So speaking from about a decade of experience working on Subaru's or basically since the WRX came to America in 2002, I'll give you my opinion. First, in order to qualify this opinion, I bought my 2003 wagon off the lot end of 2002 brand new. I've replaced motors, head work, pistons, rebuilt trannies, all form of suspension and brake work, rotated kits, flipped manifolds with FMIC's, swapped a few transfer cases, installed a couple of dog box gears, rear end swap, 5x114 hub swaps, etc. My car currently has an 04 STI motor in and that's about it and I'll tell you exactly why right now. Subaru's are not, never were, never built to be and certainly shouldn't be race cars in stock form. The street version isn't anything like the race version as opposed to the evo 8/9 which was almost the same race chassis minus a few parts needed to qualify it for homologation rules. They are economy cars that they very slightly beefed up, and I mean slightly, and threw a turbo on. Example. The 5 speed transmission in the 2003 WRX is the same box out of a 1987 Subaru Loyale. A 127hp Subaru Loyale. Same tranny for the 227hp 2003 WRX. They eventually widened the gears 1mm halfway through 2002 which can be noted by the change from "AA" to "BA" on the tranny code, due to a clear mistake on their part. Now that example has F-All to do with the motor, so let's look at that. The motor itself is fine for the stock hp level generated. You can flash the map and get some decent power out of it, throw some widgets at it, make a bit more, but these things are not race cars. The piston ring lands are way to close together for boost. The most common failure I've seen has been ring land failure at boost levels around 24psi. The rods are ehh, they are ok. The crank is forged. The aluminum block on the EJ205 has virtually no support on the minor and major thrust angle. The EJ257 STI block does but both are considered inferior to the Japanese EJ207 or the EJ22T blocks which are closed deck. The issue is that if Subaru can cut a corner they usually do. They build their parts with borrow parts. They seem to have a philosophy that if it didn't break a lot, don't fix it. This stems from the people they market to and it isn't me and you. They make cars for grandma. They make cars for the lovely lesbian couple in Leadville, CO. They make car for people who are going to fuck up and throw 89 octane in the WRX they got upsold on at the dealer and so the cars, more accurately, the ECU's, are programmed to allow for this lowest common denominator behind the wheel. What this means is they are woefully underpowered compared to their potential right off the factory line. This is opposed to most Hondas which will run at 85% IDC rock stock. Subaru's run rich as shit, especially at the top end going down to nearly 9-1 AFR on the factory map and even lower for the low octane map. So the cars are built for idiots because they have to be. Idiots buy cars, car manufacturers know this, and tune them accordingly. Subaru tunes their so anyone can drive it and take margin care of it. The problem is that they didn't make the WRX with enough nuts to handle much more than stock power. It can of course, and you hear about people running 400hp stock block Subaru's, but by comparison, the number of blown up cars making less than 400 is much higher. We hear about the success however, not the failure in what I call, the Ever Positive Subaru Fan Boy Best car in the World Syndrome. Mind you, I own one of these cars. But there is no real qualitative look at these cars because the fan base is more rabid than a Starbucks full of Hipsters on the day of a new iPhone release. They specifically go into internet polls and force Subaru to the top regardless of any real understanding of quality. Look back a few years at SUV of the year for the major magazines. See anything funny there? Like the Forrester seems to win, while you rarely see one? Yeah. That's them. I am not saying they are not nice off the factory line. I'm saying, these ain't race cars. None of em. The closest they got was the STI which has, other than cosmetics, has gone virtually unchanged for years now. I've never had a head gasket issue. The spark plugs are an absolute cock to replace compared to an inline 4. The tranny comes off nice but you really have to lift the front end to slide it out. In almost every scenario, it's easier to remove the entire motor and tranny, rather than do work on the car. I've only just got to where I'm comfortable doing a timing belt job with the motor in and have it down to about 1.5 hours. Simple things can be a bitch like changing the water pump requires the timing belt to come off, so that can become an all day job quickly. The battery is in a horrible place. The top mount intercooler is an absolutely shite idea. It just heat soaks at idle regardless of the "Turbo Shield". In short, the pistons are absolute shite. The rest of it is ok. The STI motor is better to a degree, pre-EJ255(06 up). After that, it is widely agreed there is little difference between the 2.5L motors. The 6 Speed is vastly superior to the 5 speed. Everything in Japan is better than the best we get. The proper car to get is an unmolested 06-07 WRX or STI of any year since they are all about the same except in style. I resent the lack of an STI sedan these days. For some unknown reason, the 06-07 WRX came with Subaru 4/2 brakes and an odd gear ratio which went away with the 08'. It still has the EJ255 motor but uses the TD04 turbo which I believe is no longer used on the WRX. Still the 06-07 is the best performance dollar. IF you about looks, gotta go with the Bugeye. It's the last WRX that had the classic rally look that Subaru was known for. 36 Reply
This is true. I like how you speak facts. I’ve kept my 15 WRX stock and it’s been a wonder other than maintenance it has needed nothing since I got it. My buddies who mod theirs have to fix something or work on their cars literally every week.
Soild write up. The 257’s rings are gapped way too close and the pistons’ high silicon content makes them brittle leading to cracked ringlands and all that other stuff. Sucks because both the ring gap and piston metallurgy are that way to help meet emissions. Still love everything about my STi tho…
No tuner for this car, just running a Cobb OTS tune, 91 version while running 93 octane to avoid detonation. This BPV is also full recirc so no tune required.
@@The_Casual_Nerd I doubt Subaru would sell a car with a faulty BPV. They don’t leak unless cracked. Most of the cracks occur on the turbo inlet anyways
@@The_Casual_Nerd as much i hate to agree with what appears to be a fortnite child, he’s correct to an extent. the boomba unit is known for leaks more than it’s aftermarket competitors. doesn’t mean every single boomba unit out there is defective tho - but it just isn’t the best from a reliability standpoint based on what i’ve seen. i’m fbo, e85 and ewg and i still have the stock bpv with 0 issues. sounds just as good as the boomba too when paired with an intake and fmic
Sounds Awesome!!!!
Is this v1 or v2??
Is this with the OEM intake? Curious if it's louder with an aftermarket 1. Thanks
MacGyver Orchard
Rolfson Height
Lolita Ranch
Ankunding Centers
Alisha Forks
how was the installation?
Wasn’t too bad, installed from underneath.
Did you tune for this?
No tuning needed for a BPV that still recirculates 100%
@@The_Casual_Nerd hmm I always want more noises..
So speaking from about a decade of experience working on Subaru's or basically since the WRX came to America in 2002, I'll give you my opinion. First, in order to qualify this opinion, I bought my 2003 wagon off the lot end of 2002 brand new. I've replaced motors, head work, pistons, rebuilt trannies, all form of suspension and brake work, rotated kits, flipped manifolds with FMIC's, swapped a few transfer cases, installed a couple of dog box gears, rear end swap, 5x114 hub swaps, etc. My car currently has an 04 STI motor in and that's about it and I'll tell you exactly why right now.
Subaru's are not, never were, never built to be and certainly shouldn't be race cars in stock form. The street version isn't anything like the race version as opposed to the evo 8/9 which was almost the same race chassis minus a few parts needed to qualify it for homologation rules. They are economy cars that they very slightly beefed up, and I mean slightly, and threw a turbo on. Example. The 5 speed transmission in the 2003 WRX is the same box out of a 1987 Subaru Loyale. A 127hp Subaru Loyale. Same tranny for the 227hp 2003 WRX. They eventually widened the gears 1mm halfway through 2002 which can be noted by the change from "AA" to "BA" on the tranny code, due to a clear mistake on their part. Now that example has F-All to do with the motor, so let's look at that.
The motor itself is fine for the stock hp level generated. You can flash the map and get some decent power out of it, throw some widgets at it, make a bit more, but these things are not race cars. The piston ring lands are way to close together for boost. The most common failure I've seen has been ring land failure at boost levels around 24psi. The rods are ehh, they are ok. The crank is forged. The aluminum block on the EJ205 has virtually no support on the minor and major thrust angle. The EJ257 STI block does but both are considered inferior to the Japanese EJ207 or the EJ22T blocks which are closed deck. The issue is that if Subaru can cut a corner they usually do. They build their parts with borrow parts. They seem to have a philosophy that if it didn't break a lot, don't fix it. This stems from the people they market to and it isn't me and you. They make cars for grandma. They make cars for the lovely lesbian couple in Leadville, CO. They make car for people who are going to fuck up and throw 89 octane in the WRX they got upsold on at the dealer and so the cars, more accurately, the ECU's, are programmed to allow for this lowest common denominator behind the wheel. What this means is they are woefully underpowered compared to their potential right off the factory line. This is opposed to most Hondas which will run at 85% IDC rock stock. Subaru's run rich as shit, especially at the top end going down to nearly 9-1 AFR on the factory map and even lower for the low octane map. So the cars are built for idiots because they have to be. Idiots buy cars, car manufacturers know this, and tune them accordingly. Subaru tunes their so anyone can drive it and take margin care of it.
The problem is that they didn't make the WRX with enough nuts to handle much more than stock power. It can of course, and you hear about people running 400hp stock block Subaru's, but by comparison, the number of blown up cars making less than 400 is much higher. We hear about the success however, not the failure in what I call, the Ever Positive Subaru Fan Boy Best car in the World Syndrome. Mind you, I own one of these cars. But there is no real qualitative look at these cars because the fan base is more rabid than a Starbucks full of Hipsters on the day of a new iPhone release. They specifically go into internet polls and force Subaru to the top regardless of any real understanding of quality. Look back a few years at SUV of the year for the major magazines. See anything funny there? Like the Forrester seems to win, while you rarely see one? Yeah. That's them. I am not saying they are not nice off the factory line. I'm saying, these ain't race cars. None of em. The closest they got was the STI which has, other than cosmetics, has gone virtually unchanged for years now.
I've never had a head gasket issue. The spark plugs are an absolute cock to replace compared to an inline 4. The tranny comes off nice but you really have to lift the front end to slide it out. In almost every scenario, it's easier to remove the entire motor and tranny, rather than do work on the car. I've only just got to where I'm comfortable doing a timing belt job with the motor in and have it down to about 1.5 hours. Simple things can be a bitch like changing the water pump requires the timing belt to come off, so that can become an all day job quickly. The battery is in a horrible place. The top mount intercooler is an absolutely shite idea. It just heat soaks at idle regardless of the "Turbo Shield".
In short, the pistons are absolute shite. The rest of it is ok. The STI motor is better to a degree, pre-EJ255(06 up). After that, it is widely agreed there is little difference between the 2.5L motors. The 6 Speed is vastly superior to the 5 speed. Everything in Japan is better than the best we get.
The proper car to get is an unmolested 06-07 WRX or STI of any year since they are all about the same except in style. I resent the lack of an STI sedan these days. For some unknown reason, the 06-07 WRX came with Subaru 4/2 brakes and an odd gear ratio which went away with the 08'. It still has the EJ255 motor but uses the TD04 turbo which I believe is no longer used on the WRX. Still the 06-07 is the best performance dollar. IF you about looks, gotta go with the Bugeye. It's the last WRX that had the classic rally look that Subaru was known for.
36
Reply
Damn bro U went off..
@@nikesbeast this was from a forum but explains everything I know about subarus better than I could convey.
This is true. I like how you speak facts. I’ve kept my 15 WRX stock and it’s been a wonder other than maintenance it has needed nothing since I got it. My buddies who mod theirs have to fix something or work on their cars literally every week.
@@Blue_Ghost-X this wasn't my words vut my consensus.
Soild write up. The 257’s rings are gapped way too close and the pistons’ high silicon content makes them brittle leading to cracked ringlands and all that other stuff. Sucks because both the ring gap and piston metallurgy are that way to help meet emissions. Still love everything about my STi tho…
Who's your tuner?
No tuner for this car, just running a Cobb OTS tune, 91 version while running 93 octane to avoid detonation. This BPV is also full recirc so no tune required.
@@The_Casual_Nerd yeah your going to blow your motor with that intake but yeah.
The AFR is off I can guarantee it and your gonna lean the car out.
@@GaragebuiltOriginal oh on stock tune? Funny thing is I bought the car with that intake too. I loaded a tune on it soon after buying it
@@The_Casual_Nerd these cars seriously need a tune for almost everything. You are right the bpv doesnt need a tune but a intake does bro.
Have fun with the boost leaks down the road. Boomba is ass - Stock, Cobb and TiAL are the best BPV options.
Well the stock bpv leaks boost anyways!
mustang as ur pfp. Please stop.
@@The_Casual_Nerd I doubt Subaru would sell a car with a faulty BPV. They don’t leak unless cracked. Most of the cracks occur on the turbo inlet anyways
@@The_Casual_Nerd as much i hate to agree with what appears to be a fortnite child, he’s correct to an extent. the boomba unit is known for leaks more than it’s aftermarket competitors. doesn’t mean every single boomba unit out there is defective tho - but it just isn’t the best from a reliability standpoint based on what i’ve seen. i’m fbo, e85 and ewg and i still have the stock bpv with 0 issues. sounds just as good as the boomba too when paired with an intake and fmic
@@areliablewrx465 hmm the stock bpv was tested and found to leak around 10% boost at times. I’ll try to find the article