Friend wants to up the hp in his subaru
 

My friend has a 2000 outback 2.5L. He would like a little more power out of it but keep it daily drivable. He dosen't want it breaking down or needing major tweaks. So, something like a chip. Also what kind of gas milage changes might he see? Power gains? and cost?

Re: Friend wants to up the hp in his subaru
 

Well, I don't have a N/A 2.5, so I'm not sure I know what I'm talking about, but I would guess that "chipping" the car, i.e. an ECU reflash or a piggyback won't really gain much without other mods. However, the 2.5L motor responds well to intake and exhaust mods. If your friend can stand the louder noise, a cold air intake and header or cat-back exhaust should boost the output and "fun" factor quite a bit, w/o costing too much or losing driveability, unless you consider a louder exhaust undriveable.

Hey RS guys, chime in here!

SECCS stickers are good for 5 HP a piece! :lol:

Seriously, on NA, all you can do without affecting reliability much is intake and exhaust. In a way, that is true for turbos as well. All the boost bumping etc. is not great for reliability.

A decent filter may be worth a couple HP. A cat back a couple more, and manifold back and a high flow cat a couple more. I'm not even sure a CAI will buy you much over the above.

After that, you get into higher compression by thinner gaskets shaving heads or new rods/pistons, porting or replacing intake and exhaust manifolds etc.

Chiping NAs is seldom worht more than a couple HP, and may afect engine life depending on how far they push the knock envelope.

that's kind of what i was thinking, he just wanted to hear it from a subaru driver.

Anything can be made to go faster, it all depends on how much money you want to throw at it...

yeah, he didn't want to spend much, he just wanted a little more power. I told him that a chip alone would give him a little more power and wouldn't really reflect in his gas milage or reliablity unless he is always flooring it. I know he dosen't want a louder exhaust nor want to spend the money on getting a good cat back system. I told him I would ask you guys incase there was something about subarus that I wasn't acountting for.

Is the 2000 Outback the twin cam or single cam EJ25? If he really wants more power that actually makes a difference, all he needs are cams and a full exhaust. He can crack 200 flywheel hp for around $1200 pretty easily.

Yeah, but that's also pretty expensive, don't you think?

No, I don't think so, but my perceptions of what a performance budget is are a bit warped. ;) That includees cams, headers, highflow cat, and a custom catback though. Worth 35-45 horsepower. I think $1200 is a bargain for that.

I guess you have a point there. :)

Single cam. Same as the MY00+ RS motors IIRC.

JC

Turbo!!!!!!!!!
:lol:
There aren't really any decent "chips" out there for the EJ25. On my wife's Forester we just did the intake and exhaust. Probally freed up 10-20HP