rugbyben

I know these engines are pretty much turbo ready. but I would need the turbo, an exaust manifold, an intake tube, and what else? Not that i would go through this but i would like to know what i would have to do if some day i loose my witts and try to add one. before turbo i think i would go with clutch and flywheel. anyone done this mod?

Good idea Kevin with the skid plates. you dont even need to buy them, they are pretty easy to fabricate, at least they are for jeeps. make sure you use good heavy metal. and if you can afford it use stainless, water likes to pool up on top of them and they will rot out in no time. But definetly use good sturdy metal because if you dont the plate itself can bend in and do almost as much damage as the rock would have. I have seen some people use a tube structure for them but i think that might create a clearance problem on a car. Like i said before I am no subaru expert yet, the hand break stuff is news to me, and I do agree some horsepower is needed to get proper slides but the suby should have plenty for that stock. no need to add any boost. Tires Tires Tires, seat and belts. HELMET!!!!

My '00 has a 2.2 so it must be after that. i think just from trying to find parts for mine that they stoped somewhere around 03 with imprezas.

Thanks NOMAD I dont feel as bad then. the dealer said it was a 1.6L but they are all liars anyway. that little motor is really something either way! it would make one hell of a tuner if she would just let me play with it. I like the sand bag idea too, but she is a girl so her trunk is already full of the most random crap you can immagine. I am hoping to do intake work on mine (see my "cold air intake" thread) and some exaust work too. But judging by how much she beat me by, i think I will need no less then turbo to beat her without cheating. Or I could just race her on a more windey road. i wouldnt want her to crash though. or me either for that matter!!

I am not a suby expert yet, but I have owned jeeps, and motorcycles. and the number one thing i can tell you about off roading and racing is, if you are racing in a cross-X type of race LEARN TO DRIVE first. no offence but as a 17 year old you cant have much driving experiance, so go ahead and play on dirt but DO NOT RACE YET, it is much harder and more dangerous then it looks. Plus veteran drivers love to knock around rookies, so they would love totake you out of the race before you even get the chance to beat them. As far as the car goes. if you want to do dirt track stuff spend more time on suspension and tires then engine. limit your HP and torque, grip is key. with equal drivers, the car who can keep its front wheels griping going tighter will win. because he wont need to take the outside every time and can stay faster through turns. HP normally helps you accelerate on the straights, but it slows you down if you loose traction, right? on dirt you dont need a lot of HP to go around turns or accelerate because you will loose grip too quickly to use the extra torque anyway, it is wasted. bottom line keep it stock, get good tires, trusty breaks, and make sure it runs nice and cool. the only perfomance part you need is a raceing seat and belts. and believe it or not, on a tight course weight can be your friend as long as its low so dont bother stripping the interior, you wont see much either way. as far as grooming yourself. practice in a large paved parking lot first to get a feel for the car, dirt is too deceptive. learn how to use the E-break to slide.(use crappy tires) and how to accelerate smoothly, being smooth is the difference between first place and runner up. take outside inside outside lines to minimise dirrectional forces. and the number one best thing you can do is take lessons. a lot of races wont even let you enter until you have been checked out by an experienced driver anyway. Good luck. Have fun.

No one has experienced a sever under steer until they have done it on a sportbike. One major shoulder injury and a totaled Kawasaki later I even drive my AWD car much less aggressively. When you have leaned far enough over that your footpeg is scraping on the road and you are still way to wide, there is nothing left to do, and you know even if you are lucky enough to live thru the now unavoidable accident you will never be the same, you get a new perspective on how to approach driving. every vehicle no matter how well designed has a limit. You live you learn! Glad you were not hurt! But I bet you approach curves a bit differently now.

I just bought a '00 impreza outback sport. its the 2.2L with a manual trans, I just got it and I am trying to choose mods i want to do. Well this past weekend I raced against my Fiance, who has a '98 Ford escort sport ZX2. which is also a 5spd but only has a 1.6L I am a better shifter then her, but she still SMOKED ME!!!! granted the ZX2 stock is much more of a sports car then my outback but its still an escort so I would think I could at least keep up thru 3rd gear. but NO WAY. that little car does have a 16 valve OHC with a stock cold air intake with a cone filter, alloy rims and the shortest clutch throw i have ever seen. ALL STOCK!!!! I have driven her car and it can stay in its low gears MUCH longer with lower RPMs and STILL accelerate faster then my Suby. WHY WHY WHY!!!!!!!! I am never going to hear the end of it!!!!

believe it or not i did buy a suby for better gas/mi. because it is better then my jeep wrangler but i couldnt make myself go back to a 2wd vehicle. i would destroy a honda civic in about a week with the winters here in central PA. so i am trying to make the best of it, and have a cool car too. I need to do something SOON!!! My Fiance smoked me in her stock ford escort sportZX2 that dam thing is fast in a straight line. and it only has a 1.6L , but it is a 16 valve OHC that comes stock with a performance cold air intake and the shortest clutch I have ever seen. i think it gets more HP to the wheels then I do. it definetly accelerates faster and the RPMs stay lower. I know i shift better then her, but she can stay in her lower gears longer. ITS JUST NOT FAIR!

sounds good. I will probably order from a company in the states though to save on shipping. I am just glad to know they make such a thing as a quieter performance muffler. those guys with the civics that sound like they just stuck a coffee can on the end of their tail pipe really piss me off. but i would like a more performance sound then stock, that has actual gains. there is such a thing as too much flow, some of these tuners dont seem to understand this. a 4" system on a 1.6L is going to do more dammage then good.

Does anybody know what the offset is for 17X7" wheels on an '00 OBS? does 43 sound good?

Thanks Setright, the picture was perfect, i feel stupid for not getting it before. Anyway it seems to be a pretty good idea. I may make a couple adjustments to it to eliminate the extra volume of unused space when just blocking the old intake, this may halp the flow be a little more dirrect. Thanks for all the help and interest in the thred. I think I have my answer for now, but feel free to keep it going. I will post results maybe as soon as monday if i get the chance to work on it this weekend. The weather is expected to be sunny and 65*F here in PA. so i may have to take some much needed golfing time. Lastly. Since I am modifying the front, what about the back? I have stock exaust, and not a lot of money. Should i swap for one of those turbo mufflers? Do they do anything other then make a lot of obnoxious noise? Is there one that helps that isnt that loud?

First of all I do know how to drive a manual trans!!!! I have driven them for years. But I can not get my clutch on my '00 OBS to perform well, it only has 48K miles, and I have only had it a week. But shifting is still rough. I usually shift around 3K and sometimes up to 4K if I really want to get moving. I moved to this car from a Jeep wrangler, (slow but lots of low end torque). So i expected a different type of clutch but this one actually performs worse, I had a VW Golf GTI before the Jeep and I expected the subaru to perform like it. But it doesnt even come close except in handling. the motors are about the same size and rated for the same HP, but honestly the VW (with 150K miles) could still SMOKE this Subaru! because of the shifting. The stupid clutch doesnt engage until the pedal is about half way out, then it drops in so quickly i get a thud. the extra lag time lets the RPMs drop too much and is giving these super long shifts, I feel like im an old lady hauling bags of grocieries. If this is how Subarus are fine I can learn to live with it. But please tell me mine is just out of adjustment or in need of a new clutch? how much will this cost me if I want it to perform better. And will I have to look to the aftermarket? Im not a racer, but I love to drive, and i want my car to perform.

So as i understand it from the above, if i get a really free flowing intake i will loose low end torque? I like the low because im not really a racer, at least not now, this is still my daily driver. But i do want it to perform as well as possible without ruining my gas mileage or making it a pain to drive in town. Setrite, Im sorry but i am not understanding your instructions completely. I like the idea of using mostly existing parts, and i dont mind fabricating, but maybe you could clear up a few details for me and I will see if I can figure it out. the only thing is it seems like the parts used and the way the air will travel. it will make a couple hard angles. wount this actually make it more inefficient? Also I like the ides of takin off only the front part, and fabricating my own cold air attachment. but I dont want to loose too much intake noise. Right now it is quiet below 3K and then has a nice growl above that, which i like. Is that because of that box at the front of the intake? the one setrite is talking about using. you cant see it in the picture but it is about 6inches tall and 5 inches across and it comes down from the front of the intake and hangs down the front of the wheel well. i will have to look at it to see if it comes off with the piece i will be taking off. Lastly, allong with this should i maybe take out the filter in the box and put on a high flow cone filter at the front of the system insted, or do you think a K&N for the box will do the trick? And

Thanks for the replies. here is a picture of the engine compartment, its not mine, but its exactly the same. Yes this is the 2000 2.2L non turbo. Impreza/outback sport. as far as i know the whole front is the same for the OBS and Sedan. it has the hood scoop and vents. I think I can use some sort of short ram intake to make use of one of the vents, but wouldnt an actual cold air tube inthe fender be better? P.S. gas mileage is important!

I am looking for rims for my '00 outback sport. I would like 17s is any one selling?

Can any one reccomend a good intake under $200 for my Imprezza Outback Sport. that is the 2.2L no turbo. I have heard of several options regarding short ram intakes but no actual cool air intakes for this car. anyone know why?