Infamous 1st Revision review

I received the first revision from Infamous on Monday, much sooner than I expected. I loaded the map and immediately did a log and compared the data to the my base map log. I can see that the timing was advanced and I am hitting a higher boost sooner. This all translates into a stronger and smoother car.

After a few days I will be able to give a better review once I get a feel for the revised map.

CNT Catted Downpipe Review

As part of my Stage 2 build I had to purchase a Downpipe, my first thought was to immediatly buy a Cobb Catted Downpipe. I had the Cobb downpipe on my WRX and knew it was a top quality product, however I ended up buying the CNT Catted Downpipe for these reasons.

1. Much Cheaper than the Cobb product, around $200.00 cheaper.
2. Positive reviews from those who have purchased, installed and tuned one.
3. Let's face it, who cares if it's a Cobb or CNT, as long as the performance is there.

Once I unboxed the Downpipe the first thing I noticed is the gaskets that were provided looked like crap. The edges were fraying and coming apart and there was no way I was going to use the cheap gaskets. I immediatly ordered a new set from Grimmspeed and sitting side by side there was no comparision, the Grimmspeed gaskets rocked.

Once I inspected the Downpipe I was very pleased with the quality, everything looked top notch.

My installer mentioned to me that the downpipe installed with no problems and he was impressed with the quality. I was also impressed with the sound and it reminded me quite a bit of my old Cobb Downpipe. Overall I am very pleased with this product.

Link to the product is here:

Cobb Lightweight Main Pulley Review

I decided to purchase and install a Cobb Lightweight Pulley for my Legacy for a couple of reasons:

1. Cheap, at only $135.00 it's not going to break the bank.

2. It does not underdrive anything, so it wont have any negative side effects.

3. It comes highly recommended for those of us with the Auto 5EAT transmission.

So with all that being said I can say that it was defiantly worth it. Without the pulley the Legacy was very slow off the line and didn't rev as quickly as I would want. Once I installed the pulley my off the line performance increased substantially. The car seemed much more willing to rev and felt much more spirited. This cheap and easy modification is a perfect match for a stage 2 upgrade in my opinion.

Link for the product is here: http://www.cobbtuning.com/products/?id=6092

Infamous eTune day 2

Just more proof for me that the ECU really does need to be shut down a few times and some miles driven to fully learn the new maps. The Infamous base map feels even stronger after a few days, I am now getting much closer to that "afterburner" effect where the car really pushes you to the back of your seat. At this point I would say there is a significant difference between my Cobb Stage 2 map and this eTune map. The eTune feels much smoother and powerful. Again I am really looking forward to some map revisions to get this really dialed in.

1st eTune Log sent

I manually kept my car in 3rd gear and starting at 2k rpm went full throttle until redline. I did this while logging data on my Accessport. The scary thing about doing this log is by the time I hit redline I was going well over 95mph so I had to find a nice long open stretch of road.

I then exported the log into a spreadsheet file and sent it to my eTuner, I expect a map revision based on this data in about a week. I will then have to repeat the log process and wait for another revision.

Infamous eTune base map loaded

I received my base map from my eTuner and loaded it today. The base map is just a generic map much like the Cobb map so I was very interested to see how it compared to the Cobb.

I can say with confidence that the Infamous eTune base map feels stronger than the Cobb map. It seems smoother and the boost hits a little sooner. Nothing drastic but the difference is there.

The next step is to use my Accessport to log data and send it back to Infamous who will then customize the map and send it back to me. That is when the fun will start, I expect some nice gains.

Etune ordered

I ordered a custom eTune from Infamous Tuning, I look forward to testing out this tune verses the Cobb OTS tune.

I will be sent a base map and then I will log data from my car while doing a 3rd gear pull to redline. I then send the data back to Infamous and they send me back a revision of the map. We do this back and forth until my map is dialed in.

Full Cobb Stage 2 Map Review

So I've had enough time driving the car to now give a full review of the Cobb Stage 2 map. At stock power you really had to drive the car a specific way to feel the power, manually down shifting to keep the RPM's high and so on. With the Stage 2 map you no longer have to think about down shifting manually, the boost comes on soon enough that you now know your driving a car that wants to go fast.

At up to 3/4 throttle the boost seems to stay right around 10psi giving a nice even push until the car shifts at around 5k rpm. At full throttle the car really starts to pull hard but runs out of breath above 6k rpm pretty fast.

It's an interesting map where I feel that it's a big power improvement over my Stage 2 WRX but it still feels a little unrefined and I am sure there is a ton of performance being left on the table with this being an OTS (over the shelf) map.

I do really like the SI drive feature in the car, you can put it in "I" mode and the car feels stock, throw it in "S" mode and it like a Stage 1 and "S#" mode give you the full HP/TQ.

With all that being said I think I'm going to upgrade to a custom Etune. This is not a dyno/ProTune but a vendor that is remote and will send me a base map. I run the car with the base stage 2 map while logging certain parameters. I send the log back to the vendor who analyzes the data and sends me a revised map that is custom tuned to my car. We do this up to 6 times until the map is dialed in perfect for my car. I can expect some big gains in hp/tq and overall performance.

Stage 2 plus???

One of the big reasons I bought a Legacy GT was it's ability to modify the car. I knew that if I ever got bored of the stock power I could quickly and easily jump up stage after stage to increase my power. I have listed below where I was, where I am now and where I could be going.

Keep in mind this is HP at the wheels, not at the crank as reported by the manufacture. Add +25 to get a rough estimate of crank HP.

Stock: 191 whp and 190 lb-ft
First day I bought the car, it had never been modified. At stock levels it was almost as fast as my Stage 2 WRX but lacked the head snapping power.

Stage 1: 210 whp and 210 lb-ft
A couple of weeks after I bought the car I bought the Cobb AP and flashed it to a Stage 1 map. This smoothed out the power band and gave a little boost in power.

Stage 2: 230 whp and 250 lb-ft
I just installed the Down pipe, Light Weight Pulley and Transmission cooler plus the stage 2 map. Review is pending but first impressions is that the car is now much faster than my Stage 2 WRX.

Stage 2T: 254 whp and 275 lb-ft
This will require an aftermarket Inter cooler and a new custom Etune Map.

Stage 3: 300+ whp and 300+ lb-ft
This will require a VF-52 Turbo, bigger injectors and fuel pump plus a new protuned map.

Stage 2 day 2

After having the car shut down overnight I drove it around this morning and was surprised how much stronger the car felt. I wonder if shutting down after I flashed the map and starting her up again helps the ECU to learn? Something I did not do last night when I initially flashed the ECU.

I am seeing 17 pounds of boost and the car really feels like it wants to go fast. Boost is coming on a lot sooner than before and I am starting to feel impressed with the new power. I also did a few quick launches from a dead stop and I can tell a big difference with the light weight pulley. The car rev's much faster allowing me to hit boost quicker all resulting in faster launch.

I will be taking a 200 miles trip tomorrow with the car which will allow me plenty of time to do a proper review.

Stage 2 complete

All the parts are installed on the LGT and I flashed the car to a Cobb OTS Stage 2 map right in the parking lot of the shop. Driving the car home it was really hard to get a feel for the map due to downtown traffic. My first impression was that the car pulled harder through all the gears and the car sounded a little different. Overall I was not blown away or even that impressed however knowing from past experience with my WRX that the ECU can take several hundred miles of driving to learn the new map I was kind of expecting this.

Stage 2 parts purchased

I have now purchased all the parts needed to go to Stage 2 with my Legacy GT. Here is my list, I should be ready for an install next week.

1. CNT Catted Downpipe.
2. Tru-cool Transmission cooler
3. Cobb Light Weight Pulley
4. AVO Air Filter
5. Grimmspeed Gaskets

Brakes done

The very first thing I did to my Legacy GT was to have the brakes replaced and rotors resurfaced. That got rid of the shaking I experienced when braking at high speeds.

Windows re-tinted

When I bought my car I noticed that the back window seems cloudy and in the dark headlights would double up. It soon became apparent that the car had a bad tint so I swung the car into a local shop and had the old tint removed and a new tint applied. I went 5% in the back and the max legal 50% in the front.

Big improvement!

Stage 1 complete

I sold my old Cobb Accessport and bought a new one for my Legacy GT. I immediately flashed the car to a Stage 1 map. Here are my impressions:

1. The car pulls harder at higher RPM's, but still runs out of steam the closer to redline you get.

2. The turbo seems to kick in a little harder.

3. Overall the car seems to run smoother, not a huge increase in power but I would judge the car to be just a bit slower than my old Stage 2 WRX.

Radar Detector installed

I had my Valentine one radar detector installed and hardwired. I mounted the remote display in the clock pod just like I had in my WRX. I also have a mute switch below the shifter.

I love the radar detector and highly reccomend it.

Car purchased

I traded in my 2005 WRX for a 2008 Legacy GT. In stock form the Legacy GT has almost as much power as my Stage 2 WRX. The Legacy is in great condition with Leather/heated seats, power everything, sunroof and 17" wheels. The Legacy is better in almost every way, here is my list of pro/con VS the WRX.

Legacy GT Pro's


Power: in stock form it is almost as fast as a WRX stage 2. Going stage 2 on the Legacy puts it as fast or faster than a stage 2 STI.

Size: The Legacy has more legroom in the back and front and the truck is at least 3 times bigger than the WRX.

Comfort: Here the GT really shines with Leather seats and a much more put together feeling than the WRX. Also I find the seats to be more comfortable than the WRX.

Appearance: I find the GT to be a better looking car and much more of a sleeper car which I prefer. In my WRX it seemed like every kid in a Honda Civic wanted to race me which got old fast.

Legacy GT Con's

Cost: You have to pay to play and the Legacy is not cheap.

Size: This is also a Con for the Legacy, it feels much bigger than the WRX and less willing to swing into the corners hard.