Finally Tuned---Kind of

In the last installment I got some much needed suspension and braking help. The next step before track day is to make sure the car is running safely and with as much power as possible. Notice that I put safety first and power second. I could be making 1,000 horsepower and it wouldn't mean a thing if the car breaks down. I don't have the finance to be doing a full motor rebuild at this time, so I told my tuner that I wanted the most power the car could produce while keeping safe air fuel ratios (AFR's) at all RPM's and engine loads. This keeps the engine from detonating or knocking, and destroying itself. I have the COBB AccessPORT v2 installed and was running the 91 octane Stage 2 map from COBB. At the time I purchased the AccessPORT from Flatirons Tuning they were running a special with a discounted rate for ProTune dyno time. I jumped at the opportunity to have the COBB Stage 2 map tweaked for my personal car, again making sure things were nice and safe for track day.

I took the car to Super-Rupair in Boulder, CO for the tune. I have known Harvey for many years in the Subaru community and really trust him to do whats best for my car. The AWD DynoDynamics dynometer is really a nice piece of equipment, and much safer than doing wide open throttle pulls on public roadways. This particular dyno reads quite a bit lower than some of the others in the area, it's referred to as "the heartbreaker" mostly because Harvey uses a 1.15 correction factor(CF) instead of the higher CF that most places use. Dyno numbers by themselves are useless unless you have something to compare them to. For example a stock 2.0 L WRX puts down between 160-175 WHP as measured on this dyno. A stock STi puts down about 235-245 on this dyno. A stockLegacy GT dynos at around 200-210 on this dyno. I'm not really concerned with the numbers themselves, rather the increase I get from adding parts and tuning and the smoothness of the power curve.

Harvey worked with my busy schedule and even left a local car show early on a Saturday to get me tuned. I pulled up and got right on the dyno as scheduled. Jon from Flatirons Tuning came by as well to see what kind of numbers my Legacy put down. We don't have too many modified Legacys running around here so I didn't know what to expect. What we found surprised all of us including Harvey.

We got the Legacy all tied down and ready to go in about 1/2 hour. I'm an idiot and forgot my camera so I don't have any pictures, but such is life. The hood was opened slightly but we didn't put a fan directly on the intercooler, just in front of the car to simulate normal driving conditions. The first run netted 234 hp and 260 lb-ft torque. We were amazed! The most impressive thing however, was the AFRs through the powerband. They were damn near flat indicating that the tune from COBB was a perfect match for the items I had installed on the vehicle. Harvey was very surprised, he said that he very rarely sees a factory map like the COBB be dead on perfect like that one was. We did another 2 pulls to verify and make sure it wasn't some sort of fluke and on the last run it made 236 hp and 264 lb-ft torque. Basically, the car is putting down as much power as a STi in stock form.

I couldn't be happier. Since Harvey didn't do any tuning he was a great guy and just charged me for a baseline reading, leaving my ProTune for when I have added more goodies. I'll post up the dyno graphs as soon as I get them scanned in the computer. Now I know the car is nice and safe, not to mention very fast, I feel more and more excited for track day!













Stay tuned, next installment is going to cover my way-too-complicated-and-expensive-intercooler-sprayer! I also need to get those lowering springs on! Too much to do!

A Few More Bits Added

Getting closer and closer to track day. In my last post I went through my shopping list of goodies from Flatirons Tuning. After I got the Stage 2 up and running on the AccessPORT v2, the need for better handling and stopping became even more apparent. Luckily, I knew that was going to be the case and purchased a few things to remedy that situation.

First off I bought a Whiteline rear sway bar. This pretty piece is a 20mm two-way adjustable that replaces the laughable 16mm excuse for a bar. I also purchased some upgraded Whiteline endlinks as I have heard of many drivers breaking the stock toothpick-sized endlinks when driving aggressively. For those who may not be familiar to sway bar upgrades, the bar acts as a link from one side of the suspension to the other. Actually, they should be called anti-sway or anti-roll bars as they prevent the body from rolling excessively. The endlinks connect the sway bars to the body. Subaru builds the Legacy to be comfortable and so that the average Joe driver can drive like an idiot and get away with it. The stock swaybar size does not allow the rear end of the car to rotate out, even in hard cornering acceleration. This is to prevent average Joe driver from spinning the car and getting in a potentially serious accident due to his overactive right foot. Subaru put such a small bar in the rear of the car that under nearly any circumstance the car will understeer or "push". Once again, this is fine for Joe, not fine for the performance enthusiast. Adding this stiffer sway bar really helps the car to feel less like a milk truck and more like a touring sedan. A quick twitch of the steering wheel after it was installed and there was no question it improves the feel of the car. Install was a cinch, and I have not noticed any decrease in ride quality whatsoever. Highly recommended!

The next issue we needed to address was the braking system. Now the stock Legacy brakes are quite large (12.3" in the front, 11.3" in the rear) and have good clamping force from the dual piston calipers in the front and single pistons in the rear. For the type of driving that I do, mainly street driving, not very aggressive, I simply wanted to make the best use of what came on the car. I'm not interested in a $2000 15" cross drilled slotted big brake kit, because frankly I would never need that much braking power. I have to admit the big brake kits look cool though! After doing some research I decided to go with the Hawk HPS pads, a SS brake line kit from Goodridge, and a flush and refill with some ATE Super Blue high temp brake fluid. These parts will make my braking system tough enough to handle the upcoming track day, yet not be too aggressive for street use. The Legacy SS brake kit has 6 lines as the rear brake setup has two lines per wheel, and replaces the rubber lines with tougher stainless steel braided lines. These lines are guaranteed for life by Goodridge and are DOT certified. Replacing the stock lines improves brake pedal feel eliminating the mushy feel that can happen especially when the brakes get hot. Adding the Hawk pads gives me improved braking through a much larger heat range than the stock pads were ever designed to see, while not being overly loud, dusting too much or eating away my rotors too fast. These pads are used by most AutoX drivers that use their cars to get to work everyday and race them on the weekend. Upgrading the fluid helps keep the braking consistent as the heat in the brakes builds up like it will during track day. The stock DOT 3 fluid will actually boil under extreme heat and allow air to enter the brake lines greatly reducing braking efficiency. The ATE Super Blue fluid has a much higher wet and dry boiling point so it takes much more abuse then the regular brake fluid would. At this point the rotors were still in basically brand new shape, so I saw no reason at this point to replace them. When that time comes I will most likely go with a slotted rotor for even more heat dissipation. With the new brake components installed and properly broken in I can tell you that the difference in braking is significant. I feel much more connected to the brakes and they get me stopped quicker then the stock parts did. I now feel confident that my brake system can handle track day without becoming a safety issue.

Thanks again to Jon Cooley at Flatirons Tuning for his help! Support your local speed shops!

Stay tuned... in the next installment I will be taking the car to Super Rupair in Boulder to have it ProTuned by Harvey!

Woo Hoo Stage 2!

Well, I finally broke down and spent all that part-time job money I've been amassing. I went and saw Jon up at Flatirons Subaru and purchased a COBB AccessPORT V2 with a PROTune by Super-Rupair's own Harvey, a front set of Hawk HPS front brake pads, a set of Goodridge stainless steel brake lines, a liter of ATE Super Blue racing brake fluid, and just for kicks a Mr. Dampachi doll from Tein. Besides wheels and tires, I am pretty much set for the track day put on by Flatirons Tuning coming up June 2nd. I just needed to get all the parts installed and set up my tune date.



A quick overview on the COBB AccessPORT for those who aren't familiar with it's capabilities can be found here. I would highly suggest downloading the latest firmware update when you bring your AccessPORT home before you install it in the car.

The original plan was to not install the AccessPORT until I took it up and had the ProTune done by Harvey. Then, I started thinking that it would be nice to be able to document the difference in the car with the COBB stage 2 map vs. the custom tune that Harvey was going to do. The thing that sealed the deal was my Check Engine light came on a few days after I installed the downpipe and cat-back exhaust. The CEL is caused from the rear O2 sensor readings being off from what the computer says they should be. Basically, when you install a high flowing exhaust system on these Subaru's the rear O2 sensor readings differ enough that the ECU thinks that there is a problem with the catalytic converters in the downpipe, and thus illuminates the Check Engine light. Some Subaru's are more sensitive then others in this regard. I've heard of people driving thousands of miles and the light never comes on, for some they only drive a few minutes after installing an exhaust system and it comes on. The AccessPORT, when installed, removes that code from the ECU so your Check Engine light goes out...or so I thought.



I reflashed the ECU using the AccessPORT instructions. Cobb requires at least a high flow downpipe for their Stage 2 map. They highly recommend a catback exhaust as well. On top of those two items I have a catless uppipe which improves things farther. This is known as Stage 2+ in the Legacy world. I chose the Stage 2 (91 Octane) map and in a few minutes the car was ready to drive. A quick test drive found gobs more power under the right foot. Boost increased from 13-14 PSI stock to about 16-17 PSI tapering down to about 13 PSI at redline. The car used to run out of juice above about 5500 RPM, but with the Stage 2 map from COBB it pulls like a madman all the way to redline. 100 mph comes up before you even know it, and the acceleration from 60-100 mph is crazy! I can tell from the smell of the exhaust at idle that it is running much leaner, no more stinky fuel smell from the pipes. The best thing about this is that there is no decrease in driveablity. Coming from the DSM world where you basically have to live with a car that idles rough and dies out occasionally in order to make decent power, this is quite a welcome difference. Absolutely the best "bang for your buck" mod out there for these cars.

One minor problem came up the next day as my silly Check Engine light came back on. I checked the codes using the AccessPORT and it was that stupid rear O2 sensor reading wrong again. I found that the code translated to the rear O2 sensor seeing a "low" signal. I thought that was odd since usually the codes are for "high" readings by the sensor. I did some research on the LegacyGT.com forums and found a guy that had the same code and found that the wires going to the sensor had been damaged. I put the car up on a lift and found that one of the wires had gotten rubbed through by the driveshaft and was broken. A quick wiring repair and a few zip ties to make sure it doesn't happen again and the light hasn't come back.

Overall I am very happy with the car at this point. The extra power really makes the suspension mods and better tires needed ASAP. I'll cover those in the next installment, as well as the dyno numbers with the base map (stock) vs. the COBB stage 2 map vs. the custom tune done at Super-Rupair.

It's been a while-- updates

Well, it's been a while since the last post. Holidays and everything else now winding down I finally have a chance to update everyone on the project.


Since the last post I have done a few things to the car. My original plan was to start with the suspension and start adding power after that. With the weather being the way it is here in Denver and the massive potholes left by two huge blizzards, I decided now is not really the time to lower the car. I have Tein S-tech springs and a Whiteline rear sway bar ready to be installed once the road repair crews have some time to work. So with suspension put on hold I decided to start amassing parts to make some more power.


The first thing I added was a BPM cross pipe and uppipe. Together BPM calls this package their "virtual header". Replacing the uppipe removes a very restrictive catalytic converter that is in the pipe right before the turbo. Having a catalytic converter or "cat" in the uppipe allows Subaru to obtain a lower emissions rating. But, adding a cat in the uppipe creates a significant restriction in the exhaust system before the turbo as well as creates the potential problem of having some of the cat material break off and get sucked into the turbo effectively ruining it. Removing it does two beneficial things:

1. It removes a significant restriction in the exhaust system before the turbo, allowing faster spool.

2. It reduces the amount of heat the turbo and all other under hood parts must endure.

My little disclaimer: I do not condone or urge you in any way to remove a working catalytic converter from your vehicle. To do so would be illegal unless the car is used off road only. BTW- The STi does not come with a cat in the uppipe, so that should say something that Subaru knows it is a big restriction.

The second part of the package from BPM is the cross pipe. This replaces the stock pipe that carries exhaust from the drivers side manifold to the passenger side manifold. BPM found that replacing this one pipe increased exhaust flow and effectively eliminated the need for a complete header system.

Below you see the stock cross pipe vs. the BPM XVR Pipe


















As you can see the BPM piece is much nicer looking (though nobody sees it) and is larger diameter piping increasing the exhaust flow.

When I put an uppipe on my '02 WRX the gain in spool up and top end power was very noticeable. I had heard that the 2.0 liter motor in the early 2002-2005 WRX's responds much better to the uppipe then the 2.5 liter turbo motor found in the Forrester, Legacy GT as well as the 2006-up WRX's. The difference mostly comes down to engine displacement and turbo size. With the 2.0 liter motor trying to spool up the turbo with a big cat in the way was difficult. Increasing the displacement to 2.5 liters and spinning nearly the same size turbo is much easier for the engine, even with the cat in the way. After I added these parts I noticed a minimal gain in spool up time from the turbo, maybe about 200 RPM faster to full boost, but the real gains were found when I freed up the exhaust restriction after the turbo.

After the uppipe and cross pipe were done I focused my time, and money, toward the post-turbo exhaust. I purchased a COBB downpipe and heatshield from a vendor on LegacyGT.com as well as an XO2 catback exhaust off EBay.

I chose the COBB downpipe for a few reasons. First off they have been known to produce very high quality parts for Subarus for years. Their parts are expensive, but it's because they are well made and engineered very well. Their downpipe uses a cast bellmouth design and replaces the two cats found in the stock downpipe with either one high flow cat or none in their racing downpipe. Second the COBB downpipe has a bung in the top of the downpipe where you can add a wideband oxygen sensor. This becomes a very handy feature when you take the car to get tuned on a dyno, but more on that in another segment. Adding a downpipe to a late model turbo Subaru car is on e of the best "bang for your buck" mods you can do. The stock downpipe design is, in a word, horrible. Imagine running at full speed through a doorway. Imagine that doorway is very small and you barely have enough room to fit through it. Do you have to slow down before you go through the doorway? Of course, or you will run into the frame and hurt yourself. Now imagine if that doorway was the size of a garage door. Do you have to slow down to run through an opening the size of a garage door?
Nope, full speed ahead captain!

Ok, so the gases are at full speed through the downpipe, but Subaru designed the Legacy to be very quiet, like a luxury car. Quiet means restriction in the performance world. The next biggest restriction in the Legacy exhaust system is the mufflers. An aftermarket cat back exhaust fixes this problem quite well. There are many choices for the new Legacy in all different price ranges and audible ranges. I wanted a system that was loud and free flowing. The Legacy has always been way too quiet in the cabin for me. I normally use my ears to tell me when to shift rather than looking at the tach, but in the Legacy with the stock exhaust it was nearly impossible to tell if the car was even running. I chose the XO2 or "Ebay" catback because of its looks and its attractive price. I paid $400 including shipping for this system, where as the Perrin catback I was looking at was going to run me about $900 shipped. To me that's a significant difference. I am all about paying for quality, but I think sometimes in the automotive world people pay for brand names, and they pay alot for the name. I happen to know that nearly every exhaust system made is made in one of three places in Taiwan. Most of your "premium" brands are made right next to the "economy" systems.





I felt like, after reading the reviews on this particular exhaust system, that it was a good deal and I was not looking for a "quiet" system which was the major complaint from the people who had bought it. After putting on the downpipe and catback the car is definitely louder, but not to the point where it is annoying to me. I love the exhaust rumble of a Subaru, I could listen to a straight pipe exhaust all day long! If I don't want to hear the exhaust I just turn the radio up to level 7 and it's barely noticeable. Performance wise the car has become a rocket. Punch it in one of the lower gears and boost comes on instantly. Spinning wheels are very common with any amount of sand on the road. Punch it on the highway and 100mph comes before your ready. The car is almost scary fast at this point, and I rarely have the opportunity to even get into boost around town. But when I do have the chance, it puts a smile on my face from ear to ear. The really scary part is that I expect to get another 10-25 wheel hp from a AccessPORT and a custom tune.

Stay tuned, here in the near future I'm taking the car to the dyno and getting tuned. Expect my updates to come more frequently as the weather gets nicer and I have a track day to prepare for!

Back from the Dealer

Got the Legacy back from the dealer a few days ago. Took it in to have them inspect the rear struts again and to check out a loud whining noise while in reverse. I know that Subarus in particular are noisy in reverse but this was obscene. John Elway West was very helpful and gave me a loaner car while they were looking at it. Nothing found in the rear struts, they are not leaking at this time, nor were the technicians able to make them "clunk" as we have heard on occassion. I figured that it would be hard for them to find any problems unless they saw a leaky strut or something, so nothing was done there. The transmission however, was a different story.

I went on a test drive with a technician to confirm the noise, and he agreed it was an excessive amount of whine. The dealer called the next day to inform me that they were going to have to pull the transmission to locate and fix the problem and that it would be a few days to have it repaired. I then returned to the dealer that night to get something out of my car and the technician already had the tranny out and apart. I spoke with him in brief about the cause of the whine and he explained that his assesment was that the case had been "streched" because of repeated clutch drops. I then asked him about the wear on the friction disk of the clutch and he replied that it was only about 20% worn. I found this amusing that he thought the case had been streched due to abuse, yet the clutch is only 20% worn after 20,000 miles! My wife doesn't even know the meaning of the term clutch drop, so I am positive that IF this "abuse" happened it was within the first 3,000 miles before we purchesed the vehicle. He also informed me that the parts that were needed were in New Jersey and that it would be the next week before I got my car finished. I didn't mind, I was driving around an '06 Forester XT as a loaner.

I went home expecting a fight from the dealer the next day regarding covering this under warranty. To my surprise, I recieved a phone message that informed me of the problem and gave me a timeframe in which they were going to try and get the car done. Nothing about excessive abuse or voiding of the factory warranty. I called and confirmed that eveything was going to be covered under the factory warranty and was very satisfied with the service and demeanor of my advisor, Patty.

I know this sounds like a plug for John Elway West's sevice department, but I really was impressed with the way they handled my blown struts, twice, and this incident. I will stay doing business with them until I have a reason to go elsewhere.

They ended up replacing nearly the entire transmission, including sycros, the case, the forks, ect. I picked the car up the next week and have had zero problems with it since. The transmission feels a bit more "notchy" like my WRX's did, and the lack of noise in reverse is nice.

All in all I'm happy to have the car back and it looks to be in top shape and ready to recieve some bolt on parts. It's been nice Mr. Warranty, maybe I'll have one again on a different car.

Who am I and What Am I Doing?

Hi. My name is Allen Stewart, and I am a car enthusiast. Sounds much like an AA meeting introduction, and in some respects, it should. I am 25 years old, married with no children as of yet. I work at a place called Peterson Fluid Systems in Denver, Colorado. We build dry-sump oil systems for high performance motors and many other things motorsports related. I run the assembly department there and basically build race car parts all day. Not a bad gig! I've also been a service advisor, a general maintence tech, a detailer, and various other jobs involving cars.

I have been around cars since I was a young sprite. My grandfather has multiple street rods and classic cars of all kinds. Cars have been a large part of his life, and I think that passion transferred to me through all the time we spent together. I really didn't get into performance until I was about 17 years old and took a trip to Bandimere Speedway here outside of Denver. The track is a nationally recognized 1/4 mile drag track and I was there for a "test and tune" night where just about anyone can bring their car and run it down the strip. I was there with some friends of mine and saw a few guys in AWD DSM's making some really fast passes. From then on I was hooked. I bought my first turbo AWD car when I was 18 and have never looked back.

Since then I have owned 4 DSM's, 2 WRX's, A turbo Laser, and a whole bunch of other cars. Right now I'm at 6 vehicles which is doing pretty well for me. We are about to buy another one for my wife. I buy them, build them, and sell them more often then some people change underwear.

I decided to start this blog because I wanted to document one of the build-ups that I do and be able to share some of my experiences with anyone who cares. We purchased a 2005 Subaru Legacy GT sedan in February of 2006 from a small dealer on Broadway here in Denver. It had only 3000 miles on the odometer, and we got a fairly good deal on it. The car was originally purchased for my wife. We traded her Tacoma in on it because she wanted to go back to a car. Looking back we should have kept the truck; you never realize how much you use one until its gone. She wanted a Legacy because of the looks and I wanted the turbo model because, well that's just the way I am.

She has been driving it for the past 8 months and loves the car. I haven't done anything to it, mainly because I was wrapped up in other projects, but now we need something that can tow and she wants to be back in an SUV again. I jumped at the opportunity to take over the Legacy and start transforming it into the beast of a car it is capable of.

In the next month or two we will get her a Durango and I will begin work on the Legacy.

Stay Tuned!

Project Introduction

Project 2005 Legacy GT
“STi Killer”

Objective: To build a reliable, powerful, and tight handling car that still offers the acceptable ride and comfort of a touring sedan. Project STi Killer will out accelerate, out corner, and out brake a stock STi.

Overview: The car being used for this project is a silver 2005 Legacy GT sedan. From the factory the Legacy GT offers 250hp from a 2.5L turbocharged 4-cylinder boxer engine. The block and engine internals are much the same as the STi, but the Legacy was equipped with a smaller turbo, different intercooler and intake manifold to fit the scoop and lines of the car. This difference in design poses some challenges for one trying to make significant power out of this vehicle. The biggest problem is the intercooler size and location. Due to the design of the hood a stock sized intercooler must be used or there will be little to no airflow through the intercooler at high speed when the intercooler is needed most. Possible solutions to this issue are going with a front-mount intercooler or an air to water type intercooler. Both have their advantages and drawbacks. That point is a ways down the road yet, but something to keep in mind during the build. This project will be recorded from beginning to end with at least two dyno graphs showing the increase in power over stock. Since we do not have access to a skidpad, no lateral grip numbers can be recorded but the results will be recorded by the driver.

Part 1: What is already there and prepping for power.

The most important part of getting the most performance out of any vehicle is making sure the car is in excellent running condition to begin with. Luckily, we purchased this Legacy GT with only 3000 miles on the odometer so we know that it has been treated well for the majority of it’s life. The only issue we have had with the car is the rear struts have been replaced twice under warranty. Occasionally the noise has been heard again recently so we will take the car back to the dealer to ensure the struts haven’t blown again. We intend to retain the use of the stock struts so they must be in top-notch shape before we put extra load on them by installing lowering springs. Oil changes have been kept up to date and semi-synthetic oil used to reduce engine wear. Full synthetic will be used starting at the next oil change, as the car will be about 20K and seeing more “spirited” driving.

The vehicle already has a couple aftermarket upgrades, none of which alter performance so we should be able to get a nice baseline dyno number that one would expect from a stock Legacy GT off the lot. The previous owner or dealership installed a STi gauge pack including a boost gauge, an oil pressure gauge, and a coolant temp gauge. I would have rather had an EGT gauge installed over the coolant temp, but we will go with what we have already until it becomes necessary to have one. The vehicle also has extensive clear bra installed covering almost the entire front end, blacked headlights, and a STi rear trunk spoiler from the JDM Legacy GT. Not much is in the plans at the moment to add to the aesthetic look of the car. Obviously, wheels and tires will be added but more to improve handling over the stock set. We will stick with a 17” rim for aftermarket wheels, but wider, as we intend to use the stock wheels and tires during the winter months if needed. This influences brake upgrade choices, as most aftermarket caliper/rotor upgrades are too large to fit under the stock 17” wheels. At this point we will try to upgrade the stock components or will be on the lookout for a brake kit that offers use of the stock wheels.

The car runs very well at this point, and maintenance will be kept up to or exceed the manufactures recommendations. The first thing that needs attention is the handling. To the average guy wanting to drive this thing to work everyday in comfort the stock suspension is probably ok, but the vehicle has way too much body roll and understeer for a performance enthusiast. The stock tires are decent, but not what we would call “confidence inspiring”. Power is not the first concern of this project, the Legacy GT puts down a pretty healthy horsepower number stock. We want to be able to harness the available horsepower better than the factory car. First thing is to start off with a baseline dyno graph and see what kind of power we are putting to the wheels. Then we will start to add parts with some lowering springs to get the center of gravity down lower as well as reduce body roll and add a larger tubular rear sway bar to reduce that pesky understeer. Then, it’s time to focus getting the car stopped quicker.

Stay Tuned!