Virrdog

Premium gets you no extra power unless you have a serious compression problem setting your knock sensor off on a regular basis (or the car actually requires premium). Whenever your tranny was rebuilt they put in different stuff. The TCU reacts differently since whatever they put in is not to the same specs. End of story. But it works. Try not slamming the gas down doing m@d dr!ft*$ all the time in the snow and you will be fine.

You can increase the flow into and out of the engine and/or increase compression. Ported intake stuff, cams, valves, properly selected exhaust etc... will get you the flow. Different pistons, headgaskets and/or heads will get you the compression increase. You might try a 2.5 crank for more stroke and displacement... And in the end you wind up with about stock turbo engine power.

I know your pain! It seems there is always something that needs to be done that takes time before going to a road course. And having stuff falling off is not only inconvenient but could be a little dangerous at 100+ Hopefully you'll have some mudding pics to post!

Wow, a lot of "interesting" comments going on in this thread. First of all, I don't see where anyone will be forced to buy or drive this car. Why gripe?? You see so many Geo Metros here on the road for a reason. There are a lot of people that love fuel economy (over most anything else). And for those that don't understand what makes a car more fuel efficient... WOT is part of the key as has been pointed out. This reduces pumping losses on the engine. This doesn't work for fuel economy on a turbocharged car because the ECU starts dumping fuel at WOT. Horsepower is almost directly related to the amount of gas used. So I will simply it by saying "104 hp worth of gas" and so on. This impreza will never use more than 104 hp worth of gas, even at WOT going up a hill. Whereas a 2.2 Legacy can make more than 104 hp at partial throttle, eating up more gas with less efficiency. This is also why my turbo Legacy will never get good gas mileage. Cruising around and starting up a big hill I don't even have to change gas pedal position and the turbo will spool... pumping more air, and using 160 hp worth of gas (plus some because its turbo). Nice for effortless driving, but hard on the tank. And some people completely forget about this little thing called horsepower/weight ratio. Your motorcycle only has 65 hp! It must be sooo slow! And it is so dangerous when I get into my ~100 hp GL and promptly do 80 mph on the freeway. Yeah, I can see your point, anything with less than 120 hp should be banned from public roads... Mid 80's tanks like the Oldsmobile Delta 88 had less than 100 hp yet everyone seemed to survive. Weird.

Just like any mechanic you avoid the bad ones. No one is saying to go to bad dealership mechanic. No one is saying to go to the dealer. Its just some people do, and they have valid reasons to do so.

I think we can say its a given on the GL SPFI's that this will help...

Or worse yet, you could have clogged one of the coolant passages inside of the engine block.

That comes to 29.8 mpg... . The Impreza EJ18 over here gets better gas mileage than that...

I fit a set of school lockers in the back of mine. I also have moved twice with it. Only a couple of trips with a wagon.

Dude, can't you see that just maybe somewhere/someplace in some nearby galaxy that there are people who can't find a reputable mechanic they trust to work on their subaru? Seriously. Yeah, the equipment part is the most frustrating, too. Trying to work on that... air tools --> $$$

Do you have a boost gauge? 2k rpm and a steep grade should create plenty of load for the engine to make boost. My turbo Legacy can make boost around 2k rpm with its tiny turbo and a 3" turboback so I am sure that whatever teeny-tiny turbo they put on the EA82t should be making boost even at those rpm's.

Calm down young Padawan. Some people do not have the time, skills, tools, or oppurtunity to work on their car (try having 4 kids and see how your priorities change). Along the same lines, some people cannot afford to get screwed and have their car done wrong at some hill-billy muffler shop. So the safest bet for them to have their car done right is to take it to a Subaru specific shop that resides with the Dealer. That said, I do all my own stuff. But you have to understand why some people can't or won't.

The BBS is only for 89-94 BC/BF Legacy's. Very rare chance of finding someone that intimately knows the rattle in a 2005 Legacy. Nasioc has lots of newer Subaru owners, thus the suggestion (I'm not familiar with late model Legacy forums, I don't have one).

If you search on http://www.nasioc.com you will probably find multiple fixes relatively quickly.

Think all you want. Now go to your local Subaru dealer and see how much they quote you to do all of that work. I also think shop numbers are really high and I lose touch with reality since I rarely go to them. But they are that high for that much labor nonetheless.

You can get quite a bit of fade resistance with brake compound and air ducts to the rotors. After you get to that point, then you need to look at the larger heat-sinking capabilities of a larger rotor.

The equipment to actually measure whether the bulbs are better is very rare and very expensive. With that said you can cannot objectively say they are better. If you LIKE them, then go for it. But anyone that really knows about lights (ex: beyond their own personal experience) will tell you that blue bulbs are not better, despite what our brains tell us otherwise. :cool:

That would indicate the system has lost pressure (lower boiling temp). Have a Subaru familiar shop look at it. They should be able to find the leak in a minute or two just by looking at it.

If the strut lost all of its oil (like mine has) it can start to make a light knocking noise when the strut is forced to move from its static position. Mine makes noise over light bumps where it moves above & below its static position quickly. This was explained to me by a mechanic that checked the car over for me. The strut is definitely gone (all leaky) and he test drove the car and said the noise fit the description. Just a thought.

Wow, great find at an excellent price! I sold my Brat 3 years ago for almost that amount with a broken torsion bar.

Aftermarket Vs. OEM Any questions?

Back when I had my Brat it was doing around 100 when the speedo said 80+... combination of larger tires and speedo sticking at those speeds. One day I opened it up and the speedo stuck around 85 and then sweeped down past 6 o'clock! Yeah, downhill also. But it was more fun following a BMW 760li in my Sport Sedan as he bounced off HIS limiter.

Next time you see steam, open the hood and see where it is coming from. You might have a coolant leak on the line going to the turbo or somewhere else where its dropping it on a part of the exhaust.

That little thing will NOT flicker your lights. No worries.

Is your entire braking system in tip-top shape? A well functioning brake system is usually more than adequate. I would say get some stainless lines to replace the rubber ones and get some good brake fluid in there. With some OEM rotors and good front pads (Hawk, etc...) I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. But if you want to get all disc brakes and larger front rotors just because, then go for it.