Tronic

I have decided to keep my 2004 Subaru Legacy 3.0R even if I buy a new car. The 6 speed manual is now officially dead and it cannot be replaced anymore and it dollar terms its not worth selling. Such a great car and Subaru have gone backwards since 2005 its really sad to see. Its been quite funny over here, every man and his dog is trying to sell his STi now for twice the price of a new one. A second hand limited edition SAIGO 2022 STi was listed for NZ$140K which is more than a NEW AMG A45S with the full Aero package which is a total joke. Subaru over here has just moved to selling SUV's as they now account for the majority of new car sales. The STi is gone forever I recon, the future is electric SUV's, nobody is interested in a sedan anymore anyway. The biggest mistake Subaru made was dropping the hatchback, the hot hatch is still a viable market. By the time Subaru come out with any form of STi replacement the market will have moved on to other car brands, there is no coming back from their decision to drop the STi.

No Subaru just dropped the ball about 10 years ago now, the STi has gone nowhere, perhaps it didn't need to as it had no competition. Subaru just gave up. Perhaps take a look at the AMG A45S matic+ with the aero package its like something from another world. 310kW/421Hp and 500nm from the worlds most powerful production 2 litre engine and an interior you can only dream about having on a Subaru. I didn't even know this car existed I was so hung up on the new STi.

The EZ30R is simply an awesome engine in the JDM spec wagon with 6 speed manual. All very sad at the end of the day when your hanging onto a 2005 car because Subaru didn't make anything better to replace it with. The ship has well and truly sailed for Subaru as well now. Just sold my Toyota MR2 Turbo after 23 years of ownership back in January because Toyota didn't ever come to the party with a replacement for one of those and was waiting for the new STi and now weeks later thats a no go as well. Very disappointed in the Japanese. I understand its all going electric but I'm not waiting another 5 to 7 years for another pipe dream, I want a new car NOW. I never would have considered a European car but they have left the Japanese cars in the dust. Cannot get a manual but will have to put up with an 8 speed flippy paddle I guess.

"If you look objectively at the H6 series the engines never produced much power for their size and fuel consumption." Not true the JDM EZ30R that the USA probably never experienced way back in 2005 with only half of the variable cams was 250Hp. I own one, its epic and easily exceeds the WRX 2L turbo engine over here which was 168kW vs the 3L 184kW. A modernised version with full variable cams and a turbo would punch out 400-450Hp without Subaru needing to do a whole lot of work. People have done a hack job of putting a Turbo on these and got over 400Hp. The 6 cylinder can be perfectly balanced, the 4 cylinder cannot. It has a free reving engine to 7000rpm where as the FA24 is like 6000rpm. I just don't understand what went wrong at Subaru besides the fact that the new gen WRX and STi should have hit the market 3 or 4 years ago. I can only think that Subaru hit technical problems with the STi, the Japanese are super conservative. The FA24 was not the ideal engine for the STi. What you don't get in the USA is the Mercedes AMG A45S smatic+ or the Audi RS3. These two make the STi look total rubbish. Sure they cost like 50% more but you get 50% more car for the money. There are more hot hatches entering the market and the sedan only option was another fail from Subaru, nobody wants one of these anymore.

Came as a huge shock for us, I mean have you seen all the YouTube stuff on it and even all the rumor's about the engine output and even some Japanese advertising on it. Its like everything was fake news and its been going on for years and years. I will point out that we have options to move to that you don't appears to have in the USA. They are much more expensive but the Audi RS3 and the AMG A45S are a much higher spec hot hatch and I'm beginning to think Subaru just gave up. Very sad I have loved my 3.0R and really couldn't understand why Subaru didn't just turbo charge an updated version of the 250Hp H6 EZ30R engine. Its simply the best engine with a high redline and it would make 400 to 450Hp if you put as turbo in it. Subaru had this engine way back in 2004 and didn't take it anywhere. Kept trying to take their 4 cylinder forward with the FA24 and then quit.

I saw these as well and I think it maybe its only dead in the USA ? Maybe they simply cannot be bothered building a left hand drive version ? The real problem is that I have been waiting to buy a new STi for YEARS now to replace the wagon and I was gutted they have killed it. So my STi wallpaper has gone and has been replaced with the AMG A45S. The problem is if you look at this car you don't want to buy an STi anymore. Maybe the time for the STi is gone, they should have stayed with the hot hatch market segment which has really taken off or even a hot hatch and a wagon. Not sure I can buy an STi now I'm so pissed off its taken this long to get it to production and its moved to far from the concept car. Subaru have not kept up with technology with the EJ engine and apparently Euro cars have had the likes of an electronic wastegate for years. I think they simply cannot get the reliable performance out of the FA24 and are struggling with emissions. Maybe the price point is creeping up, maybe nobody wants a manual anymore when you can get a proper 8 speed auto thats not CVT rubbish ? Hate to say it but the mercedes is simply not as conservative. I have always wanted a Yellow car for several reasons and guess what both Audi and Mercedes make the RS3 and A45S in yellow. Subaru sticks to the same old boring colours.

I had an idea, the Subaru OEM cabin filter is not paper. What I did was fill a sink with hot water and dishwashing liquid and gently swirled the filter around in it. 95% of the crap washed out of it and its reusable. I didn't even need to hit it with compressed air, just let it drain out then just put it flat to finish drying out. I suspect you can wash it at least 2 or 3 times before you need to chuck it.

Not down here, pricing is expensive on everything. Buying more and more on E-Bay these days. No chance of getting anything at that price here, for starters nobody does free shipping. Try at least $7.50 just to get it sent to you locally. Pretty much anyone can wait for it they need changing at the same intervals as the engine air filter, 40,000Km and they look pretty stuffed.

Okay so the OEM Subaru one is a horrendous price so I finally found one on E-Bay that fitted the OEM measurements and it works. Not as easy to fit under the plastic retaining tabs as the OEM one but got two of them delivered for like NZD$23 and you pay $60 for ONE from Subaru and it doesn't even have much filtration and no carbon in it. Fitting is easy, lower the Glovebox and pull out the plastic shelf thats to the left of the NAV CD player in the JDM version. The white tray just pulls out from the bottom by flexing the removal tabs slightly. The part number your looking for is 1J912025 on E-Bay.

Replaced the cabin filter with one from E-Bay. These are really cheap compared to the OEM one the part number is 1J912025 from OEM Massive, even cheaper if you buy 2. Direct shipped from China.

Thats an open deck block. Its no good for high power. Not sure why you would bother to pin the head. I have thought about pinning intake and exhaust manifolds so they line up perfectly after port matching to the gaskets to improve flow but never the head. Even then it would be weak alloy tube that could deform if need be due to different thermal expansion.

Its not as hard to pull the one plug out thats under the battery to inspect it. Do it from the top of the engine. Chances are the rest of the plugs will be similar. The condition of the engine is all about how well its been looked after and the quality of oil thats been used. The engine could easily be stuffed at 135,000 miles with poor maintenance. Pull the oil filler cap off and look underneath it and down inside the engine, I'm guessing its not spotless and there is black buildup.

How many miles has it done ? something in the engine is shot like valve guides or piston rings or oil ring or pistons. how much oil is on the spark plugs if you pull one out ? Changing your oil viscosity will make no difference, something is stuffed.

So basically they are all very similar flow rates at working temperature. What would be more interesting is extending the graph out to 150 Deg C. This is where things start to go wrong for the cheaper oils. Of course it only tells part of the story and has nothing to do with how good the lubrication properties are when it gets there. 4 strokes are blessed with oil pressure, my time with 2 strokes really showed up the difference in oils when its just "splashed about" inside the engine.

The 3.0R is truly a sweet engine. I would aim to get 350-400Hp out of it. Very surprised Subaru didn't take it further and add a Turbo, easy and reliable power all day long.