Cal Club Autocross Forums

Greetings!

I'm thinking about doing an STi swap on my '02 WRX }:) , and I'm having trouble finding shops with good reps . I've been given a couple of names, but haven't had anyone else back them up, or had a way to verify whether they're really good or not. If anyone has any favorite shops that do all their work and they love it, please let me know what they are. Scooby specialists are prefferred, but I'll look into any names i get.

Any help would be much appreciated

Suby Specialties in Monrovia has always been the most consistently best and straight forward Suby place in the LA area as far as I'm concerned and the many folks that I've sent to Steve. It's not a tuning garage just an honest basic Subaru only garage

Mako Koiwai wrote:Suby Specialties in Monrovia has always been the most consistently best and straight forward Suby place in the LA area as far as I'm concerned and the many folks that I've sent to Steve. It's not a tuning garage just an honest basic Subaru only garage

Thanks! That's exactly the kind of thing I'm looking for. I'll look them up.

Anyone else have any experience with Suby Specialties?
Or any other shops they recommend?

Thanks

There's a good shop in Huntington Beach, but I can't remember the name of it at the moment. It will come to me!

Here's a place I use that does a great job. He's in Covina. Jimmy's a very hard working and meticulous mechanic. You won't be disappointed.

Jue Motors - 626-967-9089

Max Hayter wrote:There's a good shop in Huntington Beach, but I can't remember the name of it at the moment. It will come to me!

Maybe you can look it up after chasing the kiddies off your lawn. That was classic Max.

Ryan ... what area are you in

I live in Hawthrone, but I'd be willing to go just about anywhere between Fresno and San Diego. lol

Max Hayter wrote:There's a good shop in Huntington Beach, but I can't remember the name of it at the moment. It will come to me!

Garage Tuning - I think that's the place.

Mako Koiwai wrote:Suby Specialties in Monrovia has always been the most consistently best and straight forward Suby place in the LA area as far as I'm concerned and the many folks that I've sent to Steve. It's not a tuning garage just an honest basic Subaru only garage

Suby Specialties says they aren't interested in doing swaps anymore.

Heard good things about these guys,

Apollo Performance in Upland, CA
http://site.apolloperformanceonline.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I found a place in Downey, Subietech Headquarters, they'll do the labor for $2000. They look pretty decent, has anyone had any dealings with them?

@Mike
Apollo performance is blocked at work, I'll check out their site when I get home tonight.

Thanks

Max Hayter wrote:

Max Hayter wrote:There's a good shop in Huntington Beach, but I can't remember the name of it at the moment. It will come to me!

Garage Tuning - I think that's the place.

Max you are old, your memory is failing.
That's Kevin's Shop and he does swaps, He's in Orange. Off of Batavia .

810 W. Barkley Unit A
Orange, CA 92868
(714) 288-2887

Mike Shin wrote:Heard good things about these guys,

Apollo Performance in Upland, CA
http://site.apolloperformanceonline.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

AVOID!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The guy who started this company is the asshat who screwed up my WRX's turbo installation (TWICE in the same night) in 2008, causing four quarts of oil to be shoved through my intake, turbo, engine, and exhaust. The guy took my money for both installations (second one was required because of his screw up on the first one) and left me to do all the cleaning and repair all the damage myself with my car in-operable for two weeks. He had promised to come over to do the third turbo installation for "free," but once I left his house, he gave me the run-around and basically did what you'd expect a shady person to do and never helped me further. This was after I sent him pictures showing him what/how he screwed up the installation of two turbos. I have a huge write-up of this in the Team Blew forums somewhere.

The guy lives in Fontana, two miles east of Cal Speedway. I always figured if I ever saw him at an autocross, I'd do something bad to him.

Mako Koiwai wrote:Suby Specialties in Monrovia has always been the most consistently best and straight forward Suby place in the LA area as far as I'm concerned and the many folks that I've sent to Steve. It's not a tuning garage just an honest basic Subaru only garage

Steve did right by me , I just had a clutch done there. Top Notch service.
And a cool dude.

Greg Peng wrote:

Mike Shin wrote:Heard good things about these guys,

Apollo Performance in Upland, CA
http://site.apolloperformanceonline.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

AVOID!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The guy who started this company is the asshat who screwed up my WRX's turbo installation (TWICE in the same night) in 2008, causing four quarts of oil to be shoved through my intake, turbo, engine, and exhaust. The guy took my money for both installations (second one was required because of his screw up on the first one) and left me to do all the cleaning and repair all the damage myself with my car in-operable for two weeks. He had promised to come over to do the third turbo installation for "free," but once I left his house, he gave me the run-around and basically did what you'd expect a shady person to do and never helped me further. This was after I sent him pictures showing him what/how he screwed up the installation of two turbos. I have a huge write-up of this in the Team Blew forums somewhere.

The guy lives in Fontana, two miles east of Cal Speedway. I always figured if I ever saw him at an autocross, I'd do something bad to him.

Whoops! Thanks for helping Ryan dodge that bullet, sorry didn't know that place was like that!

Gino, the owner, seemed to work efficiently, but he was not meticulous and had no integrity. A simple kink in the hose for the turbo's oil return caused all of the problems I had.

Mike Shin wrote:

Greg Peng wrote:

Mike Shin wrote:Heard good things about these guys,

Apollo Performance in Upland, CA
http://site.apolloperformanceonline.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

AVOID!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The guy who started this company is the asshat who screwed up my WRX's turbo installation (TWICE in the same night) in 2008, causing four quarts of oil to be shoved through my intake, turbo, engine, and exhaust. The guy took my money for both installations (second one was required because of his screw up on the first one) and left me to do all the cleaning and repair all the damage myself with my car in-operable for two weeks. He had promised to come over to do the third turbo installation for "free," but once I left his house, he gave me the run-around and basically did what you'd expect a shady person to do and never helped me further. This was after I sent him pictures showing him what/how he screwed up the installation of two turbos. I have a huge write-up of this in the Team Blew forums somewhere.

The guy lives in Fontana, two miles east of Cal Speedway. I always figured if I ever saw him at an autocross, I'd do something bad to him.

Whoops! Thanks for helping Ryan dodge that bullet, sorry didn't know that place was like that!

Yeah, thanks for that. lol. I wont bother checking them out tonight.

I called Garage Tuning and they gave me $13,000. I'm not sure if that includes the wrecked STi, but if that's just labor....

Looking at the online insurance auctions it looks like I could get a car for around $5000. There's actually a pretty decent one, with a bunch of other stuff I could take off of it, ending next week that's at $2200 right now.

On Another note: Does anyone have any opion if I should even bother trying to go for brand new or ultra-low mileage parts? So far I've just been looking at anything under 80k, but one place has a brand new block for $1900, makes me think about going a little higher in the milage and just useing the used trimmings, but not the block. I think the transmission is my biggest concern as far as wear and tear though, and a new one of those is $4000.

I am not sure if it's a sensitive subject but seem if your looking for a donor car a quick PM to Tom Berry would be in order? Seems to be his specialty.

Arthur Grant wrote:I am not sure if it's a sensitive subject but seem if your looking for a donor car a quick PM to Tom Berry would be in order? Seems to be his specialty.

Yep, Toms THE MAN for salvage parts. He has sourced many engines/transmissions for me. Good prices, no bad parts and he delivers. Well, that last part probably only applies if you live in his neighborhood ;)

This Tom guy also knows a really top notch Subaru mechanic that might make this deal work very well and for not too much $.

Tom Berry wrote:This Tom guy also knows a really top notch Subaru mechanic that might make this deal work very well and for not too much $.

You really think this Tom guy could help me out?

lol

Eric Clements wrote:Yep, Toms THE MAN for salvage parts. He has sourced many engines/transmissions for me. Good prices, no bad parts and he delivers. Well, that last part probably only applies if you live in his neighborhood ;)

I can confirm the above statement. Tom is THE MAN, for used parts.

Well I went by Subietech Headquarters. It looks like it's a single guy operating out of a shared garage with a small hydraulic lift outside. He had 3 Subies in the back, 2 of them bugeyes like mine, and 2 engines sitting in the garage. He seems like a pretty nice guy, and said he could do my swap for around $3000 (for all the labor, and rebuilding the STi block, I supply the parts). Has anyone else hear dealt with this guy? Does anyone know him personally? As he is one of only 2 people to say they could do a swap, I'm probably going to go with him, but would like to get some more input if anyone has any.

Now to find an STi.

$3k + parts, plus a donor STI car. Wouldn't it just be cheaper to sell your car and buy the STI?