WRX exhaust fitment for LGT Wagons

[pnw_lgt]

Hey all, I'm very new to the Legacy forums and dont really know how things work around here so if something about this post looks off thats probably why.

I bought an '05 Legacy GT wagon 5MT recently, its completely stock with just over 65k miles on the clock. I decided that a catback exhaust will be my first mod to get that boxer rumble we all love, so I've been searching for exhausts and unfortunately there are not any LGT specific exhausts that I would want on my car. Outside of the Legacy world, I have been looking at Tomei expreme series exhaust, and I read in a forum post that 15+ catbacks for the wrx are "nearly a direct bolt up" to a legacy gt. 

Does anyone around here have any experience with putting a WRX made exhaust on an LGT, and if not are there any recommendations for single exit exhaust for a GT wagon. 

Cheers all, a PNW Subaru nerd

[Pleides]

Damn, how in the world did you find one with 65K on the clock? That's insanity. Most of us are over 200K by now. I would almost suggest just leaving it alone given how rare these are and how uncommon they've become with them being wrecked, rusted away, etc over the years, but it's your car.

Have you listened to clips of the Borla exhaust for our car? It will give you that "Subaru" sound. Here's my car from a couple of years ago linked in a video below. It also has an Invidia downpipe on it, which will change the sound a bit. Because our cars are longer than a WRX, you won't get the *exact* sound of one of those, but you can come pretty close. The Greddy SP2 is also a good option for a wagon that gives you that sound and will fit the wagon a bit better length-wise. I later had metal pipe welded to my Borla's mufflers to fit the length of the wagon. Yes, I know that's hard to stomach given that the exhaust is so expensive. If you can find the Greddy SP2 then that would give you all you're looking for, but I believe they're discontinued. Here's a sound clip.

As for the 15+ WRX, I can't imagine it will produce the sound you're after. It uses equal length headers from the factory and I don't think the hanger locations will line up on a modern chassis car. 

Here's a prior thread that discusses the issue a bit, too.

 

[NORULZleggy]

65K, please stay stock and just love it lol, Or go full build. You should really do a JDM setup on the car. They sound great. 

[Rusty9]

2nd'ing the Borla cat back. Little pricey but sounds great, nice rumble and no annoying loudness, brapps or farts. First thing I put on my car 10 years ago.

[Febreze Mee]

Yes to the Borla! I've also always enjoyed the way Stromungs sounded too. Please do not single-exit a clean LGT wagon.

If you haven't already, introduce yourself in the New Member section and tell us about you car. There's a lot of members on this board in the PNW area and we get together frequently enough. What color is your LGT, and where in the PNW are you?

Welcome aboard!

[Haze]

10 hours ago, Febreze Mee said:

Please do not single-exit a clean LGT wagon.

 

Is there a reason for this other than personal preference / desire to keep the car as Subaru built it? Do these cars sound better with dual tips?

Seeing dual tips on a car that I know has a single exhaust manifold (ie. inline engine) and/or single turbo kinda bothers me. It's cheaper, lighter and likely less restricteive to just continue with a larger single once the exhaust is already merged.

The previous owner of my LGT put a single exit on it and I was quite happy about that. I admittedly haven't driven it over 10 MPH yet though so maybe I'm in for an unpleasant surprise?

[Rusty9]

up to you brother. most people would agree that a single exhaust can look a bit silly when the bumper has dual cutouts. Single exhaust is lighter and is just fine for a small displacement 4 cylinder. Performance is negligible between the two. Just sound and looks.

[Febreze Mee]

4 hours ago, Haze said:

Is there a reason for this other than personal preference / desire to keep the car as Subaru built it? Do these cars sound better with dual tips?

Seeing dual tips on a car that I know has a single exhaust manifold (ie. inline engine) and/or single turbo kinda bothers me. It's cheaper, lighter and likely less restricteive to just continue with a larger single once the exhaust is already merged.

The previous owner of my LGT put a single exit on it and I was quite happy about that. I admittedly haven't driven it over 10 MPH yet though so maybe I'm in for an unpleasant surprise?

It's just a personal preference, and nothing more 

[Pleides]

6 hours ago, Haze said:

Is there a reason for this other than personal preference / desire to keep the car as Subaru built it? Do these cars sound better with dual tips?

Seeing dual tips on a car that I know has a single exhaust manifold (ie. inline engine) and/or single turbo kinda bothers me. It's cheaper, lighter and likely less restricteive to just continue with a larger single once the exhaust is already merged.

The previous owner of my LGT put a single exit on it and I was quite happy about that. I admittedly haven't driven it over 10 MPH yet though so maybe I'm in for an unpleasant surprise?

I think the concern mainly is that they look hacked up on a car with dual-exit exhaust cutouts and the car OP bought is a presumably pristine example given the location of the car and its mileage.  

[pnw_lgt]

2 hours ago, Febreze Mee said:

It's just a personal preference, and nothing more 

Yeah to be honest its personal preference, I like the look of it more. Also Tomei exhausts just sound amazing to me, I have the idea in my head mostly from a friend who runs a Tomei on his '12 WRX and has one of the best sounding cars I've ever heard.

[shralp]

21 hours ago, Haze said:

Is there a reason for this other than personal preference / desire to keep the car as Subaru built it? Do these cars sound better with dual tips?

Seeing dual tips on a car that I know has a single exhaust manifold (ie. inline engine) and/or single turbo kinda bothers me. It's cheaper, lighter and likely less restricteive to just continue with a larger single once the exhaust is already merged.

The previous owner of my LGT put a single exit on it and I was quite happy about that. I admittedly haven't driven it over 10 MPH yet though so maybe I'm in for an unpleasant surprise?

Our Subies are not inline motors and they DO have 2 exhaust manifolds

Edited January 20, 2023 by shralp

[KZJonny]

Hmm. I did both the rumble delete as well as kept dual exit mufflers with the Borla.... So, maybe not qualified to suggest anything, but has anyone heard of a ready-made muffler cut out insert?

I have to agree that while perhaps sounds is more important than appearance to a certain sub-set, the single muffler conversion while leaving the other cutout empty does look a little redneck/amateur... IMO.

I am partial to my 2 equal length manifolds as well. 

[Haze]

7 hours ago, shralp said:

Our Subies are not inline motors and they DO have 2 exhaust manifolds

Yes, but they are also single turbo so the fact that the exhaust splits again is dumb. Just my opinion.