine to give WRX performance, probably cheaper in the long run as well.

Get a Forester. No-one wants the things, certainly not the pre-owner chavs who will have thrashed it to death beforehand.

Give it a front mounted intercooler. Less conspicuous (especially if black) and more efficient in city driving.

That reminds me - a lot of ricers have been fitted with unpainted 'carbon fibre' bonnets. I know how my car (very dark blue) gets much hotter than a mates white van when the summer sun is blazing. If turbos perform better when the intake is sucking in cooler, denser air, wouldn't a black bonnet do the opposite? (I realise it probably only makes a poofteenth of difference being black, but it would likely outweigh any advantage the lighter part may have in the first place). ;-)

You're going to get less than 2KW from the sun, even if you absorb it all, whereas you might get 20x that from the engine. In general, if you care abut induction, you'll vent the intake to clean air somewhere, it does make a noticeable difference.

Clifford Heath.

What do you mean by "tweaking the engine to get WRX performance" ? You hafta put a turbo. If you get to keep the atmospherically aspirated engine, then whatever you do (tuning the computer, polishing the pistons, changing the valves and so on) will yield you only up to 20 hp. For these money, it will be possible to install the turbo engine. Howere, the better brakes, suspension and other structural elements have to be improved, too.

Wonder how long they have been available in Japan. Maybe it is a time factor. My knowledge is not recent but I understand that government mandated car maintenance in Japan is so expensive that older cars are exported. Because of left hand drive, Oz and UK would be obvious export sites. I had a friend that tried to get in the used Japanese car business importing to US. The cars had to go back to the factory to switch driving sides. He gave up the business because it was a regulatory nightmare as every single car required a vast amount of paper work whereas you could import hundreds of the same model new car with one set of papers. What you want may not be available for a year or so.

Frank

A bonnet that weighs 5 kgs makes so much difference over one that weighs 10kgs? Whooda thunk it! ;-p

Just as an aside, I think you might have this logic wrong. From what I have seen of the performance car market in Japan, I would expect that you would be more likely to see cars that look like performance cars that aren't, and cars that are would be covered with the biggest rear spoiler they could find to advertise the fact.

Don't polish the pistons, they just get black the minute you start it up anyway :)

changing the valves and so on) will yield you only up to 20

Yeah I agree, why waste your time and money, and in this particular case, it sounds like you can get the engines cheaply and with higher power output.

The people that I have met with WRX's generally pull out the factory suspension and brakes and replace them anyway, so you can either do that or find their castoffs.

Dale.

A decent cold air intake pulls from the guard. Not under the bonnet.

Fraser

A decent cold air intake pulls from a pressure zone in the body that delivers relatively clean and dry air. Alongside or over the top of the radiator are a couple of the common production positions these days, along with the lower pressure delivering pickup between the inner and outer mudguards.

Even with modern laid-back windscreens, a cowl induction system is still usually the most effective type of cold air intake.

Anybody who takes a cold air intake off to run a pod filter in the engine bay is kidding themselves...

While taking care that 'relatively clean and dry' never leads to 'very very wet' and scoops up a load of puddle/flood water and hydraulics the whole engine.

Has anyone ever had this happen? I remember years ago reading about a great way to decoke an engine by spraying water into the intake manifold. Having a 1.6litre escort engine that I was replacing with a

2.0 litre, I decided to experiment. With the engine at about 3000 rpm (just a guess) I could feed the normal mains pressure right into the engine and it didn't even splutter. Plus it was clean when I took the head off :)

My conclusion is that it would take a lot of fluid to lock up an engine, or a lower RPM.

Dale.