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#64,761 ·
Looked at the .:R32 Sat morning. Car was mint except for the peeling clear on the roof / hood. Drove great, sounds great. Settled on $12k for the car w/ non of the extra parts he was planning on throwing in. Waiting to see what insurance prices are.

Chaney and Timmeh slapped some sence into me too cuz that is a lot of money (about 4k) that I don't currently have and would have to borrow.

Found This Gem on Autotrader. E-mailed the seller last night, if I don't hear anything by this afternoon I'm just going to call the guy and get more information. From what I gather by reading its an '02 Black WRX w/ STI motor swap.
 
#64,762 ·
IMO BE CAREFUL! Im finding enough shit with the laser with the previous owner's beautiful wiring jobs... Unless you know the guy or he had it professionally done I would be weary. Might be a good idea to have Doug look at it with you if you are serious. Problem with engine swaps that others did is that you have no idea what they did correctly.

I would be very weary. ESP with the excuse of "I'm going overseas." IE YOU CANT TRACE ME IF SOMETHING IS WRONG BIATCH!

Sorry I almost got screwed on a 350z I was looking at years ago. Although the price was what scared me initially, I got a carfax and it was obvious the guy was lying about it.
 
#64,763 ·
Yeah, I am slightly weary bout it. Would be nice to have Doug or my other buddy who has an STI to come look at with me but the car is in chi-town and I don't wanna make people go all the way out there if they don't want to / have time.

The guy said it was "installed with life-time warranty on labor". To me that says professionally, but yeah people will say anything.

If it is exactly what it says it is, then for $3k less, I get AWD, equally sexy boxer engine exhaust note, and car with 50 more hp/tq at 200lbs lighter than the R. with 6k less miles
 
#64,766 ·
I love teh boxers I really do.
but as Jeff said and just from my experience with the egg I plan to pretty much always buy the most stock example of any given car I can find.

to me its not worth trying to figure out WTH the PO did and then figure out how to correct it when I could just do it right the first time.
 
#64,767 ·
Will be gathering as much info as possible, trust me.

If WRX doesn't check out, I'm going R still. My dad really likes the car, and he thinks its a good idea for me to take out a loan and starting builing more credit with a bank and all that jazz.

Worst case scenario and I have to re-sell it at the end of the year to afford the G. If thats the case then thats life. (yes i know it really doesn't make sense, but then again do I ever?)
 
#64,768 ·
Aku said:
Will be gathering as much info as possible, trust me.

If WRX doesn't check out, I'm going R still. My dad really likes the car, and he thinks its a good idea for me to take out a loan and starting builing more credit with a bank and all that jazz.

Worst case scenario and I have to re-sell it at the end of the year to afford the G. If thats the case then thats life. (yes i know it really doesn't make sense, but then again do I ever?)
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This still seems like a horrible idea to me.

why not look at a cheaper wrx or like eD said a svt focus?

spend all summer dropping little money here and there (you know you will dont lie)
then sell it buy a different winter beater that you'll start dropping little money here and there into?
why not buy a mediocre car now and then the G? why buy a nice car just to sell it and then buy the g and a mediocre car?
 
#64,773 ·
I have to agree with kevin. Logic wins here. Maybe it's cause my car hasn't driven in like 4 years but i'd love me a $1k beater right now.

Just don't see the point when g is ultimate goal.
 
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#64,774 ·
Aku said:
Buy This

Swap over all my aftermarket parts from other car. Swap ECU (so I has the tune)

then [:)][:)][:)][:)]?
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getting warmer.
but you just totalled one of these and know insurance wont give you more than $4k for it so i'd search for either a GLI or a 1.8t thats closer to $5k rather than 6k

also that would obviously change our agreement on what your car is worth to me.
 
#64,775 ·
How you figure? You said you didn't need exhaust / intake, and if your going bigger turbo wouldn't you be getting a different tune anyway?

Was the cheapest 1.8T manual I could find within 100 miles Has $30k less miles, and leather interior, It should cost a bit more.
 
#64,776 ·
Aku said:
How you figure? You said you didn't need exhaust / intake, and if your going bigger turbo wouldn't you be getting a different tune anyway?

Was the cheapest 1.8T manual I could find within 100 miles
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because without the aftermarket parts I lose half of the stuff I planned to part out [giddy]
I would still need the ECU and for $50 more I can get it IMMO defeated so I can at least run the swap to start.
I'd plan to do the whole swap first with as much OEM stuff as possible to get any driving issues fixed first then buy big turbo stuff. I wouldnt want to drop 2-3k on big turbo parts just to have the car not work.

Thought/Plan
Strip mk4 down completely by end of April
drive mk2 diesel powered to southern wothersee.
as soon as I get back begin swap with your engine/trans.
use entire mk4 harness/ecu (which will require removing entire dash of course) that way it's still OBDII and I have all the little features like variable speed wipers.
During swap process ECU would be sent out to get IMMO defeated so that it would work with any ignition I wanted.
Drive mk2 1.8t stock turbo the rest of summer.
Pull engine this fall while its still warm ish
Build engine and big turbo over winter
Drop engine/BT back in in the spring.

If you keep exhaust/intake thats $500-600 worth of parts I can't sell
if you keep ecu I have to spend $650 getting the stock ECU flashed/defeated vs $50 to get the ecu in your car defeated.
which makes the whole project about $1200 more expensive on my end.
 
#64,778 ·
Aku, I think you need to think a bit more about your decision. I think you are letting emotions cloud your judgement on what a good car would entail for you in this situation. Id say just get something solid to get you by till you buy the g. Then either sell the car (plenty of time to get what you want outta it b/c you will have another car so no pressure) or you can mod it and take your time with it b/c again you will have another car. After all you are looking to get the G the end of this year? Get a cheaper solid car like a focus st or svt, as STOCK as possible. Save money up over the year so you can get the G and then you have some money to invest in G or in the other car. Or at that time sell the focus, use that money and the money you have saved up to buy EXACTLY the car that you want to spend your time modding. This is exactly the route I wish I had gone and left the focus mostly stock and built up another car, but alas im already too far into the focus to not bother finishing it and just making that my toy car until I have a better job and can afford a different car that I would prefer to mod to hell.

Just sayin...
 
#64,780 ·
I just am looking for something that's respectably quick and has decently low milage since I will be driving it everyday. I don't want a daily driver to be a car I'm un happy with.
 
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