Turbo Options for 02-05 Impreza?

Question

I need to swap out my turbo before it's shot and I was wondering what are some good brands that will give me performance and reliability. I don't want to spend over $500

Answer 1

A ported Stock TD04 for budget. I'm in your shoes right now with my WRX. Just can't afford any extra for now.  

Answer 2

go fir a HKS GREEDY or GARRATT turbo and always go big :P

Answer 3

If your willing to buy used, factory subaru IHI turbo's are a dime a dozen. A used vf39(STI Turbo) can be had for anywhere from 300-400 dollars and is direct bolt on (most VF** are). You won't find any aftermarket turbo's in the price range you're looking for new (or used really).

But, you also need to calculate in tuning and supporting mods, the VF39 is one of the most common swaps for a wrx but you at least need the 565cc (STI pink) injectors, plus a tune, those will run you about $200 used (this alone will throw you over the budget).

Then tuning, you can always go open source ($85 for the cable) and DL a XPT map to your ecu, or buy a Cobb AP ($695 new, 300-600 used) with a staged VF map. Either way you're already far over the budget, and these cars CANNOT get away without a tune of some sort for something as crucial as a turbo swap.

If you're really on a budget I would just look into buying another stock or mildly ported TD-04, used/rebuilt will easily fall into your price range with no real other costs save for gaskets, labour and such.

Unfortunately to say, a turbo upgrade is not something you really do on a tight budget, even when a turbo says "bolt on" there's always other variables to consider as well as room that should be left in case suprises crop up.

Answer 4

i think it will depend on what turbo you have in it already and if it already is a performance turbo u should require a garret turbo for max power but i dont no about the 500 dollar mark lol or turbonetics...hope this helps