Opinion Needed...

Alright so it looks like my catalytic might be clogged and instead of just replacing it with a new oem catalytic i was wondering if i should go with a magnaflow catback for a little bit more money... not sure if magnaflow would be an appropriate exhaust for my 05 lgt but i would love some oppinions... thanks

 

Cat-back means you replace everything after the cats. So this would not solve the clogged cat.

 

Having said that:

 

If you have your stock UP then many people would suggest replacing that with a pipe that does not have a cat so when the cat goes it does not grenade your turbo.

 

For the DP there are other low cost DP around (CNT catted or uncatted) but you will need a tune if your changing your DP. I would suggest the CNT catted if you want to remain some what legal. It removes one of your cats and a great piece for 300ish. Talk to m Sprank. He can also set you up with infamous for a tune as well.

 

If you don't want to tune, your only option is really the stock down pipe.

how expensive/difficult is a tune? if i switch out both UP/DP, is that something i can swap myself?

how expensive/difficult is a tune? if i switch out both UP/DP, is that something i can swap myself?

definitely can be DIY

 

simple DP took me about 2 hours by myself

 

tune is also very affordable

The tune will probably be the least expensive part of your upgrades, and money WELL spent.

 

A friend and I did my full install of headers, uppipe, and downpipe in 5 hours or so, and we took time to eat lunch, goof around, etc.

alright thanks a bunch... for a tune are you talking about sending out my ecu or actually having it put on the dyno... sorry i'm so noobish at this stuff haah

Are you good with a laptop ?

 

There are cables you can buy that will allow you to tune your car, or load better maps into the ECU.

 

I'm not good with them so I leave that to my local tuner. Seeing where your from, I doubt you have that option.

 

I hope your good with a laptop.

 

Contact/PM mspank he can take care of you.

 

Cobb AP is another option. Both my cars are on it. My Tuner rides with me, data logs makes changes and loads his map into the Cobb AP which I then load into the ECU.

 

 

Check out the tuning forum below.

alright thanks a bunch... for a tune are you talking about sending out my ecu or actually having it put on the dyno... sorry i'm so noobish at this stuff haah

 

Neither, actually. The ECU in our cars is completely rewritable and programmable (because these cars are awesome), so all you need is a cheap little cable and a laptop to make it happen!

 

Personally, I contacted M Sprank and bought the Stage 2 tune from him. He shipped me the cable with a CD that included the necessary software to tune my car. I went through a few steps and had my first tune done in no time. You basically just email information back and forth with the pro-tuner. It's quite easy once you know how.

 

I wrote a walkthrough here for people who are new to the whole thing:

http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php/complete-beginners-guide-e-tuning-vendor-and-vag-com-cable-158118.html

 

That should give you an idea of what would be involved on your part for a tune.

Fort Kent, Maine, you may as well just head up to Canada for work on your car ! I say this because I live down in Orono with two good friends from Fort Kent and I've got a bunch of friends in the Madawaska/Fort Kent/Houlton/"County" area, haha. I know how desolate this state can be, especially if you're looking to work on something that's not American muscle or some huge truck. I came up to Orono from NY because I went to UMO.

 

Anything titled "catback" will not replace your clogged catalytic converter. You're going to need a downpipe for that. You have two options regarding a downpipe, you can buy catless (no catalytic converter) or a catted downpipe which does have one. I have always run catless pipes and I have my tuner tune the CEL out so the car still passes emissions testing in New York. In Maine I don't even think you'd worry about emisisons testing, but your tuner would still tune out the CEL so it doesn't annoy you. Do some research to see if you want catted or catless. Catless is cheaper, but it's also louder. Catted is usually a pretty penny more and it's much quieter than a catless pipe. An aftermarket downpipe and an uppipe (because you have a 2005) are all you need to flash stage 2 software onto the car, and holy crap it turns the thing into a whole new beast. I found my stock LGT way too sluggish, but not after stage 2!

 

If you do decide to buy a catback, I highly, highly recommend the Magnaflow. You can get them for $537 shipped (ask me where, you will NOT find this price openly advertised) and the Magnaflow sounds mean! If you're ever down in the Orono area and you want to hear a LGT with an Invidia catless downpipe and Magnaflow catback, just let me know.

 

The UP/DP install is pretty easy. I actually had a super knowledgeable guy down in Topsham help me with mine. He works out of his garage, which they call "Lobstah's Garage." Check out www.mainelysubarus.com. The board dedicated to Maine Subaru owners and we do some fun events as well. It's also great to find some local help and parts (although you'll find LGTs are rare up here).

 

The tune is so simple in this car. Given we're located in the middle of nowhere (Maine) our options are limited. I had my car "etuned" by a guy named Shamar, he goes by "Infamous1" on this forum. Here's the link to his website. The guy does excellent tuning and he is very helpful throughout the whole tuning process. You simply tell him your mods and he builds you a tune that you load to your vehicle. Once the tune is loaded you do a datalog, send it back to him and he re-tunes for you. Your repeat this process until your tune is how you want it and is safe for the vehicle.

 

How do you load a tune? Do some research on here and you'll find you have two options:

1: Buy a Copp Accessport and load the map onto that and datalog with it as well. It also allows you to easily switch tunes on the fly. I like this option and it's the one I use.

 

2: If you have a smaller laptop or netbook you can buy a VAG-COM cable and download some software and tune/datalog that way. I'm not too familiar with this option. This is how the VW I had was tuned, but I didn't do the actual tuning, so I don't know all that much about it, especially on the Subaru.

 

On a side note: All of Cobb's AP software is now available for Mac OS! I'm not sure how long ago it happened, but I noticed it the other day when I was poking around the Cobb website. No more Boot Camp or Parallels needed to load tunes for fellow Mac users!

Since you're also in New england, contact Bren at www.brentuning.com for tuning locally.

Since you're also in New england, contact Bren at www.brentuning.com for tuning locally.

Eight hours one way is still a pretty lengthy drive for a tune, at least I think so.

Thanks RJS5689, great advice... I think i'm gonna take the cobb tuner option with the same pipe setup as you mentioned... and yes it does suck to live so far away from everything, thats why most of what i will ever do to my car will have to be done by me with advice from this forum, its been a great help so far... how much do the maps go for? say one for the invidia DP and magnaflow cat

the cobb accessport has a stage 2 map, a downpipe is stage 2, regardless if catted or catless.

so if i were to put an invidia DP with a magnaflow cat I could select the stage 2 setting the comes factory on the Cobb and be worry free?

yup!

so if i were to put an invidia DP with a magnaflow cat I could select the stage 2 setting the comes factory on the Cobb and be worry free?

Not if it's a catless pipe. You'll have to worry about boost creep and overboost. See my explanation below.

 

the cobb accessport has a stage 2 map, a downpipe is stage 2, regardless if catted or catless.

I remember reading on here that they will no longer support catless tunes. People were having problems with overboost and boost spike while running Cobb OTS Stage 2 software, so Cobb stopped supporting catless vehicles. The notes for the Cobb Stage 2 map read:

If you do some searching on here you'll come across quite a few people who have had problems with the Cobb tune on catless exhausts.

 

Thanks RJS5689, great advice... I think i'm gonna take the cobb tuner option with the same pipe setup as you mentioned... and yes it does suck to live so far away from everything, thats why most of what i will ever do to my car will have to be done by me with advice from this forum, its been a great help so far... how much do the maps go for? say one for the invidia DP and magnaflow cat

It doesn't matter what mods are on the vehicle, it's a flat rate for the tune. Infamous charges $150 and that includes 5 or 7 re-tunes, I can't remember the exact number. What I mean by "re-tunes" is after you send him your datalog he tweaks the tune slightly so it works better with your vehicle. He'll do this up to a certain number of times for the $150 price.

 

It's a great deal and Infamous really makes some great tunes. He's also great about answering questions and educating you along the way. Shoot him a PM on here and I'm sure he'll be helpful.

 

The pro-tune from Infamous or another similar tuner is the method I'd recommend. You're getting a tune that's custom tailored to your vehicle, not a blanket one designed to try and work with multiple possible combination of mods.

now invidia makes 2 DPs from what i can see, one thats high flow and the other just normal... this is what i assume, does that mean that the high flow one is catless and the other is catted or that is this irrelevant? i saw on the cobb website they mentioned their stage 2 tune was made specifically for their cobb DP and catback which costs an arm and a leg... advice?

The "highflow" one means it has a highflow catalytic converter in it. That is also why it is the more expensive one. The other pipe they make is a catless pipe.

 

This part is catless: http://www.invidia-usa.com/Products.aspx?ProductID=156

This part has a highflow catalytic converter in it: http://www.invidia-usa.com/Products.aspx?ProductID=157

 

Before buying a new pipe, take a look around for a used one. I picked up my catless pipe for around $200. Make sure you get new gaskets as well, you're going to want a new turbo to downpipe gasket: http://www.fredbeansparts.com/index.php/subaru-turbo-to-downpipe-gasket.html

 

If you have a stock exhaust (or any exhaust that tapers to 2.5") you'll need a 3" to 2.5" adapter as well (the Invidia downpipe is 3"): http://www.fredbeansparts.com/index.php/3-inch-downpipe-to-2-5-inch-cat-back-exhaust-adaptor-1.html. I've got to use one of these with my Magnaflow catback.

thanks man... who exactly do you know from up north at orono? and what did you say your name was?

FWIW,

 

I didn't use the adaptor on the 05 with Invidia catless DP to stock mid pipe. A shop did the install. When I pulled it apart I saw they had the stock donut in there. Didn't leak.

 

I bought the DP from my Tuner. He said I didn't need the adaptor.

 

When I put the tranny back in, I plan to use a 3" universal header gasket and just trim off the excess.

thanks man... who exactly do you know from up north at orono? and what did you say your name was?

No problem, man. I know quite a few people from up there, but the one you'd probably know is Kristine Dyer. My two roommates are from Fort Kent, but they've been living down here for the past several years. My name is Bobby Scarano.

haha i graduated with kristine, grew up with her too, small world...

 

so i found this the other day while i was looking around, wonder if i'd need a tuner with this setup because the downpipe is catted... let me know what you think and thanks! i dont feel like an idiot discussing it with you versus some of the cocky guys on this forum

haha i graduated with kristine, grew up with her too, small world...

 

so i found this the other day while i was looking around, wonder if i'd need a tuner with this setup because the downpipe is catted... let me know what you think and thanks! i dont feel like an idiot discussing it with you versus some of the cocky guys on this forum

 

dumbass i forgot the link... here it is... http://www.subimods.com/magnaflow-erz-lgt-special.html

I called subiemods about that combo a couple months back, if I recall correctly they were discontinuing it- I may be wrong tho, just call em up, a person (Calvin) picks up- cool guys. I ordered my magnaflow catback and invidia catless dp through them however, great prices. I don't have experience with ERZ stuff but, the invidia downpipes are NICE, very well made...

 

If I were you I'd get the CBE, catless invidia dp, and an infamous tune....the money you'd save by getting a catless instead of catted would be used for an infamous tune, which would be much better than a cobb accessport tune...

It won't matter if you get catless or catted, you're going to need a tune either way. I say don't bother with a Cobb off-the-shelf tune. Your best bet is a custom tune made by someone like Infamous.

 

I don't have experience with the ERZ pipes, but I do know recall reading a handful of reviews, most of which gave it high praise for a good bang-for-buck value with it. That deal through SubiMods isn't too bad though and it may be worth it if you want a catted pipe. Like Brosephine said, call them to make sure they still have it.

 

If you decide to purchase elsewhere, let me know. I picked up my Magnaflow brand new for $537 shipped to my door, yes, $537 shipped for a brand new exhaust. Shoot me a PM if you want the distributor that sells it that low. Then you could hunt for a used downpipe on the forums to pair with the catback.