Just bought 08 LGT, going stage 2 & have questions.

[ScoobyXJ]

We are looking to get some more power from our 08 legacy GT automatic and live near portland oregon. There are many tuning shops around here and was woundering what everyones opinions on them are? I was thinking PRE or surgeline.

 

The car is a daily driver for my wife so we don't want to go to crazy on it, we want to spend around $1000 before tuning. So far the only parts we have on the list are a CNT catted downpipe and removing the intake silencer. The car already has a K&N panel filter installed. What is the next part that needs upgrading? Should we do a new TMIC, a header, cat back exhaust, or something else? We can get a magnaflow exhaust for around $550, I hear that boost creep can happen after you change the exhaust. Intercoolers are $700-$800, is it worth the price for the gain? It is looking to me that a downpipe and stage 2 tune is a big boost but if you want to take it any further than that you have to spend lots of money.

 

What about the up pipe, the 07 and up cars don't have a cat so is this upgrade really necessary? Will I see much of an improvement? I am new here and new to turbo cars, let me know what you think!

 

Picture of our car the day we bought it, bronze metallic color!

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g18/Jeepboy381/3e6e4a77.jpg

[bigleben]

Stg2 only needs a high flow catted DP or Catless and a tune. Stock to stg2 is a nice step and you'll feel the difference. CBE is mostly for sound (couple of HPs but thats all). A new TMIC isn't really necessary... but you wont be concerned about your endtanks separating if you buy one. You can always do the "Seeeya bulletproof" way of reinforcing the endtanks as a cheap alternative. OEM catless UP is fine.

 

Sart with the basic stg2 mods and enjoy it, you dont want to push your AT to far.

My .02 cents

[xero287]

You'll definitely need a transmission cooler with the 5EAT. Which can be found here:

 

http://www.bulkpart.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Store_Code=2&Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=tru-cool-lpd

 

I have the #4454 and installed pictures of it here:

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php/going-stage-2-5eat-171054p2.html?highlight=transmission+cooler

 

Scroll down.

 

Goodluck!

[Adoniram]

I bought a CNT catted DP, catless UP, EL headers, turbo blanket, exhaust wrap, 1 JB weld pack, and a K&N panel filter all for under $1000, then e-tuned with Shamar at Infamous Performance. I personally think my purchases were the best bang for the buck, performance-wise.

 

As mentioned earlier, catback won't get you as much power as other parts like EL headers and UP, so I would recommend doing that first. The catback will also add highway drone noise that your wife may or may not wish to have ALL the time.

 

As far as TMIC goes, that's a nice addition but the bang-to-buck ratio is not as good as everything else. I took that kit of JB weld and used it all over the end-tank seams on the stock IC, and it's held up fine ever since. Someday I'll get a nice TMIC, but not yet.

 

If you're not going to be racing the engine all the time, I personally don't think you'll need a trans cooler. I believe the oil is already fed through the cold end of the radiator as it is and that seems to be more than enough for the majority of people. However, if you think the car will see hard driving for prolonged periods on a regular basis, it might very well be worth the investment, and at $50-60 it's hardly a consideration in your $1000 budget.

 

Good luck and let us know what you decide!

[ScoobyXJ]

Well that makes it too easy! I will for sure add the tranny cooler, I can't believe it dosn't have one stock. Looks like I will be getting a cnt cated downpipe and jbweld the end tanks and leave it at that. Surgeline is were i will take it to get it tuned. How about a good way to keep under hood temperatures down, turbo blanket or heat shield of some sort?

 

Adoniram, what kind of power did you get out of your tune? I love that boxer sound so I would prefer a un-equal length header on our car if we did one. How much more power are we talking about adding if I was to add a header as well?

 

Thanks for the replys!

[xero287]

Well the car does come with an in-line transmission cooler that's integrated nto the radiator, but the additional cooling won't hurt. To keep under the hood temps down I suggest:

 

Wrapping your DP and UP

 

and

 

Turbo Blanket

[Adoniram]

With no exaggeration, the car feels like a different animal after the tune. It wasn't slow to begin with, but there really is no comparison between stock and my current stage 2 setup. I'm not really sure what all this boxer grumble hype is about as I hardly hear anything from the stock cat-back as it is, so I never missed it. All I knew was that EL headers provided more power and that was my goal

 

EL Headers (with an UP and a tune) can easily add 15-20+ more hp.

 

For temp control, get exhaust wrap. I wrapped the headers, UP, and DP. Then I put a turbo blanket on the turbo and haven't had any overheating or heat-soaking problems whatsoever, even in 110+ degree heat. People have their own opinions as to what's best for heat management, but I functionality was my number 1 criteria. Ceramic coat (for the pipes) looks better, but doesn't work as well and costs a lot more. Heat shields look nice too, but cost more and probably aren't as effective as a high quality blanket. I can literally touch the back of the turbo blanket after a hard run.