3.0 Turbo Builds

Questions to anyone here that done turbo builds for the 3.0

This is going to be a swap in a brighton wagon so the 3.0 should bolt on since the outbacks had the 3.0 and yes i want to make it manual.

Would the stock ecu be acceptable for the turbo with a boost controller or will i need a standalone ecu?

I will add more questions later.

It costs a fortune, requires custom everything, and requires skill well beyond basic bolt-on or even at home engine rebuilding capability.

Perrin was the first to accomplish this feat and was nice enough to document it:

http://blog.perrinperformance.com/perrin-h6-build-up/

Assuming you understand the fabrication involved the toughest part is finding a competent tuner OR wiring in a H6 6MT Liberty ECU and harness into your current Liberty.

Turbo wise you could go low boost single turbo or you could skip the turbo and go SuperCharger with a bolt on kit at that would save you all the fabrication and you could focus on swapping the gearbox from auto to manual.

Keep in mind the auto to manual swap take a decent amount of effort and understanding so i would start with that first then the turbo unless you have a 6MT Liberty donor car where you could swap everything from the cams to the rear end at once.

Good luck.

It costs a fortune, requires custom everything, and requires skill well beyond basic bolt-on or even at home engine rebuilding capability.

 

Perrin was the first to accomplish this feat and was nice enough to document it:

 

http://blog.perrinperformance.com/perrin-h6-build-up/

I have read that post at least 5 times. The reason why im seriously thinking this is the fact that i want to do something different.

Assuming you understand the fabrication involved the toughest part is finding a competent tuner OR wiring in a H6 6MT Liberty ECU and harness into your current Liberty.

 

Turbo wise you could go low boost single turbo or you could skip the turbo and go SuperCharger with a bolt on kit at that would save you all the fabrication and you could focus on swapping the gearbox from auto to manual.

 

Keep in mind the auto to manual swap take a decent amount of effort and understanding so i would start with that first then the turbo unless you have a 6MT Liberty donor car where you could swap everything from the cams to the rear end at once.

 

Good luck.

Thanks. I know a local shop thats willing to do the swap. Sadly i do not have a donor car and being that i live in the U.S. we never got a manual h6. I was thinking about keeping my 5mt that i have now and rebuild it and put in blast plates just to keep the cost down but i guess since these h6s are torquey then the 6mt would be the better option. The 5mt i have now is 2000 to 2001 with a 3.9 final. I did find some low compression pistons and high strength rods for the h6 that i will end up going for if i want to do this swap

No matter what route you go, have a deep wallet. The supercharger from Raptor is around $4K, and thats probably not intercooled either. I know Cardoc supercharged his H6 Outback, and the ECU was a big obstacle. I thought long and hard about supercharging my H6, but the cost of the supercharger, and the other required items to support said supercharger, was just too much to get the wife's seal of approval.

Now i see why theres so many 4 banger builds. Man that bites. I wanted to try something different but i guess thats not going to happen

Oh i totally glossed over that youre in FL my bad about the Liberty ECU advice. The 3.90 F/D 5MT is a good gearbox but in that year model suffers from case flex and given the torque the H6 could make when boosted you dont want a weak revision but a 06+ 5MT is great or the 6MT STi gearbox. The Spec.B 6MT would work as well but you'll have an open center diff if that matters.

The easier of the two routes would be to swap a H6 into a MT Legacy, skip the internals as the H6 is beefy enough and have a set of turbo ready manifolds built to plumb the exhaust gases up to and through the turbo. EZ30Ds are plentiful and cheap and typically in good shape as donor engines.

Again I would swap first then go from there in stages. The costly items will be the fabrication for the turbo and tuning once its all together.

Oh i totally glossed over that youre in FL my bad about the Liberty ECU advice. The 3.90 F/D 5MT is a good gearbox but in that year model suffers from case flex and given the torque the H6 could make when boosted you dont want a weak revision but a 06+ 5MT is great or the 6MT STi gearbox. The Spec.B 6MT would work as well but you'll have an open center diff if that matters.

 

The easier of the two routes would be to swap a H6 into a MT Legacy, skip the internals as the H6 is beefy enough and have a set of turbo ready manifolds built to plumb the exhaust gases up to and through the turbo. EZ30Ds are plentiful and cheap and typically in good shape as donor engines.

 

Again I would swap first then go from there in stages. The costly items will be the fabrication for the turbo and tuning once its all together.

Well being your informed with the h6, would i have to go for a standalone ecu? Im assuming yes since the stock h6 ecu cannot be reflashed and it doesnt support the turbo stuff

The EZ30D found in the 05+ can be tuned via OpenSource tuning as those definitions have been cracked, if you will, via the RomRaider community. STI Mikey over on NASIOC tunes the H6 across all the Subaru models Tribeca to Outback with nice results. Assuming you found a EZ30D donor newer than 05 that associated ECU could be tuned Easy check is to look at the exhaust ports, if its one big blob of a port generally thats a no if there are individual exhaust ports you're in luck. You should search for/keep an eye out for a wrecked 05+ Legacy/OB/Tribeca 3.0R Model while you contemplate things.

Around the world there are a few TT EZ30 and EZ36Ds their advantage was a base 6MT Legacy H6 other than that part you can make it happen...for a unknown sum of money depending on what you can do vs what you need someone else to do

The EZ30D found in the 05+ can be tuned via OpenSource tuning as those definitions have been cracked, if you will, via the RomRaider community. STI Mikey over on NASIOC tunes the H6 across all the Subaru models Tribeca to Outback with nice results. Assuming you found a EZ30D donor newer than 05 that associated ECU could be tuned Easy check is to look at the exhaust ports, if its one big blob of a port generally thats a no if there are individual exhaust ports you're in luck. You should search for/keep an eye out for a wrecked 05+ Legacy/OB/Tribeca 3.0R Model while you contemplate things.

 

Around the world there are a few TT EZ30 and EZ36Ds their advantage was a base 6MT Legacy H6 other than that part you can make it happen...for a unknown sum of money depending on what you can do vs what you need someone else to do

Awesome!!! Thanks for the info. I know a tuning shop that is willing to do the swap and turbo stuff. Rev Works in Winter Springs, Florida. Met the guys there at a 86 meet they host every year. Worth the two hour drive . I know for sure I can do some of the physical labor but not a lot. The electrical stuff scares me which is why I would rather have a shop do it. You just gave me a glimmer of hope to be different from the turbo EJs.

Yeah ECS (East Coast Swappers) the shop I am more familiar with does swaps of all varieties, ranging from you swapping in all the mechanical and they wire it to you bring them two cars and they make one awesome ride [emoji38] I'm sure as you gather info and talk with those guys youll get a better idea of what you can do to cut labor cost.

I heard of those guys too when i was looking into getting an engine swap for my car. They look like they do some amazing work.

The wiring shouldn't be terribly hard, just time consuming. As long as you have the correct diagrams. Sounded like it could be an awesome build. I think you would want to go straight for the sti 6 speed or 5eat I don't think any other trans will last a long time with that kind of power. The 5eat would be easy enough since there is tuning available.

I want manual so im going the 6 speed route. The whole reason i want to go the h6 route is just so i can be different to the other 4 banger guys. I look at the 3.0 engine as wasted potential just like the 3.6 like the MCM supergramps build

The MCM build is so great I spent a few evening at the office watching when it first debuted last year lol. That build would cost you $10K easy the Halpro CAN engine/vehicle management system with all the external inputs and the fabrication work by Turbo Yoda are like the best of the best

yeah my mouth dropped when i heard 3.6 and turbo. I watched every video right to the end painting it with the squidjuice or whatever that awesome silver color is

Good used STi 6 speed and all the assorted crap to put it in a 3rd gen: $4k easy

good used EZ30R to build off of:$1600, not including ECU/wiring/whatnot. . that's just a used JDM engine.

turbo & fab work $$$$$$$$$$$? conservative estimate $8k

And you're wanting to shove all that in the most stripped down craptastic poverty model of Legacy ever built. . . shit dude once upon a time the right side mirror was OPTIONAL on a Brighton.

Just remember, being different does not guarantee it to be fast, cool, interesting, or valuable. . . and the mad props you might get on a forum or at a car show for your 6 cyl turbo brighton will be worth f*ckall towards paying down the CC from the build.

It's fun to armchair mod your shiznat but you'd get more satisfaction out of doing hooker body shots for a month solid than pursuing this.

Good used STi 6 speed and all the assorted crap to put it in a 3rd gen: $4k easy

 

good used EZ30R to build off of:$1600, not including ECU/wiring/whatnot. . that's just a used JDM engine.

 

turbo & fab work $$$$$$$$$$$? conservative estimate $8k

 

And you're wanting to shove all that in the most stripped down craptastic poverty model of Legacy ever built. . . shit dude once upon a time the right side mirror was OPTIONAL on a Brighton.

 

Just remember, being different does not guarantee it to be fast, cool, interesting, or valuable. . . and the mad props you might get on a forum or at a car show for your 6 cyl turbo brighton will be worth f*ckall towards paying down the CC from the build.

 

It's fun to armchair mod your shiznat but you'd get more satisfaction out of doing hooker body shots for a month solid than pursuing this.

Man thats a lot...... i really like the 3rd gens for the fact that i never see any at car meets. Everyone either has a 2nd or a 4th which is why i am pursuing a swap. I really only made this forum for questions about turboing the 3.0. Now i get why everyones doing four bangers

The real issue with the mods will be the fabrication. The usual mods of injectors and fuel pump is ok. The tuning is no problem once within the known limits for the 3.0.

Controlling the boost is key and having giod head bolts is key. Please use an external wg if possible.