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Alright I got a 93 Wagon with front wheel drive/auto trans.... Can i put in a turbo motor in it? I've been wenching on cars/trucks for years and feel very comfortable swapping... I know I'll need a turbo motor,ecu, but would I need the turbo trans? Would it just be easier to find a turbo wagon and fix it up? Let me know what you guys think...

Thanks....

short answers yes you can swap the turbo motor no you dont need the trans and if you can find the turbo wagon, yes. they are rare.
unless you like fwd just sell it for an awd, a turbo fwd wouldn hook up that well. only time a fwd legacy would be worth it would be for a commuter car that you werent modding(and for that it would work very well). awd swap is a ton of parts and rusty bolts to break.
and the search engine works pretty good here.

Turbo swaps into a NA have been discussed a lot. So have FWD to AWD swaps, and auto to manual swaps.

Since it's all been done before, you're gonna find the most useful information if you use the search button at the top of the page. There's lots of documentation.

I know there are some guys that run NA trans with turbos, but they don't hold up as well.

As far as finding a turbo wagon to fix, depending on what was all wrong with the wagon you found would tell you if it was easier or not than an engine swap and all that's involved. Pretty safe to say though that it would be less work to just buy a turbo wagon. Post a wanted thread in the parts shed, you might be able to find a wagon.

If it were me, I'd go with the second car idea. You can never have enough subarus. I've got a FWD NA 5speed, and a turbo legacy. One for the daily grind, one for fun.

n2x4 wrote: I know there are some guys that run NA trans with turbos, but they don't hold up as well.

Why do people keep spreading this myth, it's not true, especially if, like the poster in question, one has 4EAT car...

It's all about how you drive it...and the ones that don't hold up well are generally because they are abused...


Gears don't break themselves when they are in mesh...it's shifting and any other kind of avoidable shock that kills em.

555BCTurbo wrote:It's all about how you drive it...and the ones that don't hold up well are generally because they are abused...


Gears don't break themselves when they are in mesh...it's shifting and any other kind of avoidable shock that kills em.

I guess I should have explained it like this. I never intend to spread bad info My NA has 184k miles on the MT, and it's just fine, then my turbo has a blown 1st. Looking at it like that, you could say the NA tranny is stronger, but truthfully, like 555BCTurbo said it's all in how you treat it.

So the original poster has to ask himself, how bad are you gonna beat it?

Or better yet, people just shouldn't make blanket statements about such things unless they are 100% they can back up their claims...

Matt Monson wrote:Or better yet, people just shouldn't make blanket statements about such things unless they are 100% they can back up their claims...

I apologize, didn't realize I hit on a touchy subject.

n2x4 wrote:

Matt Monson wrote:Or better yet, people just shouldn't make blanket statements about such things unless they are 100% they can back up their claims...

I apologize, didn't realize I hit on a touchy subject.

I'm just giving you a hard time.

I actually think this swap wouldn't be half bad.I know of a couple of guys that built FWD auto drag Subes. While that's not what this guy is talking about doing, I think upgrading to the Ej22T and keeping the car FWD would be a good performance upgrade for a driver. There's no way that the extra power would spin the wheels on it unless he really started modding the hell out of it and went for way more power...

Well, I can see n2x4's point. The Turbo tranny was advertised as stronger, with shot-peened gears, etc.

That doesn't mean you can't break a Turbo tranny though . BAC5.2, legacy92ej22t, ands vrg3 are people that I know have blown up Turbo trannies.

subyluvr2212 wrote:Well, I can see n2x4's point. The Turbo tranny was advertised as stronger, with shot-peened gears, etc.

That doesn't mean you can't break a Turbo tranny though . BAC5.2, legacy92ej22t, ands vrg3 are people that I know have blown up Turbo trannies.

I've blown first gear in one, then broke second gear in the replacement. I'll admit the first one was my fualt, but the second one was unexpected as I kept myself from abusing it. I've also got two more in my garage that the PO broke second gear in both.

Matt Monson wrote:I'm just giving you a hard time.

I actually think this swap wouldn't be half bad.I know of a couple of guys that built FWD auto drag Subes. While that's not what this guy is talking about doing, I think upgrading to the Ej22T and keeping the car FWD would be a good performance upgrade for a driver. There's no way that the extra power would spin the wheels on it unless he really started modding the hell out of it and went for way more power...

I'm not sure if he'd spin tires in the dry without trying a little....but I can tell you from the experience of driving a n/a 2.2 FWD auto for about 10 years that in the wet that thing is going to spin tire through 3rd gear.....and if you tried.....you could do some nasty burnouts in the dry too

Legacy777 wrote:

Matt Monson wrote:I'm just giving you a hard time.

I actually think this swap wouldn't be half bad.I know of a couple of guys that built FWD auto drag Subes. While that's not what this guy is talking about doing, I think upgrading to the Ej22T and keeping the car FWD would be a good performance upgrade for a driver. There's no way that the extra power would spin the wheels on it unless he really started modding the hell out of it and went for way more power...

I'm not sure if he'd spin tires in the dry without trying a little....but I can tell you from the experience of driving a n/a 2.2 FWD auto for about 10 years that in the wet that thing is going to spin tire through 3rd gear.....and if you tried.....you could do some nasty burnouts in the dry too

With an auto tranny??? That's wack!

Matt Monson wrote:

Legacy777 wrote: I'm not sure if he'd spin tires in the dry without trying a little....but I can tell you from the experience of driving a n/a 2.2 FWD auto for about 10 years that in the wet that thing is going to spin tire through 3rd gear.....and if you tried.....you could do some nasty burnouts in the dry too

With an auto tranny??? That's wack!

Yeah, it's got plenty of torque in 1st. I've spun out many times even by accident.

FWD cars have a tendency to spin the fronts in the wet...


When I was little my parents had a late 80s oldsmobile cutlass ciera that could spin the fronts (not a big body). I remember my dad saying it was the slowest car he ever owned other than a vw beetle, AND, he drives a 94 suburban now...

Thank you everyone for chiming in on this thread... It's been entertaining to see what you guys think.... I'm really just interested in throwing in the turbo with the minimum amount of work possible... Really I only have $1200 in this car and I'm wanting to get some experience on wrenching/tuning on a turbo motor.... So now you guys know what I want to do how much am I looking for a used turbo motor,ecu, fuel pump....... What else do I need.......

Thanks

Matt Monson wrote:With an auto tranny??? That's wack!

Yup....I've roasted tire many-a-times. If you set it up just right, it'll do a wicked burn out in the dry too.

When I finally did the AWD swap, I was amazed at the fact I could take off from a stop and just go without spinning tires.

well, i was about to post something quite similar to this, although i have an awd... but i've got 178,217 on the engine and shes leaking oil really badly, and my dad just replaced a seal the other day so... i was wondering if this twin turbo would swap alright.... http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/JDM-Suba ... dZViewItem