Xtea's 2006 midlife denial Outback XT

[xtea]

June 2014 my 2001 Subaru Forester S threw a rod. I had a probably not been treating her well and ignoring checking the oil as frequently as I should have since it had been burning for a bit. I loved that car so much and it was apart of some of my best memories. But I had always wanted to put a turbo on it and I had always loved the outback body style. Instead of looking for a forester xt I thought I would try something new and go for an outback.

 

My girlfriend and mother of my kid with one on the way was deeply against the idea of my flying from MN to CO to buy a used car. I wanted a manual, I wanted a turbo, and I wanted an outback. Bonus points that this one was black. So I took what was left of my sense of freedom and virility and channeled it into the realm of my automotive relationship and flew down to colorado determined to get a box to enjoy myself in while in life's moments of transit.

 

Here she is upon my first fill up.

 

 

 

 

I did the stupid thing and bought a car from out of state without having anything checked. Knowing this going in I bought an extended warranty through my credit union that gave me 60 days to cancel. I figured this was good insurance against engines blowing up. Turns out I got home ok.

[xtea]

After having the car home for a bit I noticed some rust on the roof that was not visible when I first looked at.

 

 

 

So not knowing anything about anything at all I again did the stupid thing and got a maaco paint job.

 

 

 

 

 

With the fresh paint job I did another stupid thing and plastidipped all the out black plastic trim. The fade was super strong against the fresh paint and so I felt like I needed to do something.

 

[ttnio]

Congrats...

 

Don't worry, all will be well...

[xtea]

With some more plastidip on the grill and some headlight waxing she gets a little more pretty. Oh and the windows got tinted soon after.

 

 

Then a JMPvf46 went in with a bulletproofed intercooler Sti Up and Cobb DP. The car made power and torque. I experienced what some have called a "butt dyno".

 

 

 

I recognize my photos are not exciting but I didn't document very well.

 

[xtea]

Every 6 months a certain forum member who shall not be named but remembered in perpetuity for his invention of the YNANSB abbreviation, would whisper in my ear through facebook about some fancy turbo JMP was working on. I think my life was getting more stressful and I felt more walls closing in so that meant I needed to flush my bank account into my engine bay. This marked the first round of phucs being ejected from my person and thus started my journey to not having any left to give.

 

So I got this from JMP

 

 

 

 

 

And this from some guy on nasioc.

 

 

 

 

 

Then I had this done to it because I'm neurotic and supposedly temp paint on a street car matters. Actually I did it for rust protection and resale.

 

 

 

 

And a few other things and life was fine for a couple weeks until I got corn. I picked it up from the tuner with an e85 tune. My first wot pull on the off ramp and I bent a rod. This was devastating. Its not in my nature to cheerfully accept defeat and so in went a new short block with manley pistons and arp head studs.

[xtea]

I didnt get it dyno'd with the vf52 on pump. I think my virtual dyno's where somewhere between 275 and 310 depending on reasons. I did however get it dyno'd with corn.

 

JMPvf52

e85

Grimmspeed TMIC, UP, ecbs

DW850s, DW65c

Cobb DP

AVO mufflers

Stock mid-Y

Turbosmart BPV

Full Race 1.5 scroll El header.

 

[xtea]

With a vf52 and corn juice the outback suspension starts to feel like those animals on springs at playgrounds when you punch it. So its time to get low. So I acquired some used usdm spec b take off bilsteins (the soft kind) and put king springs in the rear, bought a vape and started wearing my hat crooked.

 

This is how she looked when I got her home.

 

 

And after Settling a little.

 

 

I decided a month later I wanted more low and put jdm pinks on and I liked how it looked for some time.

 

[xtea]

Now that the suspension could handle the power (sort of) I thought, so why not more turbo. Even with corn the power band is driven through so fast on the vf52 that I wanted something for 4th gear to have more punch. I didn't want to lose any spool or as little spool as possible. At the time I was very intrigued by the EFR thread on nasioc. It looked like the efr 6758 was a turbo no one was using but that delivered the perfect combination of low and top end for a daily driver. I describe it as a vf52 down low and a dom 1.5 uptop. There were some IRL turbos floating around used since IRL was switching to the 7163. I got lucky and found a nice honest canadian (double redundant) to sell me 6758 that was only used for testing purposes. I got a sweet deal on it and it came with the lighter exhaust housing the IRL uses.

 

I didn't want to pay for the full race stock location kit, I wanted to use my Grimmspeed TMIC with the turbo, and I wanted a 3" intake. So that meant I had to go custom. I found a local welder who worked out of his garage and he quoted me a great price as well. He fabbed me a up a 3" vband downpipe, diced up an sti uppipe and welded it into a silly straw and bam custom rotated kit with tmic optimization. It's not pretty. But I can't see any of it. Here some pics though of the process.

 

Of note The diced up sti up pipe seems like the choke point in my exhaust other then the turbo. Not sure if that helps me like a velocity stack or if it’s a drag point in the higher rpms.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[xtea]

More pics.

 

 

 

 

 

My frankenstein 3" silicone and coupler intake. The spouts are for the catch can and bpv.

 

[xtea]

EFR 6758 e85 @ 23 and 26 psi

Custom 3" turboback

Sti Uppipe butchered

3" Frank-Intake

ID1300's

Walboro 450

WRX fuel rails

Top Feed TGV deletes

4 port ebcs

turbosmart dual port iwg

Full Race 1.5 scroll EL header

Grimmspeed TMIC

Manley Pistons

ARP headstuds

 

The local dyno I used is the lowest reading locally of the 3 dynos I know of. My previous stage 2 was dyno'd on a mustang which at the time was the lowest reading dyno in the twin cities. They figure their dyno reads at least 12% lower then the local mustang, and 26% lower then the local dynojet. They tuned me to "400" based on the local mustang that everyone is used to comparing from since the shops dyno that I used this time is less then a year old.

 

As comparison this shows the 6758 on 23 psi vs a stage 2 wrx.

 

 

 

 

26 PSI on e85

 

 

 

Vs their shop car with twin scroll dom 1.5

 

[xtea]

With great power comes great responsibility.... to have a suspension that will keep up with car.

 

Josh at Importimage convinced me to get FA500s. I have 8k/8k spring rates and ride in the summer very close to full stiff. I might put 10k/10k on at somepoint.

 

 

 

Before I did that I swapped the sti springs for swifts to see if that made any difference. It did and it was a lot less floaty then with the sti pinks and the stance is awesome ultimately I do not enjoy the ride quality though. I am currently using the swifts and bilsteins as my winter set up. Next winter I hope to upgrade to HD's for my winter struts.

 

 

 

This is how she sits on the coils.

 

 

 

And how she sits now with swifts bilsteins and winter wheels.

 

 

The FA500's on the other hand make my car feel like katana on the road. Firm, stable, not harsh, well controlled. I know its a cheap coilover, but its still the best feeling and looking suspension I have had the car yet.

[xtea]

My car also has this. Well, the exact same one. It looks utterly the same. I have black interior though.

 

 

 

I also puy in some STI front seats. You can read about it here: http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php/08-sti-seat-bolts-into-06-legacy-outback-265296.html?t=265296

 

 

 

 

And I gave my car a clitoris and some new boots.

 

[RckyMtnGT]

Thanks for taking the time for a build post, lots of good info and solutions here. Chances are, I'll be asking you more questions before my build is done. Got me all jazzed for that EFR power

 

aaaand, now I'm on the hunt for some STI seats, too...thanks for that

[tocinoman25]

Nice writeup and love this build! Congrats on your journey! Good stuff right here

 

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

[bdcvg]

No mention on if He still has the G/F

[xtea]

No mention on if He still has the G/F

 

Recently traded for more garage space, higher reliability and lower maintenance cost.

 

[jonnyt88]

Nice ride!.. I kinda regret not going to the bilstein / swift route.... So do the credit card companies though as the cheaper route helped me pay them faster!

 

Do you miss the power seats? How do you find the thigh support on the STi seats? I with my OBXT had longer seat bottoms. Lately, I just can't get comfy and would like the alcantra, though they aren't power and I would want to black-out the STi Logo.

[WRX USA]

Nice ride!.. I kinda regret not going to the bilstein / swift route.... So do the credit card companies though as the cheaper route helped me pay them faster!

 

Do you miss the power seats? How do you find the thigh support on the STi seats? I with my OBXT had longer seat bottoms. Lately, I just can't get comfy and would like the alcantra, though they aren't power and I would want to black-out the STi Logo.

 

I installed JDM STi Recaro’s in my OBXT which also aren’t powered. You’d think you’d miss it but it is quite the opposite. It’s much easier to move the seat quicker and honestly once you have found your seating position you really aren’t moving it. The Recaro’s have a manual adjustment “wheel” on the reclining back which is great for making micro adjustments to the seating position when you are on longer drives.

[xtea]

What he said.

 

I will posit, a reupholstered stock legacy seat with alcantara might be even better.

[KGB]

Awesome build xtea,

welcome to the EFR world - here is a pict of my EFR 7163 (twin scroll) setup

https://www.instagram.com/p/BZHrwN4FAgR/

FYI: my car is an automatic (built tranny) >500hp, more on e85, scarry

Cheers!

[xtea]

Awesome build xtea,

welcome to the EFR world - here is a pict of my EFR 7163 (twin scroll) setup

https://www.instagram.com/p/BZHrwN4FAgR/

FYI: my car is an automatic (built tranny) >500hp, more on e85, scarry

Cheers!

 

Now thats a good lookin engine bay!

 

I would really love to see your dyno graph. If someone wants to loan me a single scroll 7163 I will do back to back comparisons. I am already set up to run it when I want.