Stock 2007 Liberty GT conversion to VF52 Plus...

[Stifull]

That all makes sense however for me being retired and living where I live, stop start traffic is just not an issue. I think it will be easier to install the turbo if I have the intercooler off so I can remove and refit the oil and coolant lines and the intake pipe under the intake manifold. I think the IC will be the last thing to go back on. There is no "movement thing" on the stock exhaust which I thought was strange. The downpipe is just secured with a bracket to the transmission and the rubber hanger types are all towards the rear of the exhaust system. The new downpipe is missing that bracket. It has been cut off and ground nice and flat but there is a raised platform left where I can weld a good solid mounting. I guess if the engine, transmission and front half of the exhaust all move as one then hangers towards the rear are all that is needed. I think the turbo will be off still an saturday so you are welcome to come and sus it out. When they say ported I imagine that the inside has been ground smooth. I did some google searching on MMP Turbos and they have a good reputation. I guess that's why the seller in Newcastle sent it off to Victoria to get rebuilt. Like from MMP said it will be better than a new one.. Here are some pics if that helps..

[Yowie]

I'll confirm tomorrow, but I suspect that my aftermarket downpipe also has the "transmission hanger" tab chopped off to no ill effects.

You may not need to mess with your down pipe any further regarding welding on extra hangers.

[Yowie]

For what it's worth, my aftermarket downpipe is only secured:

(a) via bolts to the back of the turbine housing;

(b) via a tab & hanger at the downstream end, just behind the gearbox oil pan; and

(c) via the flange bolts to the cat-back part of the exhaust.

My downpipe used to have an extra welded-on tab about half-way down that looks like it was intended to bolt on to the side of the gearbox.

[Stifull]

"My downpipe used to have an extra welded-on tab about half-way down that looks like it was intended to bolt on to the side of the gearbox."
Yes, that is exactly what this one has as well..and it has been on a car like that for who knows how long so I guess it must be ok to be like that..

[Stifull]

It seems I ordered the incorrect pipe and can't find the correct size... I bought the MAF to intake pipe, which on ebay looks the same size at both ends, but as it turns out it is 80mm internal one end to go onto the airbox but only 70mm internal the other end to go onto the stock inlet to the turbo pipe.. Never considered that it would be different because i never considered that people would just buy the maf pipe but still use the factory inlet to the turbo pipe, which requires a 70mm inner to fit on.. SO... the only way I can use this pipe is to have the fat end onto the airbox and the 70mm small end going INSIDE the 80mm inlet hose.. I am not happy about that because I would have to put a sleeve inside the 70mm to give it strength so it wouldn't crush when a clamp goes on. Does anyone have a link to the correct pipe please. I can't find anything ...
This end is same size and will join nicely with the 2nd hose.. or if I flip it , it will fit nicely onto the airbox BUT be too small to join the other pipe..see 2nd photo..



But as you can see this end is not going to join and is also too small to fit on the airbox..



Aaahhh.. This is a $70 hose that I can't use unless I want to compromise the install with a dodgee join of one hose going inside the next and may not be long enough to do that anyway...

[Yowie]

What a pest.

I don't recall the MAF hose being different diameters at each end, but I'll check mine when I get a chance over the next day or so.

Perhaps Kobe will do an exchange (if there are multiple versions) or a refund. They have been pretty supportive/responsive to the Aussie forum Subaru community for a long time in my experience.

[Stifull]

I contacted the seller who is a performance workshop as well as a seller of performance gear and he said the install/tuners simply put the big end on to the airbox, it's a perfect fit there, and the smaller end goes very tightly into the intake hose and because there is no pressure in those pipes, just a vacuum, there is no need for an alloy or whatever sleeve to give them strength, the double 5mm layers of the 2 hoses is more than enough and they just put a clamp on the outside ..I had already tried that and it is a nice tight fit and it wouldn't come apart as there is no where for the two hoses to go if they spread apart.. and like he says, there is no pressure in there..There is no such thing on ebay that is 80mm inner on both ends.. It shouldn't interfere with the airflow because it is no different having the hose go inside the big one because it is no different to the airbox going inside the fat end of the pipe.
I have also been investigating the need for bigger injectors, stronger fuel pump, and a pod filter for the extra surface area and the general consensus is I don't need any of that because It's only going to be making between 180 and 200 and all the bits already on the car stock will cope with that. The K&N panel filter handle 480cfm and a vf52 maxes out at 420cfm.. It wouldn't cope on my rex because it's VF22 makes 490cfm . It has a proper inguard pod setup. It makes a nice induction sound that's for sure..

[Yowie]

I contacted the seller who is a performance workshop as well as a seller of performance gear and he said the install/tuners simply put the big end on to the airbox, it's a perfect fit there, and the smaller end goes very tightly into the intake hose and because there is no pressure in those pipes, just a vacuum, there is no need for an alloy or whatever sleeve to give them strength, the double 5mm layers of the 2 hoses is more than enough and they just put a clamp on the outside ..I had already tried that and it is a nice tight fit and it wouldn't come apart as there is no where for the two hoses to go if they spread apart.. and like he says, there is no pressure in there..There is no such thing on ebay that is 80mm inner on both ends.. It shouldn't interfere with the airflow because it is no different having the hose go inside the big one because it is no different to the airbox going inside the fat end of the pipe.

How novel. if it works - fair enough. If you're nervous about the rigidity a short piece of 70mm pipe on the inside of the two overlapped silicone pipes should give sufficient rigidity for the external hose clamp to tighten down on.

I have also been investigating the need for bigger injectors, stronger fuel pump, and a pod filter for the extra surface area and the general consensus is I don't need any of that because It's only going to be making between 180 and 200 and all the bits already on the car stock will cope with that. The K&N panel filter handle 480cfm and a vf52 maxes out at 420cfm.. It wouldn't cope on my rex because it's VF22 makes 490cfm . It has a proper inguard pod setup. It makes a nice induction sound that's for sure.

I would tend to agree - don't bother with those extras. "Mission creep" is an expensive time-consuming beast at the best of times for car modifications.

Modest increases injectors and fuel pump are "ok" but there is definitely such thing as "too big" for each of those items. Eg:

(a) "too big" injectors lose fine control and idle and similar low-load, leading to worse fuel economy, rougher idle etc.

(b) in my experience a "too big" fuel pump caused fuel-return-line (or regulator) capacity to max-out on a cold start (where the fuel pump runs on the high setting but the injectors still have a small pulse width), causing awful fuel-smelling exhaust on start-up. The solution was either a more modest pump (selected) or spending even more on upgraded fuel system to increase the return-to-tank capacity.

The stock airbox does its job very well for the range of power available from Subaru-supplied turbos (including the VF52).

[Stifull]

Awesome, thanks for the reassurance. I am happy to do it that way. it's not like I'm hunting for big numbers. It has never been tuned since it was new would be my guess and with the assembled goodies it should easily make 180+ on low boost and be a LOT more fun than it is now. Feel free to come over saturday. My eldest daughter, husband and 2 grand children are coming over for lunch on Saturday but it won't matter if their here.. They don't come over to see us, they come over to ride on the Pee wee50 and 80 that we bought recently for them to learn to ride on.. Just when the lawn finally recovers from my sons ripping it up on their RM250 and XR250..At least the Peewees don't tear it all out by the roots.. LOL..

[Yowie]

"The hunt for big power" in a Subaru is an expensive exercise anyway. A person seeking a big number or a quarter mile time would be better off getting something with an LS or Barra in it and throwing their money and effort at that.

What a Subaru does deliver is an awesome all-rounder.

--

No worries, I'll co-ordinate with you by text message a good time to pop over on Saturday.

[Stifull]

Contact details for Matt at Kido_racing... I have sent PM . Can't find him on FB . Is he still working...

[Stifull]

I sent Matt a text and an Email so I'll wait for his reply. Hopefully I'll get one.. LOL.. Everything has ground to a halt. The turbo is flying up from Newcastle with my son tomorrow night so I'll have everything here but I can't find anyone to tune it and I am not about to start changing things until I have a tuning DATE sorted. I rang East Coast Customs, the guy I bought the exhaust for the LIB about 2 years ago when I first bought it had had great success with them tuning his Liberty, ECC said they don't do Subarus anymore, they mainly do Mustangs and other such things. Their Subaru guru has left and is now working at Diversion Garage down at Capalaba, and I could easily get the car down there on the local towies flat top but they want $1530 for a tune. $1100 for the tune but they also insist that they need to do a "Smoke Test" a "Boost leak Test" and fit new Plugs for $430.. Not sure what a 'smoke" test is but there will be no boost leaks in my set up and I had new plugs fitted not long ago and have barely done 5000 klm since. I won't be going there. I've been reading a lot of reviews and it seems that they can do a tune in less than 90 min. That's $12 a minute.. LOL.. or $720 an hour .. and you can bet the guy doing the tune doesn't see much of that. So anyway I shall keep hunting around for someone who is better value that that. I'm happy to pay $1000 for a tune but for that I expect the tuner to spend the time to get it right and also have the SI drive behaving nicely as well. In one review I read the guy said he got his car back and it was running well but was told it needed 18LB of boost to run properly and his SI drive and paddle shift was no longer functioning... at all.. What the..Fortunately for him Matt was able to fix their mess and get everything working and running safe boost pressure. In the mean time I shall sus out Coyote ..Another fellow, who unfortunately doesn't do work on factory ecus, fitted and tuned my sons STi with the new "LINK" ecu did an awesome job. He even travelled from Wynnum to the Northside to replace a new component that had failed and again to check it all a week later. Loaded all the software on my son's laptop so if it has any issues down in Thredbo he can log in remotely and fix things. He set up the IC air temp to range down to 20 degrees below zero etc. THAT is the type of service you don't mind paying good money for.... If anyone has had any good experiences with a tuner that knows our cars and the SI drive autos please let me know..
In the meantime I am doing a cosmetic resto on the Peewee 80 .. Yamaha don't have paint codes...they only sell paint.. so the PW80 is now looking beautiful with a very shiny coat of WRX World Rally Blue... LOL.. Just need to touch up a couple of other bit's, clean up the chrome and put on the new stickers and it's good to go..

[bigBADbenny]

I messaged Matt with your enquiry

[Stifull]

Thanks Ben.. Appreciate your help..

[Stifull]

Finally I have all the bits together. The turbo arrived and is perfect, and according to Luke from MMP who rebuilt it (it's never been fitted), it is better than a new one because of the different billet that they have installed as well as the porting .. So It is all now getting packed away in boxes because I cant find a tuner.. They either want way too much..eg $1530 or they lock your ecu. Still waiting on a reply from Coyote ... I might just put it all on the dining room table so I can get some pleasure out of looking at my $1890 worth of goodies...