Springtime upgrade and repairs advice sought

[AWDFTW]

So this winter I'll be alternating my 2006 OBXT and the old 02 H6 wagon as my daily commuters depending on some assorted circumstances. Come spring it'll be time for some tune up/servicing/upgrades on the XT.

 

XT thus far has:

Cobb V3 AccessPort with Stage 1 91 octane OTS tune.

Bulletproofing kit on TMIC as leaks were starting.

Subtle Solutions radiator shroud.

Bolts soaking in Liquid Wrench to inspect or remove banjo bolt filters.

Fresh oil change of Castrol 0W40 with Fram Ultra oil filter and a Fumoto valve.

 

Here's what I have so far to install in the spring:

Air filter (paper)

Spark plugs (OEM NGK type)

PCV assembly (OEM Subaru)

Grimmspeed crank pulley, used

Accessory belts, new

Unknown brand catless uppipe, used

Grimmspeed turbo heatshield, used

Some ReflectAGold tape for heatshield

 

Still searching and/or saving for:

TBD turbo inlet, see below

Cobb/Perrin/somebody post MAF tube

Cobb/somebody throttle body to TMIC coupler

Cobb catted downpipe for 5EAT, used if can be found

Thermal Solutions uppipe blanket?

 

Questions:

I saw some tears forming on my turbo inlet right where it meets the turbo. Looks like I can get get an OEM Subaru one for $100ish or a Cobb one for $200ish. It is worth the $$$ difference for a daily driver with reliability in mind? This isn't a track car, it's my dadwagon. Dependable and MPG (lol but turbo tho) are more important than skidpad and top speed for me.

 

Should I pull the intake manifold off for all this work? I'd really rather not if I can avoid it at all, but the PCV and inlet intimidate me with the room to work.

 

Other than keeping the fluids fresh, what else if anything should I be looking for as far as reliability improver upgrades should I be looking at?

 

My basic powerplant plans are to replace as many vacuum lines as I can reach during this, get to Stage 2 if I can find a DP with my currently available budget, acquire protune after Stage 2, and then drive until the wheels fall off with any further power upgrades being replacements due to wear at that point (like upgrading to a VF52 or BNR 16g, and/or TMIC replacement, etc). She's only got 125,000ish miles and I'd like to get 250,000ish out of her if possible.

[Max Capacity]

Intake tube. IMO, if you lift the whole intake system at the TGV's to Head, I think its 6 bolts and new gaskets, drain the coolant down some, disconnect the fuel lines from the left shock tower. The turbo inlet tube should be easy.

 

In my click here link you can see my intake system removed as a whole. I used a OEM tube years ago.

 

I just pulled the PCV off my wagon, took about 30 minutes with the Grimmspeed tmic. Have to wait until Wednesday for the new PCV at NAPA.

 

Also snug up the gas line clamps under the manifold.

Edited October 31, 2021 by Max Capacity

[Max Capacity]

Just took a few photos.

 

Here's where the turbo inlet connects, along with my old PCV. I also removed the bracket that supports the front of the GS tmic. Notice the bolt threads with anti-sieze compound. Those two bolts came out easy.

 

 

 

 

I also had to re-splice that wire round that big brown connector.

Edited October 31, 2021 by Max Capacity

[whitexc]

Good luck finding any catted DP for a 5EAT car. I am waiting on Cobb to make more and ship mine out. Ordered it about a month ago. Not many manufacturers of them and then catted makes it tougher to find it seems. If you aren't in a hurry(I was) scour the various classifieds and hopefully something pops up.

 

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