GravelBen

Guess I'll check those again in the morning then!

Further testing: Wiggled and poked a few things, tightened hose clamps, unplugged and replugged AFM. Took it for a squirt and it was back to full beans at first, but following that one out of every ~3 or 4 'exercises' seems to reproduce the symptoms. The inconsistency makes me inclined to think you're right about AFM, though it could possibly just be one of its wires or connections? Car often spends plenty of time on gravel for things to get shaken around.

Black plugs just give constant flashing so no codes I guess.

Interesting, had a MAF go on old BG5 TSR with completely different symptoms but I guess they can be strange things at times. Is there a way to check fault codes on the denso ECU? I heard the old black plug technique is only for the older ones.

So after 1.5 years trouble free the GTB (standard 2002 Rev-D E-tune, manual) seems to have started misbehaving this weekend. Basic symptoms for diagnosis: Secondary turbo doesn't seem to be doing much at all - you can't feel it kick in until ~5500 rpm (after huuuge vod when its usually vod-free) and when it does its much weaker than usual. Primary turbo still seems to be boosting but feels a bit laggy, much less responsive than usual. Net result = bugger all torque and feels really flat above ~4k rpm. In other words, no fun. I did fill it with 95 recently (no 98), had been just pottering round town and cruising open road for half tank then a quick squirt passing was when I first noticed it felt flat. Back to 98 in it now tho and no change, it really feels like a boost problem rather than retarded timing. Had a quick look for loose vacuum hoses etc but couldn't see anything obvious. Actuator on secondary is quite oily so possibly gunged up? Otherwise not really sure where to look first, I obviously don't know the sequential system well enough! Any ideas or suggestions for things to check? PS if anyone tells me to go single they get a virtual slap around the ear, I like the twins!

Mine doesn't cut out an an indicated 180 [arbitrary units only on a racetrack occifer], but does cut out at an indicated ~195ish (estimated, well off the clock). Which may just be speedo overread, so if you didn't go far above an indicated 180 it may be there after all

I tried to find info about this when I bought mine (2002 GTB E-tune) - it was sold as NZ-new (I'm the second owner and have the paperwork) but seems to be JDM spec based on VIN plate etc, apparently imported/complianced by Subaru NZ as a new car, 3km on the clock at first inspection according to carjam. Anyway I never found out if they actually did retune for NZ fuel or make any other mechanical changes, so if anyone knows I'd be interested to hear what the story is. Mechanics with experience of plenty other TT Subarus have commented on how well mine goes, but whether thats evidence for an NZ retune or just within the natural variation of them I don't know. Also, the Rev-D facelift came in mid 2001 from memory, so the one you're looking at may or may not be. Easy to tell from 4th letter of chassis code though.

Apparently some do but my '02 GTB E-tune has no problem with it - you can find the dead zone and lose boost with a badly timed gearshift on part throttle, but winding through it under enthusiastic acceleration you only notice the bigger kick from the secondary turbo with no drop-off in between.

Just being honest! When people spout misinformation I'll call them on it, no personal offense intended though. To be fair there does seem to be significant variation in the performance level of TT Subarus (for whatever reason) and several mechanics have commented on mine being a particularly healthy example - the way it winds out from 100 to 180[arbitrary units] gives me no reason to doubt the claimed output. GC8 STi's are much lighter (most around the 1250kg mark, some RAs under 1200) but newage cars are pretty heavy in comparison. Subaru quoted the newage WRX at around 1370 from memory and STi at 1485 - the six speed box is much heavier than the 5, along with bigger brakes, more chassis bracing and so on the differences all add up. Mate put his BG5 Legacy GT on a weighbridge and taking into account the two people and tank of fuel in it the weight was close enough to the factory claimed 1430, though I haven't weighed mine yet.

You're talking 100% pure bullsh!t. RSK/GTB has 343 Nm torque and weighs 1.5 ton, about the same as a newage STi. Both produce peak power around 6500, but the twin-turbos make peak torque higher in the revs (5k rpm compared with just under 4k). The key difference is the twin-turbo setup gives a wider, smoother torque curve (from 2000-7500) whereas the single turbos have a bigger hit of mid-range torque. This makes them feel faster and the closer/lower gear ratios help make them quicker at lower speeds, but don't underestimate the top-end performance of the Legacies. There is a vid floating around from a clubsub trackday where a standard RSK is dead even with a modified STi-RA above around 100km/h despite the STi having better exit speed. The '98 GTB also held the world record for fastest production station wagon at 270km/h until the Audi RS6 (I think) pipped it.

BE/BH have EJ208 (manual) or EJ206 (auto) so EJ20H/R differences aren't likely to be very relevant.

It does indeed.

Fantastic really, nothing has gone wrong except for a few punctures on gravel - which I can't really blame on the car, but for future reference Eagle F1's are not good gravel tyres! No punctures since I stopped using those. Wouldn't mind a quicker steering rack but hey, nothing's perfect! The standard Bilstein suspension gives a good balance between body control and bump absorption IMO, its very hard to beat as an all-rounder. Best fuel economy I've had was 8.7 L/100km average over a tank, 9.5 is more common open road and 10-11 in mixed use. The Rev-D facelift was mid 2001 from memory so there won't be any difference between a 2002 and 2003 BH.

Pretty sure my 2002 E-Tune has the SRS airbags as well. Paid $12k for it 1.5 years ago, one owner from NZ new with 58k on the clock.

I've heard the snorkelectomy doesn't actually achieve anything on a BE/BH either as they have a much more efficient snorkel than the BD/BG.

I can't believe people are recommending kingstars, had some on the MX5 (came with a cheap set of wheels) which were ok in the dry but turned to teflon in the wet. Good fun for childish drifty games mind you. At the moment I've got Toyo T1R and Bridgestone RE001 on the GTB which are great, also had some Eagle F1s on it previously which were pretty similar to the T1Rs on seal but seriously floaty on gravel and very prone to sidewall cuts and punctures. All in the $190-250 per tyre price range. MY01 should be a decent in-between tyre with less grip but cheaper and harder wearing than the RE001.

Above changeover the turbos are running in parallel anyway, so I guess all the kit does is bypass the valvey thing that controls where the flow goes. Probably makes it pretty laggy down low too at a guess.

Forgot I was going to update with pics - heres the only one I have with the new wheels so far, though its actually clean for once at the moment so I should go out and take some more before I get it dirty again.

Maybe it was an optional extra then as mine was also a 1990 and didn't have it.

Thats a difference from the normal VZ then, mine didn't have ABS. Unless it was a series 2 thing?

;D They do the same thing with MX5's, nice momo wheel with a boring Eunos branded cover on top of it.

Every VZ-R I've seen was on RS/GT 15" wheels and looked lower than my regular VZ which was a bit roly-poly on 185/60R14"s.

Thats a BF5, that engine must have seemed a bit special in 1990 when it was new! My '97 BG5 TS-R also had the 4CAM NA motor with 114kw by then, but tuned for more torque lower down and wasn't as revvy - 7k redline/7250 limiter I think. The VZ didn't really have much grunt below 4500 and really came on cam nicely from 5000-7500. Good fun.

VZ has the 4CAM motor with 110kw (155hp) and loves to rev - limiter kicks in at 7750 rpm. Engine has more character than the 97 TS-R I replaced it with but mine was a thirsty beast, from memory it drank more than my BH5 GTB does. Mine was a regular VZ not a VZ-R, I think the suspension was different as well with the VZ-R being a bit lower and quite a lot stiffer.

Dark blue mica? Could potentially be a McRae edition? Special edition WRX the UK got, I'll try and find some details.