CovertRussian's 05 LGT Build Thread

[covertrussian]

I highly recommend you submit the last photo to the calendar thread.

 

I actually did right here

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/showpost.php?p=5525301&postcount=123

[FJuan]

I actually did right here

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/showpost.php?p=5525301&postcount=123

 

Good job, you now have 2 votes.

[Flinkly]

Good job, you now have 2 votes.

 

wrong again Fjuan. 3.

[FJuan]

wrong again Fjuan. 3.

 

[covertrussian]

Thanks guys, much appreciated!

 

So for years I've appreciated this year's backs a lot more then fronts. But with the last photoshoot I realized that the front can look awesome and angry, with the right angle. I'm talking about this photo's angle:

 

Now I need to find a better place to take that photo, maybe I'll pull the stupid license plate and windshield it (VA still requires them sigh).

[Max Capacity]

Not to high jack your thread, but have you thought about a black mesh grill ?

 

BTW, those are some great photo's you posted, good camera.

 

http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x40/92Si/DSCN6455_zps54876b1b.jpg

Edited November 19, 2016 by Max Capacity

[FJuan]

Yes I agree, the chrome surround would look better black. I've blacked out all the chrome on my car and it looks great, IMO. I'll post pics later.

[covertrussian]

I love that style grill and almost had a JDM one already in GRP, but it was snagged right under me! I did buy a spare stock grill to make it be like that, but have too many other mods to do first (cough clutch cough).

 

Don't know who's this is, found it years ago, but this is what I would love to have my car look like minus the wheels

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=240965&stc=1&d=1479622087

 

Camera is just my Galaxy S7, but in Pro mode with vivid colors on, Pro mode increases the DPI to 149 from 72 and makes the pictures look much better. Wife did touch up the colors a bit since the sun washed out the mountains and clouds.

 

I actually had that the whole grill plastidipped, but peeled the surround because it looked a little odd. I think surround would look much better in body color.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/05%20LGT/Exterior/Grill/Plastidip/CIMG9988.jpg~original

Edited November 20, 2016 by covertrussian

[SFerrell]

Man do these look good in red! Want to trade for my black 5EAT?

[covertrussian]

While the Russian in me wants a black legacy, I already have a black infiniti and a dark gray ouback. LGT brings some color to my monochrome car family.

[covertrussian]

Ordered Tomei EL header since FRSport is having an awesome blackfriday sale on them.

 

Once I find some time I'll finishing typing up the reason for why I went with these vs UEL's (not sound related at all ) or vs other brands.

[covertrussian]

Welp, traded my car for this beast...

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=241473&stc=1&d=1480436135

 

...for today! Legacy is finally getting the deathbag replaced and they gave me the 2017 Outback for as a rental. It's very Toyota like, even sounds like one, my 2012 Outback feels much less bland then this thing .

 

One annoying thing is the throttle mapping, parking this car close to the wall was very scary, slight blip and the thing lunges forward. I've always heard people complaining about Subaru's aggressive DBW mapping but my Legacy and Outback is tame compared to this

 

As for the airbag, they called me about an hour in and said she was done! That means they either got really good at replacing dashes, or they actually did find a way to remove it without removing the dash.

Edited November 29, 2016 by covertrussian

[StkmltS]

Welp, traded my car for this beast...

 

I crapped my pants

"But, but, now where am I going to go for tuning tips?"

 

...for today!

 

A point to you, good sir

[Flinkly]

i went through the same gut-wrenching thought...

[covertrussian]

Figured I would have a little fun! If I were to get anything else, it would be a 5th gen GT since they are more spacious, I almost bit the bullet on one for $13k but then found out that 6th gen 6 speeds are just glorified 5 speeds and not Spec B style.

 

I got the car back from the dealer, she's all good and the dash is in one piece! He said they were able to get to it by dropping the glove box, yay!

 

Anyway, here is the picture of the car from this weekend. I'm not getting much love in the calendar thread so this is my last attempt. It's hard to pictures with the sun being above the car this late in the season thus I'm stuck with shadows, with that said I really like how the shadows fall on the hood in this picture.

Edited November 29, 2016 by covertrussian

[gkinslow]

Only wagons get love in the calendar thread

[covertrussian]

Tomei Equal Length (EL) 193105 header is an overall well designed and engineered header. It sports ~12gauge 304 stainless tubing, with fairly minimal flow restrictions with overall excellent craftsmanship. The biggest drawback of this header is the uppipe flanges are on the thinner side.

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=253403&stc=1&d=1501644734

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=253404&stc=1&d=1501644734

 

My bathroom scale gave it 20.2lbs with up pipe, which is not far from advertised weight.

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=253414&stc=1&d=1501644792

 

Header weight without the up pipe is 16.4lbs, this is so that it can be accurately compared to other up-pipeless headers.

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=253413&stc=1&d=1501644792

 

The head to header inlet ports are pretty well port matched, though I probably will clean it up some.

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=253405&stc=1&d=1501644734

 

Primaries measured at 38.9mm ID and 42.7mm OD in couple different spots

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=253416&stc=1&d=1501644792

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=253417&stc=1&d=1501644792

 

There are slip joints on 2 & 4 cylinder primaries. I was always curious on how they look/work, you can also see how thick the pipes are.

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=253410&stc=1&d=1501644734

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=253411&stc=1&d=1501644734

 

Since the primary to secondary collector is cast, it usually has to be thicker to have the same strength. There is a lot of room for error when dealing with different diameters. In this case secondaries are socket welded to the collector, this means one of the pipes has to be bigger then the other, this opens you up to more flow mistakes like pipe walls and turbulence zones. Tomei made the part of the collector where the secondary slips in be slightly bigger and then cast the collector to be the same inner diameter as the secondary pipes, which is good, but there is still room flow walls in this design. Tomei handled it pretty well for a mass produced item, there are only slight protrusions in both collectors, though I still plan on grinding these down.

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=253412&stc=1&d=1501644734

 

Final merge collector cast is bigger then the secondaries that's why you can see the pipe ends. This is fine because it functions as a anti-reversion step.

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=253406&stc=1&d=1501644734

 

One thing I'm not a fan of is the oxygen sensor location it could be a little more forward of the collector. In the EL header, it will make adjustments based on readings from only 2 cylinders (1 & 2). This is still better then the Tomei UEL header, which has the bung before the single merge collector, thus making adjustments based on only one cylinder.

 

Header outlet is 57.1mm

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=253418&stc=1&d=1501644792

 

Uppipe inlet is very smooth and clean, is 57.1mm just like the header outlet.

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=253407&stc=1&d=1501644734

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=253419&stc=1&d=1501646721

 

Uppipe outlet is necked down to 52.4mm by the turbo flange. I'm a little torn on weather I like this or not. I don't like it because it is a very short neck down, but it could be worse and could be just a wall. Now, I like it because you can bore it out for bigger turbos.

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=253420&stc=1&d=1501644792

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=253409&stc=1&d=1501644734

 

Now if your going to run this with the stock turbo (VF40) keep in mind the turbo inlet is at 44mm, which would create a fairly big step up from Tomei's 52.4mm. Port matching the turbo would be beneficial to reducing flow restrictions.

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=253402&stc=1&d=1501643257

 

I wish Tomei didn't include the useless EGT gauge port, plus the bung does protrude in.

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=253408&stc=1&d=1501644734

 

Flanges thickness

Head flanges are 12mm around the gasket and 11.3mm around the edges. Header to Uppipe flange is on a thinner side at 10.4mm around the gasket, is thinner around the edges though.

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=253415&stc=1&d=1501644792

 

Uppipe to header is also 10.3mm thick, same as header side. Uppipe to turbo is also 10.3mm where the gasket sits and 6.3mm at thinnest points (where supports are bolted). Once again I wish these were all a little thicker, 12mm, to avoid warping overtime.

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=253421&stc=1&d=1501645227

Edited August 2, 2017 by covertrussian

[Flinkly]

never thought about the fact that the OEM O2 only gathers data from a single cylinder...

 

Also, shoulda gone TS.

 

And it'll be fun to see the OEM parts measurements for comparison. i suspect we'll get a post of all that in a week or two. hop to it!

[covertrussian]

never thought about the fact that the OEM O2 only gathers data from a single cylinder...

 

Also, shoulda gone TS.

 

And it'll be fun to see the OEM parts measurements for comparison. i suspect we'll get a post of all that in a week or two. hop to it!

 

I should have clarified that when I said UEL I meant Tomei UEL, updated the post .

 

OEM UEL's O2 sensor is actually about 2-3" after the last merge collector, thus OEM header should be getting AFR's from all 4 cylinders.

 

I already have OEM header's measurements on my phone, actually took them weeks ago before I bit the bullet on this header. I have 3 spare STI headers in my garage, bought them from a local friend when he was leaving town & subaru's .

 

Let's just say I was still thinking about P&P my oem header until I took the measurements, then I said aftermarket tubular is a must .

[rebourne]

Thanks for that analysis ! Fantastic.

[covertrussian]

Took apart the slip joints to see how smooth the transitions were from primaries to secondaries.

 

Here is how the slip joints look like:

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/05%20LGT/Exhaust/Header/Tomei%20193105/Tomei_193105_008.jpg~original

 

Inside transitions are pretty good, not perfect but about as good as mass production cast parts would get .

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/05%20LGT/Exhaust/Header/Tomei%20193105/Tomei_193105_010.jpg~original

 

 

OEM header overview coming soon! Update the other post with pictures of the first collector, slip joints, and flange thickness.

[Rattsl]

This man pays a lot of attention to details.

[StkmltS]

FIFY

I didn't have time to correct your other pics.

[covertrussian]

FIFY

I didn't have time to correct your other pics.

 

Your correct actually, aftermarket headers show capitalism at work. While the crappy OEM ones show utilitarian communism at work

[covertrussian]

Like many OEM manifolds Subaru's USDM OEM UEL turbo header is designed with a lot of compromises, it has to have universal fitment, has to last the life of the car, have decent performance, be easily mass producible, while being as cheap as possible. It's no surprise that aftermarket headers outperform stock headers.

 

One thing the OEM header really has going for it is, it has one of the shortest runners out of all headers, yet it's the heaviest coming in at 25lbs without the uppipe. Cast iron requires thickness to be durable.

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=253385&stc=1&d=1501642638

 

Here is what the driver side and passenger side primaries look like.

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=253386&stc=1&d=1501642638

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=253387&stc=1&d=1501642638

 

As you can probably tell they extremely short, I measured them at 2.625" on driver side and 2" on passenger side. You can see the light bleeding into the other cylinder.

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=253393&stc=1&d=1501642638

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=253394&stc=1&d=1501642638

 

Primaries that short causes the exhaust gasses to bleed into the adjacent cylinder, to makes things worse the two adjacent cylinders fire sequentially (Right-Right-Left-Left, Firing order: 1-3-2-4). If the firing order was non-sequential (Right-Left-Right-Left 1-2-3-4), I don't think this header would be nearly as bad, you wouldn't be trying to cram two pulses into the same small diameter pipe.

 

Primary diameters are oval to say at best, this is probably cast's fault. I measured each cylinder to be between 38-39mm in diameter.

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=253391&stc=1&d=1501642638

 

Like all cast manifolds there are packaging issues, to allow you to install it with decent sized bolts/nuts they usually will have a dimple that reduces the internal diameter of the pipe. Extreme case was cylinder 4 with 36.4mm diameter dimple

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=253392&stc=1&d=1501642638

 

Cylinder 2 & 4's manifold outlet is at 38.9mm. I feel like this is very undersized for two sequential pulses, I think it should have been 45mm easily.

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=253395&stc=1&d=1501642638

 

Now we are at the crossover pipe (x-pipe) for cylinder 2 & 4, Crossover pipes are taunted as the worst offenders for flow, after measuring everything I tend to agree, the biggest issue with this design comes form cheap manufacturing. Crossover pipe has the flex section welded on, from what I've read it has a lot of flow restrictions too. It's not wise not to have a flex section though, since aluminum heads and steel/cast iron headers will expand and different rates.

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=253389&stc=1&d=1501642638

 

Crossover's inlet flange has a 44.7mm diameter, then there is about 5mm before the actual pipe begins, this in itself is not bad because it can help reduce reversion. Then finally the actual pipe is 40.7mm, which is presented as a step up thus creating a flow wall, if it was a smooth transition from the flange I wouldn't have as big of a problem with it.

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=253396&stc=1&d=1501642638

 

Crossover's outlet flange has similar characteristics as the inlet. Flange measured in at 41.7mm and the actual pipe necked down to 39.4mm

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=253397&stc=1&d=1501642638

 

At this point the crossover pipe merges with the second manifold from cylinder 1 & 3. The merge here is not bad too, it's a bigger 39.7mm, which is good.

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=253398&stc=1&d=1501642638

 

Now we are at Cylinder 1 & 3, as you can see these runners are much shorter then 2 & 4's, here is where the unequalness of the OEM manifold comes from. Since 1 & 3 has this sharp 180* turn to take, it's the same as adding a few inches to the overall travel distance (gasses will slow down to the same speed as if they were to travel a longer pipe).

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=253388&stc=1&d=1501642638

 

As you can see the O2 sensor is actually in a decent spot to receive mixtures from all 4 cylinders.

 

Finally the header outlet, it measured at 41.7mm. With sequential cylinder pairing I once again believe this should be much larger, 50mm minimum.

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=253390&stc=1&d=1501642638

 

Another thing to keep in mind is how much space the O2 sensor uses. This reduces the effective diameter by a good amount.

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=261305&stc=1&d=1516930789

 

 

From here the OEM Catted Uppipe is at 38.8mm at the inlet, since this steps up it creates a wall for the exhaust gasses to hit, not good.

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=253399&stc=1&d=1501643257

 

Outlet for the OEM catted is at 41.4mm

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=253400&stc=1&d=1501643257

 

STI/Catless Uppipe's inlet is much better with a ~43mm opening, since this is bigger then the header outlet the step down doesn't create a "flow wall". Unfortunately I don't have a Catless up pipe to measure the outlet with.

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=253401&stc=1&d=1501643257

 

Finally here is the stock VF40 turbo inlet, like most other cast things it is oval too, I measured it to be between 44-45mm. I picked the smaller number to display, since your exhaust is as big as the smallest pipe.

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=253402&stc=1&d=1501643257

Edited January 26, 2018 by covertrussian