The SLODRIVE '92 SS Build (Now with Dyno Sheet!)

SLODRIVE · Post by **SLODRIVE** » Wed Jul 22, 2009 5:03 pm

91legacyawdturbo wrote:
dropdfocus wrote:Cats installed on a car?? Really, you have to do that sorta thing? (yes I'm joking)

PA requires them for visual through out the entire state, but only a handful of cities require the tailpipe sniffer test to pass. So I miss out on the chopping block for that one & the shop I go to lets me slide by simply bringing the stock WRX catted D/P with me to pass the visual. Since it can be swapped out in the matter of 1hr, he figures I could have changed it for the inspection.

Its pretty easy to swap out the whole system, I have to do it every two years at 30 bucks.

Just so you guys know....I felt no noticeable power loss with the 3" cat installed. It was $50, I never have to remove it, and it mellowed out the exhaust tone quite a bit. Just the cost of replacing both downpipe gaskets twice is more than $50.

Something to think about

kimokalihi · Post by **kimokalihi** » Wed Jul 22, 2009 5:08 pm

Is this the 3" high flow cat you bought on ebay? I want one just in case we ever have to test our cars in this county. Plus I may be moving next year so I'll probably have to get it tested then.

long ebay link

I ordered 100ft of wrap and some of those stainless steel ties too.

SLODRIVE · Post by **SLODRIVE** » Wed Jul 22, 2009 5:52 pm

^^^ That's even the same seller I got mine from. I trimmed one end down a bit and it made a perfect extension to make the midpipe fit perfectly.

kimokalihi · Post by **kimokalihi** » Wed Jul 22, 2009 6:40 pm

OK, cool. Decent build quality for $40? I'm gonna buy one now.

So now I will have 3" stainless downpipe, 3" resonator, 3" borla muffler (I want bosal twin tip though...), and 3" stainless cat.

dropdfocus · Post by **dropdfocus** » Wed Jul 22, 2009 9:27 pm

Marked the seller for future reference. I may as well get one from them too.

91legacyawdturbo · Post by **91legacyawdturbo** » Thu Jul 23, 2009 9:00 am

I might go get a cat some time, the factory cat is restrictive as hell.
I've been able to go to super/ go subaru and I can usually get an awsome deals on things, I get my aftermarket gakets from carzperformance which is a hell of alot cheaper than anyother so far. Usually 30 bucks per switch so 60 in all. damm maybe a cat will be sooner.

Have you been dyno'd at all with all of the swaps and projects?

Post by **Legacy777** » Thu Jul 23, 2009 8:31 pm

SLODRIVE wrote:Just so you guys know....I felt no noticeable power loss with the 3" cat installed. It was $50, I never have to remove it, and it mellowed out the exhaust tone quite a bit. Just the cost of replacing both downpipe gaskets twice is more than $50.

Something to think about

Agreed. With a good high flow cat and exhaust you shouldn't notice much, if any power loss.

dzx · Post by **dzx** » Sat Jul 25, 2009 6:53 pm

Was this car at super rupair a couple days ago?

dropdfocus · Post by **dropdfocus** » Wed Aug 12, 2009 11:42 pm

So, how are you liking the AEM F/IC so far? With watching your build & the success so far, I'm wanting to go with this instead of the Greddy e-Manage Blue I was very seriously considering. The fact that this can add & subtract timing is a large plus on OBD-I cars. Have you had any real tech assistance from AEM being that you're using it on a car they didn't design it for?

SLODRIVE · Post by **SLODRIVE** » Thu Aug 13, 2009 12:26 am

dzx wrote:Was this car at super rupair a couple days ago?

That might have been me. You would have known by the crappy white rattle-can finish! I was probably over in the used parts.

dropdfocus wrote:So, how are you liking the AEM F/IC so far? With watching your build & the success so far, I'm wanting to go with this instead of the Greddy e-Manage Blue I was very seriously considering. The fact that this can add & subtract timing is a large plus on OBD-I cars.

So far, I'm plenty happy with it. It's really easy to tune, does exactly what you tell it to do and the gauges are easy to read. Of course it's extremely limited compared to any standalone, but I definitely think it's worth the money. HOWEVER...you can NOT advance the timing with the F/IC. You can only retard it. Just so that's clear.

dropdfocus wrote: Have you had any real tech assistance from AEM being that you're using it on a car they didn't design it for?

NO assistance whatsoever. The wiring was totally straightforward (especially with an ECU [patch harness), and I have enough tuning experience that the maps were pretty easy to figure out. I actually emailed AEM a few weeks ago to let them know that their product works just fine on OBD1 Subarus. No response though...I guess they don't care.

93forestpearl · Post by **93forestpearl** » Thu Aug 13, 2009 12:45 am

SLODRIVE wrote: No response though...I guess they don't care.

In case you haven't noticed, AEM is kind of a big deal. People know them........

dropdfocus · Post by **dropdfocus** » Thu Aug 13, 2009 12:47 am

Huh, I guess since the tech info didn't come from super/grand vehicle that it didn't excite them. At least you are able to share the valid info with us here.

As for the timing... Isn't adding timing curve a necessary thing when tuning like this? I would have been very happy with just using the TurboXS Dtec Fuel Controller if it was able to adjust timing. Now it's getting passed off to my wife's OBD-II Legacy GT.

93forestpearl wrote:In case you haven't noticed, AEM is kind of a big deal. People know them........

Yeah, but they clearly state that this is specifically for OBD-II controlled vehicles. So letting them know it works just fine on an OBD-I Subaru might be handy info.

93forestpearl · Post by **93forestpearl** » Thu Aug 13, 2009 12:52 am

I was just being a smartass with a Ron Burgandy quote, that is all.

dropdfocus · Post by **dropdfocus** » Thu Aug 13, 2009 4:59 am

Oh, my bad...

SLODRIVE · Post by **SLODRIVE** » Sun Sep 06, 2009 10:47 pm

I haven't updated this for a while because I've just been driving the car and having fun instead of working on it. A couple of weeks ago I turned the boost to about 14 psi...it felt stronger for sure, but it would actually hit boost cut once in a while. I simply drove a little more carefully until today, when I finally hooked the laptop back up and lowered the "clamp" I put on the MAP table. That totally eliminated the boost cut, so after a few miles of driving I pulled over and cranked up the MBC 1/2 turn. That turned out to be 16-17 pounds of boost, and after adding a bit more to the fuel map up top, AFRs were safely in the 11s.

The extra 2-3 lbs. of boost made a bigger power increase than I expected...I may have to start worrying about the clutch soon, the way this car's running. I might take it to the dragstrip next week for giggles, I'll definitely let you all know how it does. I'm also feeling a lot closer to getting a dyno sheet too!

dropdfocus · Post by **dropdfocus** » Mon Sep 07, 2009 12:35 pm

I've always found that those who take 'em to the strip break 'em!!! BEWARE!!!

kimokalihi · Post by **kimokalihi** » Mon Sep 07, 2009 12:42 pm

From launching?

dropdfocus · Post by **dropdfocus** » Mon Sep 07, 2009 6:17 pm

Yeah, those glass-jaw trannys HATE clutch drops! I'd rather slip the clutch than snap teeth of a tranny gear.

GodSquadMandrake · Post by **GodSquadMandrake** » Mon Sep 07, 2009 8:38 pm

Hey Slodrive sorry I haven't been around in a while. It got crazy here for a while in Iraq but I'm leaving back for Alaska tomorrow and there should be a box of parts waiting for me to start in on my 91 ss. I'm pretty excited and I've learned a lot from your notes on this thread. So I'll make my own thread when I get to it.

That exhaust is really nice and clean. I'm surprised about the noise complaint, I have something very similar and it's quiet. Does the car get louder when it's got the EJ20G heads, 16G turbo and more boost? It was quiet with the EJ22T heads, VF11 turbo and stock boost.

Hopefully you don't break your tranny at the track! I would be more worried about your gears than the clutch. The clutch I think is designed to be the weak point in this system and if you upgrade it other things start to die, well at least that's what my extensive research shows. I'm planning a 6MT swap this winter, but first things first is to get the motor running.

SLODRIVE · Post by **SLODRIVE** » Wed Oct 07, 2009 6:36 pm

Hey, I'm back for a belated update...here's a couple of things.

I decided that it was finally time to make sure I was going to have enough fuel, so I popped the fuel pump out with plans to install an STi pump I have here. The first surprise was when I removed the access cover, and it was a nasty one. Check out the pressure line...apparently the PO had replaced some line with NON-high pressure hose. Can you say SCARY?

At least I got a pleasant surprise when I got the old pump out. It had already been upgraded to a JECS unit from an older JDM WRX/Legacy, P/N A42-646055, and it is rated at a little more flow than a USDM STi pump. No bad thing there, so back in it went with some fresh rubber hose.

I also finally ditched my MBC for a Blitz Dual-SBC boost controller I got used on Ebay. It hooked up with 2 wires, has 4 programmable boost settings, W/G gain adjustment, overboost protection, scramble setting, peak recall, etc. Works perfectly, and the head unit fit right under my radio. (Forgive the filthy radio controls, I guess I never have cleaned it)

Head unit:

(large) Solenoid assy:

Installed in dash:

Other than that, the car's running great at 16 pounds of boost, epecially considering I still haven't replaced the Hitachi MAF with a Jecs yet, and the injectors nearing their limits. I'm planning on taking the car to the dragstrip tonight, & I'll report back with results!

dropdfocus · Post by **dropdfocus** » Wed Oct 07, 2009 10:18 pm

It's about damn time you update us!!!!

GodSquadMandrake · Post by **GodSquadMandrake** » Thu Oct 08, 2009 1:35 am

Wow sounds great. How did it do at the strip?

SLODRIVE · Post by **SLODRIVE** » Thu Oct 08, 2009 5:29 am

I just got back from the strip...

First off, I gotta say I SUCK at launching this car, lol! Between that and the 5800 foot altitude, I ran a couple of 15.7xx @ 90.xx mph. I definitely took it easy off the line, so much so that I bogged out a bit in first gear...my 60-foot times were 2.6-2.8 seconds, much to my horror. On the plus side, nothing broke, I got a few compliments on the car (?) and I beat my friend's '87 Trans Am (to her chagrin). I'll figure out the NHRA correction factor and post my "corrected" times later. I'm kind of glad this was the last race night of the season, otherwise I'd want to keep bringing the Legacy back until I broke something. Tons of fun!

cj91legss · Post by **cj91legss** » Wed Apr 28, 2010 2:59 pm

SLODRIVE wrote:I'm an idiot...as soon as I started looking at the intake, I realized that the IAC needs coolant to run through it...thus I need nipples on the heater pipes. So, I pulled them back off, cut two nipples off of some old pipes, drilled holes, welded and re-painted, bla bla bla...

Better now.

These 2 nipples that feed coolant to the IAC and TB, Does it matter which nipple sends coolant and which nipple receives?

I'm doing a 20H head installation right now and i have a few small things to work on with my engine before it goes in.

kimokalihi · Post by **kimokalihi** » Wed Apr 28, 2010 9:21 pm

Yeah, isn't that lower pipe that goes straight across the block a return line from the heater core to the water pump? I think the other pipe off the crossover pipe sends coolant to the heater core. I could be wrong though.

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The SLODRIVE '92 SS Build (Now with Dyno Sheet!)

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Re: The SLODRIVE '92 SS Build (warning: UGLY pics!)