Pre-Owned LGT with Aftermarket Mods

Hello folks,

 

On Saturday I will be picking up a 2007 LGT Limited 5MT with about ten grand under the hood. The car has low milage for an '07 (67500 miles) and it seems to be in good working order from an interior, bodywork and normal driving functions capacity.

 

 

My dad has a COBB AP v2 for his '05 LGT 5MT and has used it to tune the ECU for his car.

 

My question is, can I use his AP for a purely diagnostic examination of my '07 LGT when I pick it up? And what should I look for? The car looks like it spent time at enthusiast events and has upgraded brakes and lines, a better suspension, COBB sway bars, a front tower brace, a FMIC, aftermarket intake, a full cat-back exhaust system, uppipe and downpipe, etc. I'm just concerned about the car's performance without the right tune and if this was married to the previous owner's AP the tune might be something I need to get from him.

 

The car is a 1-owner pre-owned car, by the way.

 

So any thoughts that anyone can provide would be great.

Get a compression test and follow up with a leakdown test. Wait, you are ready to take her home?

The situation is complicated, but yes. Taking her home on Saturday. The basics are that immediately after we looked at the car another father/son pair walked up to it. My dad, the businessman that he is, whipped out his plastic and put the reserve on the car to take it off the market. The car looks great, has a spotless interior, and ran without any smoke or signs of wear on the engine. For the price we paid for it, if everything checks out, we got a steal. But that's a big "if."

I really recommend you have a compression test done on this car before you make it a done deal. Get a PPI or something. If everything checks out, you've got a fantastic find, but always remember this when you're buying a new car. The previous owner got rid of it for a reason. It's your job to find that reason.

Front strut tower brace eh? Noob. . Seriously, a front strut brace does not do anything on these cars except take space in the engine bay.

 

Judging by what I see, I doubt there is $10k under the hood unless it is a Cosworth engine with a full ball bearing turbo upgrade.

 

What downpipe is on it?

 

If you want to view what's going on, get learning view and a tactrix cable. Check out the sticky on data logging in the tuning thread.

Thanks for the bash, compsurge. Real nice.

 

I beg to differ on the strut, by the way. My old man has both front and rear tower struts, and in addition to his Tein springs and Koni shocks, the car is much stiffer than it had been before.

 

The dealer that has the car is going to arrange for a compression and leak down test, so that should calm everybody's nerves a bit, mine included. I'll be sure to view the results myself.

 

Parts-wise, compsurge, I don't know every detail. You have to understand my situation. I needed my own car and my dad wasn't going to give up his. For the price we found it for (assuming all is in working order), it's a steal. There may not be $10k under the hood, but there sure is more than just a bolt-on add-on or two.

Not starting an argument, but the strut towers are part of the firewall, a major structural element of the car. I've had a strut tower brace and noticed zero difference after removal. Swaybars are by far the best suspension stiffener.

 

Good luck with the tests. Maybe the previous owner is a former forum member.

Thanks, comp. I'll keep that in mind when I look at everything on it in better detail on Saturday.

Best of luck with this man. It's just so difficult to know what you're dealing with when you buy some else's project.

 

The compression test will tell you a great deal but I would instantly get this to a tuner an get it logged if compression/leak down goes well.

 

This engines can be finicky and on stock internals there's a lot of questions I would have as far as his upgrades, turbo selection, etc. I recently purchased someone's project car last December and after going through the engine twice it ended up not being anywhere near a deal...I'm hoping you have better luck but I I were buying something like this it would either be to transfer over to my car or part out...

Not starting an argument, but the strut towers are part of the firewall, a major structural element of the car. I've had a strut tower brace and noticed zero difference after removal. Swaybars are by far the best suspension stiffener.

 

Good luck with the tests. Maybe the previous owner is a former forum member.

 

actually, springs and shocks are the best suspension stiffener. sway bars only affect lateral roll at the expense of grip. springs and shocks will stiffen lateral roll, pitch and dive and wont change the balance of the car.

actually, springs and shocks are the best suspension stiffener. sway bars only affect lateral roll at the expense of grip. springs and shocks will stiffen lateral roll, pitch and dive and wont change the balance of the car.

 

*for the dollar.

 

If you want one upgrade that will dramatically improve the feel of the car's handling, get swaybars first.

 

/thread derail

*for the dollar.

 

If you want one upgrade that will dramatically improve the feel of the car's handling, get swaybars first.

 

/thread derail

 

Good thing for me, it already has front & rear COBB sway bars.

Yep. If the engine checks out, you'll be in good shape.

Did you get the car?

No, not yet. The dealer didn't have the facilities to perform the tests himself (he's a straight pre-owned dealer, nothing else) so the shop down the street is charging us $200 to do them tomorrow.

 

That alone had me a little miffed but I'll get over it. IF the car passes, which I think it will, I'll drive over from work to pick it up after I pick up my dad and he gets HIS Legacy, which was in the shop this weekend for its own transformation (COBB UP & DP, heat shield & Borla cat-back).

Front strut tower brace eh? Noob. . Seriously, a front strut brace does not do anything on these cars except take space in the engine bay.

 

I will kindly disagree, on my stock suspension (only caster front LCA bushings). It made a noticeable difference, for $100 that mine cost I say it was worth it. His is free, which means definitely worth it.

 

With stiffer springs, bigger swaybars, etc. it might not be worth it.

 

No, not yet. The dealer didn't have the facilities to perform the tests himself (he's a straight pre-owned dealer, nothing else) so the shop down the street is charging us $200 to do them tomorrow.

 

That alone had me a little miffed but I'll get over it. IF the car passes, which I think it will, I'll drive over from work to pick it up after I pick up my dad and he gets HIS Legacy, which was in the shop this weekend for its own transformation (COBB UP & DP, heat shield & Borla cat-back).

 

$200 is a little too much for a compression test, unless that includes a leakdown test too. Either way, compression numbers should be fairly close to each other (within 5-10psi)

I will kindly disagree, on my stock suspension (only caster front LCA bushings). It made a noticeable difference, for $100 that mine cost I say it was worth it. His is free, which means definitely worth it.

 

With stiffer springs, bigger swaybars, etc. it might not be worth it.

 

 

 

$200 is a little too much for a compression test, unless that includes a leakdown test too. Either way, compression numbers should be fairly close to each other (within 5-10psi)

 

The $200 price is to cover both tests. Sorry if I didn't make that clear. And my dad's car has front & rear tower bars, like I said, and combined with the stiffer suspension and shocks, it buttons up the whole car.

Alright folks. Here's the results of the tests. Please, provide me with your best amateur/semi-pro/professional opinions.

 

Compression Test:

 

Passenger Front: 135 PSI

Passenger Rear: 132 PSI

Driver Front: 134 PSI

Driver Rear: 130 PSI

 

Leak Down Test:

 

Passenger Front: 139 PSI

Passenger Rear: 135 PSI

Driver Front: 136 PSI

Driver Rear: 133 PSI

 

In my rather limited technical opinion, those numbers look okay to me. Thoughts?

Looks good. Compression within a few points of each other.

Looks like the old AJW Legacy GT we tuned maybe 4 years ago now. Was a very strong car. Going off of memory they sold it sometime in 2011.

Looks like the old AJW Legacy GT we tuned maybe 4 years ago now. Was a very strong car. Going off of memory they sold it sometime in 2011.

 

Bren, you're right on the money. I checked the documentation and it IS the Legacy you tuned. It's a fantastic car! It just needs a little TLC to fix a few cosmetic things, but it's still pristine inside and runs great. Any suggestions for it?

^^ niiice. Have the old dyno plots for us to see by any chance? STidriver is local to me, I want to know how I might or might not stack up against him if/when I come across him one of these days soon

 

Edit: Was it by any chance prev owned by Andrew Wallace? Your (Bren) dyno database lists a 2007 LGT w/ HTA68 7cm, ER FMIC, DW740s, ER headers, full exh, 371 hp / 376 lb-ft, tuned back in Dec 2012. If that's the car, woah

I want to know how I might or might not stack up against him if/when I come across him one of these days soon

 

 

Show up here and take it around a few laps.

Bren, you're right on the money. I checked the documentation and it IS the Legacy you tuned. It's a fantastic car! It just needs a little TLC to fix a few cosmetic things, but it's still pristine inside and runs great. Any suggestions for it?

 

Honestly it's been so long since it was in house up here I couldn't even begin to guess. It seems like it's been thru the hands of a few different owners since we have seen it, so who even knows if the tune has been messed with/parts changed.

 

When we had it in house it was a well put together car and very strong.

 

^^ niiice. Have the old dyno plots for us to see by any chance? STidriver is local to me, I want to know how I might or might not stack up against him if/when I come across him one of these days soon

 

Edit: Was it by any chance prev owned by Andrew Wallace? Your (Bren) dyno database lists a 2007 LGT w/ HTA68 7cm, ER FMIC, DW740s, ER headers, full exh, 371 hp / 376 lb-ft, tuned back in Dec 2012. If that's the car, woah

 

That was it! That was done on the old dynopack we used to use. That tune date was when we uploaded it to the site, we tuned the car back in 2011.

Show up here and take it around a few laps.

 

I've been meaning to go there for a while now, actually. My car should be pretty well set up for it (Konis, LGT springs, Whiteline swaybars/bushings, 04 STi wheels w/ Brembos/Stoptech brakes, Hawk HPS pads, etc). I think AZP does some HPDE events there throughout the year. I'd do better at Englishtown Raceway Park where I've run my prev cars many many times, but would be nice to broaden my horizons w/ the OBXT on a road course.