The Best Way To Make That Tax Return Disappear

Love is in the air, and for many of you, February has more meaning than roses, love letters, and cheap hotel reservations. For car enthusiasts especially, many are too broke to have a significant other because we are dumping all of our spare money into our cars. Kidding aside, for those of you who are expecting a tax return, many will file early to get those returns on the way. And for many of you, tax return season might be the only time of the year where we can use those funds to go towards an upgrade that we’ve always wanted. The problem is that you can get overwhelmed on our website with sensory overload and we just want to buy everything. So let’s do this. We will come up with some of the upgrades that are the most common on everyone’s wish list. Most of you will already have these mods and that’s okay, there is no rule about upgrading again.

 

 

WHEELS

The most popular aesthetic upgrade for any vehicle owned by an enthusiast. Wheels are the best way to express yourself through your vehicle and set it apart from other models that came with OEM wheels. Most importantly wheels are available in a variety of wider sizes to allow you to run a more aggressive tire size. But warning, too aggressive of a wheel in terms of offset will ruin your driving experience and put your safety at risk because your tires will rub on your fenders which will also create body damage. It is imperative that when shopping for wheels, you do it the right way by looking at old forum posts on the internet, or see what others have done on your social media groups. And never listen to anyone that has a clapped-out car in terms of having wheels that tilt so they can stretch a 205 on a 10-inch wheel.

Wheels can be an investment especially if you are getting the set of Volks or Advans that you’ve always wanted. Nice wheels make you more aware of your surroundings because you don’t want to curb a wheel when parking, and you certainly don’t want to bend a wheel while driving over a deep pothole. Most importantly, you will fall in love with your car all over again.

 

 

 

BIG BRAKE KITS

There is such a satisfactory feeling about having a quality big brake kit siting behind the spokes of your forged wheels. In reality, it brings your car closer to being an actual race car because essentially, you’ve got the same technology. All race cars will have a big brake kit that are paired with a really aggressive brake compound. The reason being, is because heat is the biggest enemy in braking, and you want to avoid the risk of brake fade. Brake fade is where the brakes can get so hot that it burns a film of brake pad over the rotor, and you no longer have a friction surface because the rotor is glazed over with brake pad residue. When you try to brake, you’re not braking.

Big brake kits do everything to combat heat. Obviously, you get more clamping force with a larger caliper that has more pistons, you have larger rotors that are drilled or slotted to relieve heat and pad dust, and you have larger brake pads to accommodate the larger rotors. The purpose of larger everything, is that it provides a larger surface area for the heat to spread which helps prevent overheating of your brakes, and most importantly, it prevents the chances of brake fade. If you participate in weekend track evets with the SCCA, HPDE, NASA, or other sanctioned events where you are doing 20+ minute sessions on the track, your brakes are going to get cooked. Running an aggressive pad helps, but racing pads are difficult and should not be ran on daily drivers that never see the track because they won’t work unless you’ve got some heat into them.

Racing benefits aside, if you have a set of TE37’s, and want to really enhance your show car at local meets, a big brake kit will certainly add a more pronounced look. But be very mindful because you MUST have aftermarket wheels when running a big brake kit for clearance issues. You will not clear a Brembo or a Stoptech 6-piston caliper on stock 17” STI BBS wheels.

 

 

 

EXHAUST HEADERS AND MANIFOLDS

This choice is a little interesting because it’s a mod that gets overlooked often, but it is very beneficial if you have, or who are planning to built forged motor to handle more power. For example, have you ever held the factory manifold of a 05 STI? It is insanely heavy. Not to be fair, it needed to be due to the fact that it is mounted underneath the motor of all Subaru horizontally opposed engines, and it also supports the weight of the turbocharger on an EJ engine. But the exhaust manifold aka header is going to be your first exhaust component. This component will also experience the most heat outside of your turbocharger because it is mounted to your exhaust ports on the head. The factory log-design as most are profiled, are again heavy, but highly restrictive because they don’t really have runners. This means that the exhaust gases get shoved into what little room the OEM manifold has, and then must exit cross-pipe sections and numerous bends before making the pathway to the turbocharger.

The Killer B Motorsport pictured above for example, has long tubular runners that eliminate any exhaust turbulence that you would otherwise have with the OEM manifold. Long-tube headers in LS1 engines or long-tube headers in turbocharged vehicles both experience horsepower gains due to the fact that the engine can push out those exhaust gases quicker. Note that with OEM turbochargers you will maximize the boost, power, and potential the most efficient with an aftermarket header which is a good thing. Aftermarket headers are also required for those of you who are trying to make more power with a bigger turbocharger because bigger turbochargers move a higher volume of air, and it would otherwise be limited by an OEM manifold.

 

 

 

UPGRADED OIL PAN AND PICKUP TUBE

This is another overlooked upgrade that could be the most important one you do outside of an air/oil separator in terms of saving your engine. There are two big reasons why you need to upgrade your oil pickup tube, as well as your oil pan. Naturally, Subaru engines are horizontally opposed. Now WRX and STI owners like to do the occasional spirited canyon drive, and dedicated Subaru race cars will more than likely have an upgraded oil pan and pickup tube. Going back to the point, with Subaru engines if you are on a prolonged high-speed bank for example, the oil will shift to one bank of the engine, allowing the rods on the other side to be starved of oil. When engine components are moving at a high rate of speed without proper lubrication, you get heat buildup on the rod bearings. This can turn catastrophic quickly once things go metal to metal and a rod goes through the block. Same concept when we’ve seen videos of Subarus losing engines when doing donuts in a parking lot. They do it for a prolonged period, then a rod leaves the chat.

 

So how will an upgraded oil pan prevent this? It’s the internal baffling that prevents sloshing of your oil from one bank to the other. As long as you have an appropriate amount of oil in your motor which you should 110% of the time, the baffles will keep your crankshaft, main bearings, and rod bearing properly submerged for the be lubrication.

Now gather around to talk about the OEM pickup tube especially in the EJ engines. There have been several upon several cases where the OEM pickup tube has been responsible for many blown engines. The culprit are the joint welds that connect the tube to the oil pickup. What happens is that the welds will either crack or just break away from the pickup. When this happens, the pickup tube is sucking in air, rather than oil to feed your crankshaft. And when this happens, you lose oil lubrication to your cams, your crank, bearings, and all the vital internal components that require lubrication. Basically, your engine will seize very quickly. A quality pickup tube from Killer B or IAG for example, will me made using thicker construction to be much stronger, and to be the last pickup tube that you’ll have to worry about.

 

 

FLEX FUEL

This is aimed at those of you who have a stronger forged short block, a larger turbo, and most importantly, all of the right supporting mods to make that power. For the last 15 years, ethanol has been the go-to of affordable race fuel for enthusiasts on a worldwide scale, as ethanol has ethanol has an octane rating of over 100 depending on the percentage.

Before we dive into percentage, we also know that there is always a catch with all things too good to be true. And with ethanol, we have learned that it is a corrosive fuel. Ethanol breaks down rubber, plastic, and it can break down paints and coatings. So in the early days when we didn’t know too much about ethanol and just ran it through our cars with the fuel pressure and duty cycle turned up on our injectors, ethanol would cause conventional rubber lines to deteriorate, and break apart internally which would ruin injectors because micro pieces of rubber and debris would cause blockages in the fuel lines leading to the injectors. Ethanol that also sat in gas tanks for long periods of time also wreaked havoc on the rest of the fuel system.

Fast forward to today, most fuel lines are made from PTFE which is ethanol-resistant, and fuel pumps, injectors, fuel rails, and fuel pressure regulators are made using ethanol-resistant metals and materials. So, with modern Flex Fuel Kits, they will include PTFE lines, and everything else to make your fuel system ready to employ ethanol. Most importantly the key reason for Flex Fuel, is that it will come with a sensor that will measure the percentage of ethanol in your fuel, so that it can make automatic adjustments to your ECU via COBB Accessport, or other standalone engine management systems so that you are not over boosting. Because you cannot run the same level of boost if your ethanol is at 80%, as opposed to 65% because all ethanol pumps have a varying percentage of ethanol. Now how Flex Fuel really shines? Ethanol stations are unfortunately becoming scarcer because it’s simply not sustainable to have several available ethanol stations across the US because only a small percentage of road going cars actually use ethanol. If you are running low on gas and the next ethanol station is far away, simply fill your tank with regular pump, and the flex fuel sensor will measure the amount of ethanol in your fuel, then it will adjust the tune to turn the boost down to a reasonable level through your boost solenoid, so that you don’t blow your motor.

 

 

 

INTERCOOLERS

We discuss why you should upgrade your intercooler and what kind of intercooler you should get HERE, but an upgraded intercooler is a great way to spend some of your tax returns. As we know, the OEM top mount intercooler is small, which allows it to become heat soaked during the summer months. Heat soak is where the intercooler core fails to cool the intake charge temps compressed from the turbocharger and fed to the intake manifold. When warm air gets fed into the intake manifold, you are hitting a ceiling in your performance. And it only gets worse if you have mods that increase power and boost, because the turbo will work harder. Having a larger top mount intercooler core or a front mount intercooler setup ensures cooler intake charge temperatures to maximize the efficiency of the rest of your mods, as well as the power potential of your engine.

 

 

 

TURBOCHARGER

Because why not? Many of you will have an older Subaru model such as the bugeye WRX or a GB STI, now might be the time to upgrade that factory turbocharger. And maybe some of you simply want to make more boost and more power.

The good news is that we carry several drop-in upgrades that will fit in the OEM location, that are rated for more power. And if you can’t run an aftermarket turbocharger to its fullest potential, simply turn the boost down. Afterall, any example we carry will push more air that the OEM turbocharger. Most importantly, these examples are made using the latest in turbo technology so you’ll have units with ceramic ball-bearing cartridges, while you will have other examples that have billet compressor wheels and redesigned blades for improved spool efficiency throughout the entire RPM range. Now getting an upgraded turbocharger isn’t always the easiest purchase because yes, they are expensive, but it can be labor-intensive to install these especially on a Subaru. However, if you’re looking for a good way to make that tax return disappear, an upgraded turbo will make all the right sounds and will especially renew the performance in your Subaru especially if your OEM turbocharger is tired.

 

Now these are just of the examples that we can think of that can get rid of that tax return very quickly. You love your Subaru, and as we’ve said before, you are investing in your happiness. We want you to enjoy your Subarus in good health, in good responsibility, for many years to come.