Buying an LGT soon, would like opinions.

First post.

I'm planning on purchasing a 5th 4th gen LGT next month after my mortgage is refinanced and I want to know your opinions on what year range in best for modifying.

I've read a little about the iDrive system that was introduced in '07. I heard it was causing some tuning hurdles but didn't hear anything about it being resolved.

I currently own a turbo 95 Integra GSR and was thinking about re-using some of the parts from it if it'll transfer easily enough. Like the FMIC (spearco 24x10x3) and possibly turbo (Precision SC34 .57trim)

My ultimate goal is to make at least 350whp/???wtq (lol, never really had any tq before:lol:) and I'm sure I could make it with the turbo I have since it makes 300whp on 10.5psi on my 1.8l but it's oil cooled only. I see almost everyone on here running oil/water cooled turbos, why is that... keeping it factoryish? Is there an issue running an oil cooled only turbo on these cars?

Appreciate any feedback from you guys. Thanks.

Also, pic of the GSR:

http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t155/VSRperformance/My%20DB8%20at%20work/2.jpg

She will be missed, but I've wanted an LGT for 7 years now, i've waited long enough.

I run an oil cooled 6262 and have had zero issues. For that size turbo you will need to go rotated and you will either need to relocate or get rid of the coolant reservoir mounted on the intake manifold. I got rid of mine and have had zero cooling issues and I live in Florida.

The Spearco core shouldn't have fitment issues, I fit a 28x9.75x3.5 core pretty easily behind the stock bumper.

Also, the Subaru motors don't have the VE of a Honda motor, but you should get 350whp on more boost.

Hope you're not planning to buy new...

If he's talking about iDrive, I'm assuming he's not in the US so a new LGT may be an option for him.

If he's talking about iDrive, I'm assuming he's not in the US so a new LGT may be an option for him.

Looks like the GSR has Washington plates

First post.

 

I'm planning on purchasing an 5th gen LGT next month after my mortgage is refinanced and I want to know your opinions on what year range in best for modifying.

 

I've read a little about the iDrive system that was introduced in '07. I heard it was causing some tuning hurdles but didn't hear anything about it being resolved.

 

 

I currently own a turbo 95 Integra GSR and was thinking about re-using some of the parts from it if it'll transfer easily enough. Like the FMIC (spearco 24x10x3) and possibly turbo (Precision SC34 .57trim)

 

My ultimate goal is to make at least 350whp/???wtq (lol, never really had any tq before:lol:) and I'm sure I could make it with the turbo I have since it makes 300whp on 10.5psi on my 1.8l but it's oil cooled only. I see almost everyone on here running oil/water cooled turbos, why is that... keeping it factoryish? Is there an issue running an oil cooled only turbo on these cars?

You're thinking of Si drive, and it's not on any of the USDM 5th gen Legacy GT.

If you want to make that FMIC and turbo work, you'll have to do a lot of fabrication. A whole new exhaust manifold would be needed to make the turbo work.

Personally, I wouldn't bother with that turbo and FMIC unless you do a lot of fabrication/welding yourself. You can make close to 300whp and gobs of torque with the stock turbo.

Hope you're not planning to buy new...

I wouldn't buy new even if I had the chance. I couldn't handle that slope of depreciation that only a new car offers.

I run an oil cooled 6262 and have had zero issues. For that size turbo you will need to go rotated and you will either need to relocate or get rid of the coolant reservoir mounted on the intake manifold. I got rid of mine and have had zero cooling issues and I live in Florida.

 

The Spearco core shouldn't have fitment issues, I fit a 28x9.75x3.5 core pretty easily behind the stock bumper.

 

Also, the Subaru motors don't have the VE of a Honda motor, but you should get 350whp on more boost.

Good to know. Can you post a picture of your front mount? I was sure the Spearco would fit but my concern is with how it will look. I don't want gaps on either end. I would like to have the core fill the mouth.

Looks like the GSR has Washington plates

Correct.

You're thinking of Si drive, and it's not on any of the USDM 5th gen Legacy GT.

 

If you want to make that FMIC and turbo work, you'll have to do a lot of fabrication. A whole new exhaust manifold would be needed to make the turbo work.

 

Personally, I wouldn't bother with that turbo and FMIC unless you do a lot of fabrication/welding yourself. You can make close to 300whp and gobs of torque with the stock turbo.

I did mean Si Drive, sorry for the confusion.

If I do end up taking my turbo with me I will be taking the DP/flange as well, and I can have my friend weld up a new DP for cost of materials. Other than a custom downpipe and piping for the FMIC (which I porbably wont use, seeing as ShockerGT fit a much larger core on his LGT) I don't really see much more fabricating.

I am tempted to just use the stock turbo and go Stage2, but after having 300whp on a 2600lb car, I really think I'll regret not having the extra 50+hp to pull the extra weight of Legacy.

Thanks for all the responses everyone.

 

If I do end up taking my turbo with me I will be taking the DP/flange as well, and I can have my friend weld up a new DP for cost of materials. Other than a custom downpipe and piping for the FMIC (which I porbably wont use, seeing as ShockerGT fit a much larger core on his LGT) I don't really see much more fabricating.

 

I am tempted to just use the stock turbo and go Stage2, but after having 300whp on a 2600lb car, I really think I'll regret not having the extra 50+hp to pull the extra weight of Legacy.

I'm just saying it's not going to be as easy as swapping out a couple of exhaust flanges. With the turbo in the new location under the car, there's not a lot of room for a bigger turbo in the stock location. You'll probably have to modify the manifold to either lower the turbo and sacrifice ground clearance or move it someplace else.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v307/Rutch/CarPics/LegacyGT/4027681962_70fa103f8c_b.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v307/Rutch/CarPics/LegacyGT/4027682600_5a7af95195_b.jpg

I'm not trying to say don't do it, just know it won't be a walk in the park

Donkey balls. That is more work than I plan on doing.

I wanted to keep the same location and just rotate the setup. How large of a turbo can the stock location handle? I will be running a FMIC so that may free up some space, no? The SC34 is roughly the size of a 20g, IIRC I've seen some 20g's on LGT's and WRX's in the stock location.

Thanks for the heads up!

EDIT: Also I refuse to run ELH. I getting out of a honda and the last thing I want is the sound to follow me.

Welcome! The PNW has a lot of modded LGTs so check the local area and you'll find a lot of people with info.

If you're looking at modding the LGT so heavily right off the bat, I take it you've driven a 4th Gen and 5th Gen stock? Then driven a 4th Gen Stg 2 and a 5th Gen Stg 1? Just curious because I would HIGHLY recco driving these before trying to jump in and go bat shit crazy with welded DP's from scratch, rotated turbos, FMIC, etc. Try out a few I listed above. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Stg 2 with UP/DP/Accessport won't run you much over $1200 if you had it all paid installed and bought brand new parts. It's not a bad start to try first... You could probably get a tune and good used parts with all of the above for $1000.

Donkey balls. That is more work than I plan on doing.

 

I wanted to keep the same location and just rotate the setup. How large of a turbo can the stock location handle? I will be running a FMIC so that may free up some space, no? The SC34 is roughly the size of a 20g, IIRC I've seen some 20g's on LGT's and WRX's in the stock location.

 

Thanks for the heads up!

 

 

EDIT: Also I refuse to run ELH. I getting out of a honda and the last thing I want is the sound to follow me.

You have no option BUT to run ELH on a BM GT (5th Gen). They come from the factory like that. You're talking about a serious amount of work and a serious amount of lost power going with unequal length headers on a BM.

If you want that trademark Subaru sound, you'll have to go with a BL/BP GT (4th Gen sedan/wagon). If you're going with an aftermarket turbo, there's a much larger aftermarket for the BL/BP anyways.

Anyway, I put Perrin ELH on my BL GT. I think it sounds nothing like a Honda. It sounds very EVOish to me.

I just realized I put 5th gen in my first post. I'm trying to get a 4th gen, again, sorry for the confusion, I posted pretty late last night, must have been half asleep.

I drove a stock Spec.B 6MT a few years ago. I wasn't impressed with the power at all but I understand that it was stock suspension vs my integra -2" drop on adjustable struts and a lowered and stiffened susp has a LOT to do with how fast a car feels.

I will be doing all work myself but I must have been looking in the wrong places for prices. You say $1k-1.2k for stg 2?

From what I saw, AP was $600 alone, exhaust about the same, that's not counting any personal tune, UP/DP IC.

With the price range you just quoted, a stg2 sounds much more reasonable. I was thinking if I was going to be spending $2k+ for only 280-300whp, I might as well just get my 350+ power goal right off the bat.

Soooooo, anyone in the Portland/Vancouver area want to let me drive their stg2 LGT??

I'll let you drive the GSR

You need to look around for good used parts to get there with a tune. $1200 easy if you're doing UP/DP/AP only with an off the shelf tune.

Here's mine: AP V1 (as I've been stg 2 for some time): $400 used

UP: $130 from TurboX

DP: Shorty (didn't want to spend $500-$600) that is fully coated $120 used for 5k. Looked brand new.

Install: Probably about $200 or so? It's been a long time.

So basic as can be Stg 2 was $850 for me. Bought a SPT V2 exhuast (about as quiet as you can go for aftermarket) for $650. That's $1500 for a nice setup. Just a thought.

Good to know. Can you post a picture of your front mount? I was sure the Spearco would fit but my concern is with how it will look. I don't want gaps on either end. I would like to have the core fill the mouth.

 

If I do end up taking my turbo with me I will be taking the DP/flange as well, and I can have my friend weld up a new DP for cost of materials. Other than a custom downpipe and piping for the FMIC (which I porbably wont use, seeing as ShockerGT fit a much larger core on his LGT) I don't really see much more fabricating.

 

I am tempted to just use the stock turbo and go Stage2, but after having 300whp on a 2600lb car, I really think I'll regret not having the extra 50+hp to pull the extra weight of Legacy.

 

 

Thanks for all the responses everyone.

I knew all along you were referring to the 05-09 chassis. Anyway I dont have any photos of the core installed but I can tell you right now that it doesnt fill the whole opening. The opening is roughly 34" so youll need quite a large core.

Also I know the majority of these guys havent driven a 300whp sub 3k lb car if they think a stage 2 LGT will feel the same. A stage 2 Legacy will bore you in no time, it has a decent low end kick but it just dies up top. An upgraded turbo is a must if you want the car to feel like your GSR and since you know a fabricator like I do then it will cost you just as much to build a rotated turbo setup (the companies that sell rotated kits make a killing as I built mine for half the price and thats with a billet, ceramic ball bearing turbo) and then you have room to go bigger in the future.

There is an overwhelming amount to learn about these cars, I'm struggling to figure this stuff out so i appreciate you all bearing with the Honda guy.

Let's restart with this question; How much power can a stock LGT engine handle with proper tuning?

I ask because this is how I help people decide how they want to build their Hondas. For example, a well maintained GSR long block can handle some serious power in stock form. 380-400whp is about what they can take before you are really chancing it. So I was confident that mine could handle 300 even with 200k miles. ( It has 257k now and still flies.)

It's hard to answer that question now. On a fresh EJ255...sure it could handle 350whp for awhile, depending how it's driven, tuned, and maintained.

Now, with some LGTs being 7+ years old, how much power your block can hold is at the mercy of the previous owner(s).

I'd start with a compression test and oil test. If things come back good, go for your goal. If not, better save up for a rebuild.

Thanks guys. At this point im just going to sell the GSR as is. There are a couple turbos that will come close to my goal without much modification (HTA68, TD06) so I think in the end I'll be saving money over making my own DP and rotated set-up with my existing turbo.

I think I'll be OK with the slight loss of speed when coupled with better handling, luxuries and looks...good trade off I suppose.

I'm going to be doing a compression test and leak down test to start with whatever LGT I end up with (White on Black w/ 5MT hopefully) and I'll just aim as close to my goal as possible. If she implodes, new block with forged goodies inside.

Thanks for all your guys' help, I really appreciate it.

Waiting for this refi on my house will be the end of me.....look what I just found: http://seattle.craigslist.org/tac/ctd/3080100823.html

Yeah, 11.2k is a bit steep and I would try to talk them down a digit but miles really don't scare me. All my cars have been high mileage. The integra is at 257k, 40k of them boosted. My wife's '02 explorer is at 170k, my first car was an '87 prelude w/310k and the same story for all our other cars. Never had any issues, just keep up on the preventative maintenance.

I would surely love to have a lower mileage LGT but if a white one with black interior and a 5MT pops up, i'm not going to be too discriminative. But seeing how hard it is to find a 5MT, I might be rolling with a different color.

I have a nice low mileage car for you then! Only 132k on mine!

J/K! Not selling the red beast yet. I can see how though at such a low weight the GSR would be completely different than an LGT with similar HP. I'd totally do a ride along trade with my Stg 2 and the GSR at a meet if you still have it then. Again though, I'm only OTS Stg 2 with nothing fancy. Maybe 290HP/330TQ at the crank. Cobb has it listed higher but I think that's inflated.

When's the next meet? I'll feel dErp pulling up to a subie meet in an integra but i'll do it for a drive-trade.

When I first built it and was running off WG spring 7psi creeping to 9 it was making 260whp with some sweet headlift (stock head studs w/211k couldn't handle to boost)

It hauled ass then, now it has 40whp more thanks to a couple more psi and ARP headstuds. I'll tell you, it's a completely different feeling than a subaru. As much as I love the insta-tq in my brother's 16g'd '02 WRX, I'm not a huge fan of the "fall on your face" feeling it has.

Here's an olllddd video of the GSR @260whp, 1st and 2nd gear are completely worthless

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ko_myU_LTeI]Turbo GSR - YouTube[/ame]

For weight/speed reference: my brother's bug-eye made 328whp/336wtq on E85, My Integra had no problem outrunning it and making a 4 car gap before 120mph from a 20mph roll and It's 300whp/192wtq

That's why I want more than a stg2 when I get the leggy.