ok here's the deal... working on a 03 lancer es with 60k miles. been debating for a while .. was going to get an evo.. but for some reason i love my lancer alot! and here's the catch its an auto. so here's where i have to decide.. i want a pretty decent daily driver, doesn't have to be too crazy. i could go with a 4g63 w/tranny & drivetrain swap(yea i said not too crazy but this seems crazy).. or get a rrm turbo w/tranny swap.. i've tried researching more about swaps but as far as posts here on this forum they haven't been too descriptive.. any advice would be awesome.. pros & cons etc. etc. LET ME KNOW!

 

If your car is paid for I say keep it, if you are still making payments, check out what they would be on an Evo, doesn't have to be a IX or anything and if you can swing em, do it because then you will have a more than adaquate DD that you wouldn't have to mod for a while, you would want to, but you would not have to.

If you just wanna keep it I say turbo it.

 

yea i'm kinda leaning toward the turbo right now.. but if i did i would really want to do a tranny swap but can't seem to find a lancer tranny. anyone know if any 4g94 fwd will bolt up?

 

If you're going the turbo route you should be less concerned with the tranny, and upgrade the engine internals. Might want to get low compression forged pistons, also new rods wouldn't hurt.

 

^^^Low compression??

 

Yeah, low compression. When under boost that is increasing your compression so if you have normal or high pistons you might start blowin stuff up.

 

JE Piston or Wisecos'!!! either way you look at it, they probably have to make'em for your car. No one seems to carry them in stock. Special orders!

 

dont fret it too much, if you are going to be running 5 psi or so, no more than 8 you should be ok on stock internals. If you have alot of money, definetly get forged internals, and crank the boost.

 

what would u have him do? high compression

 

BOOM!

 

I say RRM Turbo, it will run you bout 4 Gs but if you got the money, wanna keep your car, and its paid off, its worth it.

 

OK, can I do a reality check?

You're driving a car worth under $10k if you sold it (think $5k if you trade it in). Why rip the thing apart and try to make $10k in changes to it?

If you want to do a drivetrain swap, well, you've been around long enough to know that you'll end up paying about what an Evo costs. So, uh, do it at your own discretion.

If you want an RRM turbo and a tranny swap, why not sell your Lancer and buy a manual model? Lancers are so cheap, you can probably do that without losing much if any money. Then slap the turbo on the manual car.

Just some thoughts...

 

Car worth 7k, plus 4-5k in mods = keeps up with stock evo at a roll, same interior, similar style.

Lancer with mods = 12k
Evo with no mods new= 40k
Evo used= 20k+

Plenty of reasons to keep the lancer. Most parts are interchangable with little modification. Cost tens of thousand less while still remain the same style. If you were to find a totaled evo and do a drivetrain swap and being a master welder could cost around 6k more putting you at about the cost of a used evo.

I do agree with this though.

"If you want an RRM turbo and a tranny swap, why not sell your Lancer and buy a manual model? Lancers are so cheap, you can probably do that without losing much if any money. Then slap the turbo on the manual car."

 

I don't really get your logic. You're forgetting a few details. He doesn't want a Lancer with mods. He wants a Lancer with a near-impossible drivetrain swap, or a very difficult transmission swap (plus turbo). How you get $12k out of either of his ideas, I don't know...

 

It's just that the forged pistons that RR recomends on their upgrade path for the Lancer are described as high compression pistons and RPW has high compression pistons so I am a little confused here. Help me out.