Good advice, thanks. I have some more research to do and I have sometime as I am not looking to move forward until next year.
I honestly was just going to do pistons, AOS, Intercooler , header and 20G and be done with it but I know I'll want to push it further.
I have a stock location GT3071R that I'm going to clean up and sell. That's slightly larger than a 20G and would be great for your current power goals.
Of course you could always buy a much larger turbo, one that would eventually support 500whp, and just run a mild tune until you rebuild the engine with forged internals. That was my original plan, and I didn't realize at the time (was young and dumb) that said turbo wouldn't get me there.
Speaking of ultimate power goals. You wouldn't be crazy to run a FMIC after a turbo upgrade. TMICs are great for response and spool, but they will ultimately restrict your peak power potential. The general rule of thumb is, a GT30 sized turbo is about as big as you can go on any TMIC. This can be mitigated through E85 or methanol, but that's another long story. Basically, for 500whp AND reliability, you will most likely require a FMIC.
I say all this because I made many mistakes over the years, buying mods that were great, but eventually needed to be replaced with something bigger. That of course costs even more time and money. I could have saved a lot of both by buying the right stuff the first time.
Hopefully you can learn from our mistakes along the way. :tup:
Lastly, I am of the opinion that if you choose to commit the USDM Subaru sin of running an equal length header AND are upgrading the turbo, the only thing that will save you from an eternity in hell is a twin-scroll turbo. :lol: