A1Fiddler
09-04-2008, 05:01 AM
Hey all, I guess it's about time to post up some pics and info about my car. I got it for $3200 just recently, about 2 months ago. It has about 132k miles on it. I have a hard time keeping up-to-date pictures because I'm always changing things on the car, but I'll do my best :wink:
Well, first off I decided to delete the turbo silencer so I (and others around me) can hear that turbo spool. I got a 6" long, 3" I.D. to 3" O.D. exhaust pipe from Schucks along with a Spectre 3"-2.5" coupler, and some fittings from McLendons. I used JB Weld, a drill, and some electrical tape to complete it. It took me a few hours because, well, it's an auto project, and as we all know, things always go wrong with projects on our cars. I used JB Weld around the plastic fitting in the coupler, but put electrical tape around it just for good measure. It likes to get hot and fall off though. Here's some pics of the turbo silencer delete project...
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2008/09/silencer1-1.jpg
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2008/09/fitting1-1.jpg
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2008/09/filter1-1.jpg
I used a filter on the black thing (I'm still pretty new to this whole turbo thing) mostly because I could not get the brass fitting to stay welded to the intake pipe. It was an extra $9, but I was fed up, so I didn't mind paying that. It's just a standard crankcase breather filter, but I wrapped some electrical tape around the nipple it went on to enlarge it so the filter would fit better (I lost my first one on the road). And then for good measure I strapped on a bunch of zip ties.
I love the way the engine sounds without that silencer on anymore, but it didn't do anything for performance (or at least noticeably, theoretically I should have better, smoother airflow now). So I took out the fender liner and unbolted/cut apart the snorkus and here's what I ended up with...
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2008/09/coldair2-1.jpg
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2008/09/coldair1-1.jpg
And everything I took out:
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2008/09/removed-1.jpg
I cut the front black tube off and stuck the other one back in. I think it turned out really well. I ended up putting the fog light insert back in because I live in Seattle and the weather here sucks.
Well that's all the farther I got with my intake for the moment, so the next thing on my list was exhaust. Okay, well I'm a HS/College student with no job, and no money. So I was shopping Craigslist for a used WRX/STI axle-back when I had a brainstorm.. Why not just get rid of the muffler all together? Well, that's not legal, but a straight-through type muffler is! I refuse to have my car sound like a fart-machine/pissed off bee, and I liked the way it sounded without any muffler. So I went to Autozone and picked up a Cherry Bomb Glasspack. Straight-through performance, and didn't alter the way my engine sounds, just muffled it a bit. Perfect.. So after buying the muffler and some parts to bolt it in (totalled about $35), I headed to my friend's so we could install it together. It will never pass emissions like this, but it works, and I'm happy with it. Took us about 20 minutes to install it. I'm not quite finished with it yet, but I've been really busy lately. Here's some pics...
http://i440.photobucket.com/albums/qq130/Fiddleboy421/exhaust-1.jpg
http://i440.photobucket.com/albums/qq130/Fiddleboy421/exhaust-2.jpg
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2008/09/exhaustback-1.jpg
It looks like it hangs down farther than it actually does. It sounds great, not obnoxious, but very noticeable. Has a deep growl to it.
Somewhere along the line here I added in my grounding mod. I used 10AWG stranded wire with crimp-on round connectors. I attached (as you can see) the wires to the shock towers, intake manifold, turbocharger "housing", and alternator body (I'm tired, bear with me here on my descriptions). The grounding mod seemed to help the 3k RPM hesitation. It still hesitates at a couple points when accellerating at full-throttle, but going up hills it doesn't bog down and hesitate at 3k anymore. Great mod and only cost me about $5 for wire and $5 for a box of connectors. I also wire-brushed all the stock connections with my Dremel.
Just the other day I got bored so I decided to rip off the ugly fading/cracking badges on the back, and cover up the ugly fading/cracking logo on the front. Here's how that turned out...
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2008/09/backdebadged-1.jpg
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2008/09/logofront1-1.jpg
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2008/09/customlogo-1.jpg
Yes, that's duct tape and white electrical tape :lol: But I think it looks good. Tell me what you think. It was red, white, and blue, but you guys pointed out it looked like the French flag, and well, I don't want that.. It matches the car better this way anyway.
I changed out the spark plugs with NGK Standard coppers gapped to .042 and used Bosch "premium" 7mm (yeah, 7mm.. :mad: ) plug wires. I also changed the trans fluid and added LubeGuard ATF Protectant.
My plans are to save for a 5MT swap because I hate my auto transmission and it hates me.
On to the misc. pics!
Stock engine:
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2008/09/legacyenginestock-1.jpg
How it sits now:
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2008/09/engine21-1.jpg
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2008/09/legacyfront1-1.jpg
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2008/09/legacyback-1.jpg
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2008/09/legacyfront2-1.jpg
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2008/09/engine5-1.jpg
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2008/09/engine41-1.jpg
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2008/09/engine31-1.jpg
Let me know what you think. All comments/questions are welcome. Even if they're negative :grin:
-Andrew
Well, first off I decided to delete the turbo silencer so I (and others around me) can hear that turbo spool. I got a 6" long, 3" I.D. to 3" O.D. exhaust pipe from Schucks along with a Spectre 3"-2.5" coupler, and some fittings from McLendons. I used JB Weld, a drill, and some electrical tape to complete it. It took me a few hours because, well, it's an auto project, and as we all know, things always go wrong with projects on our cars. I used JB Weld around the plastic fitting in the coupler, but put electrical tape around it just for good measure. It likes to get hot and fall off though. Here's some pics of the turbo silencer delete project...
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2008/09/silencer1-1.jpg
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2008/09/fitting1-1.jpg
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2008/09/filter1-1.jpg
I used a filter on the black thing (I'm still pretty new to this whole turbo thing) mostly because I could not get the brass fitting to stay welded to the intake pipe. It was an extra $9, but I was fed up, so I didn't mind paying that. It's just a standard crankcase breather filter, but I wrapped some electrical tape around the nipple it went on to enlarge it so the filter would fit better (I lost my first one on the road). And then for good measure I strapped on a bunch of zip ties.
I love the way the engine sounds without that silencer on anymore, but it didn't do anything for performance (or at least noticeably, theoretically I should have better, smoother airflow now). So I took out the fender liner and unbolted/cut apart the snorkus and here's what I ended up with...
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2008/09/coldair2-1.jpg
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2008/09/coldair1-1.jpg
And everything I took out:
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2008/09/removed-1.jpg
I cut the front black tube off and stuck the other one back in. I think it turned out really well. I ended up putting the fog light insert back in because I live in Seattle and the weather here sucks.
Well that's all the farther I got with my intake for the moment, so the next thing on my list was exhaust. Okay, well I'm a HS/College student with no job, and no money. So I was shopping Craigslist for a used WRX/STI axle-back when I had a brainstorm.. Why not just get rid of the muffler all together? Well, that's not legal, but a straight-through type muffler is! I refuse to have my car sound like a fart-machine/pissed off bee, and I liked the way it sounded without any muffler. So I went to Autozone and picked up a Cherry Bomb Glasspack. Straight-through performance, and didn't alter the way my engine sounds, just muffled it a bit. Perfect.. So after buying the muffler and some parts to bolt it in (totalled about $35), I headed to my friend's so we could install it together. It will never pass emissions like this, but it works, and I'm happy with it. Took us about 20 minutes to install it. I'm not quite finished with it yet, but I've been really busy lately. Here's some pics...
http://i440.photobucket.com/albums/qq130/Fiddleboy421/exhaust-1.jpg
http://i440.photobucket.com/albums/qq130/Fiddleboy421/exhaust-2.jpg
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2008/09/exhaustback-1.jpg
It looks like it hangs down farther than it actually does. It sounds great, not obnoxious, but very noticeable. Has a deep growl to it.
Somewhere along the line here I added in my grounding mod. I used 10AWG stranded wire with crimp-on round connectors. I attached (as you can see) the wires to the shock towers, intake manifold, turbocharger "housing", and alternator body (I'm tired, bear with me here on my descriptions). The grounding mod seemed to help the 3k RPM hesitation. It still hesitates at a couple points when accellerating at full-throttle, but going up hills it doesn't bog down and hesitate at 3k anymore. Great mod and only cost me about $5 for wire and $5 for a box of connectors. I also wire-brushed all the stock connections with my Dremel.
Just the other day I got bored so I decided to rip off the ugly fading/cracking badges on the back, and cover up the ugly fading/cracking logo on the front. Here's how that turned out...
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2008/09/backdebadged-1.jpg
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2008/09/logofront1-1.jpg
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2008/09/customlogo-1.jpg
Yes, that's duct tape and white electrical tape :lol: But I think it looks good. Tell me what you think. It was red, white, and blue, but you guys pointed out it looked like the French flag, and well, I don't want that.. It matches the car better this way anyway.
I changed out the spark plugs with NGK Standard coppers gapped to .042 and used Bosch "premium" 7mm (yeah, 7mm.. :mad: ) plug wires. I also changed the trans fluid and added LubeGuard ATF Protectant.
My plans are to save for a 5MT swap because I hate my auto transmission and it hates me.
On to the misc. pics!
Stock engine:
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2008/09/legacyenginestock-1.jpg
How it sits now:
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2008/09/engine21-1.jpg
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2008/09/legacyfront1-1.jpg
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2008/09/legacyback-1.jpg
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2008/09/legacyfront2-1.jpg
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2008/09/engine5-1.jpg
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2008/09/engine41-1.jpg
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2008/09/engine31-1.jpg
Let me know what you think. All comments/questions are welcome. Even if they're negative :grin:
-Andrew