school me on which to buy.

[robbyredneck]

i have had subarus before and turbo cars before(ls1's) but not wrx's so tell me why i should pay twice as much for a 06 wagon than an 03 4door. i am looking for a all year daily driver that i can fiddle with while i turbo my silverado. thanks

[UEDan]

2003 is 3 years older than the 2006.
2006 has a 2.5 liter motor vs 2.0.
2006/2007(Hawkeyes) wagons aren't that common.
Hawkeyes tend to be more desirable.
If I were a Hawkeye wagon owner I would NOT part with it.

[robbyredneck]

so is $9800 for a 110k manual a good price?

[EJ257]

What are the compression/leakdown results of both motors?

[robbyredneck]

no test given on either but the 2003 bugeye has a misfire on 3 and i think i can get it on the cheap. the 06 is at a mom and pop dealer.

[UEDan]

Both sound way too sketchy for me. Reasons:
Misfire could mean anything from bad sparkplugs(cheap) to cracked ringlands(not cheap)
Mom and pop, They don't know what their selling most of the time.

But if those 2 were the only options, just wait they'll be more. I'd go with the mom and pop and I'd bring my mechanic with me to test the car out, VERY thoroughly.

[Calvinball]

I'll add that if either car has modifications, if it were me, I would walk away.

[robbyredneck]

here is why i ask. i am the mechanic however everybody can miss some thing. for example in the past 20 years of buying and building cars i have had a grand national have a meth pump failure and drop the crank : 10 days after i bought it ,20k on the freshly built motor. my silverado i bought from a realtor who owned his own outfit but he failed to mention the castech head that would leak cylinder pressure into the coolant , but the water pump leaked and would release the pressure out the snout. so i fixed the water pump and all hell broke lose. now i had scanned this truck with gm tuning software(hp tuners) and went through this truck with a fine tooth comb. so i know it's possible to miss something. now i have a half dozen luck stories on how i paid less only to find out two plug wires were switched. so my next question is what is a super high mileage bugeye worth worse case scenereo? there is no mod other than suspension stuff. i think it was a track day car. i am going to look at it tomorrow. keep in mind i live in the middle of the salt belt. thanks for making a new member feel welcome.

[robbyredneck]

went and looked at the bugeye today. 197k and it looked physically good. needed rotors and pads. all stock except for coilover conversion /tophats. origional owner and clutch. misfire only occurred at idle and it pulled really well. i unplugged the maf and the idle smoothed up. turbo smoked like mad as did the exhaust. i will search but what is the sympton of a bad compressor seal in these?

[robbyredneck]

this thread will turn into what you get for 4300 bucks. i bought the bugeye . and i will keep you guys posted on what arises with a 200k mi. car. thanks

[robbyredneck]

guess i should have heeded some of your advice, however i don't think i will be at a total loss. turns out i have 30 psi in cyl 4. i will find out if the compression is leaving out its intake exhaust or rings. funny thing is that it goes down the road pretty well. no stumbles just a rough idle.

[EJ257]

guess i should have heeded some of your advice, however i don't think i will be at a total loss. turns out i have 30 psi in cyl 4. i will find out if the compression is leaving out its intake exhaust or rings. funny thing is that it goes down the road pretty well. no stumbles just a rough idle.

Sorry to hear

[33jrod33]

Same, I have a bugeye I picked up for 4gs. Has around 150k on it.

[robbyredneck]

this engine will be swinging from the hoist by march.

[robbyredneck]

if any one is listening it appears to be leaking compression out of the exhaust valve. but i don't know once i fix that if the bore is compromised. maybe some kind of block off plate to check ring seal?