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Project 05 lgt problems. Need advice


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Okay the depth of my problems is unknown but to give you all a chance at helping me im going to give a history of this car.

I bought it in 2011 and I flew out to pick it up from the subaru dealer in Houston TX. I did the transaction jumped in the car and like a guy does I romped on it and boy did it run. I didn't realize that it had a lot of aftermarket stuff done to it. Cobb intake, perrin tmic, perrin dp, grimspeed up pipe, and aftermarket headers i never did figure out the brand. I was 18 and didn't know much about subaru mechanics and I thought this car needs a tune so I bought a cobb accessport from a member on here and a hks silent high-power exhaust. As soon as I installed that accessport it started running different and it seemed to go down hill from there. Idle was rough, It didn't have the power it once did and I realized right away that I probly replaced a protune on the car but that was lost from me not saving it properly.

I might mention that it was running a quarter in 12.4 at about 114 mph before the accesport. I realize that this seems fast and I'm telling this cause I don't know what else was done to the car other then what I said earlier it could be a totally built engine for all i know.

The time came when I got the head gaskets replaced do to issues. I got perrin fuel rails and a borla header sometimes during this all and i was still running a cobb ots map (please don't judge me for this i know better now)

Well I got married and sold the car in 2013 due to issues and lost track of it and I all of a sudden got the hankering to try to find it to repurchase it and thru vin searching I located it and bought it back as is about a week ago. Found out in 7 years it had been thru 4 owners and only 20k miles put on it.

It still has bad problems, it totally failed a leakdown test, misfires in multiple cylinders, won't idle, smokes and leaks oil,

This is all fine and is what I expected but know when the rubber meets the road I don't now where to start for a rebuild im looking for around 450 to 500 whp but obviously I can't drive it to the tuner with all these mods on a rebuilt engine, or i risk damaging it. Im enthused about learning to do a rebuild myself to safe some cash but is this to ambitious of me? Should I go for a rebuild or buy a short block? Do I have to upgrade my turbo for that much hp?

Please bear with my sorry punctuation typed this out on a phone and it sucks.

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You all are wondering why I bought this car and not a different legacy its because this specific one has sentimental value due to it being my first car and It put a smile on my face many times.

 

I would love to find the owner who owned it before I bought it the first time I would have a lot of questions for him. So if anybody knows of somebody that had a white 05 lgt in the houston tx area between 2007 and 2011 let me know if this sounds like his car.

Edited by boxercrazy
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I'd recommend an IAG shortblock, Stage 2.5+ for the type of power you're talking. IMO though, that sort of power is best left for the big boy V8s and whatnot. This is a 4-cylinder car and stressing it out that much will leave you with issues forever and it probably will never be as fun as you want since you'll be stressing about the next thing that'll break every time you drive it. That said, if you want to do it yourself, by all means, do it yourself. Put a nice IAG short block in there, probably some new heads, call up a tuner or your choice and have them send you a base map with a break-in tune on it for your new engine, drive it a bit, then get it protuned, and you've got a car.

 

For 500 WHP, yes, you will need a much bigger turbo. https://www.iagperformance.com/Blouch-Dom-1-5XT-R-Ball-Bearing-Turbo-WRX-STI-p/sub-dom1.5xt-r.htm

Something like this. You'll obviously need accompanying fuel mods, probably E85, etc.

 

You will also need a 6-speed swap and upgraded clutch. You will never get anything close to OEM reliability, and you'll definitely need to learn to do a lot of work for yourself as many shops won't want to touch a car like this.

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450-500 whp is a LOT On these. They can make it but are extremely high maintenance and don’t last all that long depending on how hard they are driven. If you race it around a lot and run it hard, be ready to consider opening the motor up every so often as “routine maintenance”. Like Pleiades said, those numbers are best left to even the small boys bolt on v8’s that can take 150,000+ miles of abuse at those power levels. On another note, I can understand the sentimental value of a car. I owned my first performance car 2 times and would possibly even buy it again if it’s not all haggard.
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You need to contact one of the two best Tuners for these cars.

 

tuningalliance@gmail.com You can IM him.

 

or

 

https://www.cryotuneperformance.com/

 

Don't waste there time with all that in the first post here.

 

You'll need a base tune from one of them for the mods the new engine will have. The Cobb AP should be able to revert the ECU it the stock tune.

 

They may also want to know what the fuel pump is.

305,600miles 5/2012 ej257 short block, 8/2011 installed VF52 turbo, @20.8psi, 280whp, 300ftlbs. (SOLD).  CHECK your oil, these cars use it.

 

Engine Build - Click Here

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That’s a lot of power which is going to lead to a lot of maintenance to keep it running and healthy. These cars with 350-400 HP to the wheels are still extremely and fun pretty savage on public roads plus relatively reliable if you do it right. That means unless you really know what your doing, I’d look for a good tuner/builder. As mentioned above, something like a built shortblock from IAG, rebuilt heads with upgraded springs and retainers and something like a Blouch 1.5XT-R turbo with proper fueling will get you in the power range pretty easily, (and more if you have access to E85 and use Cobbs flex fuel option). That said you need to be ready to stroke a check for $8k-10k to get you there depending on how much work you do yourself
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