Ezra1234

Infosecdad: You are correct. Don Redmon of RMI is a master craftsman / genius when it comes to anything head work. If you are a serious Racer at the top level of your sport you go to RMI. The only problem is you will have to wait five (5) to six (6) months to get your heads. The old term, "take your time and do it right the first time" is Dons mantra. We thought we had purchased the very best CNC heads available to we Subaru guys and that they couldn't be improved then we challenged Don and well, you see the difference in the numbers. Then he explained how he could re-engineer the Subaru heads to produce another 16% to 20% in the flow rates by using the Frankenstein heads, as he calls them. We chickened out, because we have enough on our plate but maybe one of you might take on that challenge and try the Frankenstein heads. Bye the way, just to show you how state-of-the-art Dons operation is he just had a custom built flow bench built that I think he told me is run by a car engine and according to some of the race team engineers we have spoken with Don's bench is the most accurate and powerful bench on the West Coast.

Brandon: I applaud that you are taking on the EZ30R project. We think that is the future of Subaru hotroding and I.m sure you already know that the worlds fastest 1/4 mile Subaru resides in Australia running the EZ30R and turns 204mph in something like 6.9 to 7.1 seconds which is scary fast! Although we will not build another Subaru, if we were it would be the EZ30R platform. There is a guy in San Jose, CA who is way down the road in developing his EZ30R engine. The last time we saw him (about a year and a half ago) he had taken it to 600+ whp. However, I don't have his contact information. I think I lost it! Since you are having to do a lot of pioneering on the platform to get it where you want your going to need a lot of fab work. I've got quite a bit of information on some really good fabricators both on the West Coast and with some in other parts of the country.

On the issue of the Kyb shocks. Kyb was apparently were looking at making an adjustable shock many years ago. My son was years ago a Motocross champion and had used Kybs, Showa's and Ohlins shocks on his factory Bikes. He was chatting with the folks at Kyb about something in their shop and noticed that they had some prototypes of some car shocks that they had tested. The technician told him that they were going to crush the shocks someday and he asked if he could have them. Although they were about a 1/2 to 3/4 shorter than the standard Legacy shocks we thought we would re-valve them and modify the fluid circuits to work with our vehicle. I have all the equipment and have re-valved my sons shocks for twenty-years and I have the luxury of having access to the suspension experts at Race Tech Engineering in So. Cal. So after we got the shocks to fit it only took eight attempts to get close enough to a reasonably competent setting be able to adjust the shocks with the compression and rebound adjustments. Lets just put it this way, there are much better shocks that can be bought over the shelf that we should of bought and will buy in the future. The Kybs were just to much work and although they are OK with where we are at today they won't work for the long haul!

Brandon: I certainly respect your comments and input, which is consistent with the general way Subaru's have been built in the past, which I respect. We tried relying in the "experts" in the Subaru market to guide us in the past in most cases with horrible results. Brandon, I do have one question. Have you ever built a full-on Race Only Car? Because if you had, you would appreciate the twists and turns you run into during the process. There are generally no easy or simple solutions to getting to the next step! However, you may not understand what we are trying to accomplish, which very simply is to re-design primarily the intake system of the vehicle. I am well aware of the 11 Subaru vehicles currently producing over 1000 whp and a number of them will not race on the drag strip, but prefer to roll on on the streets in order to save their transmissions and engines. With respect and applause to their accomplishments they are all running in excess of 60lbs of boost all the way up to 90 lbs., which is why the fatality rate is so extreme at these HP levels. The White Rabbit has been racing Subarus for at least 12 years and should have eliminated the bugs from their platform by this time and rest assured their crew has probably done many of the things we are doing. But they are very closed mouth about the engineering that has gone into their engines over the years. I know I have contacted them and they shared nothing, which I can understand! Our goal is and has been to produce with our new engine (the current engine is our mule) around or in excess of 1000 whp. using 40 lbs of boost, which allows the following to occur. Would you agree that less boost equals more reliability and that it will allow us to use a smaller Turbo, right? Which allows us to create a wider powerband, right? Would you agree that by cooling the intake charge by an additional 20 degrees will help the power as well? Bye the way the Turbo we will be running on the new engine is a highly modified version of the one on the spec sheet and it is designed to meet OUR parameters only! Also, I may be wrong to say that in most of the current over 1000 whp builds that they do not have thier heads or cams specifically designed for their engines. Below I attached copies of the flow characteristics and how we flow our heads. As well as the form if it will download we had to submit in order to get matching cams. This will provide you with a snapshot of how we are developing OUR motor. These are just little toosl that will give you a perspective of the stock, very well known brand of CNC heads and our improved version of the Subaru head. We also have a version of the head that allows us to create a third port totally removing the dogleg and garnering on the bench about a 16% to 20% improvement over our two port version shown on this comparison. We want to run the comparison version first before we run the "Frankenstein" version as we refer to the three port version. As running the Frankenstein version will require extensive additional modifications, which we don't want to do at this point in time. One challenge at a time! DR’s comparison of Stock, CNC’d and RMI Subaru EJ 25 Ported Heads based on Valve Lift! Testing dates were Stock 5/6/2021, CNC 6/3/2021, RMI 6/9/2021 Lift RMI CNC Stock 050. 42.4 42.0 60.1 100. 88.7 77.5 96.1 150. 133.3 124.0 126.1 200. 175.1 158.2 148.2 250. 211.1 191.5 159.2 300. 226.5 207.0 181.8 350. 235.8 212.3 187.0 400. 238.7 217.8 187.4 450. 243.4 219.5 187.0 500. 245.4 221.3 188.9 550. 247.6 N/A Total CFM 2088.1 1671.2 (1840.5 Total RMI CFM to 0.500 lift. Difference is 169.3 CFM per lift cycle.) Avg. CFM 189.827 167.12 (184.05 Avg. RMI CFM to 0.500 lift. Avg. difference is 16.93 CFM per lift cycle.) I tried to download the CAM profile information and all of the roughly 40 factors required along with intake CFM, exhaust CFM and intake to exhaust ratio percentages in .050 increments. However, for some reason it would not download today. As far as the transmission issue is concerned we have chatted with the folks at PPG in Australia and Lenco in LA. We will get the shifting issue sorted out in the near term.

Yeah, that was the early days when we knew what our goals were, just not how to achieve them. However, we were relying on the "experts" to guide us on our path to an EASY 1000 hp. We actually blew up three engines before it dawned on us that we needed to sit down and start over with a clean piece of paper. In fact, it was not funny at the time, but we blew up three engines in eight months. The last one flashed about 800 whp ten seconds before it self-destructed I think the only things salvageable were some of the bolts, the Turbo, BOV, water pump and the intake and exhaust. Everything else, even the heads were trashed. Forget the automatic trans we learned that a modified 5eat can handle about 550whp before it dies! So, over the years to today, we have learned quite a few lessons of what does and does not work with the EJ25 motor and it has been an expensive lesson plan. But we think that today we are on the right path and getting closer to our goal of developing excellent power as efficiently and safe as possible and hitting the 8 second barrier in the quarter mile. But your observation about broken parts and consummable parts replacement is valid. We are racers and we are used to "pushing the Envelope" and as long as our wives will allow us, we will continue to buy more parts and to continue "pushing the envelope", thats what we do!

Yeah, the weight of the vehicle is without the driver who weighs 180lbs. The cage is NHRA Certified to I think 6.5 seconds. We had a sunroof that was removed and never replaced, which was an unbelievably robust and heavy item that was never replaced. Instead, we had an opportunity to use the NASA wind tunnel in Mountain View California late at night to test various lexan wind screens and found one that essentially improves the aero of the car and of course reduces the weight as well! Virtually everything and anything that could be cut, shaved or removed has been removed from the car including. The hood and truck lids have virtually no bracing. No door panels, they were all cut out, nothing under the dash. , no air conditioning, etc...We have found that we can get a 5lb. CF hood for $1500, which we are considering in the future. Our CF driveshaft required lifting the tunnel two or three inches in the rear because the Driveshaft is much larger in diameter than the standard Drive Shaft companies standard product in order to hold up to the power goals we set for this project. We will go to two wheel drive when we switch to the Lenco transmission, which eliminates the front wheel drive weight. and causes us to explore a conversion to a Ford 9" diff and axles and it goes on and on!

Isn't it amazing how easy it is to invest six figures in a Subaru? I must say this is our first and last Subaru build. We will stick to American V8 engines in the future. But we have learned a great deal about the mechanical and electrical systems and must say the Subaru is one well built and engineered vehicle. No American car builder builds a car even close to the Subaru. My philosophy in the future will be if someone asks me about the Subaru will be to point out that a good tune-up and good fuel is all you need on the street! Going beyond that is a waste of money and time. I have not been on the Forum in actuality for any consistent length of time. But I have enjoyed reading and sharing the information with my team that I deem valuable to our project over the last few years. How long will we continue to develop this project. We will continue to develop the vehicle up and until we can make clean passes at the strip. Hopefully, in the 8's or maybe a run or two in the 7's. At which time, we will sell the vehicle to someone who will take it out and hopefully race it.

They certainly don't if your looking at the conventional way Subaru's are built. We started with what we had to work with and how WE would approach building this vehicle. I will tell you that most of the parts that you buy off the shelf we had to modify to make them work as they were designed on OUR vehicle. We have modified/redesigned the heads and cams to go along with the coatings we use in making our engine very one-of as is the Turbo. We went to Comp Turbo in LA to work with us on our design requirements for OUR engine, not your engine or anybody else's engine, but OUR engine. Oh, and I can certainly understand your questioning the costs. But actually they are higher than the $150K when and if you factor in development time and costs of having four engineers contributing their time away from thier families. However, I was incorrect in an earlier response in that I learned that the 150k included 30K for the car. So, the physical out of pocket costs for components should be $120 and going up monthly.

No, we never started this project to become a commercial enterprise. However, there are a few bits of info we can convey, such as the heads, cams and engine treatments, which we highly recommend. But that will be down the line. Our focus today is being able to make full passes down the drag strip without having to Granny shift between 2nd and 3rd. We chuckle about what type of money we could put into a V8 powered car to blow the Subaru off the track. We know my own past builds of V-8s, suspension and weight reduction that for $55K (which is what I have in my 40 Willys coupe). We could get into the low 8's or high 7's at around 165mph.

Not yet! Why? Because the engine has such a torque load that it will not shift (Subaru Spec B 6speed) quick enough (power shift) between 2nd and 3rd to render a decent time. We have done everything we can to loosen up the linkage but to no avail. So, the reason for the Lenco. It is designed to easily handle more power than we will ever get out of this motor.

The cost does not reflect the original cost of the vehicle. Our new heads for example cost our group $20K! Don't ask about the cams. Again this is project / race car not to be driven any where but on the track!

OK, First, this is a project car built by professional engineers with a long history of drag racing and involvement with Drag Racing at the highest level. We took on this project because between us we have built probably 30 very successful and competitive American vehicles. However, none of us had ever built a Sport Compact car. So, we approached this probably quite a bit differently than most of you in the Sport Compact world. For example, on the new engine we will be installing we completely redesigned the intake flow characteristics and parameters of the engine to be much more efficient and effective across the powerband. We designed the new parameters using some very sophisticated computer modeling to save us time and additional expense. We have been able to generate 800 +whp with 31lbs of boost! We did this by re-designing the horribly restrictive heads and building custom designed cams exclusively for our motors. We also use E90 in all of our engines and all of our engines and parts are cryo and WEP treatments and we are experimenting with a new treatment that reduces the intake fuel temperatures at 20 to 30 degrees farenheit in addition to any advantage offered by intercoolers. So, your point is well made about the brakes. We just upgraded to Brembo 6piston brakes and we use a dual parachute on all of our test runs. Oh, and I assume that you understand that this is not a street legal or driven vehicle?

The Grimmspeed AOS has been redesigned and frankly works exceptionally well in our application. We created and installed the Lexan windows using the stock windows as a template. Our windows are designed so the windows simply quick release and can be replaced in about five (5) minutes per window. For you to have this done to your vehicle will run about $5000.

Over 150K not counting on-going development costs!

Hello: This project has been a five year ordeal. What have we learned from this journey is that Subaru's are different cars to modify and that they require more money than I have invested in my three classic car hotrods combined which includes a blown 426 Hemi installed in a beautiful 40" Willy's coupe, My 63 Plymouth 426 Hemi sedan and my 57 Chevy with a blown L88-427 cubic inch motor! Yeah, the Subaru is fast for a Subaru -1.5 sec to 60mph. But will require another $10K to $12K to add a Lenco transmission as the six-speed Transmission is very difficult to shift between 2nd and 3rd because of the torque load on the clutch and transmission. Thus, the quarter-mile times suffer dramatically as a result of this problem. Actually, this car will work best as a time attack vehicle with the power reduced to 700 whp. Grandpa’s Toy Component & Parts list Event: Dyno-9-2020 Location: Auburn CA Ambient Temp: ? Elevation: 1366 ft Weather: Sunny Maximum Power=MAP #1=870whp at 6100rpm and 712ft lbs. of torque@ 5200rpm, Car: 2005 Legacy GT Tuner: Travis (Snail Racing) Dyno Info: Dyno-Jet, STP correction Transmission: STI – Spec B - 6 speed, First four gears are STI gears, fifth and sixth are much taller providing much more top end than an STI Transmission. Cobb Quick Shift Kit, Considering purchasing a Lenco four speed transmission! Oil: Amsoil Synthetic 10-40wt. Fuel: Ignite E90 Weight: Stock-3485lbs, Lightened-2635lbs, Engine/Power Modifications: Outfront Motorsports V4-2.5Liter Closed Deck Block Cobb AP V3 running- Speed Density Perrin Heavy Duty Motor & Transmission Mounts CSF Oversized Radiator, w/built-in oil cooler Cosworth HP Oil Pump, PTFE fuel system, Crawford High Pressure water pump, ETS FMIC w/ 4" core, CP 8:4 pistons Supertech +1mm Inconel larger valves with matched springs, Currently using Kelford R-199-D Cams, For new motor, Elgin Custom cams will be used, 8mmTGV Phenolic Intake Spacers, ID 2000cc top feed injectors & Radium fuel rail, Radium TGV Deletes, Radium Engineering Surge Tank, ETS Custom 4” Cool Air System (modified by M&M), 3-Walbro 455 LPH Staged Fuel pumps, Comp Turbo Cust. Twin Scroll Turbo-CT4x-6065-3bb unit Manley Turbo Tuff I-beam rods, ATI Crank Pulley, Pinned King Bearings, Crawford Catch Can STI crank in existing motor, Manley Billet crank will be installed in new motor. Tomei Adjustable Cam Sprockets, M & M Custom 3” Down Pipe, M & M Custom 3” Exhaust, Up-Pipe T4 mount, Dual dump tubes w/twin 44mm Tial wastegates, Outfront Motorsports 1/2" head studs, ARP bolts and studs used throughout the entire motor, Current engine uses a set of ported heads. However, the new motor will use custom Heads and head work by Replika Machinsen Porting & Valve job. These heads flow 22% more than IAG Stage 4 heads. All running gear was balanced and Cryoed & WEP Treated, IAG- EJ Competition Oil Pan, V2 Oil Pickup, Competition Baffle and Windage Tray, Driveline Modifications: Kyb adjustable shocks & Struts, Whiteline Differential Reinforced Chassis mounts, Rallytek Springs, AVO End Links, Rallytek Sway Bars, Torque Solutions Full Support Driveshaft Carrier Bearing, Megan Racing Adjustable Front and Rear linkage, All bushings on car have been replaced with Polyurethane bushings, Drive Shaft Shop – Custom Carbon Fiber Driveshaft Capable of handling 1100whp. Wheels & Brakes[/u][/b] EBC Rotors, Motul High Temp Brake Fluid, Subaru four piston front calipers, RPF1-Custom Powder Coated Enkei Racing Rims Special Compound EBC Brake Pads Toyo Red Dot High Performance Tires, or M&H Slicks Stainless Steel Brake Lines Interior Kirkey Seat and cushions Custom Rollbar Custom Lexan Windows Custom PLX and Innovate-Data logging Digital Guages Element Fire Extinguishers

Glad to hear your legacy has really improved since I last communicated with you. You asked about my legacy. Well it has been quite a journey. As you are aware, Subarus are relatively fragile when you really start developing the power. So, aside from blowing a couple of engines the car has come along. We lowered the weight to 2468lbs., which was no easy chore. To say it has been gutted is an understatement. We even removed the splash panel between the hood and the front window because we felt it weighed too much. Removed the front and back seats. We replaced all of the windows with quick change lexan and can replace a window in about five (5) minutes. We removed all the internal parts of the door panels and cut out the panels, replacing them with vinyl. We removed the sunroof, most of the wiring and converted to a new six speed using PPG gears. We removed the parking brake assembly and EBC made a set of front and back lightweight discs, which with our parachute stop the car with no problem. We replaced the driveshaft with a 3.25 diameter carbon fiber unit that weighs 15 lbs. However, we had to modify our tunnel and part of the differential mount to make it fit. Had a custom heavy duty r200 torsen 3.90 locked rear end installed with a large rear end oil cooler installed as well. We have been testing it at a local paved airfield my friend owns and we measured off the quarter mile and according to our Fueltech digital dash we have run 151 mph averaged 8.6, 8.8 & 8.5 seconds. However, I am going to have to find a way to install a four link rearend if I want to go faster because even with slicks I'm still getting considerable evil wheelspin when I shift to 3rd gear even with the awd. So, if we can tame the car, which was given the name "Grandpa's Toy", I will be a very happy camper. I am fortunate that my buddy has the airstrip that is normally used for cropdusting as all the tracks in my area are closed because of the virus. Hope everything continues to go well for you?

Your heading in the right direction. However, I'm already where your going with your build. Best of luck in the future! Here is my car: Event: Dyno-12-2017 Grandpa’s Toy Location: Auburn CA Ambient Temp: 76 F Elevation: 1366 ft Weather: Sunny Car: 2005 Legacy GT Tuner: Travis (Snail Racing) & Tony (M-45 automotive) Dyno Info: Dyno-Jet, STP correction Transmission: Durabilt Custom 5EAT billet Automatic Final Gear Ratio: 4:10 Peak HP at RPM: 26lbs of boost=502whp, 458 ft lbs of tq.- 31lbs of boost=612whp, 537 ft.lbs of tq- 38lbs of boost=735whp, 641 ft.lbs of torque (All of the above power figures occur within the stock powerband of 3500 to 7000rpms) Baseline: Stock 2013 STi: 220 whp / 237 wtrq Target Boost: 38 psi tapering to 20 psi Target AFR: 11.7 Fuel: E85 (85% blend) Weight: 2935lbs. (target weight is 2600lbs) Engine/Power Modifications: Outfront Motorsports V-4-Closed Deck Block ,w,LA Sleeves installed and Grooved for O-Rings. Process West Intake Manifold Perrin Heavy Duty Motor & Transmission Mounts Cosworth HP Oil Pump Crawford High Pressure water pump CP 8:4 pistons DW 2000cc top feed injectors & fuel rail Radium Engineering Surge Tank 3-Walbro 455 LPH Staged Fuel pumps Manley Turbo Tuff I-beam rods, pinned Custom Head work, Porting & valve job and O-Ringed ARP 1/2" head studs, ARP bolts and studs used throughout the entire motor Pinned King Bearings Manley Billet crank all bearings are pinned. ATI Crank Pulley All running gear was balanced Crower 278 cams Supertech valves and valve springs Comp Turbo Twin Scroll Turbo-CT4x-6065-3bb unit M & M Custom 3” Down Pipe w/ Dougs 3” electric collector M & M Custom 3” Exhaust, Up-Pipe T4 mount, dual dump tubes w/twin 50mm Turbosmart wastegates ETS Custom 4” Cool Air System (modified by M&M) TGV Deletes 8mm Phenolic Spacers ETS FMIC w/ 4" core PTFE fuel system CF Oversized Radiator, w/built-in oil cooler Cobb AP V3 running- Speed Density Driveline Modifications: KYB shocks & Struts Rallytek Springs Rallytek Sway Bars AVO End Links All bushings on car have been replaced with Polyurethane bushings Wheels & Brakes EBC Rotors Subaru Special four piston calipers Special Compound Hawk Brake Pads Motul High Temp Brake Fluid RPF1-Custom Enkei Racing Rims Toyo Red Dot High Performance Tires So the question your going to ask is, How fast is it? The truth is it is a constant work in Process. However, being an old drag racer and having a friend who recently bought a dodge demon. We decided to see how the Subaru stacked up against the dodge? After all we couldn't go to the track as I don't have a roll bar and would not be allowed to compete. So he agreed and we found an old country road. All I can say is it was a dead even race and it scared the hell out of both of us. So, once I get the parachute and roll bar installed I will go to the track to set the suspension up. Suffice it to say, this car is very, very quick. If anyone is building a 400 to 450whp car let me know as I have a lot of premium parts for sale to help you get there?

Happy New Year! Many years ago, when I first started playing with my Legacy, I was at the same point that you are at today. I had a VF52, Cobb downpipe, AVO tmic, aftermarket BOV, Grimmspeed up and crossover pipes, Grimmspeed converted my TGVs and a stage 2 Cobb map. The car on the dyno, with what we found out later had a leaking tmic and would only allow for 15lbs of boost. But the engine made 289 whp and 280ft.lbs of torque. After learning that the tmic intercooler had a leak and fixing the leak we made another run and pulled 320 whp and 305ft. lbs of torque @18 lbs of boost on gas. At this time the car was using stock injectors. But when we made the next run we had converted to 750cc injectors. Later we tried to push the turbo past 20lbs of boost and it lasted about two more hours of running time. You need to know that if you go over 20lbs of boost your IHI Turbo will live a very short life. The VF52 Turbo was never designed to exceed 19 lbs of boost. Plus, the rods used in the Legacy EJ series motor are not as strong as the STI motors rods and as you already know the pistons will go away at the slightest amount of detonation. Frankly, you can modify your TGVs if you choose to do so. Its not that hard to do! Or you can have them modified by people like Grimmspeed, or you can purchase a composite set. They are just one more step that makes the intake process that much more efficient. Any of the above configurations will add the same amount of improvement in flow! Good luck.

The stock injectors will work for your current setup. If you add E85 at some point you will need to go to 1000cc injectors. The torque converter will help your launch off the line starts, so that a good move! What you are doing is setting your car up to Drag Race, not Road Race! The 5eat and especially the modified torque converter does not lend itself to road racing. You can put three large trans coolers on the vehicle and still boil the trans fluid if you do more than a lap on a road course. Plus, the torque converter wants to launch every time you drop the revs under the stall speed, which in essence on a road course is most corners. Hope this helps?

Well, it appears that you have some very large goals ahead of you? I applaud your goals. But in order to run high 11's even with E85, you will need to do much more with your engine and suspension than your current plans outline! But lets address the add-ons you are considering one at a time. First, with E85 it is highly recommended that you have have the car dyno tuned as you will have to change the injectors to 1000cc preferably a top feed conversion as they are much easier to tune than side feed injectors for a variety of reasons. Secondly, you will need to install a Walbro 450LPH fuel pump and when you do this you also have to remove the funcky recirculator that is a part of the stock fuel system. When you install the fuel pump you must connect (wire) it to a direct power source and you will have to add a fuel regulator adjusted for 40lbs of flow or more. To make this change you are probably going to spend for new items about$1200 to $1300 not counting the Dyno tune. If you absolutely plan on changing the airbox, save yourself time, money and effort and purchase the KES 80mm cold air system. Thats what we run on big power Subarus. Its only something like $215. You can also get the Perrin intake which will smooth out the flow of air from the Turbo to the connection of the air filter. I believe the Perrin unit is about $200 to $250. You may eke out a couple of horsepower from this change with your current set up. But this setup will allow you to add much larger Turbos without having to worry about air intake restrictions. Adding the quicker shift valve body will speed up shifts but if your going to drag race this vehicle then get a torque converter upgrade with a 3000rpm stall speed. This will be good for about a second quicker in the quarter mile. Your looking at between $350 shiftkit to $700 for the torque converter. TGV deletes are an absolute necessity if your really planning on serious power . However, you will have to give up your cruise control if you go the delete route. If your pulling and modifying the deletes you might as well install the thicker 8 or 9mm thick gaskets as well. They help keep the heat of the engine away from the fuel mixture, which is a good thing! The cost for delete modification is about $250 and the gaskets about $80. There is no comparison between a catless uppipe and equal length headers and the stock equivalent. Why? Because there are no restrictions in the up pipe and the equal length headers (which are also tuned). However, by adding an up pipe and a crossover pipe and matching the exhaust inlet to the exhaust ports will be close to the new up pipe, equal header combination. The up pipe and equal length headers will give you some additional top end power that your won't get using a modified stock exhaust system. The cost for an up pipe-equal length tuned system will be around $800 to $900. The modified stock system with an up-pipe and crossover will be about $400 to $500, not counting the port matching. You can get an ATI or Fluidamp units and be done with it. I prefer the ATI units as they are easy to rebuild and do a much better job of managing the harmonic crank distortion than the lightweight units. In otherwords, technically your engine will last longer with a quality dampener. Be ready to spend $350 for the ATI and more for the Fluidamp. By the way, I have many of the items mentioned above, but I just haven't taken the time to list them for sale yet. Since we are always trying new components on our engines. The ones that we remove are barely used. I hope the above helps your decision making as you move through this process? Happy New Year.

Boy, your a glutton for punishment aren't you? Forget the Brembos, they are really great brake systems. But for where your at and since your car is a daily driver. Spend your money wisely. Start with a set of sway bars and if you can afford it some end links for both the front and rear. Then replace every lousy bushing with poly prophelene units. This will make the car almost handle as well as a BMW. Yeah, the stock discs are junk and warp at the first hard braking situation. When you have the money? Buy yourself some slotted EBC rotors and middle grade pads from Hawk, or EBC. When you make these changes you will be shocked at how well your car handles. Buy the way, you can find these items sold used if you look around. The only items you don't want to buy used are the brake rotors and of course pads.

You can waste your money and get a cold air intake, but you won't get any more horsepower with the mods you are currently doing to your engine. The best move you can make is to get a K&N replacement filter for your stock Legacy airbox. The stock air box with the K&N filter is good up to about 360 whp. After that consider a KES intake system (which is what most of the really high horsepower engine builders use) and going to a 4bar boost controller. Hope this helps?

Here is a little reality for you. You can expect, if everything is in good shape with a great tune to be at about 290 whp, 280 ft lbs of torque on pump gas and 16 lbs of boost. With the automatic transmission you have a parasitic power loss of between 20 to 30 whp because it takes more power to drive the auto transmission than it does a stick. These are the numbers I got when I had a very similar setup. By the way, the stock motor when it is new only generates when on the Dyno about 195 whp and 160 ft lbs of torque. Even the vaunted STI in new condition only produces after a fantastic dyno tuneup 315whp and 280 ft.lbs of torque. Oh, and one other thing if you increase the boost beyond 19lbs the VF52 will wear out very, very quickly,as it is only capable of providing 34lbs of air flow.The stage 1 Turbo I indicated that was being used by several of our local Subaru folks pumps out 47 to 48lbs of air, which is a 41% increase over the VF52 and can withstand a maximun 24lbs of boost. This setup on your motor is good for about 360 whp and 330 ft lbs of torque. Good luck!

I've been following your adventure and it reminds me of my own journey in building my vehicle. I and I'm sure many others can offer you some very valuable advice on the steps your taking to build your daily driver, which brings up and interesting question? I hope you don't live in California? Because if you do and you install the VF52 you will not be able to get through California's CARB/Smog visual tests in the future. The problem with buying any low mileage (after all they are all low mileage VF52's), is that more than likely the the shaft will have more than the tolerable level of play and need rebuilding before long. You can tell the condition by looking at the areas surrounding the turbine blades. If you see any shiny areas? The shaft bearing is worn.You can get the VF40 and VF52 rebuilt for about $400 to $500 at Six Star Speed. They do great work and they even have a ball bearing CHRA available for any of the Subaru OEM Turbos. Do yourself and your family a big favor if your going to change Turbos and buy a new Turbo that has a warranty. One company that comes to mind is Cavalli Turbo. I've been seeing a number of the quicker Legacys around my area that are close to yours in terms of the way they have been built and are using this Turbo as apparently it puts out great power, is super reliable and comes with an 18 month comprehensive warranty. There are probably others that come with warranties, but I can't think of any right now. There stage one Turbo will outflow any Subaru OEM Turbo and you can get by with the stock pistons, rods and crank. Also, it might be time to think about taking your car to a Professional Tuner and getting your car properly tuned. People who are serious about having their motors live get their cars tuned by a hands on professional on a dyno. That way you maximize the cars potential and minimize the pitfalls that are common when you try to do on-line tuneups devoid of a dyno. Since you will be generating more power from all of the add-ons? One other thing that you might consider is to add a much larger transmission cooler, which will allow you to use the stock transmission longer before you have to rebuild it. Adding a shift kit and modified torque converter should be your next upgrade.

Intercooler leaks are always a problem and you did all the right things to correct the problem. However, heat soak is caused by many factors, not just the area around the Turbo. The Transmission generates heat, the engine generates heat and in the summer there is the peripheral heat from the surface temperatures and humidity. The truth is the stock intercooler is just to small to handle heat soak beyond normal commuting. So, if your going to alleviate this problem you can certainly move to another AVO, or Grimmspeed top mount, or spend about the same money and get a Front Mount intercooler. Having a front mount intercooler will allow you to maximize any future power adders and tune ups in the future. The best method of intercooling is to use water/methanol injection, which you will need to have a professional install properly, or you can go to E85, which allows the engine to run much, much cooler. However, with E85 you will need to increase the size of your injectors to 850cc, get a 450lph fuel pump and have a tuneup preferably by a Cobb Pro-Tuner in your area? A side benefit to using E85 is that you will pickup 40 to 60 whp during the tuneup. If you decide to use E85 change the oil about every 2000 miles and your engine should be fine.