Hey everyone. Bought my first STI. It's a 2015 and I absolutely love it. Love the forum too
. I have a few mods in mind for my car and would some opinions on them and which order I should do them in. Here is what I had in mind. I want to do a turbo back. I love the sound of the N1 invidia. But can only find it in a cat back? Also would like to get a COBB cold air intake and a Mishomoto intercooler. And a plug/play tuner. I noticed some rides have their intercooler changed from a top mount to a front mount? How much work is involved in this? Is that something i should consider only if I plan on getting some serious HP?
Thanks
My goal is to be around 450. My car isn't even a daily driver lol. I drive it about once a week. But I do plan on taking it on the track at least a few times each summer. Am I going to have to piece together a turbo back exhaust if I want the invidia N1? I'm not too familiar with accessport to be honest. I just read that if i plan on modding my car it's a must have to tune it properly. Is each stage good for a certain amount of HP? I was thinking I should get it 3rd on my list. Was going to do exhaust first, then intercooler, and then accessport.
Thanks for the help
I know you're probably getting antsy, but don't make any modifications for power until you have a way to tune the car. (Cobb AP, open source, etc.)
450whp is not that difficult to achieve, but you won't achieve that level safely without forged internals, which at the
very least includes swapping in forged pistons. The factory, cast hypereutetic pistons are garbage and are known to crack ringlands with poor tunes. Generally speaking, anything more than 400whp is risking the pistons.
To reach 450whp, you will also need a turbo upgrade. Before you start spending money on exhaust, intake and intercooler, ask yourself whether the turbo you will choose will utilize an internal or external wastegate. If you buy a bunch of parts now and choose an EWG turbo, you will likely have to purchase different parts to work with it. As for the intercooler, a top mount intercooler has the advantage of quick boost response while a front mount will increase turbo lag. The factory intercooler works well, but if you want a larger intercooler without the extra lag, research larger top mounts before considering a front mount. The general rule of thumb is that top mount intercoolers can support up to a GT30 sized turbo which should yield anywhere between 400 and 500whp. There are some huge horsepower Subies out there that run a top mount, so nothing is set in stone.
The Cobb Accessport or "AP" is a great first mod, and useful tool for data logging and troubleshooting. Consider buying one. Another popular route to go is Tactrix.
Start looking at suspension mods. Sway bars first, urethane bushings, endlinks, sway bar mounts...roughly in that order. Sway bars are probably the best mod for the price.
I don't know what tires come on the car, but the right set of tires can make a huge difference in handling.
I know I haven't covered everything, but this computer (I'm at work) is acting up and making it very difficult to type. I'm going to throw it off the roof. I'll check back here later.
Welcome to the community! It's great to have you here! :tup:
