DougKelly20

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Yeah, so posting from the computer apparently isn't happening and since I'm not VIP on tapatalk quality will be shit but here goes....

Hey there, so I've been around here for a little bit now and figured it was time to post my own thread about my progress on my 3.6R. I bought the car new with 181 miles on it. I live in upstate NY and have two small children so I wanted some thing with AWD, a big enough backseat, and some power...not necessarily in that order . My GF already owns a WRX, and I've owned a couple 6 cyl cars as well as a turbo 4 in the past and for daily driving I prefer the on demand power of larger displacement. Lastly, I wanted something that would be safe and fun, if not ideal, for the occasional autoX or track day. I wasn't planning on going nuts, but I'm sure I went further than I ever expected to...I'm sure many of you can relate. I've kept a pretty detailed log of what I did so I'll list it here, and maybe add links later or if people are interested in getting the same things I can respond on demand, but I found many of these mods in the sticky anyway so no reason to reinvent the wheel. Unless stated otherwise I did the work myself (or with my girl) on installation. Suspension (In order of installation) SSD Front Strut tower brace. Excellent fitment, sharpens steering, buttoned down the front end noticeably. 19mm Rear Sway bar (Subaru OEM) This was a must after the Strut bar because it evened out the responsiveness on either end of the car. I probably would have gone thicker, but 19 has been great for a daily. Whiteline lowering springs. Would not recommend. Car was raked, springs were loose until they settled, and it was very oversprung. Handled REALLY well on track with them, but they were also so low I was hitting ice chunks in the winter time on the road. I've heard H and R is the way to go if you want springs. BC Coilovers BR Series. After about a year on the WL springs I sprung for (sorry had to) coilovers. i need to RAISE the front a little (still lower than stock) to deal with winter this year, and I couldn't be happier with them. They have a 30 click adjustment, and so I started with 15 out of 30 (1 being hard 30 being soft), and it handled well but ride quality was rough in NY. I finally settled on 24 for daily use and I'll probably dial them down to 10 or so for the track this summer. Adjustable Rear Lower Control Arms. SPC, came with eccentric toe bushings (didn't use/need them). Needed these because the camber was a little aggressive for tire wear after the BC Coilovers. I had a shop install these because I was worried my alignment would be so out I'd have trouble getting to the shop given I really didn't have a ton of experience before modding this car. They feel/ride the same as stock, no difference except now the alignment is correct/stockish. Future plans for Suspension: None. Now I need to work on the driver mods on the track Wheels and Tires: Enkei TFR's Gunmetal 18x8.5 +45. I got these knowing I would upgrade to a section 245 tire after I burn through the Yokohama ADVANs that I had left over from my Kia Optima Turbo. 225/45 and so the speedo is off by about 3%, and the stretch is a little more than I'd like but I wasn't wasting perfectly good tires. Future Upgrade: Probably Michelin Pilot Sport All Season 4s in a 245/45/R18 Edit: went with conti DWS06 Plus's instead...similar dry/performance characteristics but a little better in snow and cheaper by enough to matter. They are fantastic on the street....taking them on the track soon...7/8/22 Aesthetics: Debadged the trunk except for the 3.6R emblem Laminix'd out the white in the tail lights. Vinyl overlays from Orsini Vinyl for the badges, black field with red stars Rear window tint, 25%, by fine line in Albany. Grille: purchased an OEM grill and tried to paint it myself. That was an epic fail. I used trim paint, and I failed to scuff it enough, and I tried to do it in winter time so it didn't cure well. After realizing my limitations I took it to my trusted body shop and they painted the whole thing gloss black for 150 bucks. Pretty awesome deal I thought. Then I swapped it out myself. I really like the look of it. I was torn on just doing the JDM one but it came with chrome I'd have to black out anyway and for the cost of the grille and the paint it was about a wash. No regrets here. Window Chrome vinyl delete: Matte black. This was a BEAST. 10 hours in 95 degree heat over 3 days. I've never worked with vinyl before, and I'm not an artsy nor a "fine motor skills" kinda guy. Nor am I patient. I used this as a growth opportunity...lol. At this point is become a hobby so why not. From 4 feet away it looks steller. From really close up you can see some of my mistakes, but honestly I'm happy with it. it lasted 8 months before part of it pealed up in the back section, and I ripped it off today and fixed it. Took 30 minutes from prep to clean up, NBD. Knifeless tape is a godsend here, don't do vinyl without it. Painted my calipers Matte black. I resisted the urge to do red...even though it would match my badges and tail lights, I've done red calipers before on my Mazda 6 v6 and I didn't want to do it all over again. Plus it will remain a little more sleeper status. Likely that will be my last aesthetic mod. Engine/Drivetrain/Tuning: KNN Panel filter. the oil variety. i had no issues with the MAF sensor and the panel oil. changed and cleaned it myself after 10K miles and it was still fine. Cleaned the MAF anyway for good measure Exhaust: Nameless axle back with 5" mufflers. Adds a great sound high in the RPM's (GF thinks it sounds a bit like a sport bike near redline). Lots of growl down low. Yes, it does drone a bit. I'm usually ok with it until I'm going 80 up a long hill on the highway. Then it sucks. More on this later. Tuned by XRT. Ed did a great job. Using some estimates in his software it looks like about 209 to the wheels. It hasn't been dyno'd but about 20HP over stock seems about right to the butt dyno and I really enjoy it. Throttle response is better, and he recently messed around with the AVCS and added a bunch more torque down low. Edit: Exhaust: I ordered a custom built header assembly with vbands and high flow cats from Inferno Fabrications on the west coast. Used Cotton's Performance (same guys who did Italian Legacy's supercharged Gen 5) to create a custom midpipe with an ultra quiet vibrant resonator. I'd hoped this eliminated the drone. (if not my last ditch effort will be to dynomat under the rubber trunk liner). Edit: it did not eliminate drone, and neither did the dynamat. aFe Power Takeda intake. Installed and was all retuned together. It comes in chrome, and nothing in the engine bay is chome...so I used self etching primer and the matte black paint from the calipers and I like the way it turned out. After that, I'll have to chill for a bit. I'll be changing jobs in the summer and won't have any extra money for mods for a while...but... I already have the harmon kardon system and i'm not a huge audiophile so I really don't see anything more I can do to the car. The brakes on the 3.6R are great, but we'll see when I get to a bigger track... Maintenance: Oil changes every 3-4K because I drive it hard. Air filter every 10K Cabin Filter done at 28K Brake fluid and Diff oil done at 30K, because track and I drive hard Changed the plugs early at 40K because of the final tune (recommended by XRT). All 6 looked great when they came out. Issues: Squeeky Seat...went away when the whitelines did... Window bouncing down in the summer due to swollen gasket... tech cleaned and oiled the track better than I could and it went away. Steering rack TSB. Fixed the rattle in the front end. Some rack preload needed to be readjusted a few days later because the steering was WAY too heavy. Sound has not returned after a year and 10K miles. Battery was pretty corroded a couple weeks ago so I pulled it, cleaned it, painted the tie down, treated the terminals and reinstalled it. Current Mileage 40k. I'll follow this post with some pics.

Excuse my ignorance but are trailing arms the same as lower control arms? If so, the answer is yes, they are the same. I run WRX/BRZ LCAs on my 6th gen.

Why? What are you "doing now?"

Yeah those should fit fine. I guess I was just curious why you ruled out 8.5 and 9 and went straight to 9.5 as an option. With stock suspension you have a much larger margin for error, so I doubt you'll need to camber or roll fenders. Good luck and post pics when you get them installed!

Did you mean 8.5? 9.5 seems a little much. Did you check out fitment industries like I suggested?

Take the engine cover off and count how many intake runners it has....or look up your VIN online. Edit, sorry just saw the above posted at the same time, it's a better answer, just ignore me, haha.

Hey community, I've been on a journey for a little while to get the most out of my 3.6R as a hobby as many of you are also doing and I noticed there was very little out there for support in the bolt on performance exhaust category. Nameless makes an axle back and Raptor makes headers. OBX makes headers but they don't fit the Gen 6. Raptor has been harder and harder to get a hold of and there have been some complaints about how they are made from Mild/light steel and the flange may cause some clearance issues. That said I've been keeping my eye on the 5th gen forum as well to see what they are coming up with, and one of there members found inferno fabrications on the west coast. The proprietor developed a gen 5 header which is connected by v bands to a high flow cat with both bungs present for the O2 sensors, and 2.5" OD pipe all the way back to the collector using 304 steel. So I called him and took some measurements and he's going to make me a Gen 6 version with the additional clearance needed for the sway bar on the Gen 6. I should have them in my possession by mid April and am taking them to a fab shop to have a custom mid pipe and resonator installed between the new headers/cats and my nameless axle backs. If all goes well and we get fitment right we could have a much better option for those of you looking to do an exhaust upgrade. https://infernofab.com/2015-2019-subaru-legacy-3-6-header.html There's the link, and they would look something like this without the extra twisted section of pipe seen here (apparently a failed attempt at uel) I'll keep everyone posted.

Makes sense. It was stupid easy on my Kia optima...took about 20 minutes, but everything was right on top! I couldn't see why they get away with charging what they do for labor on plugs for inline 4s.

Thank you very much!!

Good to know thank you. I only have 36k on mine so far but I'll probably do plugs soon given my retune as a result of my exhaust project. Gonna try doing them myself and see how that goes

Carbon build up is odd for a port injected engine. I'd push back pretty hard on that one. Have you changed your PCV valve? May not at all be related, but hell if they are going with carbon build up anything is on the table. I asked more about the coil packs in your other post....still seems like a coil problem based on your code.

Maybe I missed it but you never answered why all of your coil packs were replaced. Given that code they seem to be the most likely culprit. Maybe one or more were slightly defective.

FWIW here is mine on 18x8.5+45 with 225s.

Conservatively probably 245s. That said when I was shopping for wheels I tried to take some measurements and decided +35 was a bit too close for comfort with my 225s....but I'm lowered. So I got +45s. Later this year when I need new tires I'll be going up to 245s, but I can add (technically subtract) some camber if I need to. That said I have 8.5" rims. I'm not sure if you want to go as high as 255 on an 8 inch rim, and I'm not sure it will fit in the rear with +35, but I would check out fitment industries gallery if I were you and look at all the stretch and stance you can find in the same range, even if it's on a wrx or something similar.

Found some corrosion on my battery and tie down while test fitting my new intake (not ready to install it). Pulled it apart, cleaned and painted it. Looks like I still missed a spot...was focused on the underside...but it looks much better now.

OK, well here's to hoping my good fortune continues; mine was fixed a year ago yesterday and I still have no issues. However, with COVID I only drove 10k miles in the past year so that could be a huge factor.

I have the SSD one, and I am happy with it.

Mine was covered under the standard warranty. I am not sure it constitutes the powertrain...usually that's engine, transmission, diffs and axles...so i would guess no.

Also, I took it back in for this and they fixed the backlash a few days after this suggestion. Much better, forgot to thank you.

If that doesn't help look at tsb 04-17-17R for the steering rack. A few of us had that, as we indicated further up this chain or another one... Mine had that and the fix eliminated the noise. It was also worse in the winter.

Well...I needed adjustable rear lower control arms to get back to stock camber after. That COULD be a function of the dealership tech...as I didn't have that issue with my lowering springs. Also, you don't HAVE to run stock camber...just be aware that your tires could wear funny. I also recommend a front strut bar which was my first mod, but not required for the coils. Beefy RSB was a great idea, that and the strut bar were the most bang for the buck of all the mods given their low price.

Well you can drop it however low you want. For me I had whiteline lowering springs first with stock shocks. I do not recommend that setup. The front was so low I would hit the ice chunks off people's wheel well droppings. So the BCs raised me up about 1.5 inches in the front (car was raked). Overall I think I have it set about an inch lower than stock, maybe a little more. The center of the bumper is 6.5 in and the side (in front of the wheel) is probably about 5-5.5." I just realized I don't have a picture since I installed them so I'll have to take one and you can see how low. This one is from when I had the springs, so it's about the same in the back and a little higher than this up front.

I really like them. The adjustability has a wide range, and I haven't gone to the full soft setting but you can get good control without too much harshness. We have some highways in NY that are brutal and they were too harsh at the mid setting...15/30. I softened to 25/30 on the way back and it was no big deal after that. For daily winter driving I run them about 23, but I would likely firm them up to 5 or 10 for autoX or track duty, and back to 15 for a canyon run. Quality product, probably 3 out of 5 difficulty to install yourself. Getting the height adjustment right is the hardest part; but that's all coilovers. Just slightly noisier than stock which is to be expected. I highly recommend them, especially for the price.