Virrdog

Do you think there just might be a reason for that? You will get no incredible boost in power unless you take care of the ECU. http://www.autronic.com/ or something similar. All increased horsepower has to come from tuning, otherwise the ECU will be fighting against you. Now this will set you back about $1k, and then you have tuning time on top of that. I would get the exhaust and intercooler installed and save up to do it right. Throwing boost and fuel at it will just put the stock ECU out of set operating parameters. Remember the newer Subarus have ECU's that can be hacked and adjusted anyway they please with the right software, ours are not.

Wow, lots of action on this thread... Ok, first off, this is the last engine you will ever need. The chassis will retire before this engine does if you don't abuse it (as in too much boost, no intercooling, etc). Stock you can redline it all day and night and change the fluids when they are supposed to and it will be happy for the rest of its life. This also happens to be the strongest block family Subaru has ever made (very hard to argue, but some try). What I said about the big turbo breaking things is from typical users. They get the bigger turbo... then they want to run more boost which the larger turbo can handle. Silly ECU says anything over 13 psi is a no go, so they bypass that. Then the ECU has no control of overboosting, in fact does not know if its happening... and bad things start to happen. The problem is the ghetto solutions, not the larger turbo. Buying a stand-alone ECU (like an Autronic) and installing larger injectors with the NA fuel rails and getting it tuned are the way to go for that kind of boost. Most don't go that route. Simplified story, but I think you can get the point. This is your mod list. 1. Full Tune up. This should be the first priority on any car. Plugs, wires, PCV valve, all filters, tranny fluid, diff fluid, etc... 1a. Drop in K&N panel filter and/or modify Snorkus. Look up snorkus if you are confused, its the ducting in your fender before the airbox. Some people take it out, I modified mine to take out the extra bends so it still gets cool air. Some don't like K&N filters, so that or a fresh paper one. 2. WRX 3" turboback exhaust (aka TBE). You will need to redo the hangars, you can lengthen the mid-pipe if you want but it is not necessary. Without lengthening the tip stops about 1" before the bumper does. I like it because my giant 4.5" tip is kind of tucked out of the way. 3. Diamond coilpack & redo the grounds in the engine bay. More making the engine run right stuff. Diamond coilpacks are a little stronger in the spark department. Your grounds probably need a little help, replace/clean as needed. Look up the Big 3 in google for a good idea for helping the electrical system. 4. Start working on the suspension. Seriously, you will have made your car run as good as it ever will without increasing risk. Some will argue for a intercooler, but the car is designed to run without one and you decreased the overall heat in the system by reducing backpressure in the turbo. Intercoolers don't hurt, but its another possible weak link for leaks and popping hoses. Suspension-wise, the first thing you want to do is replace your tranny mount if its a 5-speed. It has the consistency of a nerf ball by now (seriously!). Group N tranny mount or new will make a world of difference. This along with new tranny fluid can take away any shifting problems the car has also. Sway bar on the front (most important) along with the rear and the endlinks (required) will go a long way in making the car feel more solid. I wrote this quick, so I'm sure I missed something. I assume reground cams are already installed if you choose to go that route. I wouldn't bother taking the heads off just to get them installed, though. By the way, you are going to absolutely fall in love with this car!

Nice find! Honestly, there is no reason to change the heads. People making up to 400-some horsepower have not had a problem with them. The car is not N/A, you get better gains elsewhere first. Putting a 3" turboback exhaust is your first step for better breathing (reducing turbine pressure differential, aka letting it breath). My car has no issues with redlining 3rd gear with the exhaust in place. Save yourself work and headache, you'll have to tap the new heads for a oil line and do lots of calculations to make sure everything will work... but its debatable how much it helps. So I'd recommend skipping it. The best turbo for the money is the Mitsubishi TD05H-16G. There is a version that was made to fit an early STi version, thus fitting the Sport Sedan pretty well, also. You can find used ones on e-bay or Deadbolt Enterprises is your friend for getting a new one. You want to do other things to support this turbo unless you want to start breaking stuff. Factory turbo runs at 8.9 psi at full boost and 7 psi in safe mode. Personally I would skip it. You can get Delta regrinds that will help out. This might make sense for you since the heads will be off anyways. But your best bet is to be able to tune the ECU to use these parts. For example, getting a stand-alone ECU will net you in the neighborhood of 100 hp at your flywheel with tuning on your bone stock car. This would also help the car make the best use of the bigger turbo, cams, etc. that you might throw at the car. I know you must be excited, I still remember when I first drove mine! Get that car running so you can enjoy it. Lots of power is waiting to be unlocked in this car. bbs.legacycentral.org is your friend for this chassis. There is tons of information on building these engines up, including head hybrids and cam information. You're going to have a lot of fun in this car! I have been researching this stuff for the last 4 years and its quite fun.

My local dealership does this, too. I think its standard process now since most people are too dumb to actually know about the product they sell parts for (or in my case, its a mazda/porsche dealer that picked up Subaru recently), and to prevent mid-year change mishaps (like '02 WRX brakes). This prevents getting the wrong parts like you mentioned. But that doesn't help me when I have '02 WRX brakes on a '93 Legacy. So I learned to get the factory part number if I need to buy a part.

most likely just low fluid if you have not had problems before.

I got the joke, that's why I mentioned she must be a superfreak! :-p

Research a decent radio that goes for $200-350. Buy brand new with warranty from a e-bay store for ~$200 shipped to your house. Enjoy. I personally prefer Panasonic. And mounts can make the car feel much more solid. New Tranny mount, engine mount, steering rack bushings, metal sway bar endlinks can make the car feel much more solid in the turns. And a rear or front bigger swaybar will make the car turn much nicer!

Unfortunately, there is no reason to get rid of the car except for the fact your wife apparently does not like it (or is uncomfortable with the high miles). You have a known good car that only needs a couple of things to be in tip-top shape. Just about any used car you buy is going to need at least 5-800 dollars to get into tip-top shape from the things that need replaced or that should be replaced because you don't know if the previous owner did. A new car is just flushing money down the toilet with interest and depreciation. The only reason for that is if people want the new car looks or feel. They break too, only the dealership ususally foots the bill for a little bit. Just keep fixing things as they wear and you will have a beautifully running car for a long, long time. Why buy someone elses did not want to fix items on a different car or be with another payment? Like it has been mentioned, it's always cheaper to keep the car you have.

Ok, I did some more digging. There is definitely not an EGR temp sensor on the car. I saw the '89 FSM and saw where it would be located, its completely bare where the sensor would be. I checked the codes with the green connectors and it spits out 55 with the diagnostic. When I check the codes with the white connectors it shows only Code 34. How do I purge this demon out? I unhooked the battery and hit the brake pedal once befor, this works almost instantly on the Legacy's (I cleared someones code the ODB1 reader could not even clear on the highway before). Is there more to it for the GL's? I drove for a mile and the light came back with the same flashing 55 code in diagnostic. Quickie Poll: So who on this board has actually had a code 55?? And what made it go away?

The "chick" must have been quite a freak to want multiple skin grafts in the groin... :eek: And with 100k on the car, there are many other abuses that could have happened short term/ long term to the drivetrain. How many times were donuts performed in the vehicle, etc... There is no way to prove anything one way or the other.

Did you replace the PCV valve?

What year WRX?

Woah, so I'm guessing the up-pipe splits into 2 to feed both turbos. Then both turbos feed the same intake manifold?? I've never seen the TT engine actually out of the chassis. I never knew they were on both sides of the engine.

That set up looks awesome, man. It's great, and so confusing. Any guy somewhat familiar with vehicles and how they work will think something is missing on the front end... then they will see the hoodscoop and wonder if you turbo'd the rig... then be really confused on how your eliminating the excess heat. I think the fans pulling the heat down past the tranny and out from under the car is definitely the best way to go, especially when the car is moving. I can definitely see your concern with your heat extractor being the highest point. One way to keep an eye on this would be to have the radiator tilted enough, first of all, and then have an extra thermocouple that fed a seperate gauge inside. Mount that sensor high enough on the radiator that would let you see the discrepancy in temperatures from the cockpit so you could check the coolant situation. Another way would be to mount some sort of clear tank on the hood, if that starts to empty... time to add more! By the way excellent use of the spare tire area.

Completely off-topic, but what's funny about this story is the lady actually had a case and the story got spun against her after she won. She did not sue McDonalds because she spilled hot coffee in her lap. She sued because that coffee caused massive damage and third degree burns through clothing. Is that typical for a hot cup of coffe to do that? No. The problem was McDonalds wanted to be known for coffee that was still hot when you got to work and/or to the last drop. To accomplish that they kept their coffee steaming some 70-80 degrees hotter than any other national chain (or normal non-industrial coffee pot). I've seen lots of people spill coffee on themselves... none of them needed skin grafts though like that poor lady did. So the issue was their product was unusally harmful and they didn't warn anybody ("oh, by the way the contents in this styrofoam cup could boil your skin off...") In fact, McDonalds had been settling out of court and paying people off for quite a while for this very issue until this lady took them all the way and got a judgement against them. The "massive" penalty was less than one days worth of coffee sales for the McDonalds corporation (and its unknown if she was actually paid). So in the media it looked like a duh coffee is hot case, but it was in reality a step beyond that. Picture a company that made a light bulb with such excessive pressure inside that when it broke it took your child's hand off... you'd have an issue with that. Whereas the rest of the country could say duh, light bulbs break, but that's really not the issue. By the way, I thought the same thing about the McDonalds lady until I read something that had the actual facts and court proceedings from the case. [/on topic] Sorry to the original poster, you really don't have a case. Are you going to make this your life long mission to make Subaru somehow fix this issue for everyone? Lets say you did actual make a ripple in the water and SOA noticed you... They would pay you for the labor you incurred for the incident and maybe throw you a couple hundred dollars worth of free stuff/services. At that point you would go home happy because you were compensated. The only way you wouldn't is if you had the life long mission in mind like I mentioned. And if you do win... your crowning glory moment will be.... when SOA sends a little "ammendment to owner's manual" flyer to all registered owners saying all tires should be within 1/4"?? Think about where you are going with this.

Nothing too much to worry about besides rust, the leading edge of the rear quarter panel likes to go with gusto. Guaranteed the tranny mount is trashed. Replace it (quite easy) and you will be pleasantly surprised.

Create one of these to see if there is really a problem with the EGR solenoid: You can still use the plug for a Toyota solenoid if you find out the solenoid is the problem. I wouldn't throw money at it until you verify what's wrong first, though. There could be something wrong with the wiring.

Where is BGD73 when you need him? I'll fill in: Pop riveted aluminum is stronger than steel something something... it might rip your frame apart something something.... certain colors of paint add more energy something something... I swear blue is stronger.

This was covered very recently in the New Gen thread... since this is sort of a new gen question.

Wow. Wished I had known this before, great information. This was the only light blaring at me on a Wagon I sold long ago.

This is why I love my auto-range Radioshack special! ^^^First time banana user.

Maybe a switch that would put the car into the "on" position. The kind of switch you have to hold down of course, but that might get into messy ignition switch stuff.

Lookin good. The extended wheelbase is going to be sweet! Are you going to do anything inside the shell to stiffen it up? It looks like the whole shell will be able twist itself with the increased leverage & distance in the back. Any plans on welding in a X brace or roll bar inside? After the forklift pictures I want to see proof all the doors still line up Can't wait to see this completed!

Good thread. Guess I'll bump up my changes to 5k. Anyone know if the base/acidic deal is to the same degree with semi-synth / full synth? I run semi-synth in my Sport Sedan and typically change it after road track outings and such. That for sure falls under extreme conditions, not to mention 7mpg.

Awesome! I would finish up the tune-up and get ready to learn to lube up calipers.