STi or engine swap?

[TheReaper]

Ok here's the deal. I was originally saving up to buy the wrx and then when the STi came to the states I said to myself I rather get that so I needed to save up more. Now I am headed back to school and wont have the same bank roll as I normally would so heres my dilema(sp?). I can continue to wait and buy the STi a couple years from now orrrrrrrrr I can do an engine and tranny swap on my 97 mirage ls.

I wanted to keep the mirage stock and not put any money into it since I was planning on buying the STi but since my situation has changed I thought maybe do the swap now and I can still get the STi later. I am going to have to change my struts and other things on my mirage anyways because they are old and bouncey. I was thinking of doing the 4g63 from the 2g turbo eclipse and also the tranny from the same car. That swap alone should get me running 13's with a good launch and I could even mod it. I of course would be upgrading the suspension, brakes, rims, and tires.

On the other hand I could get the 4g63 from the evo but if I did that I would have to change the drivetrain and shiat but in the end I will have awd for a few extra dollars. Also I can't seem to find places that sell the engine and tranny I want. Some people have told me to go to a junk yard and either buy a banged up 2g turboed eclipse or just yank the engine and tranny from it but thats still if I can find the car. And I have to make sure what car the engine is from because the 4g63 in the 2g eclipse is different from the 4g63 in the evo, I think the cranks turn in the opposite direction or something like that.

Sorry for the long post but I wanted to make sure I had some detail . Oh and I did consider just turboing my stock mirage motor which is the 1.8l 4g93 but I would have to change internals, beef up tranny, and what not because I don't think the stock internals can handle to much more power.

[hksimprezawrx]

all it is, is a bigger turbo and a front mount intercooler instead of a side mouitn... oh ya and turbo toys and bettter pipeing... but you know what would be sweet( if you did the swap and then made the mirage look like an evo 3) that would be so great.... i would do it. and then make it right hand drive and all the mitsubishi drivers would jock it.... the only thing is that at the end of the day you are still driving a mirage. and it is never good to spend more money on the car then it is worth..... especially with a dailey driver

[YBNormal07]

Save your money for emergencies and the STi later. You will never get a return on any engine swap...basically money down the drain. Besides, with the amount of work you are talking about, there are so many pitfalls that could eat a hole in your pocket that I would avoid it like the plague.

[TheReaper]

Save your money for emergencies and the STi later.

Yeah that actually would be the best thing for me to do. If I don't use it for emergency reasons then I can just put more towards the STi. The only reason I was actually thinking about doing it was because this guy with an old mirage hatch did the 4g63 swap and upgraded the turbo, cams, and a few other things and he's running low 11's with the car still being fwd and spinning the tires from 1st through 3rd. I never really wanted a fwd car with a lot of power but this car is weird. My car runs fast normally but as soon as I turn the ac on it acts as if it took half of my power away and whats weird is when I accelerate it seems as if I have a turbo that has a good amount of lag haha. If I just go from a dead stop or am in low rpms the car starts out slow then when I get to 3k-4krpms my power kicks in hard like a turbo just spooled up haha, and to top it off my suspension squeaks when I shift so when I hit the gas when going into the next gear it sounds like I have a bov and it's releasing pressure HAHAHAHAHA.

Yesterday I was driving and this srt-4 flys from behind me over to the next lane and gets by me then I shiftedededed and it made the squeaking noise so the srt-4 guy looked over at me and threw me a few revs to show off his bov and I almost died laughing because I seriously think that he thought that the noise was a bov haha. But yeah no swap for me but I still have to replace my sturts and what not.