My Other DIY Project.

[bassmonster]

The guy should ship out my supercharger on Saturday.

Also, I just ordered all the parts for my 5 speed manual transmission swap, for $1200 shipped. They should arrive on the freight pallet in about a week.

Here is a pic of the intercooler mounted. Contrast is turned down; normally you can't see the intercooler unless you're really looking for it. After it's all said and done I should be running around 220 awhp. Considering stock WRX come with about 150-175 awhp depending on the dyno used, this Forester will destroy stock WRX, especially out of corners where the WRX has to wait for turbo lag unless there is a skilled driver behind the wheel who knows how to work the torque curve.



Oh, and please excuse the fuzzy dice.

[shawn_g]

Sounds fun.

You sure about that horsepower figure? 220hp at the crank seems more likely with only 6psi.

[bassmonster]

Yep, another guy running an M62 on this motor made 220awhp with full boost from 2200 RPM. Remember the SOHC EJ253 is a bit higher compression than the older EJ20s as well, and the SOHC heads are among the best flowing heads Subaru makes, even better than the turbo heads. For once, the turbo guys actually want to buy N/A Subaru parts. The whp figure varies greatly depending on the kind of AWD dyno you do it on, eg. Mustang dyno, etc.

[shawn_g]

Cool. Be sure to post some dyno charts and videos after you get it tuned. I've driven and owned plenty of turbo cars, but I've never been in anything supercharged.

Good luck finding a stock WRX to beat on. I can't remember the last time I saw a bugeye/blobeye/hawkeye that didn't at least have an exhaust.

[bassmonster]

My best friend has a stock blobeye WRX wagon and loves to make fun of the Forester's body roll in the corners.

[bassmonster]

So my tail lamps that I fully refurbished are sold, and my 5MT + parts are being shipped off from Ohio on Friday, and my supercharger should be at my door by Friday. Time to get fabricating!

[bassmonster]

My supercharger is here, great condition, and so is my new transmission (only 50K miles!) and all those parts. I got everything for $1500, so not bad. Dates have been set and it's time to start fabbing up the supercharger intake manifold. Anyone done aluminum brazing before? Pics to come when I feel motivated enough to resize the pics.

[67baja]

I don't think you can braze aluminum. Find someone who can TIG it for you. Or MIG if they have a spool gun. Aluminum is more touchy to weld than steel, but it can be done. Make templates for all your parts out of poster board then cut them out of aluminum, then get em welded.

[bassmonster]

Well, I've almost got all my parts and go up to MN July 15th for the build.

[Ryan A]

Well, I've almost got all my parts and go up to MN July 15th for the build.

MN as in Minnesota?

[bassmonster]

Yep, Minneapolis to be specific.

[bassmonster]

Well, my 5MT and supercharger are in. The 5MT works great save for a few electrical issues that I'm ironing out. Currently I have no speedometer. The intercooler piping is almost done, so I should be getting some supercharger whine within the next week.
Pics to come later when I'm not too lazy to resize.

[loudsubz]

there is a guy selling an 04 forester with full STI conversion for 14g on craigslist...

[bassmonster]

So I've been running with the 5MT for awhile. It's been popping out of 4th under deceleration. Turns out when I installed it I accidentally pushed the input shaft into the trans, breaking the main shaft rear brake plate. That's a good $500 fix.

[Tom Smit]

OUCH!




PS-don't use the bell housing bolts to draw it in (if that's what you did). It should slide all the way in, so that the two mating surfaces are touching.