Superacerc's Garage/Journal

[superacerc]

Here are some details about my foz. You guys who are members of SF.org or MCM might have seen me there. I'll just put up the relevant details.


(There's a lot more info on www.subaruforester.org)

Hope you guys enjoy.
Accomplishments so far:

Engine Mods:
-Cobb UNcatted DP (rallysportdirect.com)
-K and N drop in Panel filter (rallysportdirect.com)
-Pro tune via Cobb AP and Ray at TurboTEKTuning (Best mod so far!)
-Removed Snorkus (Me)
-Removed Resonator and inserted straight 2.5" dia. Stainless Pipe (Meinike)
-PTP turbo blanket (PTP in austin)
-lava heat wrap on Down pipe in engine bay. (PTP in austin)
-GFB Hybrid Blow off/bypass valve (rallysportdirect.com)
-Walboro 255lph fuel pump (rallysportdirect.com)
-GRIMMSPEED 3 port EBCS (turbotektuning.com)
-TD05 18g 8cm (bnrsupercars.com)
-TMIC (Fast motorsports) (turbotektuning.com)
-1000cc BOSCH injectors (turbotektuning.com)
-Grimmspeed Lightweight pulley (Grimmspeed.com)
-1 step colder NGK plugs (ray@turbotektuning.com)
-agency power equal lengthheader

Suspension mods:

-22mm Whiteline front swaybar (rallysportdirect.com)
-22mm Whiteline rear swaybar (rallysportdirect.com)
-kartboy aluminium endlinks (rallysportdirect.com)
-swift sport springs (SF.org member)


Comfort/Utility mods:

-New Michelins (MXM4) (Tiremax, Humble tx)
-Insulated Car with RAAMAT and Ensolyte (RAAMAT.com)
-Rubber Undercoated the entire underside with 3M Rubberized Undercoating (Autozone)
-Tinted front windows to match rear factory tint (Solar Shade Humble, tx)
-JVC Head Unit (SF.org member)
-Sylvania silverstar ultra lowbeams
-THULE Sidekick rooftop carrier(amazon.com)
-53" crossbars(amazon.com)
-gorilla offroad mudflaps (gorillaoffroad.com)


Supporting Mods:
-aem uego wideband O2 kit and gauge
-prosport sti style boost gauge
-smy gauge cluster
-wrx gauges(ebay)


Style/look mods:
-lamin-x gunsmoke rear tail tint (lamin-x.com)
-Bronze plastidipped wheels
-konig daylite golds
-Blacked out Front Grille


Brakes:
-Stoptech Street Performance Pads (rallysportdirect.com)

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[superacerc]

Well Here's my Forester the week I bought it (Dec 7 2011) (I like pics).
It's a 2009 XT Limited. It's got the all weather package and leather. Seems to have pretty much everything except navigation.



It's been a whole week so far and here's my first mods:

Removed the Snorkus:



I tried leaving it uncapped with the stock filter but it seemed to lag really bad so i capped it up.

I received my K and N filter and Cobb Access Port and installed them:



I was a big freightened at the idea of doing the stage 1 against the warning from cobb with the K and N filter. I tried it and it's logging fine. I'll do some extra data logging to make sure in the next few days.

The results of the Cobb and K and N seem great. It did about what i expected it to do. Definitely noticable (quite a bit) but nothing gut wrenching or super drastic. It feels more linear and able to hold boost longer through the gears giving it a little more mid rpm power.

[superacerc]

WRX Dash pod:

So for the Dash I had to go to the subaru dealership and have them change the immobilizer code so my keys would work. They were pretty cool about it and only charged me $63 for both keys. They even let me switch the dash out while it was sitting in their bay cause I had to drive it over on the original gauges and then let them program the new ones. Once they had my car in there I just went back there and yanked the cover off and switched em. 20 minutes later I was on my way home happy as a lark.

Here's a pic from on the way home with a fresh 18 miles on the new gauges.


Since my injector swap my MPG meter in the center of the dash hasn't read accurately (although it makes you feel great seeing 34mpg you realize it was actually 19 when you get to the pump). One benefit of swapping my dash is that it's now turned off since it doesn't appear to like reading the new dash. Want to see?? Here's a pic:

Not there anymore!!



I'm liking it so far. Makes you feel a bit slower having a smaller Speedometer cause the needle doesn't sweep up as fast. Very deceiving.

So about the decision, I think I want to plastidip and then use the gold plastidip spray to bronze my OEM wheels for now. What do you guys think? Here's a current pic to let you imagine what it would look like. I'd also have to plastidip the door handles plain black cause the chrome would look silly with bronze wheels.

[superacerc]

A while back:

Around 1 today I started the job and began with the injectors. Since I already had the guards removed from last weekend, it only took a little over an hour to do all four. I took one picture of an injector cause , lets face it there's not much to take a picture of and there are plenty of write ups with pics about changing them.


You can kinda see it in there. Little black thing.




Moving on......

Then I started on the turbo. First i had to remove the blanket and part of my heat wrap.
Then I took off the down pipe completely and layed it under the car.
Then I removed all the lines running to the turbo. There are two coolant lines and two oil lines and the wastegate hoses.

When i took off the supply line for the coolant it started going all over the floor so I plugged it quickly with my finger and called my wife to search my bolt drawer for something big enough to plug the hole. Here's what I ended up using.



Here's some pics of the void left when the turbo came out.

[superacerc]

Then I started getting the other turbo ready to put in. I had to clean out the coolant lines a bit and put everything back on.

Here's what you've all been waiting for......... Turbo side by side pics!!

Compressor side. Definitely a difference in size.




Exhaust side: Yep, bigger there too.





Same inlet size. Just a different view.



Here's my Intercooler with the GFB blow off. how handsome is that? Didn't install it today but never got any good pics of it.







Next I installed this little beast:

Grimmspeed 3 port Boost Controler.

[superacerc]

Intercooler install:





Well, the splitter that came in the kit actually doesn't fit an 09+ foz. Fits Wrx and legacy hoods only I guess. The stock splitter is the right height to meet flush with the intercooler but too tall and not wide enough to expose all the heat fins so im going to do some modifications to it to get it to fit just right with sheet metal most likely.

I didn't mount one bracket. It fits so tight with the other side bracket and the hose assembly it holds pretty well. I will pull it off sometime next week to get that other bracket on though. Ran out of usable time. I'm going to have to remove the extra downpipe insulation I put on to do it. While I've got it off i'll go to a muffler shop and have them remove the catylitic converter before I put the insulation back on.(no smog tests here) Then all those after fires occuring on throttle lift will finally give some decent tailpipe fire and I'll spool the turbo easier.



I also bought some header paint and blacked out my mufflers. I didnt paint the chrome tips but figured the big silver mufflers under there could be darker.




20.5psi/1.39bar right now.

I got that intercooler bracket in that I didnt have time for saturday. It actually goes to the bolt on top of the transmission that holds the mount for the oem heat shield. Here's a pic:



I also modified my oem splitter to better fit the new intercooler. Its not absolutely air tight bit provides cooling to the entire intercooler.



With both sides of the intercooler mounted tight it transmits a beautiful intake sound into the cockpit. It sounds like a beast!

[superacerc]

(outdoors pics)

Just to show that the foz is truly versatile heres some pics from last weekends exploration of the nearby national forest.

[superacerc]

Went ahead with the bronze rim idea. I like it. However, I've got some Konig Daylite golds coming in the mail. I'll take the OEM rims off and use them for Snow tires when I move next year.

Heres a few pics:

Black on left, first coat gold tint on right.




First coat of gold:



As gold as I wanted them. You can make them very bright gold if desired.





On the car:













In sunlight they appear much brighter.

[superacerc]

Got some konig daylite gold rims coming my way!

[Shansen120]

You have an awesome car man!
Love seeing your progress!
Cant wait to see the new wheels!

[superacerc]

Thanks. Im hoping the wheels look good on it. More than that I hope they provide a noticable difference in acceleration which the laws of physics say they should being so much lighter than my current setup.
Ill try and log a 0-60 and 1/4 mile on the access port(even though its not totally accurate) before and after the switch to verify the difference.

Btw, I was up in dallas a few weeks ago. We have family up there.

[Shansen120]

I bet they will look great.
And I hope they help with your acceleration as well.
Well even if the access port is off it will be off with both (if that makes sense)

Thats cool! I would love to see your car in person.
Mine is stock
Hope to lower it soon.

[superacerc]

My Dyno Chart with and without the Agency Power Equal Length header on the same tune. Here's some info you guys will probably be interested in. There is a difference of 9hp and nearly no ft-lbs torque but the torque curve is moved to the top end more.

These were done with virtual dyno which seems slightly conservative.

Just header swap no tune:


This one is just the difference in tuning since the header has been put on. I've still got a little bit left to go.



Here's the datalog run I just did tonight with some extra timing and boost added in put up against the old header. The two runs are from before the header was put on to what it is now after 2 tunes.




Here's the difference between my final Custom tune on the Stock Turbo and where I'm at now on the TD05 18g 93oct with an almost finished tune. Keep in mind Ray did an airboy dyno run and this same run on the TD04 he (generously) estimated at near 250hp.



This is the earliest datalog dyno I have recorded vs where I'm at now. This is past Cobb Stage II but only halfway through ray's custom Tune on the Stock Turbo.



Based on the airboy dyno and guestimation, I'd say I'm almost 100hp more than the Cobb stage II tune both running 93 oct.

[tmeck]

Those are some seriously impressive numbers! How's it go?

[superacerc]

Thanks. They should begin to be much more impressive with e85.

I just noticed as well that the headers threw off my wastegate duty cycle a bit and im not hitting target boost. I should be upping them back tonight from 18.5psi back to right at 20. Maybe that'll give it a tad more oomph.

[superacerc]

The above charts are not to be trusted. I was using a semi unideal rd while on vacation. Ill try again when I get back to houston. The early lines though, are from houston on a great flat rd so they are fairly accurate. Just not the nov 29 ones and up.

[superacerc]

[superacerc]

Ok, here are a few videos. I hope I get a chance to do some better ones tomorrow. I've gotten side tracked all week wanting to do some extra shots. A hint at what it may be? You've seen the foz on a MX course but there's something missing in the photos.....

Here's the video that showcases how crappy the exhaust sounds with the OEM mufflers left on with equal length headers and no cat or resonator. This has inspired me to get a meaner sounding exhaust. I'll have the new exhaust on Wed so expect a video of a roaring mean foz. I will keep the OEM mufflers though for road trips. Noise starts getting to me after a while.

[youtube]2PYqw5if54I[/youtube]

Here's a faster run of that same area and a bit more of the track:

[youtube]bQhXrsP19ag[/youtube]

Just a quick run down a trail, going maybe 45mph. Sorry for the ebrake squeal. I was playing around sliding the back end a bit but it was annoying to hear.

[youtube]yD1VdUY9YKY[/youtube]

A decent of the hill from above. I used the e-brake again and it was squeaky, sorry.

[youtube]loWu3lzH0Vc[/youtube]

[superacerc]

Here's some extra photos and videos that I got around to taking today. I think you'll enjoy them.

My Dad (since I can't trust him to run the camera at least he makes the shot look good)

[superacerc]

From the pics in the above posts you can now see the view from my dad's helmet cam as he goes by the foz. These shots are from my dad's mx course. The first two videos are with my dad wearing the cam but we switch bikes after the first video. The second two are of me wearing the cam with me on the 450 and the last one is me by myself.

Enjoy:

[youtube]WxEIZ3b-2dM[/youtube]

[youtube]PNOzFvTHAik[/youtube]

[youtube]CW98pRWmvGc[/youtube]

[youtube]Y5-CY-Ye_4E[/youtube]

[superacerc]

Now that my 93oct tune is finished it's time for e85!!! Ive got a quarter tank of fuel to run out and then we'll bring in the real power. Can't wait.

My wheels came in as well as my air pump block off plates. Probably get to those this weekend. My nameless muffler deletes should be in this afternoon though. It's going to be an exciting week in subie land!

[Shansen120]

Awesome man!
Cant wait to see how it looks and sounds.
Also looking forward to the power gains!

[superacerc]

Alright, the news you've been waiting for, well several different newses actually, and one is bad.

Well the bad one. My exhaust came in. Well, at first it doesn't sound bad but the fact is it's wayyyyyyyy toooooo loud. But not in the car. It's actually super quiet in the car cause nothing under it is resonating. But out the back end it's embarrassingly loud. So much so, I can't even ride around in it. I tried once. Came back home and took it off immediately. I've got a video. Its too big a file to have me bothering to try and upload it though. Take my word for it, it sounds like crap. The Nameless performance axleback muffler delete was clearly made for someone with a completely stock Exhaust system and not fully straight piped like mine. The good news about that is I'll sell it and get a new intake for roughly the same price. That'll actually help out.

Next news.

New wheels!!! I used my OEM centercaps in place of the ones that conig sent cause they were like chrome cones sticking out the center. Looked terrible. I can already notice a driving difference. They sit out a little further giving me better handling and they steer noticably lighter and let the engine rev quicker. They also seem to want to keep rolling longer after coming off the throttle.

THE WEIGHT OF THE OLD WHEELS WAS 23.xx pounds!!!!! So my weight savings is 9.xx pounds each saving me 37ish pounds.

The guy at the wheel place putting them on:












They sit more flush as well with the 40mm offset. Have a look below.






Next news. Ray is sending me the E85 base map tonight (presumeably after he finishes Nates 20g tune. I'll go ahead and fill it up tonight. It's going to be Crazy!!

End of news, back to your regularly scheduled program.

[jman84]

Originally Posted by superacerc

Alright, the news you've been waiting for, well several different newses actually, and one is bad.

Well the bad one. My exhaust came in. Well, at first it doesn't sound bad but the fact is it's wayyyyyyyy toooooo loud. But not in the car. It's actually super quiet in the car cause nothing under it is resonating. But out the back end it's embarrassingly loud. So much so, I can't even ride around in it. I tried once. Came back home and took it off immediately. I've got a video. Its too big a file to have me bothering to try and upload it though. Take my word for it, it sounds like crap. The Nameless performance axleback muffler delete was clearly made for someone with a completely stock Exhaust system and not fully straight piped like mine. The good news about that is I'll sell it and get a new intake for roughly the same price. That'll actually help out.

Next news.

New wheels!!! I used my OEM centercaps in place of the ones that conig sent cause they were like chrome cones sticking out the center. Looked terrible. I can already notice a driving difference. They sit out a little further giving me better handling and they steer noticably lighter and let the engine rev quicker. They also seem to want to keep rolling longer after coming off the throttle.

THE WEIGHT OF THE OLD WHEELS WAS 23.xx pounds!!!!! So my weight savings is 9.xx pounds each saving me 37ish pounds.

The guy at the wheel place putting them on:

They sit more flush as well with the 40mm offset. Have a look below.

Next news. Ray is sending me the E85 base map tonight (presumeably after he finishes Nates 20g tune. I'll go ahead and fill it up tonight. It's going to be Crazy!!

End of news, back to your regularly scheduled program.

I have a 08 wrx SEDAN spt on my 2012 sounds really good....but then again i only have a catback.....im the guy that commented on ur youtube vid check my vids i have one with the spt just startup though

[superacerc]

I think im just going to leave my oem mufflers on there. Ive got everything else removed so it probably flows free enough not to mess with my power much. Ill very that intake on and call it a day.

Put my first tank of ethanol in yesterday evening. Doesn't smell nearly as bad as gas.