I love the power mirrors and the limited interior, you are crazy thorough (car seems dust-less too)

Remind me to buy this off of you once you're done with it

Thanks so much for the kind words.

As alluded to above, the power level of the car was absolutely sufficient with the the basic setup (TBE, EBCS) and a protune. Good thing that hasn't stopped anyone before.

Asked my tuner what hypothetical next steps to take, thinking there would be many small, incremental things to do.

This is what he said: spend money on a few big things that actually make power, rather than on many small things with little to no gains. Buy a turbo that can support between 300-350 wheel hp and tq (ideally new), get an STI TMIC, possibly injectors, and STOP. That's the sweet spot for street driven GD/GGs. Don't waste time and money on other things that have minimal/no gains.

While the internet yells about lots of things, the word of the guy who actually dynos cars and knows what makes power made a very convincing case. The brilliant simplicity of this plan lodged in the back of my mind and rattled around in the vast emptiness in there.

Perusing the local and national Subaru classifieds on nasioc/fb there are any number of BNIB parts people buy before realizing their cars are actually broken POS, they NEED MOAR POWAR, or they'd rather lose some money right away in a controlled setting, rather than doing so in spectacular fashion later...but somehow bought performance parts before realizing this. Opportunities abound!

Some logical reliability mods made sense to do at the same time.

The parts:



The Blouch 18G-XT-R 10cm^2 hotside is a bit of an oddball, having a Garett ball bearing CHRA it's more like a "Dom 1.0" (43 lb/min) than a conventional 18G. It has the same compressor dimensions as an 18G, but same turbine dimensions as a Dom 1.5. At its MSRP the cost is hard to justify vs. just getting a 1.5, but picked up second hand BNIB for the price of a new 18G-XT it seemed worth a try.



The fitment of the turbo isn't great (apparently the case for many aftermarket turbos), but with some convincing things could be put together.



ID1000s work better than OEM ones according to my tuner. Pricey at list, but again available brand new second hand more reasonably.

A Grimmspeed splitter to fit the Aero scoop (same one that fits stock bugeye scoop), a silicon elbow to get the STI TMIC fit, and a PTP turbo blanket rounded out the performance parts.

The factory oil pickup on all EJ25s is a known failure point, potentially leading to catastrophic oil starvation. Mine turned out to be in fine shape, but it's good having peace of mind knowing it's been replaced with a superior aftermarket part (Killer B). Since it requires jacking up the motor to install it can be also be found brand new second hand from people who've decided it's not worth the trouble.



On a stock motor an AOS is not essential, but with increasing boost levels and the attendant blow-by it made my short list of parts. The IAG AOS is beautiful, and seems to be the best offering currently. Pricey for what it is, Black Friday discount helping slightly.

From the ample service record history of my car a previous owner had spent $1200 2 years ago replacing the always failing secondary air pump system (sadly found on all 06+ cars). Deleting the whole system and installing KSTech block off plates is much easier with the turbo out. 10 pounds of weight savings and avoiding certain failure in the future makes it worth the hassle.

All installed in a marathon 12 hour day, the final bay (having debadged the STI TMIC for additional stealthiness) is relatively stock appearing--since most of it is.



On the dyno the next day, the car ran extremely well. The final peak numbers were roughly 340/320 wheel hp/tq. But the area under the curve tells the story.





The final package is incredible, the car feels completely different in an amazing way. It no longer jumps like it did with the old turbo getting all excited and climaxing early, then rolling over and falling asleep when you ask it for more. Once it gets going now it doesn't stop until you've decided you're in deep enough trouble. This is made clear by comparison to the previous protune on the stock TD04:



While more torque was absolutely possible, we decided to keep things fairly conservative (especially with timing) to not overwhelm the stock drivetrain. The results far exceeded my expectations, since the characteristics of this turbo were somewhat unknown to both me and my tuner--and we were both pleasantly surprised.

The thought of upgrading the turbo always seemed far too extreme an option for someone of modest goals and means like myself, but in terms of bang for buck, there's really no better engine upgrade one can do for this car in my opinion (along with the proper supporting mods). The importance of talking with a tuner early on and figuring out a clear plan for parts and goals can't be stressed enough.

The suspension mods already on the car make it very stable at speed. What's missing now are better tires, possibly better brakes (pending results from tires)--and the all important driver mod.

The reliability mods for ensuring oil gets to and stays where it's supposed to be, more than anything else, are for peace of mind if (when) things break. This ensures the inevitable failure(s) can't be blamed on not trying to do everything right, but rather the wrath of the malevolent Subaru gods who love a good saab story.

Looking forward to enjoying the ride while it lasts, hopefully quite a while

Last edited by countriccati (2018-12-28 21:01:48)

Nice job with the upgrades  something I always wanted to do when I had my car.

Thanks again for the kind words, genuinely appreciate it

hammyt wrote:

Damn, you should have taken the repainting opportunity to go with a different color.  Other than that, well done sir, love it. 

The thought of doing a color change crossed my mind, but PSM is a favorite of mine, and isn't a bad color choice for a sleeper (the 06 9-2x is the only car after 05 that was available in PSM since FHI changed to CGM/SGM afaik). Not having any other preferable choice in mind, along with probably needing to shell out double what the insurance was covering to do it properly, and dealing with some hurdles they might throw about doing it, just didn't seem to make sense right now.

The caveat is my winter setup of V7 goldies (shown in pic above) clash with it, have them dipped black for whenever winter actually arrives in MA...not to complain here

sohlman wrote:

That's exactly what I want to do in a few years once I have a motorcycle to fall back on as a daily driver. Really great job with the car 

Thanks so much. Following the thread of your beautiful car was a big part of what convinced me it was worth searching for an 06 5MT.

The way my tuner put it to me was that these cars break whether you modify them or not. It's sad but true, which you know all too well, unfortunately

His argument was a bigger turbo actually puts less strain on the motor for a given power level, and the TD04 is a real mismatch for the EJ255. My original reason for even getting a protune in the first place, rather than an OTS deal or cooking up something myself like on my bugeye, was to get maximum reliability, not power. He convinced me that this path, for me, wouldn't compromise that goal. We'll see.

Living in the city makes even owning a car tough, but one of the few benefits is that this is my daily driver:



Even have studded winter tires for it. The body shop that fixed my car and specializes in vintage Porsches was pretty amused when grabbing this out of the car was my answer to alternate transportation.

Last edited by countriccati (2017-07-09 16:17:41)

myzislow wrote:

Awesome job with the car thus far With that curve and power level I can only imagine how fun it is to drive. Gives me hope that my stock drive train will be up to the task once I throw a dom 1.5xtr on. Hoping for similar numbers as you on a conservative 91 tune.

How many miles are on your clutch?

Thanks Yeah, it's a total blast. Since launching or anything too intense isn't part of my program the most shock load really comes on lift-off now, so hopefully the stock trans holds up for a bit.

The dom 1.5 is my tuner's default choice for hitting 350 or so on 93, says it will have nearly identical response to what mine has...but just keep going He's a fan of going 10cm^2 hotside, thinks choking up a turbo for little better spool isn't worth it.

Clutch is original to car afaik, ~99.5k. We'll see how long it lasts Considering getting an ACT HDSS down the road, but will cross that bridge when the turbo. kicks. in.

sohlman wrote:

Thanks for the compliment, your car has definitely surpassed mine. Hope your setup lasts you many miles!

That's my hope too!

All of us who've hitched our loyalty to these wagons inspire each other, imho, enjoying the highs and sympathizing with the lows.

For me, there's not another car on the road that makes me envious, in any price range. Our cars are such a great combination of practicality and fun when dialed in right.

Looking forward to seeing the progress with getting your motor situation sorted, along with everyone else's builds, big and small...and trying to keep myself out of too much trouble

deliverator wrote:

Very nice. I particularly dig the debadged sti tmic. 

Thanks. The paint was starting to flake on it, so with the carb cleaner purchased to clean out the oil inside decided to remove it completely.

Debated trying to paint it black, from some digging it seems that unless you use a specialized thermal dispersant TLTD coating (what Grimmspeed uses) would actually harm efficiency.

SZIG17 wrote:

So where are you going to place the "SAABARU" trim on the car? I saw you lay it out but I don't think I saw a pic of it applied

Nowhere Just laid it out, took a picture, and called it a day. Unless you remove and fill in the Saab emblem on the trunk there's really no good place for it...plus my personal preference is fewer badges on things anyway.

mhaggin wrote:

Where did you buy your interior?

Someone local had the front seats, the rears and door cards were from an 06 limited wagon part-out in OR and shipped over (excluding the front seats they're pretty light so shipping wasn't crazy).

Most of the ebay part-out stores have facebook pages where they list what new cars have come in before they get disassembled and everything listed, one of them happened to cross-post on one of my subscriptions on a large subaru parts fb group.

As an aside, speaking with someone on the phone at one of these places goes a long way to demonstrating your interest in actually buying vs. just wasting their time, so if something does pop up don't be shy.

Zee Biker wrote:

Well thought out build. Kudos! The interior might be my favorite part, and I am very much a performance oriented individual.

I'll be following along with your progress.

Thank you!

The interior was honestly the hardest part to decide on. Having tried JDM seats that really hug you better the choice was difficult, but ultimately giving up both side-airbags and heated seats didn't seem worth it for a daily driver.

The idea of buying pricey/rare GD/GG JDM seats in good condition and then completely disassembling them to install heaters and airbags which may or may not work (like here) just didn't seem to hold much appeal. The same issue worried me about JDM Recaro seats with side airbags offered on the GR STi: in addition to requiring a rail swap and install heaters, the airbags from a different platform might not function as designed, defeating the whole purpose. Alcantara and STi blue was very unappealing to me as well.

Since the SRS system changed between 02-05 and 06, the 04-05 black cloth wrx seats would require modification to work properly for me, as would bugeye seats, which are actually the best bolstered USDM seats with side airbags. Not to mention issues with door cards.

Seat heaters in the non-TR 06-07 wrx cloth seats were only ever offered in Canada, and finding decent condition non-heated seats proved challenging.

This left the 06 limited leather as the best choice for simplicity, practicality, and aesthetics by process of elimination.

Overall the seats look and feel great and have enough bolstering for my purposes. Listening to the car in chilly weather with the windows down and seat heaters on makes them oh so worth it.