Vashthestampede

iTrader: (17)

Went and saw the LGT this morning!

He had all the maintenance records with him and within the last year it had the major timing belt service done, so I was happy to see that. Car was clean inside and out and drove like a champ.

Now I just need to get my finances in order this week and hopefully I'll be buying it. I do understand that if someone beats me to it that he'll sell, so I'm hoping this doesn't take too long.

Scrappy Jack

iTrader: (2)

This thread is now about turbo Subarus, mainly wagons.

For those of you with Foresters, Legacy and/or Outback wagons: if you had it to do over again, what year and model would you buy? Assume it must have an available stick-shift manual gearbox.

Braineack

iTrader: (62)

Volvo S60R, Volvo S40R, Volvo V70R, Mazdaspeed6

combo breaker?

TurboTim

iTrader: (9)

Being in my 30's now, the '05 factory turbo & 5speed is nice, especially in "limited" aka leather and huge moonroof. Seems like a car for a more mature person. My older '98 outback sport was more fun once I added a GT2560R. The impreza chassis is much more flickable & responsive IMHO. I could throw whatever inside and park whereever and not worry about a thing, I could go offroading and not care much about mud and busted CV boots. With this newer car...it's worth more and is nicer so I can't have as much fun with it.

If I were to do it again, I'd find another ~'98 era wagon and do a full 2.5l drivetrain swap.

18psi

iTrader: (76)

If I did it all over, I'd:

GET EXACTLY THE SAME THING AND DO EXACTLY THE SAME MODS TO IT AND LOVE THE OUT OF IT LIKE I DO NOW

2008 Forester XT Sport in World Rally Blue
5mt
td06 fp20g 8cm turbo
sti tmic
ID1000 injectors
gm 3port
custom catted tbe
kartboy shifter/bushings
STi suspension/sways/arms
17x7.5 rota tarmac with 225/50/17 tires
sti seats
aem uego/dbg
custom tuned of course

321/320 wheel and 360+ come spring and e85 switch.
simple setup. very powerful, very responsive, looks great, sounds great, handles like a dream yet comfy and roomy enough for long trips. HUUUUGE moonroof.

Lovin it.

Efini~FC3S

iTrader: (4)

Sh*t dood, you're @ 320 and you haven't even switched to E85 yet.

Me thinks I will be copying you're set-up once I can steal away the XT from the wifeys. You have ported STi manifolds, pipes right? I think I would be very, very happy with 300/300 at the wheels for a DD XT.

Braineack

iTrader: (62)

See, if I got a forrester, the only mod would be springs to drop it.

I prefer a DD that's close to stock and has warrenties.

Efini~FC3S

iTrader: (4)

Agree on the springs. My first mod will be some struts and springs for a slight drop. You would want to reflash the car though, the stock tune is almost dangerous. Subaru's closed loop to open loop transition tuning philosophy isn't what I would call...good.

Of course, I have almost no idea what I'm talking about so 18psi would have to comment.

18psi

iTrader: (76)

Thanks.
I actually removed the pnp STi manifolds and grimmspeed x-pipe for a couple reasons:
1) there was a tiny exhaust leak at the xpipe despite replacing gaskets twice
2) there was not enough power gain to justify the price tag and effort, and what gains had were made up top where I don't really need em.
3) I wanted maximum torque/response as soon in the rev range as possible due to the now installed 20g, and the stocker is best for that.

Warranties implies new car from the stealership and I'd never buy a brand new car.

....Too much other in the world to pointlessly lose money on lol

no you're right: subaru stock mapping is crap.
I gained something like 20wtq with a very simple and conservative stage1 map.

But seriously its just too easy to make power and torque with these things to keep it stock. And reliability doesn't really suffer (to a certain point of course). Full exhaust, good tune, and you've gained something like 30whp and 60wtq. Couple more bolt ons and you're at 320 like me

Braineack

iTrader: (62)

you honestly think I'd buy anything new? I still prefer an unmolested car for a DD. I'll dump my money into the miata and always have one running/reliable car.

Scrappy Jack

iTrader: (2)

I should rephrase my question, I guess. I'm much more inline with on this one.

If you were going with a turbo Forester, are there any major advantages or disadvantages to different model years? For example, I think 2007 had some minor exterior changes but I'm not sure about anything mechanical.

Efini~FC3S

iTrader: (4)

Are you running the stock X-pipe or the grimmspeed? If I remember your sf.org post correctly you weren't very fond of the stock x-pipe and seemed to be full of praise for the grimmspeed unit.

I wish I could afford to get my wife a newer car so I could inherit the FXT...

18psi

iTrader: (76)

There are a bunch of differences:
the 04-05 had an EJ257 (lower compression STi motor) with catted uppipe
the 06-08 had the EJ255 (higher compression 06+ wrx motor) with catless uppipe and aux pump
bunch of other little things here and there, but mostly cosmetic and optional stuff.
Yes, I think its tiny and can't imagine it flowing very well at all.

However, what It looks like and how it performs are different things, and while it doesn't have the topend flow that I imagine the GS one to have, it provides a ton of velocity at off boost/pre-spool driving. This provides more torque down low, better response, and faster spoolup. IMO

The lowdown torque is more important to me since its a daily, so I went back to all stock manis/xpipe, sacrificed 15hp on the topend for a good chunk of torque and response down low. On the 20g I have plenty of topend as is lol.

I wish you could feel this thing right now, it HONESTLY feels like a v8.
Gobs of AVCS advance down low, agressive wastegate duty cycles down low, 35*-48* worth of ignition advance at cruise = doesn't feel like a 4 cylinder at all. In a good way

Braineack

iTrader: (62)

I wouldn't be opposed to a reflash and I know I could have Andrewtech/TurboXS do it here, probably for free.

WRX, LGT, Forrester are definitly on my list, but gotta buy a garage first this summer.

Efini~FC3S

iTrader: (4)

What are your MPGs like with your current set up and tune?

I'm buying the DP that sixshooter is selling so it looks like I'm on my way...time to get a tactrix cable and learn to tune...

18psi

iTrader: (76)

As of last week, 21mpg mixed driving about 80% city 20% hwy.
Stretching a gear or two @WOT every couple days.
If I stayed out of boost itd be 23 I'm sure. All highway would probably net 26-27.
When it was stg1 I consistently got 23 city and 26 hwy so I'm pretty happy considering it now has 100hp/tq more.

TurboTim

iTrader: (9)

Me thinks we need a thread where we post up our subaru maps. I'm running a slightly modified map I got off romraider's forum, a few years old.

18psi

iTrader: (76)

Posting maps? Not sure how that will help since each of us runs completely different roms/setups/amount of modification.
Discussing opensource tuning strategies and sharing info? For sure.

And you're a smart man if you frequent the romraider forums: tons and tons of good info and base maps to learn from. I think I used some of those maps when starting out and never had issues. Load up, log, tweak to your cars' specific needs = profit.

18psi

iTrader: (76)

Best part is many of them come with a list of what was tweaked, and some even come with a complete explanation of why said things were tweaked.
I don't think there is an easier and more helpful way to learn than that.

Scrappy Jack

iTrader: (2)

Awesome; thanks for the feedback.

For someone considering picking one up to use as a daily driver/infrequent tow vehicle, do you prefer the '06 - '08? The car would probably never see more than a spring and damper swap and maybe some minor exhaust work with a tune.