My 2005 GT Wagon

My New family wagon:

2005 Legacy GT

5 speed

black leather

AEM air intake

down pipe

850cc injectors

Exhaust with HUGE muffler (will probably get replaced with something quieter and less flashy)

Tint

the best moonroof I have ever seen on a car

Motegi wheels w/new tires.

What I have done to the car:

Cobb access port with map custom dyno tuned for E85 by Revolutions Performance in Colorado Springs Actual numbers @ the wheels:

201.1 hp 4400-5800rpm's and 241.1 tq @3700rpm's (yes I cried a little)

Disabled the DRL's,

remove STI badge and carbon fiber sticker over gas door

It has a new turbo and the ecu thinks the car is an 06 (even though production is 06-04)

A note to people that don't like turbo's.

In 5th gear playing with throttle I get positive poost pressure and noticeable torque before 1500 rpm's and I get 17psi and enough torque to pull your pants tight before 3000 rpm's

yea 200 hp .. is pratically stock..

At sea level. Colorado Springs is at 6,000 feet elevation, which likely had some effect.

Adam (tuner/shop owner) said he tried to turn up the boost, but it didn't work, I'm not sure what to think of this. Also, the car seems faster at half throttle than at wide open throttle and I'm trying not to make assumptions about the tune, it's probably related to heat soak and timing or something.

Does anybody know what throttle percentage does the car switch from closed loop to open loop?

For the dyno numbers:

Stock WRX's dyno 148 hp to the wheels at this shop.

If memory serves, WRX is rated at 224crank hp, dyno at 148wheel hp. If I want to know the equivalent, 224hp/148hp=1.513 using this as the correction factor the legacy would be 304.2crank hp, and 364.7crank tq

Adam (tuner/shop owner) said he tried to turn up the boost, but it didn't work, I'm not sure what to think of this. Also, the car seems faster at half throttle than at wide open throttle and I'm trying not to make assumptions about the tune, it's probably related to heat soak and timing or something.

 

Does anybody know what throttle percentage does the car switch from closed loop to open loop?

 

For the dyno numbers:

Stock WRX's dyno 148 hp to the wheels at this shop.

 

If memory serves, WRX is rated at 224crank hp, dyno at 148wheel hp. If I want to know the equivalent, 224hp/148hp=1.513 using this as the correction factor the legacy would be 304.2crank hp, and 364.7crank tq

there is restrictor pill in the lines that control the waste gate. this needs to be changed for more boost.

Oh yea, I remember now, On the first street tune a few years back we stopped at the auto parts store, my Tuner went in, picked up a little wire splice, cut it to fit, and stuck it in the hose.

Then we went for a ride.

I can't say I'm surprised at all. I guess I get to start using the search function when I get back so I can figure out how to fix this.

Thanks for the info.

Here's a thread with some pics for locating the pill:

http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php/removing-pill-outback-stage-3-166657.html?t=166657&highlight=remove+restrictor+pill

I did rear brake pads today, It doesn't take GT pads, it takes standard legacy pads, that is wierd, the ECU also thinks the car is an 06 (it's an 05 production date is 06/04)

I read some on this and found that the smaller hole in the restrictor pill means higher boost, aka removing the pill from the line would probably be counter productive.

I don't think the car hit over 18-20psi on the dyno. I know as a result 20-25psi isn't "tuned" but these maps are there anyway right? and they are modified by default with the rest of the maps right? I'm hoping they should at least be close.

Is it normal for a turbo's max boost to fluctuate from 18psi to 13psi to 20psi on the same setup on different runs on the same day?

The cobb rocks! there are a ton of toys and abilities included, I thought you had to buy pro software or use megasquirt to be able to do this stuff.

The end tank on my intercooler is separating causing a boost leak. My boost guage is showing 20psi when the ecu is showing 14psi. Either related to the boost leak, or my guage is off. I'm not sure which, but I'm sure I'll figure it out tomorrow after I jb weld it back together, and then try out the data log =)

I was at the car show in denver and someone from 5280 pointed at my intercooler and sure enough, a couple tabs were missing and the end cap was separating. apparently this is a very common issue.

Boost leak located.

So today I pulled the intercooler, cleaned it up, worked some RTV black into the crack, closed it up as well as it will hold itself, let it set, and then used some quick steal to make a nice thick casing to help hold it all together. I don't know that I would trust that to bond to the molded plastic so I made sure it wraps all the way around so it can act like a c clamp over the seam.

Pictures of my redneck engineering solution to a common issue included.

I read some on this and found that the smaller hole in the restrictor pill means higher boost

Yes, that's why we put the wire splice in there.

Yes the TMIC are known to leak with higher boost. Buy a aftermarket one. Check the vendors here. Mine came form a group buy from AJWperformance. Andrew has a thread in the vendor classifieds I think.

Then have the car street tuned, IMO the best bang for the buck. My Tuner can email you maps if you can upload them into your Cobb. I think there like $80.00

Mike at http://www.tuningalliance.com

What do you mean by street tuned?

I want to start tuning, but I need more education first. I got accessTUNER race software from Cobb and have been reading everything and studying every map I can get in front of me. Unfortunately I can't open the map I'm running now, probably because it was written by the shop's dyno software and I don't have "rights"

Contact Mike, he should be able to help you. I leave the tuning to him.

Street tuning is, He plugs in his laptop to the OBD2 port. We go for a ride. I do some 3rd gear pulls on a open stretch of road while he data logs. He make corrections to the map. When he's happy with the map. and I'm happy with how the car drives and feels. He loads that map into my Cobb AP and we load it into the car ECU.

He has even been able to smooth put the power. These cars seem to have a stumble in the power delivery.

If your good with a laptop you can do all that yourself.

I was emailing him today so he's still doing tuning.

I've been tuning 2 - 91 octane maps 1 economy 1 performance (both stock cobb files as base tunes) I feel like I'm missing something, or maybe (hopefully) I'm doing it right. I'm not getting any cel's, knock, or a/f learning during data logging or live monitoring.

I also took the boost guage off of the column, the dash feels a lot more open now. AND I CAN SEE MY FUEL GUAGE!!! yaaaay

fuel costs:

$0.17/mile on 91 octane @$3.70/gallon

$0.21/mile on E85 @ $3.00/gallon

I thought it was cheaper to run E85 than gas and thats why GM was so huge on it a few years ago, but I guess there has to be a larger price gap. Plus the wagon just gobbles the ethanol. I swear I have to refuel 2X/week and at a specific station. I went 7 days on the first tank of 91 including a small road trip and I can refuel anywhere.

Last night I found out I can massively enjoy the subaru in short aggressive bursts 14 seconds at a time (wink)

Man this car is fun!

I think I got the 91 map all figured out. I'm going to go back to the dark side of ethanol again.

I'm running 3 tunes, one was professionally tuned on the dyno for e85 and my own modifications on the Cobb economy and 91 stage II tunes.

If I'm going to upgrade to a bigger turbo and intercooler, I'm pretty sure it would cost the same if not less to buy a supercharger (duck and cover)

I would be getting it re-tuned again anyway, so for a little extra work of making mounting points and re-routing piping, exhaust, oil lines I can remove the issues with throttle response and lag.

Even though a turbo upgrade is about as easy as horsepower gets, I'm surprised more daily driver/weekend fun cars haven't gotten this treatment.

With a 4 cylinder its harder to overcome the parasitic loss that comes with an extra pulley on the crankshaft. It already has enough power stolen from it by having to move all 4 wheels instead of just 2. I think you would drive yourself crazy finding an effective supercharger where the power added is significantly more than the power sapped to move the pulley.

If you're willing to do custom work, why not go for a twin turbo setup. Find a little turbo that spools way down in the RPM range, and find a way to work it in. Maybe right at the headers (like the current gen LGT).

I figured a 2.5L would have enough torque to turn a supercharger, I imagine I will up my idle from 750 to 1000rpm's. Maybe I should consider an ac pulley style clutch and set it to engage at 1200 to 1600rpm's or so.

I don't think it's quite enough of an issue for me to pay for and mount 2 turbo's, I'm only seriously considering this because it's a cost that I will be paying for anyway, and the custom work won't be that much more than the next standard upgrade anyway.

I'm also considering a variable vane turbo from a diesel. I haven't gotten much research done on these yet, but I did find that the newer 911's use them as well for the same (anti-lag) reason I'm interested.