club.liberty.asn.au

Tim, my favourite colour for lib wagon. Looks great.
Hopefully I'll be back in one soon.

Thanks Jif, before I bought this car I had never considered buying a white car but I am so happy with it. I reckon it looks great and it is really hard to see any imperfections such as scratches. Generally it is easier to keep looking clean compared with darker cars, the only exception is the rear tailgate area where dirt accumulates and becomes quite visible.

In a previous post I had promised to provide some installation steps/tips for the Mishimoto TMIC. Please find link below.

viewtopic.php?f=37&t=27374&p=400942#p400942

Cheers,

Tim have you been re-tuned by Matt with the VF52 and Mishi TMIC yet?

Reading your post install findings, you noticed some more lag in spool? What RPM would you say it starts pulling hard?

I'm probably going to go down the same path but I like the turbo kicking as low as possible, at the moment mine starts around 2700-2900 and I don't really want that to increase much.

It's not much difference.. 100 - 200rpm. Barely noticeable

Some updates and thoughts:

I have been doing quite a bit of research and decided to purchase some Group N mounts. Everything I read about them seems very positive and many claim best mod they have ever done. I like the idea of Group N as it is essentially the best of the OEM. I intend to place an order next week for Pitch Stopper, 6MT and Engine mounts. I will try and install them individually to note the cumulative improvements if I get the time. I am also considering replacing some bushes in the gear lever assembly but not 100% convinced yet that I need to.

I have an updated tune from Matt which I have been running for the last week or so. Big improvement but still needs some road tuning. Basically it now feels like S is S#. Luckily Matt is in town this weekend so hoping to catch up with him to see how we can improve on the tune and get things a bit smoother. I am also interested to see how the injector duty cycle looks so I know how much if any headroom I have. I was under the impression that the VF52 can outflow standard injectors so I can only but assume I mustn't be too far off.

I am also considering ditching the front Whiteline swaybar. It is making noises and shitting me.

I have been thinking about how much better my car could sound with a new cat back exhaust retaining STI muffs. I would be interested how much more sound I would get by keeping the muffs and moving to 3" and hotdog resonator.

New mod coming:
Group N engine mounts (including pitch stopper) and gearbox mount purchased and expected prior to Easter. Will keep this thread posted with updates.

Updated tune:
Met up with Matt last night for a tweak to my tune which I have been hanging out for since installing the VF52 and TMIC. Matt had already done a couple of iterations via e-tune with logging so he only needed around 30min in the car to update and test the new tune. The car feels very solid in power delivery and I am very happy with it. I gave it a fang driving back from the tune just before midnight and the clutch is starting to slip under full noise on ear changes but otherwise power delivery is strong and smooth. From memory it is tuned at 11psi for 'I' mode, 14.5psi for 'S' mode and 18.4psi for 'S#' mode. Boost is only peaking at peak torque and backs off at higher revs which is done to protect the engine. Matt has introduced engine light flash on knock detection so you have a real time visual aid to detect knock (what a great idea). Apparently my injector duty cycle is running at around 92% which according to Matt has a lot of head room as the injectors can push past 100% and support ~240ish atw. If anything I will replace the fuel pump as filter is due for replacement anyway.

Shout-out:
Just to give Matt (Kido Tuning) some praise which he truly deserves. Without a doubt he is a very talented guy when it comes to tuning cars. Despite occasional criticism, he offers a very accessible service at a very reasonable price considering his experience and knowledge. He had a full schedule this trip and still accommodated me despite having been up from the crack of dawn tuning cars. Every time I see him he has done some more R&D and introduced a new feature. He comes across as having a real focus on tuning not only for performance but for longevity. There are lots of little things built into the tunes to make the engines use of power more efficient and safe. He understands idiosyncrasies of different engines and accommodates in his tuning, especially for Subaru from what I have seen. Smart tuning .

Well said Tim, nice write up

That really is a good idea re the engine light knock signal!!
That's interesting that your injector duty is 92% and that's OK. I always thought it was best to stay under 80%, but as my car has similar mods, I'm sure mine must be the same.
How good is the extra torque hit from the VF52!?!

peadya100 wrote:That really is a good idea re the engine light knock signal!!
That's interesting that your injector duty is 92% and that's OK. I always thought it was best to stay under 80%, but as my car has similar mods, I'm sure mine must be the same.
How good is the extra torque hit from the VF52!?!

+1 Great to hear that it all went well and is driving better than ever Tim

I also had heard that the IDC is ideally kept below 90% so not sure which is correct, but I'll check with Coyote in a few days and see what he thinks

Dan, I trust Matt on this. He tunes more cars than anyone I know so he has a lot of real life data and experience. AFRs were healthy based on OEM wide band and by no means is he pushing my tune as I have never asked him to add more power or boost, I leave it to his judgement based on what I want out of the car. I really questioned the injector duty cycle and he gave me full confidence that I won't hit an injector bottleneck on this tune. Some of the old libs used to make 200atw on 440cc injectors with mildy increased pressure so in my simple mind I can see how the larger injectors in the Gen4s (by ~+25% flow) would equate roughly to what Matt has explained.

peadya100 wrote:That really is a good idea re the engine light knock signal!!
That's interesting that your injector duty is 92% and that's OK. I always thought it was best to stay under 80%, but as my car has similar mods, I'm sure mine must be the same.
How good is the extra torque hit from the VF52!?!

Your injectors are at closer to 95% for over 210Kw in an auto

240Kw@wheels is 100% duty. A TD04 will reach 70 to 75% IDC%

Also, the factory injectors are 565cc but are scaled at 550.67cc in the factory tune hence why these injectors have been proven to allow up to 103% IDC before maxing out

Very interesting!
Well I'm glad you (matt) and my tuner think the injectors are still ok... that's all I need

Adam yes the VF52 pulls well . The VF46 is more punchy down low which is good for around town but as soon as you decide to wind it out you will be behind. The VF52 definitely gives a stockish vehicle respectable power.

Update
Sti Group-N mounts arrived yesterday! A bit nervous about putting these in but excited at the same time. I read a tonne of opinions and some of the best were captured in a single thread (albeit WRX) for anyone interested in reading up. http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthr ... ?t=1943917. Some say noticeable NVH increase, others say it is minimal. I am expecting some but won't know until it is all done. When I was younger, I wouldn't have cared about he NVH trade-off given the other benefits but I am after more of a balance now. I plan to install engine mounts first and then tranny mount 1 week later as this is the one I am unsure about. From what I have read the engine mounts and pitch stopper will make the most difference with the least amount of NVH. I put Group-N engine mounts on my MY92 Legacy GT and it made the car feel a lot tighter.

The following link has a picture of what I have purchased (excluding the smaller components for the cross member cushions parts) http://www.rallispec.com/mou_drv_rst4100.html

My father approves of your car. He saw it around the 'gabba somewhere last week. He was excited enough to put it in an email to me. So there you go. You impressed a 68 year old with only a passing interest in cars!

Thanks Ian, I will take that as a compliment.

On an unrelated note, I went for a semi spirited drive through Mt Glorious yesterday, up, over and down the backside of the mountain and then back over again. Some of the roads on the backside are quite corrugated and hairpins etc and geez my underbody made a lot of noise cornering on the bumps and didn't feel like much was being absorbed in terms of NVH. It actually feels like something is loose and jiggling but I am wondering whether this is just par for the course with Bilsteins or whether something is worn out. The car actually handles beautifully through these roads with well balanced breaking, handling and power, it is just the NVH which seems harsher than Subaru would have released these from the factory.