legacycentral bbs

I recently acquired a Stromung 2.5" turbo back that has been modified to be bolt-on for a Legacy SS (was originally for a WRX). According to the previous owner it was on a 94SS w/5MT and VF11 and fit perfectly. My car is a 91SS w/4EAT and TD05H-16G and the exhaust has three issues preventing it from being bolt-up:

- The bracket on the side of the downpipe extends too far (I suspect this is due to the AT/MT difference as AT trannies are generally larger than MT trannies).
- The hanger at the front of the muffler doesn't line up with the corresponding hanger on the car.
- The midpipe is physically too short to possibly fit. It has obviously been lengthened at the rear (to fit the Legacy), but looks like it needs lengthened again (in front of the hanger) as it is physically impossible for it to reach the hanger and axleback at the rear and still reach the secondary pipe at the front (it appears to be about 2-3" inches too short).

Is there a known difference between these two car configs (94SS/5MT/VF11 vs 91SS/4EAT/TD05H-16G) that could be causing these issues?

The front hanger position should be the same. I know it's the same even between the impreza. However if they lengthened things at the flange rather then at the muffler, it's going to be all messed up.....and from what you say, that sort of sounds like what they did.

I installed an exhaust on my car that had previously been installed on a 91 4EAT. With the exception of the tranny bracket for the downpipe not fitting properly, everything else was fine. Thats strange that you're having that many problems.

And yes, that front bracket is the wrong size because the 4EAT is wider than the 5MT.

I didn't think the TD05 was that much bigger compared to the VF11 as far as the rest of the exhaust is concerned.

The lengthened section is at the rearmost part of the midpipe at the rear flange (behind the hanger on the midpipe). There appears to have been no other changes to any of the other pipes (in length anyway). The front muffler hanger is in the correct place front-to-back, the misalignment there is side-to-side.

Regardless, though, if you lightly attach the midpipe to the secondary pipe (bolts just barely grabbing the corresponding nuts), it simply cannot reach the hanger at the back of the midpipe, so it can't just be the fact that the axleback wasn't lengthened, as the midpipe won't even fit on its own.

Part of what I'm wondering is if the AT / MT exhausts are somehow different (different turbo placement or something {shrug}) or if, rather, the 91 and 94 simply don't have the same length exhaust.

mikec wrote:I installed an exhaust on my car that had previously been installed on a 91 4EAT. With the exception of the tranny bracket for the downpipe not fitting properly, everything else was fine. Thats strange that you're having that many problems.

What year is your car? I assume it's a 5MT?

And yes, that front bracket is the wrong size because the 4EAT is wider than the 5MT.

That's what I figured...thanks for confirming it.

I didn't think the TD05 was that much bigger compared to the VF11 as far as the rest of the exhaust is concerned.

But if it was simply the TD05H-16G being larger, why did my stock exhaust still fit perfectly and wouldn't it be too long to fit then, not too short like I'm seeing here?

Sorry, thought I still had it in my sig. I've got a 92 5MT.

Yeah, that is quite strange. Did your friend use all of the hangars?

I thought the midpipe was the only thing that needed to be changed between the 2 cars.

mikec wrote:I thought the midpipe was the only thing that needed to be changed between the 2 cars.

You mean downpipe, right? Don't go adding any more confusion to this addled brain, now!

Yeah, that is quite strange. Did your friend use all of the hangars?

I was leaving this part out as it wasn't really relevant to the issue, but since it is now...this is the used exhaust that kelley (i.e., Perfection Motorsports) was selling here recently. I asked him about this and he said it has been completely bolt-up on more than one 94SS/5MT/VF11 setup but wasn't sure if the year/turbo/tranny combo difference between our cars had somehow caused these issues, thus leading to me posting the question here in the forums.

Warp3 wrote:Part of what I'm wondering is if the AT / MT exhausts are somehow different (different turbo placement or something {shrug}) or if, rather, the 91 and 94 simply don't have the same length exhaust.

There shouldn't be any difference, other then that mounting at the tranny.

Just call up Kelley and ask. I've spent a few hours on the phone with him, and he's a good person to talk to. I'm sure he'll be able to offer you some suggestions as to whats going on. I've seen pictures of this exhaust on the Legacy, so I know it fit when he had it.

It sounds like the previous owner had it modified to more or less fit but wasn't using all the hangers.

This diagram might be useful to mark up if it's hard to be clear about what parts you're talking about:

http://www.graphics.cornell.edu/~v/pics ... xhaust.png

Well, since I'm trying to not drive my 2.5RS (as it has recently developed a notably bad wheel bearing), I decided to throw the stock exhaust back on the Legacy.

After doing so, I'm no longer 100% convinced that the new exhaust is actually too short. While I did get the stock exhaust on, it was a major pain and in some ways acted "too short" like the new exhaust did (though I was working at it "outside-in" this time, instead, so I actually did get it installed).

Once the RS is fixed, I'm going to fix the dp bracket and axleback hanger issues (both of which should be easy to fix), then try it again, but this time install it the same way I just installed the stock exhaust and see if I have any more luck.

I'll update the thread here once I have more info. Thanks everyone.