I bought a 2000 WRX for 3k a few weeks ago knowing that one of the pistons is chipped. Its stock and has done 200k kms. I bought this car to become my daily driver with a reasonable amount of power but i only have a budget of approx 10k.

Im not mechanically minded but have read a fair bit online. My question to some of you more experienced guys is is this swap possible in the budget or should i rebuild the block that is in the car at the moment?

Any help is appreciated.

It's possible, but most would recommend having an EJ207 shortblock installed instead. Has factory forged internals which the EJ257 doesn't, and is often done under your budget.

You can have your current EJ205 heads serviced and mounted on an EJ257 block, which would mean your existing manifold/wiring/ancillaries will all bolt on and plug in with no issues. The later model heads/wiring loom/intake manifold etc that a 257 usually runs is not plug and play with a 2000 WRX, you can convert the car to run them but will blow your budget unless you're doing all the work yourself. Running your existing heads on a 257 with no other changes will result in a compression ratio that is too high; some use a thicker head gasket to counter this, or you can buy dished pistons to bring the compression ratio down. A weakness of the standard EJ255 and EJ257 is the pistons suffering ringland failure, they are not a factory forged item - going aftermarket forged & dished pistons would counter this.

Apart from the fact that the ej205 is open deck and the ej207 is semi closed what ive read online has lead me to believe that the ej207 heads were a fair bit better than the ej205s due to more airflow. How accurate is this and is it worth getting a ej207 long block?

Also the turbo in it at the moment is not in a good state. What do you guys recommend?

What are your goals? What do you call a reasonable amount of power?

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Bye bye betty blue. Hello F6.

My goal started at 300 kw but i cant see that being reliable for 10k.

Well it sounds like you need a new turbo regardless.

Buying a new 207 and all the bits(timing belt kits, gaskets, oil & water pumps etc) will cost you around $7-8K, if you pay someone to build it all for you.

If you want to make 300kw you will need a decent turbo - $2k, headers & tbe $2k, fuel pump , injectors, tmic or fmic. Then you have to decide if you are going to use 98 or e85...

Looks like they sell it in Albany too!

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Bye bye betty blue. Hello F6.

Thanks for the info. Ill stick to 98 and two things.

Why would i need new headers?

And

Will this turbo surfice?
https://www.prospeedracing.com.au/pr...08-11-sti.html

Ej207 heads are better for flow and have improvements to cams and valvetrain. What year model they have come off will affect how easy they are to fit to your car. 2000 WRX is a non-AVCS model (active valve control system), if you can find a non-AVCS EJ207 long motor then it would be fine, else you'd have to delete it or convert the whole car with new wiring looms and aftermarket ECU's. Really depends what you can find and what you're prepared to spend, I went with a Version 6 STI EJ207 conversion a few year ago for sub $10k, but they are getting harder and harder to find.

VF34 is a very common turbo choice for the 2.0L and easy enough to find. I've got a VF28 on mine, dynoed at 236 hp, ran a 13.0 on the 1/4 mile with an EJ207 and basic bolt ons.

For my MY99/00 WRX, I came across an opportunity to pick up an engine with the EJ207 block (semi-closed deck and forged pistons) but with WRX heads. Previous owner did what you are considering. In my case, they spent all the money, and I scored a bargain.

With a VF48 turbo and BP98, it makes 250HP at the wheels (roller dyno), and pulls like a train. Could always be quicker/faster but it does the job.............. for now

Get a V7 EJ207 short block and use existing heads or recon heads if required otherwise if you use different heads it'll require different sensors, wiring and ecu hugely increasing costs.

firstly the ej207 block is much stronger, as the 2.5 is essentially a bored out 2.0l.

secondly the ej207 v7 comes with factory 'forged' pistons.

basically this block is a lot stronger than the ej257 so you can push it further without having to build the short block.

Most VF turbos are similar in what they output VF28, VF30, VF34, VF35 etc