New (to me) 2005 LGT, got some questions

Hey everyone,

 

I bought a 2005 legacy gt limited wagon about 2 months ago. I'm loving the car and I want to make sure I take good care of it, so I've been spending some time reading the reliability mods thread. I have a couple of questions so without hijacking the thread, here goes:

 

- I got the car inspected at a Subaru dealership before buying. They came up with a few minor issues, which I got taken care of by smart service here in seattle. The dealership didn't recommend a compression test; would you all recommend getting a comp. test as soon as possible? The car has 74,000 miles on it.

 

- A catless up-pipe seems to be a good idea. I'm looking at the Grimmspeed up and down-pipes - their website says both "great for your drive to work and back" and "for off road use only". Would using aftermarket exhaust parts (and a tune) cause my car to fail emissions testing?

 

Thanks for the help, I look forward to being part of the community!

You'll need to get some sort of a tune when you get the up and down pipes. Washington state emissions do not have the "sniffer", so as long as you don't throw a code, you're fine (and the tune will make sure you don't).

 

No need for a compression check unless you're worried about something specific.

 

Head over to the local NW forum if you want to talk with local guys. There are tons of good shops around that can help with all of your needs.

 

 

Lastly, 05wagon with 74k? Nice score.

Why spend the money on a GS unit? Save yourself $100 and head over to NASIOC, or some other place where those twattish STi owners hock their takeoffs to help subsidize the insane amount of money they put into their cars for no good reason. Any catless UP from '07(?) and up should work fine. Don't pay any more than $80 no matter the condition. Average price is about $65-75.

I would also change the oil again for a peace of mind to know its fresh. Do a search on here for what type of oil to use as it has been covered many times. I use motul but it seems like most people are running Rotella T6. Anyway nice find with low miles and good luck and welcome to the forum! Cheers

Does the catless uppipe improve the low end torque, or just high end boost/breathing?

Thanks for the help guys.

 

The only reason I would want to get a compression test is because the car has a slightly lumpy idle that I didn't notice when I test drove it. It's worse when the car is cold. I have read that this could be due to uneven compression in the cylinders, but I will do some more research

Were the spark plugs changed at/around 60K miles?

I also have an 05 LGT wagon and have a similar issue. Idle can be slightly rough, and you can feel the steering wheel vibrate a little when you're sitting at a stop sign or red light. But if you shift into Neutral, it's perfectly smooth.

One possible cause is using an aftermarket driveshaft. Another is just normal wear and tear on the tranny.

For oil, many of us use Rotella T6 5W-40. Don't use M1 5W-30, it's too thin for our engines.

 

For filters, although these say Mazda they are made to the same specs as the original Tokyo Roki OEM Subaru oil filters.

http://www.fredbeansparts.com/tokyo-roki-oil-filters-and-crush-washers-6-pack.html

Does the catless uppipe improve the low end torque, or just high end boost/breathing?

 

 

Catless up pipe should allow the turbo to spool up faster, so you'd feel that more like low end torque.

Welcome...

Why spend the money on a GS unit? Save yourself $100 and head over to NASIOC, or some other place where those twattish STi owners hock their takeoffs to help subsidize the insane amount of money they put into their cars for no good reason. Any catless UP from '07(?) and up should work fine. Don't pay any more than $80 no matter the condition. Average price is about $65-75.

 

Got a catless WRX Uppipe off a 2014 for $25,....

My friends Uppipe got another leak or crack on his aftermarket uppipe ,..his 2nd time,...save your money for something else,

Awesome. I'm fixing to buy an 07+ STi UP and an aftermarket catted DP (CNT racing seems to get great reviews despite the cheap price).

 

Now for another question - the car came with a V1 Accessport. Are the stage 2 OTS maps from an "obsolete" accessport going to work and be reliable? Or will I need to go with either a V2 or V3 accessport? Looking through the map notes on the cobb website, I didn't notice much difference between v1.16 and v3 of the Legacy GT tunes.

 

I'm fine with getting a newer accessport but I don't plan on using many of the features besides the maps so if I can make do with the V1, I'd like to keep it.

I got an old access port v1 for the same reason. It's a DD so I needed one map. But the Cobb ots map kinda sucks. It's better but not great. Now looking into etune the v1 is hard to get tuned. 2 guys won't touch it ( said to but a tactrix reader, then tune on open source for ~400) but PDX just emailed me and said it would be no problem and $150. Seems like for $250 including the ap that's the best deal around, for a DD that you'll likely never touch again

 

 

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Sorry, I don't fully get what you mean. PDX tuning has the ability to tune with a V1 accessport?

That's what it sounds like, check PDX website and ask them. FWIW, both my cars have Cobb AP v2.

That's what they said in my email. They have maps for v1 access port. Mines locked to street tuner so I gotta remove that before I start but that shouldn't be a big deal

 

 

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