Decisions, decisions:
I wrestled with the idea of trading my 2.5GT for about a month before finally committing to the decision. My reasoning being that my GT had about 147,000 miles on it (~20,000 miles on the new engine) and this car had 174,000 miles on it. In my mind, those miles were close enough to each other that the relibility of the Turbo Legacy would be at least comparable, if not better than my GT. I was told that the engine seals had just been replaced, and that the owner (more on him in a bit) would throw in a new clutch and brakes with the deal.
I took the car off of Adam's (from Z1 Performance) hands in mid December of 2002. I had come to know Adam through the North American Subaru Impreza Owners Club, which used to be the I-Club. I heard through the grapevine that he was a pretty good tuner, who had successfully turbocharged a 1999 Subaru Impreza 2.5RS and had been the first person to break into the 12's with an RS in North America (that feat accomplished with only piggy-back fuel and ignition timing controllers!!). If he had done such a successful modification to his naturally aspirated Impreza, I imagined the possibilities of his talent used to modify a purpose-built turbo car like the Legacy. The deal was made and we swapped cars at a rest stop off of the New Jersey turnpike. lol!
My initial impressions of the car were of utter fear, actually. This car excelled in ways that my GT never could (not without putting around $10,000 worth of mods into it)!! Handling, braking, and acceleration were all better than my old car. It was downright scary to drive on the way home, and I never hit WOT after my initial test drive. I was too scared!! That fear lasted, oh, about a day or so:)
Mod List and Links
Mitsubishi TD05-16G turbocharger
STi version 2 intercooler
Samco silicone intercooler hose
HKS 3" downpipe
2.5" hi-flow cat
2.5" midpipe and Tanabe Hyper Medallion Exhaust
Go Fast Bits underdrive pulley
Walbro 255lph fuel pump
K&N drop-in panel filter
Joe-P manual boost controller (set at 1.15Bar/16.9psi)
HKS fuel cut defencer
Apex-i S-AFC
EFI Systems Air Fuel Ratio/Injector Duty Cycle Meter
Blitz DTT DC
Tein S-Tech lowering springs
KYB/GR-2 non-adjustable struts
STi Strut Top Mounts
1998 Subaru Impreza 2.5RS wheels
Single-point-ground mod
The Business End of things!!
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