Was talking to a few guys on TS the other day about cars..  here's a few pics of my Subaru Legacy that I've been tinkering on...


New up pipe and down pipe (up pipe connecting the exhaust manifold to turbo, down pipe from turbo to exhaust pipes)


New wheels and tires..  18x8 Rota Gravels, wrapped in 225/40-18 Hankook V12


25mm Rear Sway bar


SPT cat back exhaust..  giving my Subaru that famous sound :D


Up pipe (not visible) and down pipe connected




Down pipe..  was a very long pipe




And for the other truckers in BK...   here's my truck..

You should check out my clubs forms.  They are pretty informative and have a few Legacy builds as well.  Register and see all topics. FLAT FOUR LV Nice ride btw.

That is so ironic - I have a Legacy GT 2009 (dark gray) - I too debadged it.

I just ordered the following:

Cobb Down Pipe
Mode Short-Shift
Cobb Access Port

I am thinking about also buying:

Borla Cat-Back Exhaust
Cobb Flywheel


What kind of sway-bar is that?

BTW: I was thinking about getting some 18x8.5 Rota Grids (Flat Bronze)   Rota Grids


I have had Rotas on my other two Scoobs - silver on both. However, I thought flat bronze might look good.

It's a Hotchkiss Sway bar.  Hotchkiss is the same company that makes the COBB sway bar, but the difference is Cobb is smaller and solid, Hotchkiss is bigger and hollow.  It's just as reliable and sturdy, but cheaper in price.    The up pipe is an Invidia Catless up pipe, and the downpipe is a CNT catted downpipe.  I heatwrapped it myself with Thermotech heat wrap.  

For my tune, I used an opensource tune.  The software is free, you just have to buy a VAGCOM cable that plugs into the OBDII port, and then USB to your computer..  but it's not as popular as the access port, but it's just as good and cheaper.  The tuner I used is named Shamar, he owns a shop called Infamous Performance out of SoCal..  I highly recommend him.  Many people on lgtforums.com have used him and are very satisfied.  I also ordered most of my parts from him.  My car is an automatic though..  I wish I got a manual transmission but my truck is manual and I didn't want to hassle with relearning the feeling switching between a heavy rig and a light car.

I ordered mine from Wheeldude..  he's a member on several forums.  It took me a while to decide on what color to get, but I'm not really crazy about black on black..  and I don't think the Legacy looks good with gold or bronze wheels with a black car..  looks great on the WRX though.

Oh, and the shop I took my car to to get the pipes installed (up and down pipe are pain in the butt) is called Performance Race Solutions, in Sanford, which is just north of Orlando..  it's a long drive for you but they are highly experienced in high end race cars (they build M3, WRX, and EVO's) and they also have an AWD dyno, one of the few in the area, which is needed for a reliable tune.  They also maintain a customer's Lamborghini Gallardo..   and an AMG... but I'm not too familiar with AMG so I don't know what model.. but it's sick

Phew... was hoping you didn't drive for SWIFT....

I used to drive for Systems out of Warshington

I got a few friends who drive for Swift...  I don't have any plans on leaving Prime, I got no complaints.

When I get my car loaded out I will toss a few pictures on here.

Wheels:
I have purchased Rota's through Wheeldude a few times (I used to live in San Francisco - so I would drive right across the bay to his shop and pick them up - but now I am in Florida)- always happy with the service and price. I purchased hyper-silver tarmacs for the black forester XT (wife's car) and had the slipstream steel grey for the WRX. Had traded my 04 WRX in for the 09 LGT (5m in Dark Grey). I didn't want "shinny" wheels - that is why I was thinking about the flat-bronze or steel grey - maybe even gunmetal.

Up-pipe:
The LGT 09+ does NOT have a cat in the up-pipe, so I didn't see a reason to replace it - since it is not restricting the turbo.

Downpipe / exhaust:
Order the Cobb downpipe, but not the exhaust yet. Was thinking about Borla - because of the low price and it is not a loud "fart can - melon shooter", which I don't want. I like your SPT a lot, but isn't that like $1k?

Map / ECU:
I had a Cobb Access Port on the WRX - loved it. So I ordered one for the LGT 09. It is plug-n-play and with no real dyno's or builders in my area - I think it is the easiest option.

Shifter:
I really like the Cobb, but they don't make it anymore. I heard the Mode is the exact same as the Cobb (adjustable) - so I ordered that.

Coilovers:
I had some Stance coilovers on the LGT, but took them off. It drove like it was on rails, but it was a HARD ride. The wife hated it and it was a little too rough on the kid in the backseat. I am going to sell them (have about 500 miles on them) - let me know if you are interested. They are a harder ride than factory and if I was younger, not married, and without child - I would keep them. Fully adjustable ride height and spring/load rate.

Swaybar:
Since I removed the coil-overs - I am looking for a good rear-sway bar. Cobb doesn't have them anymore - I am going to look yours up and check them out. Did you get exhaust hangers and end-links? If so what kind?

Extras:
I was going to get the Cobb pully/crank and remove the 15lb beast that is on there - that should free up some pony's at the fly wheel.
I was also looking at some new pads - breaks seem fine, just the pads.
Lastly - was looking at a new air-filter, maybe Cobb as well.

There is some work to do and I am a little slow on it, as I am doing some work on the house (back-yard) - so the car is taking a little longer.


Regards...

Definitely in for pics!

I have BC BR Coilovers but I haven't installed them yet.  I was going to but I had a hard time taking the stock ones off and ran out of time, so I kept the stock ones on.  BR's aren't the best but from what others say is they're one of the best bang for the bucks..   they also have adjustable dampening.  Another popular choice is the Spec B suspension, which consists of Bilstein HD struts and STI springs, but others have used Swift springs and Rallitek springs and have been happy with them.  

I bought my sways from here:  http://www.infamousperformance.net/servlet/StoreFront

They already have a full Hotchkiss front and rear sway combo.  I also bought AVO rear sway mounts, which just beefs up the stock rear mounts, but I hadn't installed it yet.  It's nice to have both but if you're going to track the car, you probably won't want a big rear sway bar, it'll reduce your turn in.

The same company also did my opensource tune.  They can do an AP tune too but you have to send in your AP to them.  Opensource can be done over the internet and email..  

Just FYI, I'll be putting an 08-09 bumper, tail lights, and brackets on my car when I put it in the paint shop next year..   I like that style rear end over my 06, but I like my front end better.  If you're not a member at legacygt.com, I strongly recommend visiting that site, there is so much info there and dozens of Legacy-specific help..   plus a few tuners and other vendors.  They're probably on NASIOC too but I don't visit that forum.

I am a member over there (prohobo).

Thanks for the link for the sway bars I'll take a look. I do miss living in San Francisco - as I had a few tuner friends out there and also have a few friends that drive professionally (Daytona Pro-types and Lemans GTE series) - so I would spend a lot of time at Sears Point (now Infineion), Thunderhill, and Laguna.

My wife and I are big F1, LeMans, and WRC fans. While I was a fan of Subaru (Peter Solberg) watching those battles years ago between Mitsubishi and Subaru in the WRC races - always cheered for Subaru, I had never thought of buying one. Back in 2004 I was looking to buy a new car (my wife was pregnant and the 1984 JEEP CJ was a little to bouncy for her), I looked at Audi, BMW, and a few other mid-size sedans. My friend (a pro race driver for Porsche GT) told me to check out the WRX series. I didn't think it was my style. I saw him out at Sears Point one day testing. While he did drive Porsche most of the time (being a driver for them), he also had a Subaru WRX STI as his daily driver. He took me out for a ride around the track in his WRX  - I don't know if you have ever been or seen Sears Point, but it has lots of elevation changes and corners. I seriously almost wet my paints. He drove it flat out and it didn't break traction in the corners - it drove like it was on rails. When we were done I asked him about what he did to it - he said nothing much, brake pads, tires, sway bar, and ECU remap - the rest was stock WRX STI. He said for $30k there is no other car that can beat it with factory settings on the track. Sure there might be cars faster in a drag race for that money, but in corners, under-braking, etc - the STI is it. Of course his Porsche will beat it (not by much on the track), but it was also 4 times more expensive (over $100k). He said if I wanted to save some money, just get the WRX (same engine as the STI) for the low 20s, but a new down-pipe, new shoes, new pads, sway bar, and a new tune - and now you have the best driving car on the market for just over $20k.

So I figured if it was good enough for a pro-driver it must be good enough for me.

However, I was still not sure - I test drove the Audi A4  - but it had NOTHING on the performance over the WRX I had test drove. I did test drive the S4 (but that was $75k) and while it had the power it still didn't have the flat cornering. Admittedly I didn't push the S4 that hard. I soon realized that buying a BMW 5 series of Audi A4 or A6 was going to be in the $50 range to get the features I want - but the FUN FACTOR performance wasn't there unless I stepped into an M or S series (respectively). After a month of test drives and looking around - I went back and drove the WRX - wow I just couldn't believe the car was just over $20k.

I am not a guy that finances purchases (I love to save and pay cash) - I had $50k to spend. So I did the obvious thing - I bought TWO Subarus - I bought the WRX in Blue (not STI and fixed it up) and I bought a Forester XT - fully loaded in leather (same boxer turbo engine as WRX). So while I was going to get one car, I ended up getting too and after selling the CJ7 - I walked away with money - even after fixing up the WRX.

I look back at that purchase as one of the smartest things I had ever bought. We still have the Forester, I traded my WRX in for a L-GT (and I got a great deal on the trade in). If I told you what I did on my trade in you would probably think I am not the nicest guy, I do negotiate to a point of pain for a sales person on a big purchase - and in this deal I returned the car the next day because I could get a better deal and to knock off $2000 - he caved. Of course this is in the middle of the economic crisis and cars were not selling. So I squeezed really hard. My feeling if you don't want to sell at that price, don't sell - I am not mad or bothered. However, if you do - don't give me grief about it. I feel that if you are a cash buyer you can squeeze really hard - since you don't have a 3rd party financier to deal with. I love cash buying negotiations - we just bought our house during the housing foreclosure mess and I squeezed the crap out of CountryWide on a foreclosed property. Every time they called me back, I dropped my bid by $10,000. They couldn't believe it - then I gave them 5 days to make a decision - because there were 100s of houses to buy for a cash buyer. I told them if they waited another 5 days, it would be $50k lower. They called back 2 days latter I ended up getting it for $30k less my original bid (I also stuck them with the back-taxes and all foreclosure prices). The manager of CountryWide REOs called me from California and wanted to know if I took a course in negotiating - his people couldn't believe what a hard time I was giving them - I laughed and then told him what I did for a living - he said it figures and could use an army of proper negotiators. I said the biggest trick is to NOT get emotionally involved and to KNOW when you operate from a position of strength (market conditions) - it's just business. Housing market is soft (everyone knows that) - so was the auto market - if you are a cash buyer you can squeeze as hard as you want and they will usually break.

All markets work because two people agree on price, they just don't agree on value! (one thinks it's a good sale the other thinks it's a good buy)


My wife wants a new Forester XT, but they don't make it in a stick-shift anymore and she only drives a stick! So I am not sure what we are going to do - she actually has written letters to Subaru about issuing Forester XT with a stick again. There was a Japanese only Forester STI version (stick) - but I don't know if it is easily available.


Oh well - sorry for going into a tangent - I love the Subaru - have had 3 of them now.

I will get pics when I get all my stuff together and the time to get on all snapped on.

Hey I enjoy reading a well put together opinion, especially when it's something I agree on! I bought the Legacy because I wanted something a bit bigger than a WRX, but just as fun.  BTW, my account on legacygt.com is 'planelazy'.  You can PM "m sprank' over there, he's the parts guy from Infamous Performance.  

The only type of racing I follow is WRC, and I really wish we had better coverage here in the US, but it's not as popular as NASCAR, F1, or Indy..  so there's no coverage except on BBC.  Speed doesn't even carry it, though they do cover a few Euro GT races.  I followed the SRT even before I bought my Scoob, I just couldn't afford one till a few years ago.  I'd like to buy another one, perhaps a STI sedan..  but not any time soon.

It's actually surprising the amount of work that goes into making a race WRX...   most don't build the motor, just suspension, intake, exhaust, and stripped the interior and welded braces and a roll cage.  I don't know what the weight of a stripped WRX is, but shedding close to 600 lbs of interior helps out quite a bit.  Even Ken Block's STI (before he went to Ford) was mainly stock, other than suspension, new pipes, and gutted interior.  IIRC, it was only 300 hp, which is what the EJ257 puts out.

I have tossed around the idea of selling my Legacy though and replacing it with another Legacy.  The more and more I think about it, I wish I had gotten the 5MT rather than the 5EAT...   there's a few guys on LGT.com that is trying to make their own rebuild kits to beef up the 5EAT, the other alternative is to buy a IPT transmission and valve body, both total would cost around 6 grand.  Swapping in a 5MT would cost about the same..   But that's years down the road.  

So I got a Stage II tune, and I'm already looking for more.  BNR has a few turbo's that I've been looking at..  maybe getting their 20G turbo..  pairing it up with a fuel system and FMIC, that should put me around 350 whp..  which I'd be mroe than happy with..   except for the tranny.

Anyways, I went on a tangent too LOL.  I love my Subaru, I wouldn't replace it with anything other than another Subaru.

Reviving a dead thread here but, I too am a Subi guy. I sold my '05 LGT (stage 2 mods) and bought a '11 LGT. I installed the Eibach Pro Kit, Whiteline 22mm adjustable rsb and Cobb AP. Are you guys on LegacyGT.com as well?

scooby drives for mystery inc. :p my turbo is bigger.