Suggested parts for my new 06 2.5rs

[DexterALM]

I just got a 2006 Impreza 2.5i. I'm thinking of parts to get. I've done alot of reading on the site but have some questions still.

1) Will most WRX parts fit the 2.5i. Such as CAI and exhausts?

2) Any recommeneded CAI? I've been looking at injen and k&n cause cobb doesnt sell cai anymore.

3) Any recommendations for exhaust?

4) Any recommendations for swaybars? Do I need front and back? What brand is the best? (Been torn between Rallitek and Cobb at the moment)

5) If I get a CAI can I still get a k&n air filter (i'm a little confused on the air filter location)

6) Are Cobb springs worth the money? Any other good brands?

7) Recommended oil/oil filters? (Doing a change soon)

8) What is a 'snorkus delete' and how does it help? Tried looking it up but found nothing.

9) And finally: any other mods for horsepower? I think springs, sway, and my future tires will set me up well on handling.

THANKS IN ADVANCE!

(sorry for all the questions but I'm a little confused)

~Dex

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[H-Dtech]

no, wrx parts will not fit on your car.
injen or cosmo for CAI, K&N doesn't make a intake for our cars.
stromung for the exhaust
cobb, whiteline, are all good compaines and their products will be fine, and yes you should do front and rear sways at the same time.
you still can get a K&N, but don't need to as the injen filter is basically the same, on a CAI the filter is in the fender, behind where the fog light would go.
mobil 1 synthetic oil, subaru filters
snorkus delete, gets rid of the big white thing that is currently in your fender-better than stock, not as good as CAI
for our cars, you can only really do a CAI, exhaust, and a lightweight pulley. for power mods.

[DexterALM]

What exactly does a lightweight pulley do?

Is there any real quality difference between cosmo and injen?

Stormung lists these:
SI8988 Dual 76mm Rear Muffler 355.00
SI8981 Single 89mm Rear Muffler 339.00
SS8981 Stainless Steel Rear Muffler 405.00
SI598 Intermediate Pipe (57 mm) 125.00

which do i get/need or are they all options?

[H-Dtech]

lightweight pully= less rotational mass, which means the engine can rev faster. It doesn't give any more power, but allows your current power to be used more efficiently.

Injen is a higher quality than cosmo, but cosmo cost alot less.

give boxer4racing.com a call they will tell you which stromung mufflers fit the 06' 2.5I, after that its just a matter of what you like the look of the most.

[DexterALM]

Are Borla headers worth it? And how can you tell on ebay if its a 'proper' knockoff?

Also EL or UEL?

(BTW, thanks for all the help so far, you have been great ^_^)

[JLW2007RS]

do you want that classic boxer rumble that is coveted by many? if so then UEL if you want a more Honda ish sound then go with EL. As far as i know HP gain/loss differs only slightly with these headers, and anything is better than manifold. wait to buy your exaust until you can afford the whole system, header to tip, and buy EVERYTHING 2005 RS, if you buy some for the I and some for the RS you will be stuck with modifing pieces. also you will need a o2 sensor extension for any header made for the RS.

[2.5EYE]

As for springs, i have ground controls with 350 fronts, and 250 rears and absolutely love them. I've driven our cars with tein's and they just bounce so freaking much, and cobb is too expensive and not good enough.

[RaceFaceXC]

as far as the exhaust stuff goes, the borla knockoffs (UEL) will give you that nice subaru rumble which sounds so sweet with a stromung setup. BUT, if Torque and HP are you goals, EL will give a few more ponies and pounds... the cheap one will probably give you a couple of each over the borla.. the nice ones will give you a couple more... and if you want the good **** the TWE super stocks will give you quite a few when coupled with a highflow cat and nice catback system. Also, make sure you have the cat section to fit your new headers if you get any, borla (UEL) or EL. The 06-07 2.5i's require a 2005 or previous cat section to make the aftermarket headers fit the rest of the exhaust since the 06-07 stuff has a new header collector flange location. to put it simply, make sure to get a header and cat section that fit together as the rest of the exhaust is unchanged from previous years. just ask whoever makes the parts you want to buy and they will set you up with the correct info so u dont get a suprise. Hope that helps and isnt too confusing.

If you do a serach for "TWE header" you should be able to find dyno charts if you are interested in what kind of gains you should expect. There are dyno charts for the Borla UEL stuff too, I am sure.

[DexterALM]

Any recommended order of buying parts? Its a daily driver I'm setting up to have a little more fun. On a minor budget but am willing to spend in chunks.

Auto cross looks fun and would like to get into it.

[JLW2007RS]

remember the o2 extender^^ previous post

[kos]

some wrx parts fit, but not cai and exhaust. i had 03 wrx calipers on mine and plenty more to be installed till i wrecked

[DexterALM]

also are strut braces worth the money?

[JLW2007RS]

https://www.subarugenuineparts.com/p...oducts_id=1323, sweet and SPT for a great price, definaitly do the suspension first and if you have some time SNORKUS delete, youll be pleased, trust me

[DexterALM]

Originally Posted by DexterALM

also are strut braces worth the money?

Also what strut braces will even fit the the 2.5i? Most seem to be for the WRX. Don't wanna get em mixed up!
Will these fit?
http://www.rallitek.com/stbatyosfr.html
http://www.rallitek.com/strutbar.html

If those are go then I pretty much have everything for my first set of mods.

Thanks again to everyone for all the helpful links! Good to see this is a great community!

[kos]

the front strut brace really isnt worth the money, imho
you should look into the rear strut bar with the v-brace addition.
and dexter, any of the strut bars made for 02+imprezas will work for us
mine is a cusco OS rear strut bar with the v-brace, which you can get seperately

and gruppe-s.com has them cheaper than the site you listed

[DexterALM]

Pretty much my last question: is this a good setup?

http://www.cobbtuning.com/products/?id=2410

[williaty]

1) Some WRX parts will fit an RS. You'll have to search for each individual part. Intakes won't, some of the exhaust pieces will.

2) Ebay DIY intake. The Cosmo if you refuse to work on it yourself. Anything else is a ripoff.

3) TechWorks Engineering SuperStreet headers with their HFC. Muffler shop stainless midpipe and Magnaflow muffler.

4) You don't "need" either front OR back. However, both make a large improvement to the car. Most people do the rear first. If you do a sway, make sure you get endlinks for it as well. Sway brand doesn't matter but I happen to use Whiteline because they offer the most options.

5) Yes, you can still put a K&N cone filter on a CAI. However, if you over-oil the filter, you'll foul your MAF sensor, which is quite bad. Also, K&N filters don't filter as well as a simple paper filter and don't flow enough extra air to make the filtration hit worth it. People will swear by them. Those people tend not to get UOAs, so they never see how much crap is making it into their engine.

6) Pretty much nothing Cobb makes is worth the money. Are most Cobb products good? Yes, absolutely. Are most Cobb products overpriced? Yes, absolutely. If you're looking for springs for your car, look no farther than USDM STi takeoffs/USDM STi Pinks. Always remember that lowering hurts handling on our cars.

7) After screwing around with aftermarket brands, I settled on SoJ OEM filters (black Tokyo Roki brand) and OEM crush washers. Everything else I tried leaked (including the SoA white OEM filters). For cheap and good oil, try Penzoil Platnum. For high-zoot stuff, Redline or AMSOil.

8) There's a big plastic gourd in your passenger fender well that is part of the intake tract. The purpose of the gourd is to eliminate and very loud resonance from the intake tract. Removing the snorkus results in an obnoxious intake and no performance gains.

9) First, handling goes A LOT further than springs, sways, and tires if you want to do it right. Second, if you want power from an NA, you're looking first and foremost at cams and headers.

[williaty]

Originally Posted by DexterALM

Are Borla headers worth it? And how can you tell on ebay if its a 'proper' knockoff?

Also EL or UEL?

(BTW, thanks for all the help so far, you have been great ^_^)

Strangely, eBay Borla knock offs are the one place where the knock off is better quality than the originals.

The EL vs UEL is very much a "go vs show" debate.

UEL headers will have the most pronounced "boxer rumble" but show the least power gains.

EL headers will remove much of the boxer rumble but won't make you sound like a honda. They will, however, give you as much as 15lb-ft of torque across the entire rev range (potentially more in places) compared to the UEL headers, which is a HUGE difference in the NA world.

Keep in mind the beyond UEL vs EL, the design of the header (primary diameter and length, collector type, 4-2-1 vs 4->1, etc) will also have a very large effect on total gains AND where in the rev range those gains are made.

[williaty]

Originally Posted by DexterALM

Any recommended order of buying parts? Its a daily driver I'm setting up to have a little more fun. On a minor budget but am willing to spend in chunks.

Auto cross looks fun and would like to get into it.

Suspension, then suspension, then suspension. The amount a fully built suspension with a stock drivetrain will be faster than the other way around is staggering. On very tight and twisty roads, I'm able to keep ahead of WRX and STis with more than twice my power. Also, outrunning sport bikes with an NA wagon is quite fun.

This is doubly true if you're going to be into AX.

[williaty]

Originally Posted by DexterALM

also are strut braces worth the money?

If you have a wagon, the rear one is worth it right away. If you have a sedan, you can hold off on them until you have a much stiffer suspension.

If you'd like to start stiffening things up (and it really does pay off) you should be looking first at things like the fender cowl braces, the steering rack bushings, and all 14 of the STi Group N bushings for the rear end.

[williaty]

Originally Posted by DexterALM

Pretty much my last question: is this a good setup?

http://www.cobbtuning.com/products/?id=2410

No, it's a waste of money. For that amount of money, you could do sways and endlinks for both ends. Or RSB+endlinks and then some bushings. Or the fender cowl stays, or...

[DexterALM]

Ok maybe I am getting a little confused. What exactly should I buy for better handling? The biggest complaint if have currently is the body roll in tight corners. How should I correct that and after that what should I go for?

(Sorry if I am a little clueless, my background is with an 4x4 '88 Jeep Wrangler. So I am a little new at this.)

P.S: Am i Getting on the right track?: http://www.turninconcepts.com/produc...products_id=56

[williaty]

Originally Posted by DexterALM

Ok maybe I am getting a little confused. What exactly should I buy for better handling? The biggest complaint if have currently is the body roll in tight corners. How should I correct that and after that what should I go for?

(Sorry if I am a little clueless, my background is with an 4x4 '88 Jeep Wrangler. So I am a little new at this.)

The quickest way to address tha majority of that specific problem, body roll, are swaybars and endlinks. However, other things factor in to body roll as well. For instance, tire sidewall deflection can add a very significant amount to the total chassis roll. In addition, the rear sway exerts its force via the rear lateral links. This means that the rear lateral link bushings also play a major role in determining total chassis roll.

Keep in mind that chassis roll is just one aspect of handling. You will also benefit from increasing the resonant frequency of the suspension, properly damping the suspension, and reducing dynamic alignment changes.

It all just depends on how far down the rabbit hole you want to go. For instance, my suspension currently consists of (copied from my sig on another forum):

Basic Suspension: STi Springs, Tokico D-Specs, PolTec Dual Spherical Bearing Endlinks, Whiteline 22mm Adjustable RSB,Whiteline Wagon Quick Release Rear STB, Aluminum Front Lateral Links,
Bushings: Full STi Group N Lateral Link Set, Full STi Group N Trailing Link Set, Full STi Group N Strut Mount Set, Kartboy Tranny Crossmember, TiC Comfort Rear Diff, Whiteline Steering Rack
Rolly Bits: Summer-16" OEM wheels in Falken FK452s | Winter-16" OEM Wheels in Hankook Icebear W300s

and I would only consider it about 75-80% "built". There's still several things in my future such as an ALK, front sway and endlinks, fender cowl stays, FSTB, H6 rear conversion, etc.

[ScottyB]

Originally Posted by williaty

It all just depends on how far down the rabbit hole you want to go. For instance, my suspension currently consists of (copied from my sig on another forum):

that's a hell of a hole

how agressive is your alignment? not to hijack the thread at all but i noticed you didn't mention anything about it.

[cmiovino]

Bigger rear sway FTW. And endlinks.

The ebay strut bars are ok too... they work. For $30 for BOTH, I think that's fine. They're not the best or better than the name brands, but they do help.

CF Front STi Strut bar ---> $150
Ebay front AND rear bars ---> $30

You decide. I have them and think they help a little, but then again, I have a GC.