) I have another Subaru animal that I’ve been working on for a couple of years now. Its almost complete (disclaimer : I have said this several times now )
The car is an 04 STI with a fairly extensive list of mods
2.5L Sleeved Block
04 STI 2.0L AVCS heads mildy ported
Kelford 264 AVCS cams and JUN springs and retainers
Pauter Conrods and CP pistons with 2.8mm oil ring mod
14 mm Headstud conversion
Garrett GT35R (3082R) turbo with .82 housing V band
Tial 38mm External wastegate
APS BOV
Autronic SM4 PnP ECU
Innovate LC1 analyser
Custom Dump pipe and exhaust with 4>1 headers
Sard 800cc injectors, Sard regulator & MRT fuel rails
Bosch GT40 engine bay pump, Walbro in tank pump with Spec C pickup
Hyperflow Monster FMIC and Hyperflow Oil Cooler
Theres been a few different configurations since I originally aquired the car. At first the block was fitted with standard size ARP headstuds which at a track day resulted in one very expensive engine rebuild. The Headstuds actually stretched causing water to get in which washed away the top of a piston and cracked one of the ‘unbreakable’ sleeves. I was fairly pissed off that it should fail so comprehensively. I was running 24psi though
Engine two however is a lot stronger and cost a small fortune. With 14mm headstuds and Pauter Rods news sleeves and CP’s this thing should be very very strong. I had it all retuned and the power was some 30 Kws down on what I had with the old configuration. Plus it just wasn’t running right. I was dicked around a fair bit and paying $250 and hour for the pleasure and it just wasn’t right so I decided to start fixing it myself.
I realized that in the states they don’t have jack of all trades machanics and tuners. They use an engine workshop to build the engine, a mechanic to install it in the car and then they get a dedicated tuner to come and work his magic. Not being an idiot and have a heavy electronics and IT background I though I might just see what this tuning ‘dark art’ is all about.
I contacted the guys at Autronic and they were very helpful with software and tuning tips. I’d already built my own interface cable and worked out logging and determined that the things were indeed not done very well

Bob.