DougKelly20 Posted April 9, 2021 Share Posted April 9, 2021 (edited) 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. Edited June 10, 2022 by DougKelly20 Updated Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DougKelly20 Posted April 9, 2021 Author Share Posted April 9, 2021 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.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DougKelly20 Posted April 9, 2021 Author Share Posted April 9, 2021 More Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DougKelly20 Posted April 9, 2021 Author Share Posted April 9, 2021 More Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KJS2023 Posted April 9, 2021 Share Posted April 9, 2021 Looks great man and with a nice list of mods to go with it. ————————————————— HPS intake, Nameless Axleback Exhaust, SSD FSB, Cusco RSB, 20mm rear sway bar, Voxx 18” rims, Infinity Kappa system, More to come... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DougKelly20 Posted April 9, 2021 Author Share Posted April 9, 2021 Thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grnlantern1 Posted April 10, 2021 Share Posted April 10, 2021 Looks great man and with a nice list of mods to go with it. ————————————————— HPS intake, Nameless Axleback Exhaust, SSD FSB, Cusco RSB, 20mm rear sway bar, Voxx 18” rims, Infinity Kappa system, More to come...I have too many don't want to bore all the Non Car guys here.. Cars looking great though..Keep up the Great Work.. Sent from my SM-G988U using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DougKelly20 Posted April 10, 2021 Author Share Posted April 10, 2021 (edited) Haha well it's a car forum so I would imagine there are plenty of car people here, and if they don't like it they can skip to the " why is my maintenance so daunting " threads. Edited April 10, 2021 by DougKelly20 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d0bdish18 Posted April 10, 2021 Share Posted April 10, 2021 Thank you for sharing!!!! Sent from my Pixel 4 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hershizzle Posted May 6, 2021 Share Posted May 6, 2021 I've been looking at doing just the exhaust and tune on my 3.6. How much of a difference did you notice? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DougKelly20 Posted May 7, 2021 Author Share Posted May 7, 2021 Axle back, lots of volume, a little drone. Tune, about 209 to the wheels based on some software estimates. I think stock is 189. Butt dyno : worth it. FULL exhaust and retune....still waiting on the fabricator. But will provide an update. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DougKelly20 Posted May 7, 2021 Author Share Posted May 7, 2021 (edited) Painted the calipers last week. Edited May 7, 2021 by DougKelly20 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KJS2023 Posted May 8, 2021 Share Posted May 8, 2021 Nice job came out great ————————————————— HPS intake, Nameless Axleback Exhaust, SSD FSB, Cusco RSB, 20mm rear sway bar, Voxx 18” rims, Infinity Kappa system, More to come... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DougKelly20 Posted May 8, 2021 Author Share Posted May 8, 2021 Thanks!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DougKelly20 Posted July 11, 2021 Author Share Posted July 11, 2021 Headers finally came in after 6 months of back and forth, including 2 months of production and a whole month of shipping fiasco. I have an appointment to get them installed, assuming they fit, this coming Friday! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phuzaxeman Posted July 16, 2021 Share Posted July 16, 2021 Nice upgrades. I'm wondering what the difference at the track would be like 1/4 mile and trap speed or lap times on a track. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DougKelly20 Posted July 18, 2021 Author Share Posted July 18, 2021 Exhaust and intake are in! Exhaust was fabbed with my lame ass measurements, and the 5th gen for reference so there were a few small issues which I'll help the guy correct. It hangs down about an inch further than it needs to and the O2 sensors had to be accommodated for....essentially another inch or so was required to be added to the bank 2 downstream sensor, and the floor needed to be dented in to accommodate bank 1's down stream sensor. I think moving the cats back 2 inches would fix both or rotating bank 1 15-20 degrees toward the center. I had an ultra quiet vibrant resonator added and 2.5 inch piping all the way to the rear Y where it goes 2.25 to meet the nameless axle backs. It's super loud. Great tone, but it might be a bit much....well see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grnlantern1 Posted July 19, 2021 Share Posted July 19, 2021 Exhaust and intake are in! Exhaust was fabbed with my lame ass measurements, and the 5th gen for reference so there were a few small issues which I'll help the guy correct. It hangs down about an inch further than it needs to and the O2 sensors had to be accommodated for....essentially another inch or so was required to be added to the bank 2 downstream sensor, and the floor needed to be dented in to accommodate bank 1's down stream sensor. I think moving the cats back 2 inches would fix both or rotating bank 1 15-20 degrees toward the center. I had an ultra quiet vibrant resonator added and 2.5 inch piping all the way to the rear Y where it goes 2.25 to meet the nameless axle backs. It's super loud. Great tone, but it might be a bit much....well see.Looks good but definitely might drag on speed bumps.. Sent from my SM-G988U using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DougKelly20 Posted July 19, 2021 Author Share Posted July 19, 2021 Yeah...gonna have to raise the coilovers a bit I think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DougKelly20 Posted July 27, 2021 Author Share Posted July 27, 2021 OK, well, tuning is complete! I hear stock is about 189-190WHP and these are the eDynos the tuner uses. They look weird because...CVT. Gained about 20 HP from just a KNN and the tune. Another 30 HP after the aFe intake and custom exhaust with retune. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grnlantern1 Posted July 27, 2021 Share Posted July 27, 2021 Nice good to see some Dyno Numbers on the 3.6r.. I have AFE Intake as well but stock exhaust.. Sent from my SM-G988U using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrCobbs Posted July 30, 2021 Share Posted July 30, 2021 This was mine stock from Ed. It’s weird how some cars have different numbers. I’m getting the exhaust done now and it should be ready by tomorrow. I’m curious what numbers Ed can push out after the exhaust and the intake mod, etc. 2nd graph below is the actual dyno last May. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grnlantern1 Posted July 30, 2021 Share Posted July 30, 2021 Sometimes it depends on what model dyno is used... Also if the tuner matched the CVT with the Engine ECU Since they work together.. Sent from my SM-G988U using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DougKelly20 Posted July 30, 2021 Author Share Posted July 30, 2021 Yeah, that's different by a LOT. But I find it odd given that the engine is rated 256 at the crank that you are experiencing very little drivetrain loss...yet your numbers are close on two different types of dynos. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DougKelly20 Posted March 8, 2022 Author Share Posted March 8, 2022 Well, the headers were great for 9 months or so....NY winters and a lowered car aren't the best recipe for success. I hit a huge pothole and damaged the headers enough to break the seal at the vband. Inferno agreed to make me new ones and make some changes since they sagged a bit low. Probably will take 3-6 weeks or more so I'm gonna grab a beater in the meantime. Once the parts come back I'll also have the dealership throw on the CVT cooler I ordered. Should be ready by June to start hitting the track again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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