Classic turbo wagon - Where to start?

[rosscobmw]

A good friend of mine has just bought himself a Classic shape (facelift) impreza wagon. He got it for cheap as it had no MOT, but since he owns his own garage he did all the work and now has an Impreza turbo estate with a years MOT and he wants to improve it. But neither of us, nor our friends have ever had any interest in Subarus so dont know where to start.

He'd like a bit more power and better handling, without spending thousands.

Any advice on the best things to go for? WRX or STi parts? Aftermarket stuff?

[rb5er]

How does he want to improve the handling? And also in regards of power the World your oyster, can spend 400quid on a remap or 4 or 5k on a mega forged engine and turbo.

[Ved]

Rear anti roll bar and drop links and a geo setup would be my first suggestions.

[rb5er]

I was wondering what he actually wanted to improve as handling can mean many things.

[Lefty]

Ved said:

Rear anti roll bar and drop links and a geo setup would be my first suggestions.

100% agree with this. If happy to spend a little more, look at the Whiteline anti-lift kit and roll centre kit as well.

[Lefty]

Power wise a decent exhaust, induction kit and remap could get the 2000 turbo up to 260bhp-ish which is quite a nice poweround ratio.

[Rollcage]

Lefty said:

Power wise a decent exhaust, induction kit and remap could get the 2000 turbo up to 260bhp-ish which is quite a nice poweround ratio.

I'd thought nearer 280 for the whole lot?

I've a 2000 wagon as well, and it's hard to resist the temptation to have a play. I've resisted so far, but I only live a couple of miles from Alan Jeffery! ( enginetuner.co.uk )

[HonestIago]

Is a custom remap that much better than the PPP? My wagon has the latter and drives really nicely IMO.

In theory it probably wouldn't cost that much to switch as I could sell my PPP ECU and standard downpipe to pay for a standard remap-able ECU and de-cat downpipe.

Any thoughts appreciated, although I quite like having a standard factory-fit PPP car

[Lefty]

Rollcage said:

Lefty said:

Power wise a decent exhaust, induction kit and remap could get the 2000 turbo up to 260bhp-ish which is quite a nice poweround ratio.

I'd thought nearer 280 for the whole lot?

I've a 2000 wagon as well, and it's hard to resist the temptation to have a play. I've resisted so far, but I only live a couple of miles from Alan Jeffery! ( enginetuner.co.uk )

Yeah that kinda ballpark. I forgot the fuel pump, be worth changing that too. Not expensive though.

[Steve_W]

OP, I'd suggest contacting Andy Forrest since you're in Scotland. He has a heck of a lot of positive feedback on various Subaru boards.

I gather he can be hard to get hold of since he's busy; best bet seems to be a short concise email saying what you're after to get a response.

http://www.andyforrestperformance.co.uk