turboing my 1st subaru

[Joyner10SL]

I have a 2010 subaru legacy pzev, its an 2.5L premium.
I really want to put a turbo in it but I don't know what turbo would be good and what I should replace in the engine so that it can handle everything I put in it.

Any and all advice is much appreciated.

[Garrison]

Sell it and buy an already turbo'd subaru. You'll save yourself a lot of headache, and likely $$$ this way.

[Joyner10SL]

I've thought about it, but I didn't have the cash for one. So Id rather turbo this one.

[MRLancaster]

So....your going to take apart a 2010 to turbo it......I'm going to have to say this, if you dont have the cash for a turbo car, you sure as hell wont have the cash when a twenty thousand plus dollar car goes kaput. I'm not going to condone you doing that or even trying it.

[Garrison]

I'll just keep this brief, as you're going to read similar stuff when you do your reading for this.

1) Subaru made an effort in the early 21st century to improve their ECU's which is bad for tuners. The ECU can learn around changes made to it after this time, and will eventually revert back to OEM operation.

2) Your pzev engine is made for low emissions and likely has a million little sensors to make sure it stays that way. Good luck tuning around them.

3) After ~2002 subaru changed their NA pistons both for higher compression and to be less tolerant to boost. I don't know for certain that this is still the case for the >2008 models, but I would imagine it is --> thus further reducing the output you'll be able to achieve turbo-ing.


Just for shitsandgiggles, let's look at the cost of your proposed build. (I'll use avg. prices here)

Piggyback- $600
Turbo- $3-700
Injectors- $300
Exhaust- $4-500
(I'm assuming) Crossmember-- ?? I have no idea how you would do this other than notching it
Intercooler- $200

Now, let's just assume you did what I suggested and sell your subaru ($15k or more) and then you can go buy a 2004-6 WRX and tune the living hell out of it, still come out ahead, and have a BETTER car.

Which makes more sense?

[anothernord]

Yeah, this would be a really terrible idea. Just buy a turbo Subaru. I won't go into the details.

[EJ22D]

Sir, I witnessed one of these PZEV blocks blowing up after being bolted up by "accident" by the dealer between 255 heads for a WRX. The block lasted 3 weeks & was detonating horribly on 93 octane. The PZEV blocks are really NOT made for boost with those weird pistons. Trade that PZEV in for a turbo Legacy if you are not satisfied w/power.