Fuji's Journal: GF8F5SD Project

**FuJi K** · January 11th, 2009 01:05 PM

It’s just a wagon I tell everyone. It definitely looks like a wagon, but does more than what it looks. It has these fancy brakes, an extra gear to roll through, and that awesome whistle sound from the engine. You’d look twice two finally notice the brakes peeking at you from behind the wheels. The journey has been quite adventurous.

My parents bought me this little wagon for college but it became more than a college car. We signed papers on Jan 13th of ’04 and I got to see her the next afternoon when I got off school during my senior year in High School. She was all nice and washed, black, and very stock. I started to modify the car because I wanted to make it better than it was. First thing that came off was the intake silencer, and then a catback went on, followed by a custom rear sway bar. These small modifications really made a difference in feel. This is what really got me into modifying.

Things got interesting as I stepped further into modifying. My brother got a rear PowerTrax for his truck and I was wondering how my little AWD Subie would fair with a locked rear diff. SO I welded it and that’s where the fun began! I could do donuts, and slide in the snow, and have SO MUCH fun around corners. I then read more about Limited Slip Differentials and how they all help transform the car into a totally different animal! I broke my tranny so I replaced with with a ’00 RS tranny and rear VLSD. This wasn’t as fun as the welded rear diff, but will do well until the next adventurous project.

Eventually enough playing around and I had an engine failure, which then started with the power hunger. I swapped out my stock EJ22E shortblock for an EJ22T I picked up from the local UPULL. Dropped that in and OMG the power loss. I was getting the same gas mileage but with less power. Even my friends Impreza Outback Sport could walk me frumrol. I happen to come across another COMPLETE EJ22T swap from the same UPULL yard and decided to swap that in. It was a success with the help of Garage Tuning merging my harness and making it work for me.

It took 9 months before I got my car back up and running. I bought close to almost every modification there was for this swap. I replaced the turbo with a WRX TD04L, added a WRX TMIC with a Perrin BOV, full exhaust system, a TurboXS fuel cut defender and manual boost controller, and also a boost gauge to see how much boost. A lot of the time was lost because I tried to merge the harness myself. Finally after getting a properly merged harness from Garage Tuning, she started right up on the 5th or so crank because my cam sensor was loose. I was SO HAPPY. I told my mom about it when I ran into the house and also shed a tear. I still remember that day.

Later came the opportunity to jump to new heights. A friend was doing the SAME EJ22T swap in his OBS. His harness was also messed up by someone else merging it for him. I offered him that IF he was able to find me a USDM WRX engine and harness, I would hand over my harness in exchange. That SAME day he was able to do that. A local member had a complete harness with a little damage, and someone had semi-complete WRX longblock. Knowing that we had something good going I went ahead to take apart my dash once again to rip out the merged harness. What was ironic was that I took out the harness the SAME DAY the year before starting the project. I was to run this WRX swap with me EJ22T shortblock.

The USDM WRX swap really was a good move. People really don’t want to spend the money for a WRX swap but they really are holding themselves back from a whole new ballgame. The MOST important point is that the ECU is supported by a handful of software. You don’t have to worry about going far places to get your car tuned to run the setup you want. Going USDM WRX swap is like jumping from like Windows 95 to Windows XP Professional. Also there is a lot more parts available for the WRX so upgrades are plenty. Turbos, intercoolers, exhaust systems, engine parts, you name it there is something out there for it. You open yourself to MORE opportunities.

I ended up with settling with a very fun street car. The turbo I choose was SlowBoyRacing’s TD05H EVO3-16G-8cm^2. This would get me a good darn close if not already 300whp on pump gas. It near did get close at 285whp running 20psi up top peaking 23psi midrange running on BP 92oct petrol. On a DynoJet I’m more than likely to see 320whp but we’ll just stick to the Mustang Dyno numbers. I ran the same headerback exhaust as I did on the EJ22T swap. I also ported the intake ports of the heads so it’ll flow closer to the JDM heads. I also modified the stock fuel injectors and made them squirt almost double the flow at 826cc-834cc! An upgraded fuel pump was needed and I chose the Walbro highflow 255lph one, which was a simple bolt-on part.

With the power, there was a weak link. Almost everyone knows Subaru’s 5speed tranny will not stand up to the massive power output that many wants. The trannys are known to shatter like glass. I broke the 2.5RS tranny with the EJ22T swap doing a WOT pull in 2nd gear at 3600rpms. The Spare ’93 Legacy AWD 5spd tranny broke doing hiway pulls after the dyno tune from Jorge with P&L Motorsports. The hybrid OBS tranny broke after doing hard shifting into 2nd gear. I had to bite the bullet and get the STi 6spd. I took out a loan from the bank and purchased myself a JDM STi DCCD 6spd transmission kit with Brembo brakes. I can’t tell you how HAPPY I am with this transmission. I can drive hard without having to worry about a gear shredding its teeth.

Now we can’t forget what holds the car up. Before when I started to get into cars, I read a lot on vehicle dynamics and handling from an online website called TurnFast.com. This helped me zero in on what I wanted. Sony Playstation’s Gran Turismo 2 & 3 played a HUGE role in suspension tuning and seeing the results from different changes. It’s a simulator and it does it quite well. I went with BC Racing coilovers running 8kg/mm springs all around; 448lbs/inch. The coilovers will be replaced with a new set of BC Racing coilovers running revalved dampers with 12kg/mm springs; 672lb/inch. This coupled with WRX 20mm sway bars front to rear. I also made a rear strut brace from some stainless steel tubes and steel plates. The strut brace is a lot stronger than anything out there I’ve seen. The front has jNorth’s machined fender braces.

Every major modification holds another adventure. There is always something new learned when a new modification is added. There are also struggles with some but in the end you learn from it and improve greatly. It’s a fun experience all the way through. I am always left with a grin on my face after having on the modification right and feeling the difference it makes when I’m testing it. There will always be R&D.

**FuJi K** · January 11th, 2009 01:06 PM

Modifications on-hand for next setup:
-CP Pistons 9.0:1
-JDM 12mm oil pump
-'06 WRX swap w/ ECU/harness/heads/TGVs
-'05 Legacy NA Intake manifold
-'06 STi Intake manifold (break-in use)
-JDM Legacy 2.0R NA headers (will be custom for twinscroll T3 divided flange)
-double cross-drilled WRX 2.0L crank - rotated balanced
-Cosworth rod/main bearings (size1 on mains, size2 on rods)
-Eagle Rods (comes with ARP2000 rod bolts) - weight balanced
-Crower Valve springs and Ti Retainers
-ARP Block case bolts

Planned Modifications:
-272* Kelford cams (in the spring)
-FMIC rotated intake manifold Blow Through MAF
-Bosch 1000cc injectors
-BOSCH inline fuel pump
-SARD 0-100psi fuel pressure regulator or AEM?
-BC Racing Coilovers custom revalved dampers w/ 12kg/mm springs
-BRONZE 5Zigen FN01R-C 17x9 +35 (114.3x5 conversion in Spring)
-ENDLESS MA 22B Race pads
-2.5RS front bumper w/ C-West Lip
-Undertray with rear diffuser
-Brake cooling ducts

Previous Modifications:

Engine:
'91 EJ22T shortblock (STOCK)
'03 WRX heads + intake manifold; D-style ported heads & TGV deletes
'02 WRX ECU/harness MERGED via ECS
modded stock injectors; 820-830cc, Walbro 255 FP
Perrin crank pulley
Perrin BIG MAF
Gimmick turbo inlet
ebay TMIC; port matched y-pipe inlets
Greddy Type RS BOV
SBR/Kinetic Motorsports EVO3-16G-8cm IWG turbo; GM BCS@20psi
SSAC/XSPower 4-1 headers w/ modded uppipe; no flex
x3racing bellmouth DP & SPT catback
Mishimoto Radiator
Crucial Racing 160* thermostat

Driveline:
'04 JDM WRX STi DCCD 6spd
STi FW/PP, ACT sprung 6puck disc, driveshaft, axles, R180, f/r Brembos & SS brake lines

Suspension:
BC Racing coilovers; 8kg/mm all around
jNorth fender braces
WRX 20mm sway bars f/r
custom rear sway bar reinforcement brackets
custom rear diff SOLID anti "clunk" inserts
L&E Fabrications quick steering column
Falken RT615 235/40/17
5Zigen FN01R-C 17x8 +48mm; 8mm spacer front

**FuJi K** · January 11th, 2009 01:08 PM

Street Driving Impression
This was written a few months ago...but I figure it may give some insight here.
Original thread: http://www.mnsubaru.com/forums/showthread.php?p=529568

Last week at Firestone, in the middle of a normal Friday night conversation, Fuji asked me if I wanted to trade cars. I kinda laughed and said sure thinking he was joking. But he was serious. He explained he wanted to trade for a few days a get a review of his car in the context of a daily driven car.

Now, most people on this site know about Fuji's wagon, and many of us have seen it progress from it's original NA EJ22E to it's current nearly 300whp hybrid build.

Fuji asked me to drive his car for two reasons. First, my car is very similar to what his car was in stock form, I have a 2000 Outback Sport, his car is a 99 Impreza Wagon, so I would be able to compare going from stock to highly modified and back to stock within a few days. Second, I guess he trusts me

, I think anyone who has had the misfortune of driving behind me on the street knows I take it pretty easy. So this isn't going to be a review of the performance capabilities of his car, but more an analysis of the daily driveability of his various mods. Hopefully this can provide some information to people about whether certain mods are a good idea for daily driven cars.

We traded cars Sunday night. I took a short drive around the neighborhood with him just so he could point out a few things. I've driven stock WRXs before, but that didn't really compare to this. I lightly hit boost in 2nd on the onramp to 694 and quickly shifted into third and gave it a bit more throttle. By the time I looked down I think I was going over 80mph. I've never had a car that would get me up into speeding ticket territory so quickly, so that was something I was going to have to watch out for.

My commute is a little more than 15 miles, a mix of 30mph residential streets and a few short sections of freeway. Here's an old video of the route, (sped up 8x so you don't die of boredom).

Monday morning I went out and started the car. The first thing I noticed was the exhaust. At idle and low speeds, it was noticably louder than my NA wagon with a Magnaflow catback. It was enough to wake my wife up as I was pulling away in the morning. Although it was louder, the exhaust had almost no drone at higher speeds and actually seemed quieter on the highway than my Magnaflow. I tried to use my cheap DB meter to compare with my car, but the numbers I got back were inconsistent. But, it kinda showed what I was thinking, Fuji's car interior is louder at lower speeds, but at highway speeds it's very similar to my car. The equal length headers give the car a very non-Subaru sound. I've always been a little disappointed when I hear Fuji pull away at Firestone because I'm expecting the Subaru rumble. However, inside the car the exhaust note is very satisfying somehow. I never noticed any gas odors from the catless exhaust, even with the windows down. Overall for daily driving, I'd want the exhaust to be a bit quieter. A resonator or catted DP might be enough.

The second most noticeable mod is the clutch. The pedal itself very smooth and not heavy at all, but the 6 puck clutch has a very short and solid(aka harsh) engagement. I'll admit I stalled a few times on the first trip to work, but I quickly started to adjust to it. It's very possible to drive that clutch smoothly, but you just have a much smaller range and it's not forgiving if you're off a bit, you'll either stall or get some shudder. I could easily survive driving with this clutch after having a few days to practice, but I still wasn't 100% smooth from a stop with it. Depending on the passengers you'd have to haul, they could get annoyed by the jerky starts.

After that, another noticeable mod is the quick steering rack. The steering is a lot heavier, almost like not having power steering, but not quite that heavy. I didn't really need any time to adjust to the faster ratio itself, that felt very natural. But the heavier steering took a bit to adjust to, parking lots get a little annoying with the heavy steering, other than that it's fine. Fuji's car had a little play in the wheel which felt very pronounced because of the heavy steering, I would have had a better impression of the steering rack if it hadn't been for that play. Also, I noticed a few corners where the turn signal didn't shut off because I didn't have to turn the wheel enough. I have to say for daily driving, I like my stock steering rack better. I just didn't find any advantage to the faster rack on the street. If you spend any time on the track though, it'd be worth any tradeoff.

So, the brakes, I didn't notice the brakes.... until I got back into my car. That's actually a good thing. The brakes were very progressive and smooth with obviously plenty of braking power. It wasn't until I drove my car again that I noticed how soft the pedal was on my car and how much more pedal travel was required to stop the car. Brembos might be overkill for daily driving, but I can see no drawback at all to having them and I'm going to start looking at brakes upgrades for my car in the future. The stainless steel brakes lines probably helped to the solid pedal feel as well.

Ok, the 6 speed transmission. Yes please... The gear ratios are great, the syncros actually work and as long as you don't mind shifting through an extra gear it's a great transmission. I found myself shifting between 5th and 6th on the freeway a bit when traffic sped up and slowed down where in my car I could have stayed in 5th the whole time. Otherwise I'd still cruise in 4th gear for 30mph streets, it felt very similar to 4th in my 5mt.

Ok, let's see... suspension, the ride quality was better than I expected. But I'm running SPT springs and AGX struts in my wagon, so I'm used to stiffer-than-stock suspension. The coilovers on Fuji's car didn't feel overly stiff to me. The only thing noticeable was on big bumps, the shorter travel would create some bounce, but the car handled it very well. I still found myself slowing down in Fuji's car for big bumps (like railroad crossings) that I would take at full speed in my car. I would be a bit worried about the longevity of the coilovers with some of the roads I drive on. I think some passengers might find the suspension a bit rough. Overall, I'd probably choose to stick with a strut/spring combo for a daily driven car.

The extra bracing and subframe locking bolts created noticeably more road noise, but there were also no interior panels in the rear of the wagon. I think with the stock interior in place, this extra noise wouldn't be very noticable. Also, my Bridgestone G009 tires create a lot more road noise than I was hearing from Fuji's tires, so overall the road noise level was really about the same.

Ok, so enough of the boring stuff... how about driving a nearly 300whp car to work? I'd say 99% of the time I was not using the turbo, the boost guage was firmly in the vacuum territory. Although the 2.2 felt more responsive than a stock 2.0 WRX at low rpm, it still didn't have nearly the low rpm throttle response of my NA 2.2. For 0-30mph speeds, I'll take an NA car any day. But Fuji's car was very drivable out of boost, not a problem at all.

The few times I got into the boost was on the freeway on ramps or passing on the freeway. Coming down the ramp in 3rd gear at about 3000 rpm it only took a quick stab of the throttle to get up to (or past) the speed limit and merge. The amount of power the car made really was overkill for a daily commute. Fun, but overkill. I'm a little torn, but I still think I'd prefer NA overall, but if I spent more miles on the freeways, I'd take the raw hp over the low rpm NA torque.

I'd be interesting in trying a 2.0 stage 2 WRX or any stage 2.5 WRX and see how it compares. Having either a turbo that spools sooner or a bigger block with more torque might wipe out any advantage I think the NA still has.

I drove about 100 miles in three days and got just about 22mpg. My 2.2 NA would have probably gotten about 25-27 with the same mix of driving. I thought this mpg was acceptable given the mods done to the car.

So, two conclusions. First, if it were a permanent trade and I had to commute in Fuji's car every day. First, I would quiet the exhaust down a bit with a resonator or cat. I would put a few more interior pieces back in and maybe a bit of extra sound deadening. I would install a stereo, a radiator fan (or two) and probably try to get the AC working again. The clutch I would keep, but it would get replaced with something less aggressive. The coilovers I would keep, but again in the future they'd be replaced with something with more travel.

Second, what would I do to my car (if I had money to burn) after driving Fuji's. I'd buy (and probably will buy) better seats. He has an 04 wrx driver's seat that . I didn't realize how much difference that would make compared to the stock Impreza wagon seats, it was great. I was happy to try that out too since I knew they sit a bit taller. I'm almost 6', and I could still (barely) wear my helmet in the car. I'd also look at a brake upgrade, maybe WRX brakes and SS lines. I already have SPT springs, AGX struts, strut tower braces and a bigger rear sway bar in my wagon and I'm happy with them for the driving I do. Power-wise, for the driving I do, I don't think I'd invest in doing a turbo swap on my car. For daily driving, rallycross and some ice driving, my 2.2 NA is just enough.

**FuJi K** · January 11th, 2009 01:08 PM

Track Driving Impression

On Aug 31st I had a chance to drive Fuji's wagon on the test track at DCTC. I had spent the entire morning and most of the afternoon putting on some serious miles in my car on the track. So by the time I got into Fuji's car, I had become very comfortable with pushing my car close to its limit around the course.

I first got to ride along for a few laps while Sheen (idget) drove. He gave me a few tips and warnings. The track has a 55mph speed limit, this wasn't a problem in my car, but I noticed Sheen getting up to that limit very fast in Fuji's. The other very noticeable difference was the responsiveness of Fuji's car, turn in was nearly instant for example. The DCTC track is a bit rough in a few spots, and Fuji's car was stiff enough to have trouble keeping all the tires on the track at times and as a result had trouble delivering power. There was noticable wheel spin out of certain corners.

After checking with Fuji, I got in the driver's seat. I think I said something like "ok, I'll drive, but I'm not gonna get into the boost on this track...", yeah, that didn't last long. The car carried momentum well around the turns, there was very little body roll and the tires hooked up well. The brakes were powerful, but a bit inconsistent when driven hard which meant that I was usually braking very early.

After a lap or two, I starting getting on the throttle a bit harder coming out of some of the corners. Compared to an NA car, gear selection is very important if you want to exit a corner fast. Also, you really need to pay attention to how soon and how hard you get on the gas. In my car, I can just mash the gas pedal down as soon as I start to unwind the wheel and the power delivery is smooth and there are no problems. In contrast, in Fuji's car I got on the gas a bit too early in 3rd gear coming out of a high speed corner and very quickly the back end started to come out.

The quick steering rack on Fuji's car felt perfect on the track, absolutely perfect. I'd say it's totally worth it if you spend much time at all on a track.

The Brembos had tons of stopping power, enough to get me in trouble locking up the front brakes if I wasn't careful. Fuji just needs to work out the kinks that are causing the inconsistent pedal travel and the brakes will be set.

The transmission and clutch, again no complaints on the track. The only thing I noticed was that rev matching is a bit different on turbo vs na since the turbo engine was a bit slower to rev from low rpms, where my na is very responsive. It just takes a longer blip to get the rpm up.

The suspension was a bit stiff for some parts of the track and was picking tires up at times (probably not when I was driving, but for other, faster drivers). But there was no body roll and the car was responsive.

Again, I noticed the difference the most when I got back into my car. My brakes are underpowered and soft. The turn in on my car is noticably slower than on Fuji's car. And my all-season tires didn't have nearly the grip of his tires. The lack of power I can deal with, especially on a tight course, but improving my brakes, tightening up the steering a bit and better tires would make my car a lot quicker.

Sheen suggested getting larger sway bars front and rear and looking into some cowl (fender) braces and maybe some Whiteline steering bushings for my car. These are reasonably prices mods that I think would help a lot. I'm also planning on upgrading to RS brakes and SS lines and buying summer-only tires for next year.

Originally Posted by Musashi@MNSubaru.com

The amount of torque coming from Black Mamba is just insane, I have driven it periodically and I'm still trying to develope the right sensitivity for the throttle, unlike most cars I have driven before where it doesn't take me much time, this beast is a whole other breed of its own. It reminds me of how the old turbocharged Formula 1 cars were described to me. Of just how a tiny increment of the throttle does you a whole lot of hair raising.

So far this weekends the R&D has proven the Black Mamba will be looking pretty good for the Oct event with BMW at BIR on the short track. Stay tune as we continue to develope this car and challenge ourselves to drive at a whole new level. So far we know this car is capable of, drifting/power oversteer thru the corners and short track and high speed. Someone has suggested they desired to see what she can do on Gravel. But the question remains, do we dare?

What about the 1320?
This was a HOT Summer day.in the 90* temps and humidity. I sprayed down the TMIC with DUST OFF bought from Target. Flipped the bottle upside down, pointed the straw between the FINS of the TMIC and spray away! 1 can per run pretty much. $7 each!! Spendy in a way...

**FuJi K** · January 11th, 2009 01:12 PM

Picture Gallery

**FuJi K** · January 11th, 2009 01:20 PM

**FuJi K** · January 11th, 2009 01:23 PM

**FuJi K** · January 11th, 2009 01:24 PM

**FuJi K** · January 11th, 2009 01:25 PM

**05cgmsti** · January 11th, 2009 01:32 PM

Nice write up, this should help alot of people looking to do something similar. I'm jealous.

**ej20** · January 11th, 2009 01:59 PM

U-da-MAN Fuji.

you look tired on that pic, want a beer?

**Quietkid** · January 11th, 2009 02:27 PM

Very nice! I enjoyed it alot.

If your interested in those cams sometime, pm me. I have some brand new 272 BC's for ej205 heads.

**eterenity11** · January 11th, 2009 04:01 PM

WOW nice write up...

**Musashi** · January 11th, 2009 05:35 PM

I am a proud friend to have been part of your journey and to have experienced great commodore in your continued efforts for success and re-engineering of your machine, but most of all your devotion and commitment to sharpen your craft. You are someone who has lead the way for many new drivers and enthusiasts thru your collective knowledge and kindness to help others in their challenges.

I look forward to seeing you aspire to another level and will continue to support you in anyway I can. You are a valuable asset to the community.

“It’s not what’s inside us that defines us, it’s what you do with it!”

**FuJi K** · January 11th, 2009 09:45 PM

I'd like to thank ALL of those who helped my make this possible. If it wasn't for them, I wouldn't have come this far. Many thanks to the forums and its members as well as they prove to be very informative.

Thank you much Chong for the Support!

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