boon

Damn, what a fantastic example of a S203. Pretty much STI perfection.

If the rebuild was 23kk ago how come the cambelt's let go already, please tell me someone didn't rebuilt the shortblock and slap the same belt back on... Pistons are probably fine unless you smacked a valve so hard the head of it came off and bounced around the chamber for a while, in which case the block is probably toast too. We bought a motor that had seized the cambelt (when the chassis rail hit the cam pulley, lol) and the head itself and pistons were ok, just needed valves. 10/14 hours labour feels pretty light for engine out and rebuild heads? But then the parts cost shouldn't be massive either.

Now do it with the factory manifold and a RHD car. Stock location turbos blow ass, anyone spending the money to make 500hp but then getting all funny about an extra couple of grand to move the turbo is.... a silly sausage, IMO.

I guess worth asking what's the purpose? The window of power where the factory topmount is insufficient but a frontmount isn't warranted is really small.

"Uses a little bit of oil" aka f***ed $700 for a f***ed motor feels like a lot, just saying.

https://linkecu.com/documentation/WRX2X.pdf by the way, at the end.

When I had a topmount we just drilled and tapped the underside of the intercooler for the IAT. Find a spot in the end tank that seems thickest, maybe around the BOV flange? The Link manual should have a pinout diagram for the ECU, then you just have to trace which wire is which (hopefully the loom colours are the same from ECU to MAP?), cut the plug off and put your MAP sensor plug on. With mine I extended the loom about a meter and put the MAP on the firewall but it doesn't really matter where it ends up. The 3-port, just use your factory boost solenoid wiring. Again, refer pinout.

I put the MAP sensor on the factory MAP wiring, V7 though. Are you running FMIC for the IAT? As for deletes.... O2 sensors, knock sensor, MAF are all options.

No CEL/codes then? I'd probably still want to put a code reader on it. Heinous fuel economy usually goes with a wonky O2 sensor. Ask your mate you loaned the sensor to to swap and see if it resolves it/breaks theirs.

Seems expensive, especially for an A-line. At least it has the proper brakes, not all A-lines do.

Can you pull the box out yourself? Factor in at least $1000 if you can't, and there's probably a few "while you're there" jobs that should be done while the box is off, including the rear main seal and kidney plate, as well as considering doing the clutch. As for rebuilding the box, hopefully someone else will weigh in there. As a random aside, if your 6 speed is anything like my 6 speed, 5000rpm shift into 6th is how many kph exactly?

Interesting on the auto fluid. Re. VDC, the '04 is the transitional year between DBW throttle and cable throttle. If you have a cable throttle you definitely won't have VDC, if you have DBW you might have some sort of VDC but very unlikely it's at all sophisticated.

For the AT, the Subaru 5EAT is a bit of a picky a bastard and really likes the "correct" fluid, which is either Subaru-branded or the actual manufacturer of it, which is Idemitsu ATF-HP, if you can find it. Apparentlt Amsoil also do a "compatible" fluid, ymmv but for a 310k car it's probably not the end of the world. As for changing it, yes, unless you can pressure-flush it then you leave a whole lot behind. Honestly there's no point doing a double-flush, as, best case, you'll still probably have ~20% old fluid with all the crapola floating around in it. Drain and refill and call it good enough. Also IIRC the filling part is a bit of a mongrel - via the dipstick tube? The diffs all like Syntrax 75w90. If your Outback is a NZ-new car it will almost definitely have an LSD in the rear (probably a viscous one, although rumour abounds that the odd one got a plate diff), but it still likes the same juice. The 5MT, Syntrax for everything. What the diffs are is a complete lolly-scramble, could be anything from open-open-open to open-viscous-viscous.

235wkw? Honestly the turbo probably doesn't have any more than that in it. You could turn the boost up but it's CFM that matters, and I don't think I've literally ever seen an "honest" dyno sheet over 240wkw with anything that came stock on a Subaru. Even 236 is very very good. So then you're up for turbo + injectors + pump + probably a front mount + another tune and it starts getting quite gnarly, because for a meaningful power gain you should really go to a twisted turbo so there's fab costs, new downpipe, and probably a wastegate, and then you're likely exceeding the safe limits of your stock block. You can get 230wkw fairly easily on a modern Subaru, anything significantly more is suddenly very expensive.

My '05 3.0R Legacy did this but I have no idea if it was a factory option or an aftermarket module. With imported cars they are often a lollyscramble of random JDM addons.

Yes.

Did you buy a genuine sensor or some "compatible" one? Sounds like a(nother) bad sensor to me.

The dyno will load your car in ways that it's unlikely to ever see on the road, but also... no, it shouldn't do that. Clutch is on the way out, if it slipped on the dyno it will start slipping on the street, but presumably you have the motor out anyway due to snapping a cambelt so you may as well do it. Timing belt isn't going to cause boost spikes, it's either a crap tune, inadequate parts, or something was faulty or installed incorrectly.

It does look a lot like it has a bonnet scoop, despite the low resolution. I'd be looking for a black GC8 Impreza with replaced bonnet and front bumper. Mind you if it's had a new bonnet and bumper it might be a povvo non-turbo with turbo parts attached to it.

Nope, there are people who prefer a single turbo and people who are in denial.

Same answer as usual, you've killed it, replace engine immediately. Do you understand the function of the coolant bottle? How much coolant is in your radiator? A much much better question if you're genuinely down on coolant would be "where is my coolant going" since it's a (relatively) closed system and losses even over several years should amount to very very little.

You can probably do 95%+ of it yourself. Get the factory service manual for the car and the ECU pinout from the Link website for the appropriate plugin ECU. Then buy a big pack of those crimp+shrink connectors and a proper crimping tool and just match everything up.

The bullet/spike ones always look bogan as. They work on a sacked Ford Courier and not much else, but each to their own I guess. On the one hand, they're just nuts, as long as they're steel you can't go too far wrong. On the other hand I probably wouldn't buy whatever the cheapest ones are.

Sounds fatal, sell car immediately.

A complete wrecker motor is going to be, by far, the path of least resistance here. Work from the assumption that the old motor is a total loss.