alright so i sold my ss, and my 05 blazer might be sold already too so im going to be looking for a decent deal on a new winter/daily. pretty much want an evo or sti but im open to anything so if you have something better let me know.
Now to the sti…i can buy a 2004 sti with 66k for 10,000 and all it has is a front mount, cat back, intake, and bov. the motor threw a rod and i feel like this is perfect seeing as how im a mechanic and have the shop and tools available to swap in a used motor. where and how much can i pick up a used sti motor? i was on torontojdm.com and there’s 4 or 5 different sti motors, there all ej20 v4, v6, v7, and v8. whats the difference in them? im hoping i can buy a ej20 v4 seeing as how its the cheapest…so imput please?
I just did a “completed auctions” search for 2004 STi on eBay, and found 6 that sold for less than $12,800. Obviously those are completed auctions, but it shows they do sell for that. Check Nasioc, BuffaloScooby, eBay, etc… One will turn up I’m sure!
how much more life can I get our of a stock sti motor? say I got one with 70-80K, will it go to 150K easy? what mods are safe mods? exhaust tune, FMIC?
Sorry if Im hijacking but maybe this info will be useful to the OP
My STi has about 82k? i have just had the leakdown and compression test done on mine, and you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference from the motor when it was new, till now… It’s very strong, and if you treat it right, can last you years and years and go all the wasy to 150k and beyond!
I bought a blown motor 05 sti for much, much less than you are talking. Plan on a rebuild costing in the neighborhood of 4k for shortblock and misc parts alone. Chances are slim that it threw a rod. Typically pistons are the first to go, which often take out the heads and cost a ton to fix. They aren’t cheap motors.
So - what are the things to look for in used STis? I know that the rear struts can clunk, timing belts every 100K, and to look out for differential binging when DCCD is not in Auto, going around corners.
The rear strut clunk is normal and is not considered by most to be a ‘problem’. It’s caused by dry spot in the inverted strut not seeing oil at the bottom. It’s annoying and common but does not cause any real problems. If the DCCD is in ‘lock’ it should bind around corners. This is a way to test that the clutches inside the center differential are not worn. It is very uncommon to have a problem with the center diff. As a rule the drive-train is bulletproof. There are guys into the 9’s on stock transmissions.
Rear differentials on models older than 2007 used a clutch pack style limited slip which should be checked out. 07+ use a Torsion style that pretty much live forever. The most common problem for STi’s are failure of the stock cast pistons, typically in the form of a cracked or broken ringland. I would not buy one without first doing compression and leakdown tests.
