boon

Does that motor have AVCS? Assuming no but stranger things have happened.

Since you own a modern(ish) model it almost certainly has a very capable factory immobiliser. No key, no start the engine, end of conversation. Would be worth confirming that if it's a japanese import, though. Only way you're pinching a modern one is either with the keys or with a towtruck.

No bueno on the front hitch, there aren't any structures at the front of the car that are a. strong enough for a towball and b. legal to modify. You could definitely do a big steel beam across between the chassis rails to replace the bumper support and then hang a towball from that but there is no way in hell it would be a legal modification of the frontal impact structures.

To accurately determine the torque on a rolling road requires things like accurately knowing the diameter of the tyre, because you are effectively "gearing" the power transmission to the roller. For tuning purposes, where you only care about increase/decrease based on changes to the tune, it's not an issue. But it highlights the pointlessness of comparing dyno sheets from different dynos.

The TD05 is a 40 year old small truck turbo that should have been retired a long time ago. A VF30 would go great, if you can find one and a set of pinks plus an STI intercooler you would get close to stock STI power levels.

Yeah that's a realistic power level for a TD04. Safe limit on the box will come down to how you drive it, but there are plenty of GC-era STIs running 5 speeds with around that 280whp mark without issues. If you launch the car and drive it hard, you'll break boxes with factory power. It's not like they hit exactly 293.2hp and all the teeth fall off the gears.

Did you do anything awful like put one of those "engine flush" products through it? Sounds like something sticky in the valve train; that's about the only way you could temporarily lose compression.

Check your radiator cap (you may even have 2 of them, one on the header tank and one on the radiator itself).

Without wanting to be ruthless about it... you don't want to spend $2000-$4000 upgrading to an STI, but you're happy to spend more than that to get a car that is objectively worse than an STI? Unless you have any particular sentimental attachment to the car, starting with an STI is the best thing you can do.

Probably skiing mate. Plus my s***box hasn't turned over in about 4 years, haha. Long project.

Sounds quite a lot like it's freeboosting... any chance it has a sneaky external wastegate somewhere? EDIT: Actually, got a pic of the lines at the wastegate actuator? Or does line 3 go to it, with no Tee or anything in-line? Would indeed suggest it's freeboosting.

A space ship ion drive wasn't conceived by someone completely deranged, with no basis in science

You know at this point I'm not going to exclude them having done something deeply stupid like using the factory black box of doom for boost control. I bet two internet cents it's an EJ208 in the middle too. What's the ECU? If it's running all the EJ208 heads and manifold then it's probably running that sensor setup with that ECU. To be honest it sounds like the "V7 STI" swap was actually a really average single turbo conversion.

More a reference to all the awesome people whose car is clearly in limp mode and they just wham a boost tap in it long-term and the car is there going "wtf I'm in limp mode because some s*** is badly wrong".

Currently both Subarus have aftermarket headunits and nothing else. The Legacy should really get some of my hoarded gear in it, and I think I might give the STI a gentle upgrade with this round of mods, nothing bonkers though. I used to be a bit crazy on it... Headunit -> Processor (including T/A and active crossovers) -> amplifiers -> w**ky component speakers and sub/s. For what it's worth, with all my dicking about, order of how good it's going to sound seems to go good installation > lots of power > good drivers > w**ky processing like time alignment and active crossovers > fancy-ass amplifiers > expensive headunits. I firmly believe that cheaper speakers, installed well with plenty of power, will outperform expensive stuff shoe-horned into the factory speaker mounts and run off a headunit. In the case of my STI, it being a noisy "fast" pile of crap somewhat precludes the "good installation" bit, AKA sound deadening and a proper sub box in this instance, so I kinda CBF with the rest. 99% of the time if you don't get that first bit right you may as well not bother with the rest, the only real exception being that friggin' HEAPS of power into a high quality subwoofer can overcome "the box is way too small"

These cars have halfway intelligent boost systems. If it's not making boost, either it's because something is faulty, incorrectly installed, or the ECU is literally telling it not to build boost. Forcing it to make boost, with a tap or an external, is a good way to blow up a motor.

You could do what I'm essentially doing; buy an XForce exhaust then replace the resonator and/or muffler with AdrenalinR parts.

Massive audio nerd opinion: The auto-eqs, auto-time-alignment... they all suck. They either just outright suck, or they make the car a one-seat-wonder, where it sounds good if you are in the driver's seat and 5'10 tall but the rest of the cabin is a muddy mess. They also miss the fact that by and large "flat" sounds kinda s*** anyway, at least to my ears. Bump everything below about 150hz, -3dB notch at 2khz, roll off from maybe 12khz up, perfecto.

Yeah, there's a very narrow rev range where it's not too bad but it's bonkers loud at idle and there are a few points in the range where it fairly roars. Latest round of mods is going to include a great big AdrenalinR resonator in the middle somewhere. The current one doesn't seem to do anything.

I've had a Redline radiator on my STI for years, seems to work just fine. Radiator hose did need shortening by a tiny bit though. I don't know much about that top-mount. They used to do a front mount kit for GDBs that had a terrible core in it, who knows if it came out of the same factory or not.

My Xforce (GDB) seems reasonably well made and flows well but DAMN it's loud. I'd be seriously considering making one up using Adrenalin-R bits.

Deadbeats gonna deadbeat, I guess. An attachment on their benny will really sting. Follow the process, you'll get paid

Pretty much anything GD fits the spline as far as I know; the ultimate in rare and glorious being a V10 Spec C wheel (or there may even be a factory alcantara one that came on some S204's but is so rare as to basically not exist). Getting the clock spring and airbag to work correctly is another matter altogether. Anything later than V8 uses a clever multi-stage airbag that will throw an SRS fault, and probably not go off if you stack the car. I believe the only way to make it all work nicely with a late-model wheel is to get a V8 inflator and clockspring then fit them to a later model wheel. The americans do all sorts of swaps, check out NASIOC and that other big US subaru forum that the name escapes me....

All stock location "big" turbos suck. Every single person that has built a car with one has been disappointed with the end result, the end.

Hrm, if you put one of those engine flushes through it then there's a reasonable chance you've dislodged a big chunk of s***e and it has gone somewhere bad. First port of call would probably be one of the AVCS solenoids; I would wager a shiny penny that there is a lump of goop blocking the banjo filter on one or both of them. Don't use engine flush unless the car has had it for its entire life. It makes perfectly harmless deposits around the motor break free and go and get stuck in useful things like turbo oil feeds and various solenoids. There is a reason that the vehicle manufacturers themselves recommend against it.