dgoodhue

I think you're missing one of the turbo shields. This are 4 shields totals, one on the turbo itself, top, middle and lower. The top shield has 2 bolts to the middle and one to the shield. I don't see the shield around the turbo in your picture. The lower shield which you aren't installing would also tie them all together as well.

Almost 30 years ago, I bought a mid 80's Corvette. One of the mods everyone said to do online was to remove the screen and heat sink from the MAF sensor to reduce the airflow restriction. I actually went to the track 2 weeks apart and gained .1 and 1mph from the mod. Sure enough it work as everyone claimed. Around 2000 I got into tuning, one of the highly respect tuners said the mod was worthless and recommended not doing it as it changed the calibration of the sensor. He explain that the gains were from leaning out the sensor. I tried it, with a stock sensor and tuning the ECM for both. When they both were tuned, the car ran the same and seemed smoother with the stock sensor. It was eye opening in that best way to measure a change in a performance parts effectiveness is to tune the ecm from each change (including the stock engine) If your car was tuned and optimized for the stock intake with the intake funnel, it may explain the loss for the aftermarket part. It would not surprise if they made similar power and I would guess the loss was mostly from the tune.

I align the motor up on Saturday and installed the short block. I went to torque the bellhousing bolts and one of them stripped out. The motor has to come back out and I will have to helicoil the block for the bolt.

I think it is Subaru trying to maintain the minimum rpm for fuel economy reasons, it sometimes dips below the threshold 25 or so rpm and it gives a rough idle for a moment.

Honestly it seems normal to me. I bought my 2012 2.5i brand new and occasionally the rpm would slightly dip and the engine would run rough when coming to light. The was a service bulletin about it. It seem to be do it more often different parts of the year more than others (less in the summer I think because of the AC and less in the winter).

The dealer called and said the oil level sensor is back ordered until late August For old oil level sensor, I soldered a new ground to the wiring to fix it (this is what is broken). I used silicon to seal the wiring and keep the elements off wiring. Hopefully this fix works, if I not I can looking into using a resistor to bypass it as I don't went to waiting 2 months for that sensor. This weekend I rolled the Legacy into my garage and the motor is in the engine bay. The clutch slave cylinder is leaking fluid, so I need to order a new one of those.

My 1st instinct would be to check the intake track for leaks.

I bought 2 coils in November from one of the online Subaru discounters, they were $120.60/each.

I finished assembling the long block this weekend. I just have a few bolts and oil level sensor that I am waiting from the dealer. Next step is to put the engine back into the Legacy and then finish connecting the rest of parts up. I wish the engine wasn't so dark in the picture. (The engine is actualy pretty clean). It feels pretty good to not have so many parts all over the garage.

After cam slip, you can just realign the cams with the marks. It only aligns one way. Personally I would buy the company 23 tool, it will make your life easier when realigning the cams. Otherwise you going to be fighting 2 cams that want to spin to get them in place to put on a vice grip.

It looks like a tooth off to me. It isn't paint marks, it is the notches that have to line up. At least on my 5th Gen, if you are off by a tooth, it causes a error code and the check engine light will be illuminated. The 1st time I did my timing belt I made this mistake and I had to redo it.

The OEM coils are around $125 per coil. $1600 for 6 is overpriced. I can see the $300 for one coil, diagnosis time plus labor. If you are just replacing one coil at time I would expect to have intermittent coil failures. 5th Gens driven in the salt belt will have coil failures. They should be good for 6-10 years.

If the all the coils are all rusty then it can make sense to replace them all rather then have coils fail one by one of over a relatively short period of time. Coils rusting is a common issue for this generation. It looks like this issue happened in 2018 for 2012 model year car. The car was 6-7 years old at that time (depending on if it was an early 2012 or late 2012). This is a little early for coil failures but not unheard of. It has been 4 years since that fix. This is really early for additional coils failures. Your either missing the plastic under pan tray to keep the salt and road off the underside of the engine and/or the mechanic used cheap aftermarket coils.

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Thanks

Two bolt after the catalytic converter is how the service manual instructs to remove the engine. If those are rusty the end of the pipe where the cat back exhaust attaches

Sorry to hear about the rod bearing. If my GT had an engine failure like that right now, I would pretty much do the same.

I wonder if your transfer case is locked or locking up. I have another AWD vehicle and broken front right CV axles are almost always a locked viscous coupler (transfer case) usually from different tire circumferences. It could also just be poor quality aftermarket CV axles. Has anyone replace 1 tires or a pair of tires? Are all your tires tread depth within 1/32 to 2/32nds of each other.

The CAFE standards are using the best case scenario for fuel economy. I looked up some of the CAFE standards in 2016 it was 37.4mpg. Subaru does not have a car in the line up that actually has highway rating that high (the Impreza included). If you look at your window sticker, it has a range list on the EPA estimated. For my GT, the EPA highway rating 25mpg, but it lists a range, high end of the range is 30mpg. The 30mpg is the number that I believe they use for CAFE. The 54.5mpg standard set in 2016 maybe actually less stringent than the proposed 49mpg high and 40mg average (unless those number are going to be based on the best case as well.). The CAFE has never had an average fuel economy before.

I looks like they got rid of the Limited XT model and finally allowed a more sportier engine in the Sport model then the base 2.5i.

I personally think it looks a little better than 2020-2022 Legacy front bumper. It could have been far worse; the legacy could have gotten the Outback or WRX wheel arches.

Those are probably dying batteries. On my Outback, a couple sensors 1st stop working in the winter but worked the next summer when the temperature warmed up.

They dealer should be able to read the sensors themselves. The tool I have, also reads out the Tire Pressure. Are they programming the TPMS correctly? Is the tire pressure in range, I think it can be set too high which could cause it to come on. Are you sure the sensor OEM Subaru and not some Asian knock off?

I think the engine are less reliable than the 2.5i but they are not horrible if you keep them stock or do only mild engine modifications. The valves clearances in the head tighten up and eventually a valve will burn. Some have bearing issues. Many of those problem happen at high miles. I think you have pretty good chance of it have just normal 5th Gen issues (starter grinding, rusty coil pack in the salt belt) until 140k miles like your 2.5i. Is it worth it? If you want more acceleration and 6MT, HELL YES! I went from a '12 Legacy 2.5i 6MT to '12 GT. The radio/center is dated, but my 5th Gen GT is still one of my favorite cars I have owned. I have 126k miles on my mine with no major issue, it just has Cobb AP (tuner), dyno tune, catback for engine mods. Even if my engine had an issue, I would have no problem repairing it (I am mechanically inclined)

The plastic undertray isn't that expensive from the dealer. MY GT's under tray was around $130 list price (bulky to ship, so it was easier to buy from the dealer), I think the 2.5i was around $100. It does help keep some of the salt off the underside of the engine, the engine coil are susceptible to rust. If you plan on keeping your car longer term, you may want to consider replacing it.