stewdogg

I was cruising down one of our main strips last night, testing out the new wheel spacers and noticed a noisy car next to me. When he pulled up I saw that it was a jacked up Forester. It looked like an adventurer rig, all decked out with a bunch fun stuff. I pulled away from the light and them. They pulled up next to me and a guy hung out the back window and screamed is that a GT!! I said, "yes, it is" and he just screamed "that's FU*K*NG awesome, WHOOO". That was my first compliment on my car and I'm not sure if I will ever get a more excited one.

While I'm planning and working towards my stage 2 upgrade I will get side tracked along the way. I picked up a set of wheel spacers from the stand up forum member Sarang. They are great and will hold me over till I can afford some new wheels next summer. The pic with the jack is the stock set up and the driver's side is with the spacers installed.

So, I'm trying to get all my things together for my stage 2 upgrade. I have been looking and reading a bunch about things and have a question. How likely is it that I will suffer boost creep. I live in Wisconsin and well over half of the year it is colder than 60 degrees. Is it something that is guaranteed to happen due to design or is it a luck of the draw kind of thing?

Haha, I just bought the Ichiba wheel spacers from Sarang. After dropping the car an inch, I feel like it needs a little more push on the wheels. I agree with what I have read about the wheels looking like they are being eaten by the wheel well. It gives me more time to find some summer wheels for the car too.

My wife and I took a nice twisty road ride the other night and she said that she felt less "sea sick" from the turns and dips. She said it felt "safer" and like it wasn't out of control. Usually she asks me to slow down on this road and that's just trying to keep with the speed limit. But, that is with a stiffer spring and 1" drop with the Eibach springs. Looks like you might have more to talk her into.

Looks like all the log viewers are for Windows/PC, anything out there for a Mac user? Thanks again, this is all making me feel better to understand it a bit more.

Thanks! So, when should I be concerned with the timing numbers? If I can repeat those low numbers on a WOT pull is it an issue or still benign? I really appreciate the conversation/info on this stuff!

I just got back from a concert at a place called The Shitty Barn and saw Scott H. Biram, great show! The venue is about an hour away. I had two options on ways to get there, one was a twisty road and the other the highway... I choose the twisties. Again, the Koni/Eibach setup impressed me. The car felt very planted in the turns and didn't seem to mind me pushing it. The tires are holding me back a bit, but the car felt great! There is a stretch of road that is two lanes and I dropped to third to pass someone and noticed my fine knock and DAM pop at WOT. I imagine this is due to the stock Cobb 91 tune and I need a custom tune, which I plan to get as soon as I get my DP and other goodies. Is there a thread or resource somewhere that I can see the values I need to see or not see for the Knock and DAM for the 5th gen? Are the values the same for all turbo vehicles? The heat shield under the headders is rusted and rattling a bit, could that be the cause of the knock or not, due to the DAM numbers and the fact that it happens at WOT? My fine knock was 1.40 and the DAM always sits at 1.000, but when the fine knock went off, the DAM dropped a bit to .9xx I will get some logs of it this weekend.

I know, I didn't even know about the Subaru meet last weekend either. I really missed out! Do you have any plans to come up for the Fl4t Four Fest up in Madison Aug 4th?

Just turned over 130,000 on my trip to south of Chicago to visit family this weekend. the car drives great on the highway with the Koni/Eibach combo and I gained a small amount of mpg too. I performed my second oil change on my GT today. I still need to replace my passenger side valve cover and replace my turbo cooler lines before winter, so I got a little more time for mods yet...

I just got my recall notice in the mail on Friday for the passenger air bag. I'm going to take it in a see what other recalls are out there on my car.

I meant the car rusting underneath or body rust, but I will try my best to fight it off. Cool, I'll check out the Magnaflow stuff. So, the big difference between Vibrant and Magnaflow is mainly build quality and longevity? Perscitus (or anyone who wants to chime in), in your opinion, is the best location for the cat in the stock location? Do you see a benefit to the turbo spooling a tad better/quicker with a different cat location? Sarang and I were talking and he thought there might be a chance that it has a benefit to move the location of the cat, he also said there might not be a difference. Thanks again, this is all very useful info that is difficult to search for.

I live in Wi, the rust region and I'm not sure if I can fight off the rust much longer than 5-8 years anyway. Would the longevity of the cat change if I put it further down the exhaust stream from the engine? Thinking that maybe the temps lower a bit down the line...? Do you know of a little cheaper option over the GESI? Maybe something that would only last 5-10 years? Something closer to $150/200? My plan is to have the car 5-8 years because it's my daily. If I lived somewhere that there was no salt or this was my summer show car, I would spend the money on the best one. Thanks again Perscitus!

Thanks Perscitus, that helps a ton!! I don't have a enough experience in these parts to know a turd from a gem. I'm pretty sure that it is FED emissions, but I will double check today. I would imagine for my power needs, the 300 cell should be just fine for me...? I only plan on a down pipe, BPV, boost controller and a tune. Plus, the cost of the 400 is close to a third of what I want to spend on the stage 2 upgrade in total, at this point anyway. Thanks again!!

So, a cat like this should be just fine...? This would be put in the catless down pipe in a different location than stock. Just checking to see if there's something I'm missing on why this shouldn't work fine for my needs. https://www.ebay.com/itm/3-Catalytic-Converter-O2-High-Flow-for-Late-Models-/160993419534 Nice and cheap too.

Before and after shots of the Koni/Eibach install. Not the greatest pics, but pics nonetheless.

Damn, $7.50 a gallon is rough!

Nice MGT! I really like the results from the Perrin bushing and Kartboy short shift adapter. I installed my Konis and Eibachs today, it was hot as poo and I'm beat... totally worth it!!

I would like to thank you GTEASER for this thread and the helpful hints that are within! I got my Eibachs and Konis installed today. It was 100 degrees with similar humidity today, so it took me a little longer than I was thinking to get it all done, but it's done. The car looks great and I will echo the sentiments of the others before me, they are awesome! I always liked how my WRX felt like it was on rails, but the ride could get on your nerves on rough roads after a longer trip. The new set up on the Legacy feels pretty close to the same amount of stuck to the road, but with a much comfier and quieter ride. I won't be driving it much tomorrow and I will be getting an alignment on Monday. I would also like to thank all the other 5th gen Legacy owners that paved the Koni highway before me!!

That second option sounds like a cool idea. I wonder if it would actually only cost $50 to have someone weld the cat in? Any links to the high flow WRX cats? I did a quick search on ebay for it and didn't see any stand alone cats. I will google it next and see what I find. I also want to look under the car and see where the cat could go and if there is a good place to put it and still set the o2 sensors hooked up. I wish I was in a spot to make a decision on the exhaust with the 15% off on ebay till midnight, but I would rather be sure than save $50. I guess I will maybe buy a BPV and EBCS... Thanks for the input Sarang, I really appreciate it!

Thanks man, I was using a code from my email that didn't work, but got another email later today with a different code that worked. Thank man!!

Bummer, turns out the code for ebay doesn't work on the Invidia downpipe...

Thanks Sarang! I have read that post a couple of times. I know that the basics at this point is down pipe and a tune, but I was wondering about those other little things that make a difference. My current set up: Cobb AP tuner w/91 tune Perrin shift bushing kartboy short shifter Eibach springs Koni shocks Possible Power upgrades: Invidia DP ~$600 Custom tune ~? BPV ~$170 EBCS ~$150 Total ~$900 without cost of tune. Just a rough estimate of things at this point. I have to figure out how much a custom tune costs and the classic, do I find someone around here or someone online that has more experience with the 5th gen Legacy to perform the tune...?

Wow, it takes me way too long to figure out acronyms. I guess I forgot to mention that I bought the car with a Cobb tuner V3 with a 91 base tune. I imagine that changes the recommendations a bit, sorry. I'm going to have to go do some reading on wideband, which I imagine relates to a wideband 02 sensor...? Thanks for the reply FLlegacy!

This is a pic of the family before I sold the WRX. The black ones are the only ones we have at the moment.