Heylin

2004 GT-B Sedan (BL5), VF38 Single Twinscroll

Our BH Legacy Sedan had 164,000 kms on it when we sold it (we owned for 100,000 kms). Had a full 3" Blitz Nurspec system. Turbos were 100% Mabey we were lucky, or mabey it was the oil changes (Valvoline VR1 + PromaMBl8 every 10,000 kms) Id be more worried about the tiptronic gear boxes which are known to have shifting issues as the valve seals go in them (even with stringent maintainence).

That a strange result. I have way more down low torque and more power through out the rev range. Increase in power was instantly noticeable. Talk to Subtech about it if you are concerned but you shouldn't have less power. Just doesn't make sense. Apprently smoother power can feel iike less, tuning should get me the noticable gain I seek. I quite like the turbo sound and the noise the exhaust and wastegate makes going into the pipe, almost has a ball bearing turbo type sound to it now. Getting my AdrenalinR resonator fitted tomorrow, hopefully takes out some of the hollow sound and deepens the tone a little, pending that I'll get some new cans on the back to complete the sound.

I was reluctant at first based on your review, but after picking up from Subtech its not to bad, under normal accleration it sounds like stock inside. In fact I wanted quiet and non raspy and to be honest I could live with it as is now, could even be a bit louder for my liking as its to close to stock.

Yeah definately on the cards asap, it actually feels less torquey, but I wonder if it due to it being distributed more evenly ? so although not as punchy its smoother and seems like less power. ???

Pipe installed today and drove back from Auckland, didnt really wow me as much as I thought it would, sound isnt to bad, and feel a bit freer in terms of throttle response but feels like less torque and power ???. Do the ECUs need to remap themselves to account for the extra flow ? Mabey its just me I doubt it would result in a performance decrease would it.

Had a Blitz Nurspec system 3", mabey increased flow = more power = more fuel.

youll need a cert for anything that puts the car over 20% stock power. Unsure about auto limits, but alot of the USA guys seems to go stage 2 for years with no auto problems. Ive been down the same road as you with my MR2, wanting more and more, unless you plan to drag the car or use it for racing, 200-220 rwkw on the street is a good limit to aim for. Go stage 2, get a good tune, spend the savings on suspension upgrades, get good brake pads.

Lowering on Bilstein B6 they state 30mm max, 50mm seems a bit excessive on stock, and may end up blowing out a shock, then youve also got to factor in the effect on bump steer. 30mm is about right for lowering on factory shocks, even bilis. Front mounts pointless on stock setup, not to mention the amount of lag you'd be introducing courtesy of all the extra pipe volume for the turbo to fill. If it were me id sort out the servicing first, make sure all the fluids are replaced with quality stuff, new filters, give the paintwork a professional buff and polish, youll be amazed at what factory new looking paint can do to looks fo the car. Then if you have some $$ left mabey look at other nice things. Whats your budget ? is it a daily, long term project or just a passing fancy ?.

Our 1999 Legacy B4 used 13-14L per 100 km open road and 16-17L per 100 kms around town. Bit on the thirsty side compared to say a Turbo charged MR2 or Celica GT4, but then again they weigh about 1400kg vs 1200-1300 for the MR2\Celica. Not to mention most Japanese turbo cars run rich from factory to prevent leaning out under boost, and factory acel enrich is also on the high side to prevent stumbling on fast throttle changes. Great thing about after market ECUs and reflashing is you can dial back alot of these settings to gain some extra power and \ or economy, although most people opt for the power at the expense of those economy gains.

Talked to a Subaru tech today, more out of interested on their side of the story, and their take on it is that it was added to filter out fine aluminium particles present in fresh engine at time of manufacture, and as we know was never indicated as a service item or to remove. One would think the oil filter would be doing the job of stopping large particle reaching the turbo ??.

Getting my subtech pipe fitted to the 2004 GT-B this week and wanting to get onto of the shitty raspy noise its going to make. Ive already got an uber high quality resonator from Adrenalin R 350mm body. Seeking some info on the factory resonator in the midpipe Im looking at a) moving it down stream about 30cm and running an AdrenalinR 350mm resonator behind it just after the donut join. b) ditching it and replacing with the AdrenalinR 350mm resonator only. I dont want to cut my subtech pipe at all. Keeping the stock mufflers for now, but depending on how shitty sounding it is may replace those with adrenalinR stuff and have a new 2.5" Y pipe mated upto the midpipe. Questions 1) Is the factory resonator effective enough to bother leaving in the system ? 2) Has anyone disected it to see what its like inside, baffle material ? etc etc 3) should I buy a second resonator and run 2 in place of factory 4) bite bullet and do the rear mufflers ?

What sort of roads ? just regular ? alot of road works ?, how bad are the chips and could they be touched up easy ?

Didnt spot that last one So ditch it you say ? Im picking provided I run good oil, good filter, change it regularly and do proper warm up warm down s after hard driving it will be fine ? I recall my old CT26 turbo ran for 185,000 kms with no issues, and Toyota never ran any additional filters, hell I even used Ryco filters for the 100,000 kms I owned the car. Anyything wrong using Ryco with Subies ?

Yeah I said to my mechanic thats what id rather do, but he advised against that, so many different opinions 1) new filter 2) clean filter 3) ditch filter So come on guys what is it ? or at least the pros and cons of each option. Subaru service bulletin says it ok to clean, vorigan are you saying that cleaning in solvent and blowing out with air will damage the mesh ?

$80-100 per Wheel at Cambridge Powder Works, they media blast the wheel, remove any minor curbing and do 2 coats of powder. Ive seen some dulux samples and wasnt really happy with any of their metallics. Looking for quite a specific colour to match the front grille and level of window tint LOL im so fussy, but im aiming to create a stockish looking GT sleeper, so everything I do has to blend in well with the factory colour and rest of the car.

All sorted, $270 all up if I prep them, any standard 2K colour, colour+ clear. Apprently 2K is fine unless I plan to race it on Gravel, and has the benefit of being easy to touch up if curbed. Definately cant wait to get new tyres fitted and do this.

Called Subaru, $58+gst, I thought Toyota bolts were expensive ... Anyway guy said I can get away with cleaning the filter, and it only needs to be done on fresh imports, or cars with unknown service history. ie do once, use quality oil and filters, proper warm up and warm downs and it should not be a future issue. I may add it to the service regime and check it every 2nd oil change ie every 16,000.

Alot of the US guys get regular banjos fitted and ditch the stock one which has the filter in it. Unsure if 2.0L JDMs have them though.

Anyone know if the JDM Legacy's (2004 GTB) have these in their oil lines ? or is this something on the USDM 2.5L models ? Wanting to look after my VF38 and apprently this is classed as service item at each oil change, pretty slack of Subaru if it is, since it takes 1 hour labour just to get to the bloody thing. You would think they would do an in-line filter somewhere accessible if they felt the turbo needed a seperate fitler. CT26 & CT20b turbos last 180,000 kms easy and dont have any fancy mesh filters, yet you hear of VF38 dying in the USA all the time due to oil starvation and this little mesh filter.

Looking at one of the following 2 options to change colour of factory 18"s to a dark gun metal grey, when they are due for new tyres. - Powder Coating - $550, inc removal, fit and balance - 2K Paint - ???? anyone know price ????? Anyone done this and which option do you think is better ?, im thinking although 2K isnt as durable, it offers wider colour choice in metallics, is more metallic looking, extra paint for coluor match. Unless im curbing the mags, is 2K going to be resistant enough ? ive had shadowchrome wheels before and they didnt seem to chip much at all, had them 4 years and 40,000 kms.

So based on that should I be sticking with stock setup ? is it detrimental to turbo life to some mild exhaust freeing up and a reflash ?

not a good turbo for reliability sake Cars got 63,000 kms, provided I can get to 100,000 when we plan to sell it then all good, im pretty good with changin oil regularly and also use PROMA MBL8 friction modifier. Perhaps the issue is these cars dont have turbo timers ? I always thought the VF38 was a high tech peice of kit for a factory turbo.

Anyone know what the little unit between the Y and the downpipe is ? is that a factory resonator or another cat ? Whats the deal if I run the sub tech pipe and replace that with a custom 350mm high flow resonator ? Or should I be keeping that unit there and putting the resontor in between that and the down pipe ?.

Castrol Multitrax is what they use from Factory for the diffs and manual gearbox as far as I know from what ive researched. Ive got a 2004 GT (Tiptronic) and recently serviced the diffs at Winger in Hamilton, doesnt cost much and figured OEM \ Castrol stuff was fine. Other options for diff include Redline and Royal Purple fully synthetic fluids. For the auto transmission I just used Valvoline DexIII For manual transmission Redline Lightweight Shockproof or Castrol Snytrax seems to be the go with good reviews on shifting performance.