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

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.

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

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.

Indeed. That's why a properly designed cowl induction system fed from the plenum in essentially the same way as the interior vents are fed is my personally preferred arrangement. Works particularly well on LPG when the convertor is referenced from inside the air filter (as should always be the case anyway).

I try not to laugh in the faces of customers who have fitted scoops under the bumper bar. They are of course picking up all the garbage that is floating around near ground level, from sand and smaller sized particles through to animal faeces and plastic bags... :-) As an added bonus, they also get the not-so-cold air from convection carrying the heat up off the nice hot road surface on hot days and water off the road on wet days. :-)