Cold Air Intake

[DominicaDaveGT]

Hello, I'm new to this board. I have a 98 Legacy GT that I think is mostly stock except for the purple tints which i'm darn sure aren't stock.

Despite my budget, I'd like to do a little bit of slight additions to the engine. Right now I'm thinking a K&N Air Filter and a Cold Air Intake. I have been looking at JC Whitney and I've seen the "Secret Weapon" cold air intakes that are listed to fit the LGT but I'm wondering what anyone else's experiences have been with that model of cold air intakes or any other models.

[HotBoxer]

Ive got an Injen CAI labelled for the 2.5 RS impreza and I love it. it sounds great with my borla UEL headers and catback exhaust. I did notice a little bit of punch on the "butt dyno" and it looks cool too. Hope this helps.

[Plays_with_Toys]

Grab just about any intake designed for a legacy/ non turbo impreza and add a cone filter of your choice. I used an AEM dry re-usable filter to cap mine off. I had a K&N but I've read too many horror stories about the oil on the element. Total I spent $60'ish on my intake. $40 was the filter alone...

The two most satisfying upgrades to the legacy are definately a rear sway bar and a lightweight crank pulley. Most other upgrades seem minor without a whole lot of change to the car. These two make marked changes. The intake is definately fun as a noise maker though. Another necessary upgrade is the JDM projector headlights which far outperform the stock US lights.

[DominicaDaveGT]

Hmmm...Thanks for the responses. They seem to illuminate the fact that I should learn more about what i'm trying to do because what is the cone filter? Does the cold air intake replace the whole air system before the 02 sensor so you get a different air filter to match the intake that is a cone shaped?

Also, what exactly is the rear sway bar? I assumme that you affix it to help the chassis rigidty for handling, no? And WHAT is a lightweight crank pulley? My legacy is a automatic, by the way.

And what are those UEL headers?

I really appreciate the help.

[Reason]

Get yourself a Group A throttle body spacer and light weight crank pulley and alt pulley. I hear they sell parts on eBay, or on SL-i.net :wink:

[AJM]

Get yourself a Group A throttle body spacer and light weight crank pulley and alt pulley. I hear they sell parts on eBay, or on SL-i.net :wink:

Yeah, that way when he goes to try and install that alt pulley that will do almost nothing for him anyway, he'll find that Subaru designed the alternator shitty, and unless you have a shop do it, you can't install it.

I agree with playswithtoys has to say, get yourself a light weight crank pulley.

For a rear sway bar, your best bet is justto grab one form a junk yard off of an outback. Don;t be fooled into spending $170 for an aftermarket 18mmm when you can get one for less than half that price off an outback. Honestly, unless you want the car tail happy, you should always upgrade your sway bars in purpotion.

Any performance part will operate best with good tuning.

[Plays_with_Toys]

cone filter is a cone shaped mesh air filter.

the O2 sensor is actually on the exhaust, right after the two pipes coming out of the engine join up. These pipes are known as an exhaust manifold or a header. UEL means unequal length header. This is the design that is responsible for subaru's unique exhaust sound.

And intake will go onto the throttle body and you'll need to hook up your MAF (mass air flow sensor) to this, and a cone filter at the end of this.

the rear sway bar prevents body roll. All cars come with them as factory equipment. Because subaru outbacks are lifted, they have beefier ones to prevent the chassis from flopping over. When you upgrade this you stiffen your suspension making it sportier. Like it was said, the stiffer you go in an area, the more grip you take away from it. However subarus tend to understeer (meaning you turn x amount and the car tends to stay straight and not want to turn). By taking grip away from the rear it tends the car more towards over steer (where the rear end tries to pass the front end in a turn). If you know how to control this then it is more fun and I think easier to drive.

A lightweight crank pulley replaces the main pulley on the front of your motor. It's the one that has 2 belts coming off of it. That little thing down there weighs 5 pounds. A lightweight one weighs 1lb. The difference in rotating mass allows the motor to rev up and down more freely. You basically release a little more power from the motor because it's no longer having to use power to turn the heavy pulley.

I hope this helps, and I would definately spend some time browsing the DIY forum on here and the other forums. Each forum has a sticky at the top entitled "_________ threads of note", check them out as they usually have frequently asked questions or valuable information.

[DominicaDaveGT]

thanks, and thanks for pointing out where all those DIY instructions are. I'll probably go with the intake and pulley, the sway bar sounds like a real asset so I guess I'll keep my eye out for outbacks I could steal it from. I'm just worried about getting a piece in worse condition, but now I have a reason to study every Subaru I see. Thanks again.

[SilentRacer]

Metal pipe + K&N drop in filter = better than cone at a third of the price
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https://sl-i.net/FORUM/

[Huffer]

I have a 98 Legacy GT

Please refrain from giving advice to a new member that does NOT pertain to his/her car...

[WolfpackEngineering]

Any of you guys heard much about the Cobb intakes?

[Reason]

Any of you guys heard much about the Cobb intakes?

That they don't make them anymore?

[WolfpackEngineering]

This may be true but you can still buy them, so are they any good?

[Reason]

An intake is an intake, theres no big difference besides the bend. And for the Subaru N/A most of the are the same. The COBB has an "In line" filter. If you open it up all it is is a cone filter.

[WolfpackEngineering]

Have any of you guys who have full cold air, not short ram,ever had issues with getting water in the filter. I used to have a civic with full cold air and I needed to install an air bypass valve to prevent h20 from entering the throttle body, but this was due to the location of the filter.

[jey]

You'll be fine as long as you don't try to ford any streams. I tried to drive through a huge pool of water and did indeed hydrolock the motor.

[undasighted]

I've read many different opinions on this but not many on here. I noticed that silent racer left his intake manifold box on, and I've seen a few others like this with an aftermarket pipe going from it. I've built some custom intakes before using intake piping from other cars and they've worked out great. But the placement of the stock intake port on these engines is in more of a unique place so while I want to mess around with a few intakes for some different makes, I'm wondering if there's much benefit to leaving that box there and attaching the intake piping there... or if I should get a full vehicle specific intake for it.

[undasighted]

also, what sized couplers are needed to connect the MAF and the intake pipe, and where do you guys go for your MAF adapters?