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Performance upgrades for 03 Outback


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Hi everyone, I'm looking for info on behalf of my non-Internet-savvy parents. They have an 03 Leg. Outback Sedan with the 3.0 and my dad wants more power. (Driving a Supra myself, I understand the need for speed :)). What kind of upgrades are available, if any, and does that engine have any potential? I imagine he'd want to start with basic intake/exhaust, possibly more. Thanks for any help you can provide!

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You can do minor things like a new intake and exhast...little bit more power...probably not much difference. If you really want performance than you have to do things to the engine. Turbos and whatnot would be the most common engine mod.

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I think you can forget the turbo on this car. A friend of mine had a 2001 Outback with the H6 engine. He was collecting turbo parts for it, but then ended up dropping the whole idea. As I understand it, there is one exhaust port for all 3 cylinders. The guy he was dealing with has done quite a bit of work on imports. When he found out about the single port, he didn't recommend the turbo. The exhaust temp inside the head in the port passages would increase too much and likely cause problems. The guy is a reputable tuner.

 

I don't think there is much of anything out there yet for the H6 engine. It's quite new, and it is in cars that people normally wouldn't be looking to tune. You might be able to use some sort of aftermarket ECU/chip, but it will cost $ to do it right. And I don't know that you'd gain much if you don't do anything else to the car.

 

Sorry... but it's not really the right starting point if you are looking to 'play' with things.

 

Commuter

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Well, they bought the car as a "snow car", not something to play with, but my dad just can't leave well enough alone. :) I didn't count on finding too much aftermarket stuff for it, as it wasn't designed for that, but I told him I'd look around online just in case. Thanks for the replies everyone!

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I believe that it is never as simple as just bolting on a turbo. Turboed engines run a unique cam profile and low compression pistons. Timing and ignition advance are different, and reinforced crankshaft mains are used to handle the additional thrust put on them. Even the exhaust system is diffrent. This all adds up to lots of $$$$ (Just my 2 cents)

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