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[Phate]

Decided that I needed to daily something less stupid than my accord, which needs to go under the knife for more work than I'd like to do to the car I drive to work every day.  So after ruling out the Fiat 500 Abarth, which is hilarious to drive but not very fast, and also ruling out a second generation Mini Cooper S (fast, fun, but probably going to break often), I came to my senses and got something reasonable:  2005 Subaru Legacy 2.5GT 5MT.  I was originally looking for a manual Baja turbo, but they basically don't exist.

I fucking love this thing, and didn't realize how hard they are to find with a manual.



Original turbo died of oil starvation due to a clogged oil feed banjo filter, and the previous owner had it replaced with a chinacharger.  Car overboosted hard in third gear, and would throw a CEL/limp mode as punishment.  Previous owner was basically a moron who had no clue what he was doing.  Put a Cobb Accessport V3 on it primarily for the multigauge/datalogging capability, and figured out that the vac lines that were replaced had no air restrictor in place, resulting in pretty much zero boost control.  Shoved a MIG welding tip of approximately the correct size into the vac line, car still overboosts, but by quite a bit less.  Also noticed the threaded rod on the wastegate was spun all the way down, giving batshit levels of preload.  Fixed that.

Flashed Cobb Stage 1 tune since it's safer than the factory one, and took datalogs.  No more crazy boost spikes, and boost is about right.  Dicked around with AccessTuner a bit, and things seem great.  Set up launch control.  It works well.

It's my daily "I swear I'm an adult" car, so I'm not going to be too stupid with it:
-Basic "Stage 2" tends to put these up around 230-250whp with loads of torque:  Catless up pipe, Catted downpipe, and tune (probably just the cobb stage 2 for a while until I decide where I'd like to get it protuned)
-GFB hybrid BOV, because I can't help being a ricer.
-Some kind of semi-quiet exhaust.  There isn't really much power to be gained with a catback on these, so I might just swap out the rear cans for something a bit louder.  Right now you can barely hear the car.
-Good brakes
-Bilstein HD's
-eventually a better clutch
-Some comfort/interior mods that don't make the car go faster and aren't as interesting.



Because I don't have to drive the accord every day anymore, I can now make that as stupid as I want.  Over the winter it's getting a rear disk swap, all new nicopp brake lines, ITR/accord wagon brakes, and adjustable proportioning valves for maximum racecar.  I also scored a couple of M90's on the cheap (on from a supercoupe, another from a 3800SC).  Bad ideas are guaranteed to happen, involving large amounts of torque, and a significant chance of ventilating a couple of F22 bottom ends.

[turbohf]

I kinda like those.

[Phate]

I kinda like those.

It's like a socially functional WRX.  It's not as fast or hard-edged as a WRX/STi, but you'll still giggle like a retard when driving it like an asshole, and be way more comfortable when you're not.  Plus, the styling has aged pretty well for an 11 year old car.

It should be a monster this winter when I put the Altimax Arctics on it.

The accord is being built specifically to be a fun car to drive like a total shithead.

[turbohf]

kinda feel the same about my Galant... but then I went too far probably with big turbo and all...

[crxvtec91]

Not bad at all, maybe throw a good cut out at it.

[Phate]

Bought more stuff for for both cars on the cheap.  I need to get access to a garage again to install this stuff and get building.

For the brobaru:
Picked up a TurboXS catless up pipe that has never been installed or used
Also scored an Invidia 3in downpipe with a high flow cat for cheap that came with a wideband that I'll probably just end up using on the accord.
As soon as those are installed, I'll flash it to the stage 2 OTS map and make any adjustments necessary to keep things happy, as well as making another map where I pull all the wastegate duty cycle out of it at low throttle in the 2500-3500rpm range in hopes of improving my highway fuel economy while maintaining full passing power.

Hoping for a bit more noise after up/down pipes.

For the shitbox:
The finest 2.5in stainless catback that $125 will buy you, made by the most skilled 10 year olds China has to offer.
After the fart cannon becomes annoying, which will likely be about two days, I have an OEM subaru STi muffler that I picked up for $40.  It has an inlet diameter of around 2.5 inches, and is able to flow enough for 300hp while being not crazily loud, and also looks more stock than a 4.5in cannon with no silencer.

I still have an SAFC and some DSM 390's to get the thing running with some positive manifold pressure.  I was playing around with mounting locations for the M90, and it's almost definitely going to require a jackshaft.  I'll probably abuse the power steering belt to spin it.  Removing the AC compressor is not an option, even though that would greatly simplify the entire process.

My biggest goal for the accord is to figure out just how many things I can remove the ECU's control over before it totally loses it's shit.  Ideally, I'll keep the OBD2 computer in the car so it can talk to the scanner, and use a chipped P28 to actually run the fuel and spark.  Because NYS.

[Minor Threat]

Why not just use a jumper harness and throw stock injectors/ECU back in for a week before you go for the test?

[Phate]

Why not just use a jumper harness and throw stock injectors/ECU back in for a week before you go for the test?

That's the backup plan if it doesn't work, or immediately proves unfeasible.

[turbohf]

sell accord, buy fp green, legit intercooler, maybe some wheels for the lezbaru... 

[Phate]

sell accord, buy fp green, legit intercooler, maybe some wheels for the lezbaru... 

Accord isn't getting sold.  It's still a really fun car to drive, and it only costs me a few hundred a year on insurance.  It will be a lot more fun once I get it back together.

The LGT is getting new wheels before springtime (hoping to find some 17in WRX take offs) to put summer tires on.  Want to try a dark bronze, should look good against the red.

It's not getting a big turbz, going with an upgraded VF40 because the least reliable subaru model ever made needs to be my daily.  Plus I like the midrange torque.  The stock TMIC is fine until the endtanks blow off.  I'll replace it if it starts leaking.

Sidenote:  In the cold it will blow off the Continental DWS's and skate the car sideways in first and second on dry pavement

[snm95ls]

It's gonna break!