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Recommended performance upgrades for BH/BE Legacy and who can do em? AKL


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So I figure there is a wealth of knowledge on here, and I want your help.

I'd like to do some performance upgrades to my car - body styling, suspension, brakes, engine..everything considered.

From my time with motorbikes, I know that the easiest way of getting some extra bhp is fitting an aftermarket air filter and exhaust. But which brand? Who's got the knowledge to not destroy my car?

So really, I'd like you to drop your recommendations down for both parts and shops in the Auckland area and I hope that someone will find it useful!

As for the car? Its a 2001 Legacy GT-B, totally standard.

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Hmmm...this is all a matter of opinion to a great degree. 'Common' knowledge (in the community) and opinion.

If you have a Rev.D GTB you can reflash the ECU and get a buttload more power.

If not, you have to consider other options.

Exhaust...there are some pretty flash brands out there. Fujitsubo if you can find it? Cheap products yield cheap results, but you knew that.

My advice - start a project thread in the garage. Post up one thing at a time that you want to do (say, start with exhaust and mention you would like a retune or aftermarket engine management, if you are planning on chasing big power), and the good people on CS will offer their (sometimes heated) opinions.

For fitment, here in Auckland, there are a few good shops and members around. Highbrook Auto are my default favourite...as usual, Alex knows his stuff, has all the resources. Boostin AFAIK makes a bit on the side doing work on the weekends. He's a qualified Subaru mech, so you're in good hands there.

If you want to go a little bit more nuts, talk to Gary Capper Performance, or Possum Bourne Motorsport (both in Pukekohe). GCP have a dyno and do work with some of the nicer Subarus around last time I checked.

Remember that if you get an ECU reflash, you wanna have all your mods done FIRST (ie: if you're going for the exhaust, filter, BOV, etc option) so the ECU knows what it's doing.

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most of the parts you would want you can get from our sponsor (suspension, filters, exhausts, etc) then just fit them yourself.

if you become a paid member you can get a discount from our sponsors :)

and the likes of an exhaust, filters and suspension, easy to fit at home :)

only thing i would sudgest, if you do your own suspension, get it in for an alighnment to tidy up any camber/toe.

-smurff

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Thanks guys. I'm sorry to say that I'm no mechanic, and wouldnt want to ruin my pride and joy trying to DIY. However, my big question is that because subs are so popular, theres lots of aftermarket kit, and its working out the good stuff from the bad...so personal recommendations would be wicked.

I struggling to give examples of what specific stuff I'd like to upgrade, other than make my steed 'harder, faster, stronger, better' etc.

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 Heroes Legend said:

From my time with motorbikes, I know that the easiest way of getting some extra bhp is fitting an aftermarket air filter and exhaust. But which brand? Who's got the knowledge to not destroy my car?

Exhaust yes - but be careful not going to the extreme. As this can cause all sorts of problems and reduce reliability unless you have the ECU reprogramed or replaced. The BH was tuned more agressively than earlier TTs and is a bit more sensitive to just whacking a bigger exhaust on it.

Air filter will not give u any gains - It has been tested on a dyno with a stock filter then with no filter at all. There was no difference - and that was on more power than your TT will make.

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As a Revision D GTB owner, here are my suggestions (in order):

Brakes

- Source some 4 pots for the front (if it doesn't already have them).

- Get some high temperature pads (Bendix Ultimates are fine for street use, consider - Ferodo DS2000's or Mintex M1166's for any track work.

- High temperature brake fluid flush.

- Slotted rotors look cool, but eat brake pads for limited benefit so the consensus seems to be don't bother.

Fitment of pads and fluid you can get someone like Pitstop to do but ideally you'd do it all at once. I'd suggest either boostin or Highbrook for this.

Suspension

- Good tyres are a must. There are plenty of threads discussing options.

- Good wheel alignment. You want your sticky new tyres to last! I'd suggest 0mm toe in front and rear and -1 degree camber on the front. Basically factory specs with more negative camber to help iron out a little understeer without butchering your tyres.

- Correct tyre pressure makes a huge difference but depends on the tyres. In my 050's I was running 34... I then went to 36 and now I'm running 38psi.

- A larger rear swaybar is a great bang-for-buck upgrade. I've not fitted my front one yet...

- Lowering with coilovers is an expensive proposition so if your Bilsteins are in good nick, a quality set of lowering springs will firm up the ride and give you a better look. Note that the BE/BH generation of Legacy's have a multilink rear suspension setup so you need specific BE/BH rear suspension parts. The front suspension is fairly standard Macpherson strut type stuff so that's easier.

- Stick with the factory rims. Yes, I know they're not anything special to look at but they're quite light and the less unsprung weight you have the better!

- Braces - My car came with various braces so I have no meaningful before and after experience. Common wisdom states that a front upper strut brace yields good results though.

Tyres... Firestone Glen Innes. Larger swaybars and suspension, see our club sponsors to purchase or have a chat to Strongs in Onehunga. Fitment of suspension again I'd suggest boostin or Highbrook Automotive.

Engine/Exhaust

- Snorkelectomy (search the forum for how and talk a CS member into giving you a hand). I'm told the factory air intake is a little restrictive at high rpm but the rest of it is good for over 200kw at the wheels so no point in changing it. Also, the snorkelectomy allows you to hear it breathing and you can hear the factory BOV ;D

- If you want a little more rumble, a diff back exhaust is the way to go. If you want power then you're looking at cat back or turbo back but I can't advise on gains and the small turbos on the Twin Turbo setup don't like overspooling. This upgrade needs a fair bit of research!

- If you find yourself bumping into the VOD all the time, consider a Zerosports Sequential Controller so you can move the transition later into the rev range.

- Ecutek tune by Torque Performance. Gains vary from car to car. For me, they tuned out the awful pinging problems and gained between 5-10kw (and 50-150Nm of torque) at the wheels up until ~4200rpm. After that the secondary turbo has spooled up and they made very nice gains there by improving the timing and raising the boost a little. I went from a peak of 152kw to 185kw at the wheels and the transition between single and twin turbo is better.

If you want more power then that, you really have to consider doing a single turbo conversion with a VF30 or VF22 turbo, an aftermarket ECU and a custom dyno tune = $$$$'s.

You can buy the Zerosports controller from one of our sponsors and they sell the wiring adaptor as well so fitment would be a snap.

Torque Performance are the only people I know of in Auckland that do Ecutek tunes on the revision D twin turbos. Call them for pricing... they sometimes do a special price of $1500 and they'll do the snorkelectomy as part of that.

Exhaust... again buy from one of our sponsors and you'd probably take it to an exhaust shop for fitment or Highbrook.

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Oh, I should mention that the regular 2 pot front brakes are probably quite adequate for street use with good pads and fluid but if you want the 4 pots, better to do them while doing the pads as the pads are different between the two calipers.

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 SpotMe said:

As a Revision D GTB owner, here is a wall of excellent advice.

I think this somehow needs to be stickied or similar. It answers a huge slew of BE/BH questions in a concise, definite and easy to read manner ;D

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Based on this page (http://ecutek.com.au/index.php?option=com_content&view=section&layout=blog&id=5&Itemid=53) it would appear Ecutek do not support the earlier ECU's.

A better bet for those earlier ones is the Mines or Prova chipped ECU's. They are a drop in replacement for the factory ECU and I've heard rumours that they improve things even on our 98 octane petrol. They pop up on Trademe occasionally so just keep an eye out!

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Exhaust in Auckland - Look no further than Jamie @ Al's Mufflers. Done AWESOME jobs on my Subarus. Just had him do one today for me. Easy, and it does not cost the earth. $400 can get you the mean subaru rumble and toned note. NO need for branded exhausts pfft.

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 RSK IT said:

Easy, and it does not cost the earth. $400 can get you the mean subaru rumble and toned note. NO need for branded exhausts pfft.

is it just me or does that not sound cheap at all?

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back in the day i got a branded mufler installed for 350ish at pitstop, that included the mufller. back in my honda days lol

-smurff

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 jake_the_muss']

[quote name='RSK IT said:

Easy, and it does not cost the earth. $400 can get you the mean subaru rumble and toned note. NO need for branded exhausts pfft.

/quote]

is it just me or does that not sound cheap at all?

How cheap do you want it to get? Thats not a bad price I would have thought for a top job. I ended up paying $2000 for a exhaust system once that sounded shitter than the $400 job I got from Als Mufflers

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realized afterwards that you included the purchase of the muffler in that price. $400 to have the muffler put on is retarded. including the muffler, not so bad.

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it's only 50 to put a muffler on, so i'd say you got a larger pipe from the downpipe back too as well as the muffler supplied.

jaime and gavin were my old flatmates. i can attest to how good they are. and they're very cheap too. they did all customwork on my car. twisted turbo, exhaust, headers. best looking twisted setup i've seen too.

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