Bushwick

My EJ22 isn't noisy when cold. And once warm, like yours you can barely hear the injectors. The noise you are hearing at start up might be a bearing in one of the pulleys. I remember one or 2 of mine were a tad noisy when cold after getting the car. I removed the pulleys, and they had no excess play (up/down in/out) meaning the bearings weren't shot yet so they were wiped down clean. Took some clean axle grease and applied to thumb, then pressed it in between the dust shield and bearing case on the sides, while spinning the pulley so it'd spread throughout the other needles, then excess was wiped off. There's a narrow window of when bearings can be saved. Once they start getting eaten up they are goners. Anyhow, put as much grease into them as possible, and they had a slight drag while spinning and felt tighter. They all went back to quiet regardless of cold/warm, and think engine has extra 25k miles since. Will definitely replace during next timing belt change, but was able to get a little more life out of them. Dunno if it's worth risking on interference engines though. The car was a complete unknown at the time and wasn't willing to dump too much into it until it proved to be a sound investment (it proved itself

You are assuming his bushings are so far gone they even need replaced. Also, for what it's worth, you can upgrade just a bar w/o redoing bushings. My Legacy had the tiny rear bar and I swapped that out for an Outback bar and didn't touch anything else. Still got a huge improvement in the rear as it stopped "wagging" back and forth on slow turns. Car had around 175k miles and now has closer to 186k. While the trailing arm bushings have some cracking at the ends, car still handles OK with 250+ pounds of audio gear and tools taking up the hatch and back seat area.

Swaybars are a good way to get better handling. I'm on the side that likes a bigger bar in the rear. I did the rear bar on my Saab along with welding up a 4 point rear shock tower and the car can corner super hard. Actually did the rear tower brace first and it had a huge impact with how the car turned even at low speed which was surprising. The rear bar upgrade just made it even better, but all bushings elsewhere were upgraded too. If it's only a summer vehicle, can opt for a better handling tire. Can also try and find a lighter rim. A 16-17 pound each rim will help you drop unsprung weight. Lower the car about 1.5" and run some adjustable Koni struts along with what's suggested above and you'll hit corners like you were on rails. Dunno if it helps the Impreza or not, but external frame rails can help increase rigidity on unibody cars. Adding a strut tower brace will help too. Can also try running urethane bushings for the steering components to improve steering feel.

Hello and welcome. You probably should gave started your own thread since this one is rather old and you have different questions than the topic. This site is actually really good with people responding, so don't be fearful of starting a new thread thinking no one will answer. Anyways, if the rear is sagging, that's a strut issue or too much weight in the rear. I think the Outback struts might be what you want or rather the strut assembly. If it were me doing it, I'd get the assembly and buy new, higher quality struts and maybe consider aftermarket springs with with a higher spring rate in the rear if you plan on having a bunch of weight back there or plan on towing as that will hold ride height better. My rear is lower from lots of weight in the back, so I just bought those rubber blocks that wedge between the coils. Works great on Legacy springs and restored about an 1.5" of height.

I did read your post. Just because pressure plate bolts up and physically fits, doesn't answer if it's going to start slipping on him if he tromps on it more than once. Do they use the same rated pressure plate + clutch in the STi? Or is that uprated?

Don't bother running it to the battery. Instead, run your amp's 12v+ cable (better be fused) and connect it right at the alternator's charge post. I've done this on my cars for years now and it's worked better than running from the battery post. Another reason to run directly from alt charge post is you avoid having your car's electronics competing with your amplifier's 12v+. I had a Mark VIII with a custom wound alt that was bumped to 290 amp (from 130 amp stock) along with a custom ordered alt pulley to get it charging at idle, and had 120 amp being pulled from two Crossfire VR602's (60 amp each, legit 600 watt each) bridged to two 12's. Car was full power and had a compressor for air ride, etc. It never dimmed nor over overheated. Cable never got hot either. Some claim the battery acts as a buffer to spikes, but I've yet to see this be an issue and unless you want to run 1 gauge or larger, it's not worth having a big, power hungry amp competing through the extra cables. Also, not sure which car you have, but unless it's an EZ36 Tribecca, your alt is probably under 100 amp. For whatever reason, Subaru ran fairly small amperage alternators with EJ22 and EJ25, and even 3.0L engine. I found this out when I got my 95' Legacy and discovered it had like an 65? amp alt or whatever and bearings were going bad and the only thing that had a 130 was the Tribecca. Good news is the Tribecca alternator fits an EJ series engine bracket. I had to grind some of the outer casing to clear the bracket as they added a stiffening support to the casting where the bolt goes through. I just notched it back until it cleared. ALL bolts are the same location. They also added an extra rib to the pulley. Surprisingly, if you install this alternator with the extra ribbed pulley, you can ignore the very outer ribbing facing the radiator-side and run your factory belt and it'll still line up 100%, and despite having one less ribbed belt, it won't slip though you have to go a little tight and run a good gripping belt like a Gatorback Good Year with cross sectioned pattern. I've been running the Tribecca alternator on my EJ22 powered engine with the EJ22's factory serpentine (one less rib) belt for 2 years now and have a sub amplifier pulling 70 amp (two 12's and one 10 @ 2.67 ohm bridged- lots of current to do this) and a component amplifier pulling every bit of 40 amp (4 doors @ 2ohm stereo L/R with a mono'd channel @12 ohm off the bridged connection powering 4 tweeters and an MTX home stereo center channel with another tweet and two 6"). I only listen to classic rock and gains aren't crazy, but it gets played loud and am at the limit of the factory alt if night driving. Have a fused 12v+ amp cable's eyelet bolted directly to the alt's charging post and haven't any issues with fuse holder melting or cable hardening at the connector like I've seen battery connected cables do in the past when competing for current or worse melted fuse holders. I also switched to MAXI fuses and rubber holders because the plastic cylinder holders with glass fuses aren't the best for really high current draw.

It's possible an out of country Subaru with the Hi/Lo option was what he meant. There's a member from South America here that's posted a ton of pics of newer cars they get specifically that still have the option. It's possible one made it's way up here.

If his trans is shot, why do you want to swap engines? Or was that a typo?

Can he just unbolt the crossmembers with engine attached and just roll the donor's over to his and bolt that up? Would that save him some time vs. yanking the engines? Also, is the clutch for the EJ25 going to hold up OK to the extra power? What throw out bearing will he use? An EJ25's? Figured it's worth asking to help him out in advance

I've never done this swap. I have however done auto to manual swaps in other cars before and idle speed was an issue once manual was put in. If they are saying CEL issues with manual, it's probably true but I do not know for certain. If you can tolerate driving an auto, maybe consider swapping that in and putting the manual in other car. Remove clutch pedal and either have a skinny brake pedal or swap those and *presto* auto appearing pedals. Unless there's some insider trickery to get the auto-powered engine's ECM to play nice with the manual, you might need a piggy back system or stand alone ECU as no one seems to be able to reverse engineer the Subaru ECM yet. My Saab is the only thing I've reflashed (was similar enough to GM so people were able to reverse that and offer open source hard and software) and that had parameters you could alter for manual or auto. With everything electronic, it's a blessing and a curse. Hopefully someone else more intimate with these can give you a better idea of the bugs you'll be facing.

Best bet is the phone book. But be warned, the quotes you'll get will be stupid expensive. I once had a seam on a strut tower where it met the frame rail and it had rusted behind the seam filler. Talking like a 5" seam that needed welded up. Best quote was $250. Worst quote was like $500+ tax. The best quote was an actual welding place that did heavy duty stuff. Worse quote was a mechanic. Other quotes were in the $300+ range. Ended up getting an arc welder at Harbor Freight for $150, plus another $35 for an eye shield and welding sticks. Thinnest sticks were tricky as they could easily blow holes in the metal but it at least worked and I can fix metal stuff now. Ideally, you'd want to use a mig welder or possibly a tig welder for thinner stuff, and small 120v stuff can be had used for roughly $250-$350. Can get thin sheet steel in small sections at Lowes for under $10. Harbor Freight also sells an inexpensive mig welder that seems to get OK reviews and is in the same price range as the arc welder I got. Is it a Lincoln Welder? NO. But for small jobs it'll work. Can get get the gas and sticks pretty cheap, or go with gasless sticks (I'd suggest this and buy some small metal sheets and practice). I realize this probably isn't what you wanted to hear, but between you tube videos on welding and some practice on blank sheets, you can do it yourself for way less than a shop will run to do all the work you'll be needing to do. Unless you have a friend that's good at it and willing to cut you some deal, or willing to trade his welding for skill, it'll be pricey. And if you are willing to try something new, you'll be able to fix smaller things in the future or turn around and sell the unit at loss but at least be less in the hole than you started.

Hello and welcome. No need for Honda springs. Check these links for guidance: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/118610-lifting-my-97-legacy-lsi/ http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/100615-lifting-a-legacy-on-ob-struts/

You'll need donor engine harness, donor ECM, etc. Anything you touch, LABEL it If donor is an auto, need to figure out if the 2.5 flywheel will not only bolt to a 3.0 crank, but shares the same balance as a 2.5 engine, and will your clutch be adequately suited to the power level of a 3.0L or not. You'll need a throwout bearing for the 3.0L as well. If donor is complete, check if the radiator is drastically different (core thickness, shroud) including hose length and orientation compared to yours. Verify if your fans will flow enough CFM to keep radiator cool or not, otherwise take his, especially if they allow more clearance. You'll need exhaust manifolds and preferably as much of the Y section as possible. If the 3.0L has three O2 sensors (2 upstream, one down), make sure you get them with the exhaust and have the donor's section of harness for them. I know the EZ36 has a slightly different alternator and it's plug is different, so keep this in mind if he only sells you the long block w/o accessories. Amperage on donor should be same or close to your OB's alt. Might need to connect a custom connector to oil pressure switch and alt to get dummy lights in dash working. You'l need the 3.0L's motor mounts. Dunno if power steering is different between the 2 cars or not, so keep this in mind if something is drastically different with reservoir, bolting location, etc. Dunno if the extra weight from the 3.0L was a concern for a heavier duty power steering set up or not. Front might sit a tad lower and might dive more on stops or bounce more on bumps/dips in the road. I'd suggest upgrading your front brakes to accommodate the weight AND performance increase. Should snag the donor's front sway bar as well. If his rear bar diameter is thicker than your OB bar, swap that too (trust me, you don't want it screeching on 25 mph turns because the bars are too thin). And obvious stuff like his air filter box, possibly his cruise control set up unless yours can be adapted; if EVAP system is drastically different, consider swapping or wait and see if you get a CEL or not; his fuel pump will be needed too (check fuse rating for his vs. yours). Find out if both cars use the same sending unit or not as that contains the fuel level float. It might read differently, or be adjusted differently, etc. That's top of head stuff for a basic engine swap from a completely different engine to another. Haven't done this myself, but should give you an idea of what you'll be in for. Others with more knowledge can hopefully simplify or verify some short-cuts or parts that are interchangeable. GL

How old are the vacuum lines? Vacuum lines might "look" OK but if original it's a sure bet some have failed given the age. They can harden and split (you won't find the split unless you manipulate every section of hose). They can also soften up and rot in a small section or conversely dry rot. Harder to trace air leaks can occur at the actual nipple where the hose will stretch and harden like that over the years. While it looks like it's attached, in reality it's loosely sitting there. Other areas to inspect are any plastic " T " or " I " junctions, as well as any plastic nipples on sensors. They can get very brittle and snap easily while doing something else and it'll go unnoticed until engine runs rough. For $10, you can replace every piece of vacuum line. Can get it by the foot at parts store and easily do it in their parking lot. I noticed my 95' idled a little more consistently after replacing mine. Biggest thing on mine were several had hardened at the nipples and were loose. ANY tight lines on plastic nipples, I strongly suggest scoring the rubber with a razor to break the seal and the hose will just fall off. When reattaching, use a drop of WD-40 or even spit works. Otherwise you run a risk of a brittle nipple breaking while to slip a new vacuum line over it. You also might have an intake manifold leak somewhere or even your throttle body could leaking. Can try spraying around the flanges (engine cold to reduce flash fires) and see if the engine surges or not. Respraying the suspected leaky area should result in consistent surges.

Is the motor not blowing any air whatsoever? Or are you saying it won't blow hot air, and AC isn't working? If no air whatsoever, very first thing you need to check is IF the blower is even getting power to it, then go from there. On my 95' Legacy I'm pretty sure the connector to the blower is directly behind the glove box (think it's a yellow and black wire going to the connector), so imagine yours is similar. Unplug it (wherever it is) and connect a volt meter to it or very least a test light, though voltage number will be more helpful. Turn key to ON, then turn heater on to high and check for voltage at the connector. If it's getting power, then something is wrong with the blower itself. Might also want to try wiggling the connector and see if the blower starts or not. This was a known issue with my 96' Lincoln Mark VIII. Connector would get loose over time. Easy fix was bending the prongs out slightly (like how you would for an AC cord plug) and reconnect. Could also be possible something like car manual was forced into glove box and while closing it got behind it and loosened the connector. If it's not getting power at the connector, it could be wiring, the actual switch, wiring going to the switch, etc. If blower actually works but no hot air is coming from it, that could be a bad heater core, OR the adjuster for hot/cold isn't working. They use a cable on the lever that manually manipulates a diverter flapper to allow or block hot air. Those can break or the cable will come out of the flapper end or the lever end. If it has electronic climate control, it could be an issue with the button, the unit itself, or the solenoid that operates the diverter panel.

Thanks for the response. I've yet to see another Saab 9-3 (or even a 9-5 for that matter) have this issue. Even junk yard cars are devoid of this. Car is also a common Saab color too. I know what you referring to though. GM had a bunch of cars with the issue in the mid 90's, but I think my 99' was pre-GM ownership (other than being an investor in Saab). I'm thinking it occurred from using a tire shine product on the molding trim as well as the sunroof trim some time back. Would wet the tires with it, then would wet a rag with tire shine and wipe all the exterior plastic trim down to give it a "detailed" look. Seems like it might have been "blown" back onto the painted surfaces from incoming air while driving (top of bumper cover has it bad as does immediate area behind the sunroof but nowhere else) and might have interacted with the clear coat while under direct sunlight. Apparently spray on suntan lotion does a very similar thing to clear coats (clouds it) if applied directly and essentially ruins the finish. Car will need paint/prep to correct unfortunately. There are zero signs of previous body or paint work on the car, so feel pretty confident it's original.

They aren't high maintenance other than regular wear items. His car is 6 years old, so it's feasible the struts are leaking. Clutches can go 200k miles in some cars, but if you are constantly riding the clutch pedal (even resting your foot on it), dumping the clutch, or partially holding the pedal down while going into 2nd (I've heard quite a few cars pass me over the years where the driver was doing this shifting into 2nd while accelerating), etc. etc. will wear a clutch out in no time, but chances are the mechanic is finding phantoms for $$$. His rattling noise is probably a heat shield as turbo's really don't rattle. They either whine, howl, or loose boost. Only thing you HAVE to be religious with is the timing belt. But unlike your Audi where the entire front of the car and a motor mount (if a 4cyl) needs removed to get at it, Subaru engines you just unbolt the timing cover plus removes fans for extra wrenching room. It's recommended to replace idlers + tensioner, though unsure if that's 100% necessary at 60k miles or not. Regardless, the belt + pulleys are not expensive. If you run full synthetic (this should be a must on turbo'd engines as the oil is subjected to more heat and breaks down quicker) oil and aren't racing the car, the turbo should last quite a while. On semis, turbos can go 500k+ miles and are hitting 25-30+ psi constantly, though those engines rarely go past 3k rpms. In a car, if you keep RPM sane, it can last longer, though it greatly depends on how rugged the turbo is to begin with. But even weak thrust collar units like journal bearing GT2554 Garretts can hit 170k.

Is there a fuse in FWD fuse holder under the hood? It should be up near the passenger strut near firewall. Or is the holder missing and there's a taped together wire? I'm wondering if the PO might have forced FWD before selling it. They might have even pulled the FWD bulb out of dash cluster. Also, have you bothered checking the trans fluid yet? Is it dark and smells? Is it at the proper line on the stick with engine running and warmed up?

Is the doughnut spare same height as your tires? Pull spare out and set it next to an inflated tire. Same size height? If so, you can drive on it until you get it fixed. If car is auto and has a FWD fuse holder (dunno if newer cars have one or not) to force FWD, then do that so the rear isn't seeing power.

Turbos should last 150k-200k miles IF you drive the car normally and change oil at normal intervals. When turbos do let go, it's typically a worn thrust collar that wears and lets the shaft move. This can be followed with turbo bearing failure. By the time that occurs, you'll be seeing a giant plume of coolant smoke out the tail pipe. If the impeller isn't touching the wall of compressor housing and lateral loads are minimal, it's probably not bad. To be honest, it sounds like your mechanic is overly zealous with hitting you for expensive repairs you probably don't need. Brakes + mountains = wear. Riding the clutch or improper clutch control = wear Struts fail. Take it to a dealership and ask them to just do an inspection. Make NO mention of anything other mechanics stated. Just ask for them to look it over. If you must, lie and say you are selling it, trading it in, gifting to a child, etc. I think the response you'll get will be most likely honest from them vs. you saying "I think turbo's bad" then they try and hit you with a turbo repair. Places with quotas or unscrupulous workers can and will do needless repairs to make $$$$

Go to tirerack.com and type in your make/model/year and glance at their rim selections. 16" to 17" rims should make the car look nicer. 18" might be too big. They have a TON of rims available and their major distribution hub is near Indianapolis (can't remember if they offer free shipping or not but if not it's actually close enough to you to maybe pick up on a weekend). I paid through the nose to ship some desirable BBS rims from a private seller in CA to OH for my Saab that needed refinished. Someone mentioned tirerack for tires, so went there to look at their tire selection and found out they sold high-end rims at low to middle-end prices. Was kinda irked as I would have just bought a new set and been done with it had I known how affordable their selection was. Even better, is they list the actual weight of their rims so if you are worried about too much unsprung weight, you can narrow the selection down to 16-17 pound rims in 17". If you ignore weight, you might end up getting 27-32 pound rims, which when totaled up can be 40-60 MORE weight on the car which will actually hurt everything from braking to handling to acceleration, and being unsprung weight you just don't want that. From there, you might want to look at JDM extras like a hood, tail lights, front bumper cover, grill, ground effects, better seats, door panels, etc.

Downstream O2 code = http://www.obd-codes.com/p0136 You live in PA, right? Might just want to take the car somewhere (really hard to trace stuff you are better off going to the dealer and paying a few $$ more as they'll correctly diagnose it) and have it looked over and be done with it. If the EVAP system is offline or not communicating with a reader, it won't pass PA's inspection. I ran into an issue on my previous Lincoln Mark VIII and my Saab 9-3 (both are OBD II) with readers not being able to communicate (i.e. scanner would say not ready). What was happening was I'd take a car to auto parts store, ask them to pull codes, they'd connect the reader, pull codes, all was fine. Months later would get another scan, only this time they couldn't get scanner to communicate. Out of pure frustration at the time (I knew no one else had touched the car) I removed the screws holding the OBD II port so it could hang and I wouldn't be on my back with head on foot area looking up, I discovered one of the crimps for the pins in the OBD II connector had backed out by like 1/16". Pressed back in, took back for code pulling, and still no connection. Asked the guy to leave it connected and let me in the car. Checked once more and lo and behold the stupid pin backed out again. With his scanner still attached, I pushed the pin crimping back in from behind and told him to try again. This time the scanner worked. That was on my Lincoln. Several years later same thing happened to the Saab. My best guess is the auto store guys are pushing the connector in at an angle, and the OBD II port on the cars are somewhat fragile and bending the barbs on the pin(s). Anyways, you can have one or more of these pins backing out and the scanner won't make contact with it. My advice is unscrew the OBD II port and let it hang so you can clearly see where the crimp meets the actual wires. Use that junction of where the rubber meets the metal as a visual guideline of how far a pin might be backed out. Backing out even a fraction can interrupt the code puller from reading anything. If it's a major power wire, the code puller won't detect anything. If EVAP is it's own dedicated wire and backed out, it might be possible to still scan the rest of the system but hang up on EVAP. Takes about 5 minutes to rule out. If the entire pin backs out, inspect the barbs/spring clip to see if they are either broken, or just bent. If broken, maybe go to a yard and carefully try and back out a good pin, and solder the wire in. A hot glue gun might work too, but be 100% positive it's fully pressed in before committing. Wouldn't use crazy glue gel as the fumes might coat the pin rendering it useless or worse prevent a scanner from attaching again.

Subaru wasn't performance oriented with these, so the last part of your statement doesn't hold water. Even on "performance" oriented cars, they still make the exhaust very quiet, shifting is smooth, use vibration dampening motor mounts, purposely add lag to turbos, cars sit high enough to accept tire chains, etc. etc. as they have to appease a larger audience vs. a select few, not to mention they have rather stringent Federal guidelines with cold start emissions and cold start drivability. Having a cold air-only intake actually presents some draw backs as it can affect AF ratios and affects warm up time. Another issue is NOISE. While most warm-blooded guys like the sound of a throttle wide open, a little old lady will say the sound scares her, a realtor trying to talk on a cell phone might not like the distraction either. A perfect example of a car that actually favors the select few would be something like a Viper, where it's a pure performance machine that forgoes niceties like a quiet cabin, spongy handling, and dead silent exhaust in favor of just being an all-out A to B machine. @ahhsit These engines have mass air flow, so they should respond to a freer flowing exhaust and a cold air set up. The factory intake piping, especially if it's still plumbed into the fender, is restrictive. All those goofy contours are designed with keeping a throaty intake silent. If you want to see if any gains can be had, modify the air filter box (get one at a junk yard and hack that one up instead) and cut out the bottom of the box while leaving any structural supports alone. Basically you'll want the filter to have the straightest shot at pulling incoming air in w/o having to go through odd shaped piping. Install a new air filter that doesn't have the metal screen impregnated into it as that's actually a restriction. Try and not leave any sharp edges on the cuts to plastic box as that can create unwanted whistling. Get car warm and time some 0-60 runs (on ramps to highway are nice legal areas to do this just not in rush hour traffic) making an effort to run premium fuel and not change anything else or add/remove weight. If you only run 87, start running 93 and give the engine time to readjust to it. Since gas is dead weight, only add 1/3 to 1/2 a tank. Make 3-5 runs doing a 0-60 and write each time down (I think there are phone apps that make this easier) then average it out. Install a modified box with a large opening so the filter gets a straight shot of incoming air, and repeat the 3-5 0-60 runs. Be sure to shift correctly and stay off the limiter as that'll slow you down. Compare the averages. I suspect that you might end up with a 1/10th improvement. Next, install a lighter muffler. I'm a fan of Summit Racing's Turbo Muffler, as they give a rather subdued sound note and weigh under 5 pounds. Their welded steel versions are completely different and obnoxious. Thrush's Turbo Muffler is basically the same as the quieter Summit muffler. Try and get a larger outlet i.e. if inlet side is 1 7/8" then make outlet 2 1/4" or 2 1/2" if possible, or get dual 2" outlets. Install it and run a straight pipe to replace the resonator. Try 3-5 more runs and average that out. See any difference yet? Now remove anything that's just adding dead weight like the spare and jack, sub boxes, tools, etc. You might not think 40 pounds of dead weight in the rear adds up to much, but if you are familiar with how the car runs/pulls, handles, and brakes, you'll notice the car will feel a tad quicker vs. when you started. Your 0-60 times should be at least a couple tenths quicker. Engines with lower torque output are easily affected negatively by weight. And a 3100 pound car is a greater strain to move than a 3050 pound car. Granted you won't shave a second off your 1/4 mile with what's mentioned above, but it WILL teach you some important lessons on how to actually make a car quicker that can follow you with future cars as it can be applied to almost anything. Also, I suggest a fresh set of NGK plugs and wires, plus a fresh fuel filter and fresh synthetic oil. Doing all that should return better MPG + a tad quicker daily driver.

It was really hard to listen to as the recording was lagging really bad and cutting in and out, but it almost sounds like something loose rubbing on the teeth to the flywheel that engage the starter, or a loose starter. Did you use your starter or the donors starter? Are you positive the clutch is OK? Did you hear the engine run before you bought it? If it wasn't make noise in the donor vehicle, but is making that now, it would have to be something on your end. EDIT: I paused the more recent video and let it buffer a bit and it played better. Definitely sounds like something rubbing on the flywheel teeth, especially as you revved it. Get a look at the flywheel teeth and see if they have shiny wear marks now on the edges. Look for metal shavings too. Verify the starters were interchangeable. Does Subaru use a different starter between auto and manuals? Is there a metal access panel that's removable on the trans? I know GM had one on some of their RWD trans and it was possible to get noise from that if loose and dented, etc. Given the orientation of a boxer engine, they transmit noise differently compared to an inline, so flywheel noise could emanate through the engine easier. I can hear the rubbing and zinging sound on my large stereo attached to the PC.

^ A cold air intake can create more HP in some cars providing the exhaust has a freer flowing mufflers to compliment it. It really boils down to how restrictive the factory box is though. You'd be better off making something yourself as it'll either be "free" or under $35. Want to buy one and you'll get fleeced with a 5hp increased (at redline) for $150+ which isn't worth it. You'd be better off pulling the back seats out and/or pulling the 35 pound spare tire out with the 5 pound jack. Factory mufflers are heavy too (roughly another 35 pounds) plus another 10 pounds for a resonator. Pull that 80 pounds out (spare tire, jack, factory muffler, resonator) while sticking a light weight muffler on with dual outs and you'll see a bigger performance jump than any cold air set up could ever offer. Back seats aren't heavy, but figure another 20 pounds and you'll be close to 100 pounds lighter. Versus another identical car w/o the weight cutting, you'll be faster unless you weigh over a 100 pounds more than the other driver. If you have heavy sub woofer boxes, they'll slow you down too along with increased braking effort and worse handling. Light weight = faster.