Wasted Potential Posted December 23, 2017 Share Posted December 23, 2017 2005 LGT wagon, 5EAT. I have a VF52, stock fueling, stock inlet and air box, Cobb catted down pipe, nameless 5" axleback, catles uppipe, mishimoto intercooler, Cobb accessport, and am about get to get the vehicle e tuned for prior mentioned mods. Worth mentioning I have less than 5k miles on the new OEM sending unit/pump, so it has not been there for the last 123k. I am debating pulling the trigger on buying a wideband kit, 750-850cc side feed injectors, and an upgraded fuel pump for ~$800-1k. On top of more tuning $200-$500. I worry that the extra power will put the vehicle into a large strain area, such as excessive transmission heat due to no valvebody mod, and no ability to adjust line pressure via accessport, nor an additional external cooler. Not only will it induce excessive transmission wear, but the increase in "unreliability" seems nearly inevitable in other system components. For those who have done it, is it necessarily worth it, have you noticed more problems arising from bumping up fueling and making marginal more Power? Should this money be spent elsewhere such as suspension, brakes, transmission, 'set aside funding if accidental pant pooping happens? I recall Max Capacity hit 280/300 WHP/ft-lbs through a 5mt, I feel with the auto I will be lucky for 265/280 WHP/ft-lbs without fueling. With fueling, maybe 320/330 if I am lucky. Edit: would a valve body modification somehow effect how it is protuned, or induce the tuner to engine other parameters to be adjusted? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
awesterner Posted December 23, 2017 Share Posted December 23, 2017 Aside from your VF52 I have similar mods as you. I'm heading dow the money pit too though....but I'm trying to restrain myself. But a turbo is this spring... I have a wideband, it was about $160 and is worth it. Your tuner will see 11.14 on your pulls from your Acceport, and you may see 10.1 at the bell mouth with your WB...so communicate with your tuner that you have a wideband and hopefully they can accomodate. I think Max's tuner has a kit that can work with the AP. If they don't have that kit anymore I don't know how that would work. Oddly enough the old 5EAT's are pretty cheap, like almost as cheap as a clutch job at a dealer haha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holla Posted December 23, 2017 Share Posted December 23, 2017 I’ve debated this many times. I have a very similar setup, basic stage 2 vf-52 with stock fueling but my car is a manual. My car has been dead nuts relieable for the past 6 years/60k miles. I’ve been tempted many times to go with some ID1000’s a new fuel pump and a new tune, but I can’t bring myself to mess with my perfectly running car, especially seeing how many people on this board are plagued with unresolved issues or even worse, needing a rebuild. This is how I’ve ended up with a spec b 6 speed swap, Brembos, coilovers and a bunch of interior mods. To me, it’s not worth it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aj_mariner Posted December 23, 2017 Share Posted December 23, 2017 It’s only worth it if you are having fun with it. The minute it becomes a headache, chip up and switch tables. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Capacity Posted December 23, 2017 Share Posted December 23, 2017 IMO, No. I've been on stock fueling since Aug 2011 with my vf52 in the wagon. Its more then fast enough to get a speeding ticket. 305,600miles 5/2012 ej257 short block, 8/2011 installed VF52 turbo, @20.8psi, 280whp, 300ftlbs. (SOLD). CHECK your oil, these cars use it. Engine Build - Click Here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wasted Potential Posted December 23, 2017 Author Share Posted December 23, 2017 Usually the answer I look for is "screw it, do it!" However, as I become more tame with age I could not agree more with you all - am just looking for validation. Would you all still advise the wideband and a dyno tune, or just e tune with no wideband? Edit: forgot to mention will install the grimmspeed EBCS when I get a base map/tune. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Notorious Posted December 23, 2017 Share Posted December 23, 2017 Not sure if you have done any suspension work on the car yet but I’d rather spend money there than what you’ve mentioned. Always more fun to take corners faster than go in a straight line. If you’ve done suspension then I still probably wouldn’t considering the 5EAT. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
traildogck Posted December 23, 2017 Share Posted December 23, 2017 Not sure if you have done any suspension work on the car yet but I’d rather spend money there than what you’ve mentioned. Always more fun to take corners faster than go in a straight line. If you’ve done suspension then I still probably wouldn’t considering the 5EAT. Agreed. I have done more Chassis work to both of my cars than most owners of these cars even realize is possible in some cases. My 2006 has crazy $ thrown at it. Top feed conversion, ID 1000 injectors, parallel fuel delivery, 3/8" delivery lines. And even tho it can be pushed harder with all of the supporting cooling mods. We have it limited to around 300 CHP. (Mile High Altitude) It's plenty fast for what it is, but its handles all that power really well. My 2005 is basically stock power, but still handles like its tethered to the tarmac. CKE SSP product information and sales : chris.ckessp@gmail.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
utc_pyro Posted December 23, 2017 Share Posted December 23, 2017 I am debating pulling the trigger on buying a wideband kit, 750-850cc side feed injectors, and an upgraded fuel pump for ~$800-1k. On top of more tuning $200-$500. You can do this for a lot less. $250 used sidefeeds, $100 new pump. LC2's go for about $125 on ebay. PM me I can hook you up with the former two. I worry that the extra power will put the vehicle into a large strain area, such as excessive transmission heat due to no valvebody mod, and no ability to adjust line pressure via accessport, nor an additional external cooler. If you're willing to go opensource, you can indirectly tune it. I STRONGLY advise people NOT go stage 3 on the '05-'06 5EAT on Cobb due to how the injector scaling will screw with the signals the ECU sends the TCU. Some have had success with modded valve bodies on cobb though. ClimberD isnt doing int any more, but he gave great directions for installing the Trasngo kit. The '07-'09 cars are safe® in this regard as they reference g/rev load instead of base injector pulsewidth. Tranny coolers are sub $100 and easy to install. Edit: would a valve body modification somehow effect how it is protuned, or induce the tuner to engine other parameters to be adjusted? No. It just would lessen the chance of eating the trasmission's clutch packs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wasted Potential Posted December 23, 2017 Author Share Posted December 23, 2017 Transmission Valve Body Mod - TransGo RE5R05A HD-2 kit - 230 ATF - Subaru HP ATF (12 Qts) - 80 Trans. Filter - Subaru OE Filter - 20 Cooler - Tru Cool 4454 - 60 SUM = 390 Fuel Injectors - Used DW - 250 Pump - AEM - 110 SUM = 360 Monitoring Wideband - AEM UEGO - 170 Wideband Mount - JCSPODS - 170 SUM = 340 Tune Dyno Tune - Fee over E-Tune - 250 SUM = 250 Labor = 8 Hours Final Sum = $1340 Plus Tax & 8 Hours Labor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shralp Posted December 23, 2017 Share Posted December 23, 2017 Meh, not sure if you want to go for it, guess it depends on how hungry you are for power . Doubt you'll make 320/330 on an auto tranny with those upgrades anyway, (of course that depends on what dyno your using of course), I have similar mods to you, (but on a 6MT) and my numbers on Cobb's Mustang heartbreaker are just a shade under 300HP and 327TQ with 740 injectors and a Wahlbro pump. Also, the head tuner at Cobb Surgeline commented that they don't like trying to push numbers on side feeds anyway as they can tend to be too variable when tuning, (I assume this is why Subaru moved to top feeds). So now your looking at top feed conversion etc etc which is an even bigger investment. I'm going thru the same thing on my daily driver right now, an '08 Outback XT 5MT. Just put in a JMP upgraded VF52 while my new short block and heads were being put in. Decided I'm just going to stick with stock fueling and keep it reliable. Hell I'm even running the stock intercooler for now until the end tanks blow and then I'll put a Grimmspeed TMIC on the track car and swap over my Perrin to the Outback. If I can put down anything near what Max Capacity is doing with his VF52 set up that'll be plenty for me on a DD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wasted Potential Posted December 23, 2017 Author Share Posted December 23, 2017 Have had the faster toys. 70mm foxbody! Miss that... Always have issues with wanting to push boundaries. Always seem to do that and get in over my head financially and sell it. Sorry for mentioning this again, should I just go for an e tune or just do the wideband and dyno tune? Or no wideband and just dyno? Nearest AWD dyno is about 4.5 hours away.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigleben Posted December 23, 2017 Share Posted December 23, 2017 I had the same ''problem'' before on my 07 OBXT. VF52 + GS tmic + 3port EBCS + TBE , etc. With the GS CAI I had boost creep issues so I upgraded to ID850 to keep things safe. My car didn't respond well to the upgraded injectors: stumbles, low load hiccups, everything that made DD a nightmare. I don't blame the tuner since he e-tuned my OBXT from stg1 to vf52+fuel and is well-known in the subaru world. I went back to OEM fueling with a slight porting of the wastegate on a vf48 (basically a vf52 with STI compressor) which solved the issue and made my car fun to drive again. IMPO, fueling isn't worth it and that money could be spent elsewhere. OTOH the WB is a nice thing to have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robburns201 Posted December 23, 2017 Share Posted December 23, 2017 Just wide band and Tune....WB is gonna help the tuner a lot.... Sent from my 0PJA2 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Capacity Posted December 23, 2017 Share Posted December 23, 2017 Most Tuners should have a WB at the dyno. contact my Tuner, tuningalliance@gmail.com tell Mike I sent you, he'll set you up well with a vf52 tune. 305,600miles 5/2012 ej257 short block, 8/2011 installed VF52 turbo, @20.8psi, 280whp, 300ftlbs. (SOLD). CHECK your oil, these cars use it. Engine Build - Click Here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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