so ive recently purchased a 2000 outback sedan limited. the 2.5, sadly wish i coulda found one with the h6. i know that these things run around 160hp or so, but its really starting to bother me how gutless the car is. i didnt plan on it being an issue when i bought it, beings its suppose to be my reliable daily driver. but even my 2.2 impreza felt like it got up and went better. this is probly all due to the outback being an auto. but i also own a 94 turbo legacy thats an auto. i know they have like 20 more hp. but that thing pulls way harder. so my question is, is there anything i can do reliably to give it a little more go. exhaust im guessing is my best bet? and obviously not looking into any major mods, though a boosted swap would be kickk ass. its just not in the budget. THANKS!!
There isn't much you can really do to get extra power out of those without replacing internal components of the engine (ie cams, etc) and even then you're not going to be gaining a lot of power for the money that you'll be spending for the mods. Exhaust isn't going to net you anything except for sound and maybe a couple of hp.
I felt the same thing with my 09 impreza 4eat, i went with an exhaust and custom air intake and it pulled 130 whp up at MAP, it's nothing like a turbo model but it has a good amount of get up and go. Total for the setup is around $400 you may be able to do it for less depending on the parts you use. Hope this helps!
yea, thats kinda what i was worried about. oh well i guess, i may add ehaust just to have some suby rumbles again.
a lightened pulley wouldnt hurt if u want a lil quicker acceleration feeling.. dont believe it adds any ponies, just torque ..
It honestly does nothing on these motors, I went back to a stock pulley (because all of the aftermarket ones chew up belts like crazy) and noticed nothing but a smoother idle!
Full exhaust running a good TWE header, I-Speed ECU reflash, intake manifold phenolic spacers. That will give you around a 15% to 20% overall gain in power and a lot broader, flatter torque band, and better throttle response. Add cams if you want to open up the engine. Swap to a lightweight flywheel if you're willing to separate the engine and tranny to do it. This is the most you will do with the NA engine. After that, things get way expensive for small gains, and you're swapping hardware that you can do to convert to turbo anyways.
