An introduction

[blackobxt]

So this is less of a build and more of an introduction on my 05 obxt since its really not anything exciting. I bought the car blown up for a song after my wife informed me that she regrets me getting rid of her other 05 obxt in the same trim. It was advertised as having a bad turbo, but it was so blown that you could see bearing material on the dipstick.

 

this was in the head, from the blown turbo

 

remove your banjo filters people

went through the heads, hand polished cam surfaces and lashed valves. Took three days of cleaning to get all the bearing material out of them.

New shortblock, new water pump and all the usual jazz

fu cam bolts installed on rebuilt avcs gears. the gears were full of bearing material

BNR 16g

and all installed and ready for the wife in all its de-tuned glory

[blackobxt]

Fast forward to our move to AZ and my wife is sick of pushing a clutch on her stop and go highway commute to work. We got her a different car and i take over the subaru and with all my cars, i just cant leave them alone, so of course i lowered it on lgt struts.

 

before:

after:

 

The complete list is,

new oem shortblock

fu-tic cam bolts

killer bee pickup tube

invidia catless up pipe

invidia divorced catted down pipe into the stock exhaust

bnr 16g with inline filter coming off a sandwich plate

single mass flywheel complete with rattling clutch springs

lgt struts with king springs in the rear

whiteline control arm bushings in front

spec b rear upper control arms with whiteline camber bushings

jdm hvac with headrest monitors, alpine pdx-5, jl c5's, jl c3's and a w3

cubby pod with not one but two boost gauges

viper remote start with security and a smart start module.

2 car seats

 

I should really leave it alone because this is not the car i should be building but the things id like to do are:

whiteline front and rear sway bars

swap out the obxt spacers with lgt parts

a 6sp swap

and it needs a cryotune but i cant decide if i want bigger fueling or not

some kind of top mount

replace one of the boost gauges with a wideband i have laying around

 

and as a bonus for proof that i cant leave anything alone:

Edited September 25, 2020 by blackobxt

[seanyb505]

Nice looking engine build and OB. What's the tune situation now if you want to move to Cryotune?

 

 

 

What's the turbo GM? Is that the pick up behind the OB in a picture? Good fun?

[blackobxt]

As far as tune, i just have timing pulled and verified afrs so the wife could safely drive it since she doesnt care about the speed or power. Im decent enough with tuning for powah but not so much drivability and it has some issues that need sorted at idle with ac on which im assuming is due to the single mass so it seems more effective to just pay someone to do it and Ive had great feedback from recommending him to customers.

 

The turbo gm is the truck in the picture, z71 4wd with a 78mm turbo. Made 400hp on 6psi with stock cam and it has a ton left but still has the 4l60. its great fun

[Max Capacity]

Surprised you put the EGT probe in. We remove them and cut a bolt down to plug the hole and put the 2.2kohm resistor in the connector on the fender or just have the Tuner delete the code.

 

Car dose look good.

[blackobxt]

Surprised you put the EGT probe in. We remove them and cut a bolt down to plug the hole and put the 2.2kohm resistor in the connector on the fender or just have the Tuner delete the code.

 

Car dose look good.

 

Thanks! Its one of those "looks good from a distance" cars. It is crowchecked and needs to be painted and is real high on the priority list when we move back to wyoming. I havent had any issues with the egt, does it effect the tune in anyway?

[Max Capacity]

The probe only is an issue if/when it breaks off.

 

It's one of the things we use to rationalize replacing the catted up pipe. When we installed a catless up pipe we plug that EGT port.

 

Edited September 25, 2020 by Max Capacity

[blackobxt]

Good to know, I’m sure I have a 2.2kohm resistor laying around. That sounds like a good project to accomplish this afternoon

[blackobxt]

Update: did the egt delete, whiteline shifter bushings, group n motor and trans mounts, rock auto aluminum lca’s with “upgraded” bushings and when I went to install the whiteline diff inserts, the studs started backing out of the diff so I aborted till I have more time.

 

Even with the pending alignment, the car is completely different in a much better way. The handling and suspension are a lot more crisp and the shifts are much better. But with everything feeling better I’m noticing the downfalls of my setup. The used lgt struts feel squishier than I’d like and even though the shifter is years better, it’s still sloppier than I’d like. I’d say Bilsteins or Konis are on the list for future changes and the subframe definitely needs rebuilt or replaced, and I think I’ll be happy with the shifter till I actually decide what version 6 speed I’m going to go with. The whiteline rsb is waiting on braces for an install and I haven’t decided if I’m going to try my autozone “brembos” or buy some authentic brembos (which I’d definitely prefer). Either way, the car finally feels solid enough to finally get a tune so that will likely be next.

[03LegacyLE]

I got excited there for second when I saw the LS... thought someone had done the dream swap.

[blackobxt]

I got excited there for second when I saw the LS... thought someone had done the dream swap.

 

Yeah I wish, that has to be one of the funnest most problem free setups I’ve ever had. If there was an awd LS powered wagon, I’d definitely be rocking it with the same turbo setup as the truck. I’ve been wanting a Buick roadmaster for a while now but the wife’s giving me a lot of push back on it

[blackobxt]

It’s been awhile so here’s an update:

after lunch with @boxkita I felt a renewed motivation to install the massive pile of parts I had in the garage. Also, the family has officially added Mod Pizza to our list of spots so thank you for that sir!

 

Currently the car has the entire catalogue of whiteline bushings, complete subframe spacer delete, lgt kartboy shifter, Koni’s, swift springs, 2015 STI steering rack and the fenders have been rolled and clearanced. The ride is phenomenal and I have zero rub and the alignment is all green. I have 25mm wheel spacers that will definitely make things rub so I’m grabbing a set of 20mm spacers till I can decide on a set of wheels. Next project is powder coating the brembos and I got quote from a painter who does pretty good work on getting the girl a fresh coat of makeup. The roof is showing some light rust around the sunroof due to the bad crow checking from the paint. He made me a really good deal to do the top half when I offered to detrim the car and drop the sunroof. Anyone got a set of legacy wagon roof rails they would be willing to part with?

Edited March 22 by blackobxt