Opinion?

[RainierWolfcastle]

Interesting convo. I'm wondering what made you guys decide on the Subu's anyway? Also what do you think of their reliability now days compared to the older style 2.5RS. I noticed Valkyrie that your in Utah. Are you using your Subu off road or just to combat the winter driving conditions (which if living in Idaho taught me anything, it's that Subaru's are about the only car to drive in the northwest).

 

While I haven't driven any of the newer Subarus, I have driving my fair share of jeeps and F250-350 diesels 4x4s in bad conditions. I'll second Rainier's opinion about Jeeps. I've driven a CJ7 and a Grand Cherokee in near whiteout conditions with 8 inches of snow on the ground near Lake Tahoe and barely felt the need to slow down. I was amazed at how well it hooked up compared to my old Ford Ranger or Toy Pickup....of the two the Toyota was a nightmare in the snow.

 

My biggest problem with Jeeps is the reliability of them. It sounds like your pretty mechanically inclined, but of the Jeeps I've delt with they tend to be a pain in the ass to fix when something breaks on them. If your garage is setup right..it isn't a big deal except for the labor time. Keep us posted on w/e your decision is.

 

Well, the reason I decided on the Scooby was that my family had driven/owned Hondas (acura)s, toyotas, Nissans, Dodges, and Jeeps, and I wanted to drive a slightly different Japanese car. I know that sounds weird, but these big japanese manufacturers all use OE japanese factory parts that can cross over in different amounts and combinations depending on the maker's preference to which Industrial conglomerate. For example, Mitsubishi not only produces cars, they produce car parts such as computers, sensors, alternators, etc. The turbocharger and alternator on my Subaru are in fact made by Mitsubishi, although the STI uses Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries made turbochargers. Sounds like a mess, but both manufacturers produce turbine engines for airplanes and support each other's auto industries. Odly, I remember on my Jeep YJ that the alternator and starter was in fact a Mitsubishi made one, I guess from the old DSM days when Chrysler and Mitsubishi teamed up. Denso electric is found virtually in all japanese cars ranging from Nissan to Toyota. Any of you guys remember Hitachi? They produce the AWD components of the Subaru as I found out one day changing out the rear differential fluid, and found their Hitachi "eye" logo on it.

 

What I liked about Jeeps was the simple yet effective repair concepts. For example, the Jeep Cherokee was so simple in engine maintenance and parts that most of it could be done at home. For this reason, my Sister decided to pick up a YJ 2.5 liter 4 cylinder Jeep Wrangler back in 1995, and it was just a fun car. When she left to go to Hawaii, it was left at home rotting in the driveway unmaintained and totally unused for years until I had time after college to fix it back up for her because she wanted to ship it to Hawaii. So I started with a big power washer and it looked great, no rust. Then I started to tackle the big issue since it was unused. I replaced: filters, sensors, belts, cap 'n rotor, spark plugs, water pump, hoses, radiator, battery, all fluids from rear differential/transmission to engine. All of this was done in my driveway with my trusty 3/8 driver and a set of craftsman sockets. It just goes to show that Jeeps can come back to life which I really like about its truck reliability. But I wasn't done completely, and I sent the car to an exhaust shop to get the rusty old pipes replaced and asked them to slap a simple magnaflow muffler on it, and the car rumbled with renewed energy. When it was shipped to hawaii, my sister couldn't complain about the work I had done on it and remarked how much better the car saved gas and how she could accelerate to 70mph easily.

 

As for my decision to get a subaru, I had a 01 celica GT at the time and it was a POS. It was no toyota worthy of keeping, and I had done some mods myself on it only to find it was a POS to waste cash on. Wasted putting on exhaust, strutbars, sway bars, HIDs, and countless things. I had replaced the clutch with a better pressureplate and disc which took 7 hours to do. 7 hours because that car was just engineered stupid compared to Hondas or other toyotas. In the end, when it reached 70k miles, I noticed the oil consumption wasn't normal. It would loose a quart of oil every 300 miles! So I had a friend help me pick apart the motor to find that the culprit was just bad design on that 1zz-fe motor. Toyota had the ingenious idea to allow the maker in Ontario to cover the 4th cylinder water passages on the head gasket, which caused the 4th cylinder to run hot and wear out prematurely. On the GTS model, or 2zz-ge motor, Yamaha had designed the motor, and the passages are completely free like any normal design. So I lost alot of trust with any joint venture USDM motor which the 1zz-fe motor shared with USDM corollas, matrix, MRS and Pontiac Vibe. All I know is that the 1zz-FED was made in japan, and the 1zz-fe which I had was made in Cambridge, Ontario with this 4th Cylinder radiator passage block. Just POS...

 

So looking for a new car was not difficult, since I had always had respect for subaru cars since the 1980s for their AWD and horizontally opposed motors. Just at the time when the 03 WRX had came out, I said to myself, "when subaru comes out with an impreza that has projection headlights, I will consider picking one up." And indeed it happened. The 2006 impreza came out as the 15th year anniversary impreza with an aero-plane styled front commemorating when subaru horizontal motors were used in Japanese fighter planes of past. Researching into the 06 impreza, it was produced in Gunma, Japan, and the factory was introducing a lot of new goodies such as variable cam profiles or AVCS, 2.5 liter motor compared to the previous 2.0 liter, STI inspired 5sp transmission, catless up-pipe, 4-pot front and 2-pot rear brakes, and Sti Spec-C aluminum control arms which help this car enter and exit turns brilliantly.

 

The AWD seriously is a dream to drive on subaru cars. I have driven many varieties of AWD claiming AWD, but in fact they are FWD operating wheels with an ECU and sender unit to split the power to the rear wheel when the computer senses slippage, which is not true AWD. The Subaru's symmetrical AWD is a mechanical 50/50 front to back splitting torque equally to all 4 wheels during normal forward driving with the minimal amount of 90 degree transfer differentials engineered of any AWD.

 

For fun, I had let my car enthusiast friends drive it, and they were in such disbelief of how accurate and predictable the car would drive, and on a funny note, 5 friends of mine left their cars to join the subaru AWD bandwagon. Some got new STIs, some found used STIs, and some picked up legacys and wagonbacks. It was very strange observing this, but to each one, they rave the reliability of the motor and hardware. Just simple maintenance was the best preventative maintenance even when my STI buddies were pumping 18+ PSI into the motor. And the great part about Subaru is although some thought my car was strange looking as they prefered the 04-05 look, or 02-03 look, to each to his own. If you don't like something about a current production subaru, just wait 2 or 3 years, and they could have something that could appeal to that individual's taste. As for the 2.5RS, I had a buddy who racked 220,000 miles before parting with it because he had gotten into a wreck through no fault of his own. Some woman had rear ended him with a truck speeding so badly at a stop light that it was not worth to repair it. Poor guy, he was depressed, but picked up a 04 WRX and is still driving it.

[RainierWolfcastle]

Well initially i only bought the subie cuz of the turbo. I got a pretty sweet deal, $8500 for an 03, it was original adult owner, bone stock, and came with another set of wheels, black 17" BBS rims with blizzaks. Since then i have put another $4000 into it, all new belts, fuel pump, brake lines, lowering springs, strut bars, intake, new catless up-pipe and down-pipe, new clutch, and a cobb ap ecu reflashe, 2 12" kenwood subs, a 1200 watt amp, a capacitator, stereo deck and 4 new speakers.

 

Just curious Valkyrie, what's the PSI you're running with your catless setup? I've been interested in picking up a Cobb AP to flash the ECU with a simple Stage 1 since I'm running on the stock cats, but I have been lazy and putting off picking one up.

[vke]

On weekends when i go to the track ill run 18-20, but on day to day i run 14-15. I probably shouldn't be running that much on a stock exhaust, but im getting a nice one for christmas

 

Your wrx came stock with a catless up-pipe? I'm so jealous. The up-pipe and down-pipe took like 3 hours for me to do at my friends shop. Had to replace though, as after extended use the cats can explode and F*** your turbo lol. Not about to spend 3k for a new turbo.

 

The stage 1 is amazing! I immediately experienced much better gas mileage, lower spool times, and it fixed my idling problem. I really wish i had splurged and just bought the stage two kit, since that exhaust is so clean. Its so tough to find an exhaust that is street legal and doesn't make a ton of noise. My engine is loud enough as it is.

[RainierWolfcastle]

On weekends when i go to the track ill run 18-20, but on day to day i run 14-15. I probably shouldn't be running that much on a stock exhaust, but im getting a nice one for christmas

 

Your wrx came stock with a catless up-pipe? I'm so jealous. The up-pipe and down-pipe took like 3 hours for me to do at my friends shop. Had to replace though, as after extended use the cats can explode and F*** your turbo lol. Not about to spend 3k for a new turbo.

 

The stage 1 is amazing! I immediately experienced much better gas mileage, lower spool times, and it fixed my idling problem. I really wish i had splurged and just bought the stage two kit, since that exhaust is so clean. Its so tough to find an exhaust that is street legal and doesn't make a ton of noise. My engine is loud enough as it is.

 

Wow that is some nice PSI range. I would like at least to run 1 atmosphere (~14 PSI) but the 06 stock WRX is detuned from the factory to 10.8 PSI for insurance purposes. Still, it makes great torque, and good spool characteristics for only 10 psi. That sounds like a b*** replacing the up-pipe, but fortunately for me, I didn't have to touch it because the factory for all 06 WRX/STI /Forester XT /Baja 2.5 liter motors come stock with a catless up-pipe and I think it was due to pieces of the cat breaking up and hitting the turbine impeller like you mentioned. But instead, I get this lev-2 catted downpipe which isn't suppose to be so restrictive, but it still has two cats to make the exhaust clean which I feel can be restrictive to performance.

 

Ok, you've convinced me to try and get Stage1 cobb map uploaded on my car. I've heard good things about it, and that it is perfectly safe to the ECU.

 

As for the mods I've done to my car, they're really simple and fewer compared to what I had done to my Integra and Celica. I'm just getting old and lazy compared to what I would do in my youth, but mostly what I've done is to keep that turbo motor in good operating condition such as aeronautic grade oil and nanotech polymer oil filters, ah heck, here's listed what I've done.

 

= Bosal 3" Catback Exhaust. This was the simplest mod and it was soo quick to install. 30 mins in the driveway.

 

= Aeornautical grade Full Synthetic motor oil from full synthetic base. The finest grade the industry has to offer, and it can go up to 30k NA, but 15k is considered the changing point for turbo/supercharged motors. Still 15K oil change interval is unheard of for a turbo motor!

- Full synthetic aeronautical grade GL-5 to the tranny and rear differential oil, and Full Synthetic ATF oil for the power steering fluid. No dino oil nor hydrogenated dino oil claiming to be synthetic in my car. Just the real deal fully synthetic base.

 

= Nanotech Polymer Air Filter and Oil Filter. Can't complain, 100k miles for the AirFilter life and it cleans up to a micron while allowing full air flow through the filter medium. Oil filter is nanotech polymer, and it cleans up to 5 microns of contaminants.

 

= Revised wastegate hoses to shorter and thicker versions to reduce flexing and hose collapse from engine bay heat.

 

= Stock Airbox, however I removed that strange snorkel and air reservoir box in the fender to a simple metal bellmouthed type that free's up some restriction and slipped a Nanotech drop-in style air filter. Great combo to keep the stock airbox while freeing up some restriction.

 

= Throttlebody radiator bypass mod. I was tired of some heatsoak from sitting at a stop light, so I just bypassed the radiator lines going to the throttlebody, and it instantly improved the heatsoak issue I experienced since the radiator lines help keep the throttle body from seizing in snow or ice conditions which I won't experience here in sunny CA.

 

= Revised the ground cables to the battery terminal, and added a mini filter cap between the battery terminals to help keep the electrical systems from seeing any surges or noise from the alternator. It's a very simple mod and some people debate whether this works, but I have an oscilloscope and hooked it up to see if there was an improvement, and all I see is clean DC current with no noise or interference compared to before. Headlamps appear brighter, and the engine feels more responsive.

 

If you're looking for a simple quiet exhaust, I recommend the Bosal which makes the exhaust for SPT. It's rumbly, audible enough, and not at all loud! It's quiet enough to drive in a sleeping neighborhood, and audible enough when going full throttle to get noticed, but in a good way.

[vke]

On weekends when i go to the track ill run 18-20, but on day to day i run 14-15. I probably shouldn't be running that much on a stock exhaust, but im getting a nice one for christmas

 

Your wrx came stock with a catless up-pipe? I'm so jealous. The up-pipe and down-pipe took like 3 hours for me to do at my friends shop. Had to replace though, as after extended use the cats can explode and F*** your turbo lol. Not about to spend 3k for a new turbo.

 

The stage 1 is amazing! I immediately experienced much better gas mileage, lower spool times, and it fixed my idling problem. I really wish i had splurged and just bought the stage two kit, since that exhaust is so clean. Its so tough to find an exhaust that is street legal and doesn't make a ton of noise. My engine is loud enough as it is.

 

Wow that is some nice PSI range. I would like at least to run 1 atmosphere (~14 PSI) but the 06 stock WRX is detuned from the factory to 10.8 PSI for insurance purposes. Still, it makes great torque, and good spool characteristics for only 10 psi. That sounds like a b*** replacing the up-pipe, but fortunately for me, I didn't have to touch it because the factory for all 06 WRX/STI /Forester XT /Baja 2.5 liter motors come stock with a catless up-pipe and I think it was due to pieces of the cat breaking up and hitting the turbine impeller like you mentioned. But instead, I get this lev-2 catted downpipe which isn't suppose to be so restrictive, but it still has two cats to make the exhaust clean which I feel can be restrictive to performance.

 

= Aeornautical grade Full Synthetic motor oil from full synthetic base. The finest grade the industry has to offer, and it can go up to 30k NA, but 15k is considered the changing point for turbo/supercharged motors. Still 15K oil change interval is unheard of for a turbo motor!

- Full synthetic aeronautical grade GL-5 to the tranny and rear differential oil, and Full Synthetic ATF oil for the power steering fluid. No dino oil nor hydrogenated dino oil claiming to be synthetic in my car. Just the real deal fully synthetic base.

 

If you're looking for a simple quiet exhaust, I recommend the Bosal which makes the exhaust for SPT. It's rumbly, audible enough, and not at all loud! It's quiet enough to drive in a sleeping neighborhood, and audible enough when going full throttle to get noticed, but in a good way.

As far as i know, there are two types of cats. One type is very very "green" and restricts quite a bit, but you rarely find them in aftermarket parts, and even more rarely in cars with turbo's. The other type is pretty much the bare minimum to pass smog/emissions.

 

wow that sounds like like some epic synthetic oil! is is pricey?

 

The Bosal exhaust is very nice! once i get a job im ordering that right away

[RainierWolfcastle]

As far as i know, there are two types of cats. One type is very very "green" and restricts quite a bit, but you rarely find them in aftermarket parts, and even more rarely in cars with turbo's. The other type is pretty much the bare minimum to pass smog/emissions.

 

wow that sounds like like some epic synthetic oil! is is pricey?

 

The Bosal exhaust is very nice! once i get a job im ordering that right away

 

The synthetic oil I use isn't too pricey in the long run, but initially it will cost more than twice the amount of premium oil from a store. Let's figure if a person changes his oil every 3k miles at 5 bucks a quart, this stuff can let you go 30k miles at 10 bucks a quart for NA motors and 15k miles for turbo motors. It's not only the longevity that's a plus, but also the thermal protection and lubricity at high temps that I was mostly interested because I do some cross state driving with the motor on for at least 7 -8 hours one way. Driving like that over and over can really eat up the motor and put some wear on the pistons, and most dino oil evaporates and breaks down in very hot and pressured motors, and its votality to temperatures causes the pistons to get scarred in the cylinders eventually deteriorating the motor.

 

I think you've heard stories before about some STi owners putting in mobile 1, and checking their oil about 1000 miles later discovering that they are a whole quart low? Oil characteristics like that will cause sludge and gum up the insides of the motor. Like some evaporation is normal, but not a whole quart. With this stuff I use, I don't see more than 1 fluid oz for every 1000 miles over 5k miles from the last oil change. The thermal protection is suppose to be the absolute highest in the industry, and the tests on its protective abilities are tested over 4 times the duration of API certification. The car runs quieter, and smoother too. Figure if it is good for an airplane which you don't want shit happening while you're in flight, it must be good for a car.

 

If you like the bosal exhaust, you could also consider the cobb exhaust. A friend of mine has the whole downpipe/3" exhaust combo, and it sounds lean yet mean. A bit similar to the bosal but a little bit deeper at idle and just a touch more aggressive when accelerating. Valkyrie, do you have any pics of inside/outside your car?

[vke]

I'll definitely look into that oil. Thats actually not much more than the oil I'm using now; full synthetic, anti sludge stuff, It's like $7 a quart.

 

Does anyone know if its actually bad to have hard hitting subwoofers in your car? I heard from a mechanic friend that it destabilizes your engine and belts

 

@ranier, I'll get some pictures once I have a little break from school, and i have time to dig up my camera from storage.

 

Haha last night i saw a heavily modded Scion tC crash into an embankment going 115! Scared the s*** outta me cuz my friend was like 6 inches from his rear bumper when he went out of control.

[RainierWolfcastle]

I'll definitely look into that oil. Thats actually not much more than the oil I'm using now; full synthetic, anti sludge stuff, It's like $7 a quart.

 

Does anyone know if its actually bad to have hard hitting subwoofers in your car? I heard from a mechanic friend that it destabilizes your engine and belts

 

@ranier, I'll get some pictures once I have a little break from school, and i have time to dig up my camera from storage.

 

Haha last night i saw a heavily modded Scion tC crash into an embankment going 115! Scared the s*** outta me cuz my friend was like 6 inches from his rear bumper when he went out of control.

 

Ok I await your pictures. What brand oil are you using? It had better not be Royal Purple!

As for the hard hitting subwoofers, I've heard from my mechanic friend that it's mainly not good for the electrical systems and for the windows in their frame or something. Not so sure about it effecting your engine/belts.

[Timberwolf]

I'll definitely look into that oil. Thats actually not much more than the oil I'm using now; full synthetic, anti sludge stuff, It's like $7 a quart.

 

Does anyone know if its actually bad to have hard hitting subwoofers in your car? I heard from a mechanic friend that it destabilizes your engine and belts

 

@ranier, I'll get some pictures once I have a little break from school, and i have time to dig up my camera from storage.

 

Haha last night i saw a heavily modded Scion tC crash into an embankment going 115! Scared the s*** outta me cuz my friend was like 6 inches from his rear bumper when he went out of control.

 

Ok I await your pictures. What brand oil are you using? It had better not be Royal Purple!

As for the hard hitting subwoofers, I've heard from my mechanic friend that it's mainly not good for the electrical systems and for the windows in their frame or something. Not so sure about it effecting your engine/belts.

 

how do you destablize a engine? its bolted down on motor mounts and withstains the toruqe and hp of the engine fron ripping from the chassis? and soundwaves are going to move what 350 hp can't do? your mechanic friend needs to hand in his backyard wench and call it a day ..same go's for the belts ..there on a tensioner pully

[RainierWolfcastle]

how do you destablize a engine? its bolted down on motor mounts and withstains the toruqe and hp of the engine fron ripping from the chassis? and soundwaves are going to move what 350 hp can't do? your mechanic friend needs to hand in his backyard wench and call it a day ..same go's for the belts ..there on a tensioner pully

 

Yeah I'm not sure about the engine/belt stuff, but as for the electrical systems, I could see some stress on the batteries/alternator, computer accessories and sensors. As for the windows, this was a trial and error sort of thing my friend experienced with his JL Audio W7 woofer that nearly blew out his rear window. I say nearly blew out his window not in that it cracked or anything but it loosened the rear glass from its frame that it almost fell off on its own. btw, this was on a BWM 3-series.

[Timberwolf]

how do you destablize a engine? its bolted down on motor mounts and withstains the toruqe and hp of the engine fron ripping from the chassis? and soundwaves are going to move what 350 hp can't do? your mechanic friend needs to hand in his backyard wench and call it a day ..same go's for the belts ..there on a tensioner pully

 

Yeah I'm not sure about the engine/belt stuff, but as for the electrical systems, I could see some stress on the batteries/alternator, computer accessories and sensors. As for the windows, this was a trial and error sort of thing my friend experienced with his JL Audio W7 woofer that nearly blew out his rear window. I say nearly blew out his window not in that it cracked or anything but it loosened the rear glass from its frame that it almost fell off on its own. btw, this was on a BWM 3-series.

 

much more likely to happen

[Husa]

dreams of the dreams,theme which is dreamed every night i sleep !my lovely Fićo<3I wish i could have one:(