Upgrades to 2003 Baja, Please help/suggestions.

[LeBernadin]

Firstoff, unlike the majority of you who post here, i'm not as savy with re
to working on my own vehicles. I've never done more than changing oil et
al, never modded etc. But now that the Baja Turbo is out, a year after i
bought my 2003 Baja, my only complaint with it(HP) is magnified by the fact
that the majority of Baja's on the road going forward WILL have good
pickup.

I've read about various mods to the stock 2.5L to boost the HP.

Here are a few, listed below. If some of you could do me a big favor and
give your thoughts on what parts i do/don't need etc i'd really appreciate
it. I'm not looking to race, just want my HP in the low-to-mid 200's so
probably the lowest upgrade possible.

-Torque Converter
-Transmission Cooler
-AVO Turbo 2.5 kit
-BORLA Header
-Boost gauge
-rear sway bar
- use full synthetic fluid

TIA!

 

[Fuzzy Logic]

Firstoff, unlike the majority of you who post here, i'm not as savy with
re to working on my own vehicles. I've never done more than changing oil
et al, never modded etc. But now that the Baja Turbo is out, a year
after i bought my 2003 Baja, my only complaint with it(HP) is magnified
by the fact that the majority of Baja's on the road going forward WILL
have good pickup.

I've read about various mods to the stock 2.5L to boost the HP.

Here are a few, listed below. If some of you could do me a big favor and
give your thoughts on what parts i do/don't need etc i'd really
appreciate it. I'm not looking to race, just want my HP in the
low-to-mid 200's so probably the lowest upgrade possible.

-Torque Converter
-Transmission Cooler
-AVO Turbo 2.5 kit
-BORLA Header
-Boost gauge
-rear sway bar
- use full synthetic fluid

Usually the most cost effective performance upgrades involve getting more
air into the engine and less restriction on the exhaust. Look at a cold air
intake and an exhaust upgrade. If you are lucky you'll get a 10-15%
improvement in HP. The sway bar will only improve handling and a boost guage
wont do a thing until you get a turbo and then it will only tell you what
that's doing.

 

[Carl 1 Lucky Texan]

I wouldn't worry about "forward WILL have" stuff - '04 is probably the
last year for the Baja. If you want a collector's item, go trade yours
in now on the turbo.

Carl
1 Lucky Texan

 

[Verbs Under My Gel]

Firstoff, unlike the majority of you who post here, i'm not as savy with re
to working on my own vehicles. I've never done more than changing oil et
al, never modded etc. But now that the Baja Turbo is out, a year after i
bought my 2003 Baja, my only complaint with it(HP) is magnified by the fact
that the majority of Baja's on the road going forward WILL have good
pickup.

I've read about various mods to the stock 2.5L to boost the HP.

Here are a few, listed below. If some of you could do me a big favor and
give your thoughts on what parts i do/don't need etc i'd really appreciate
it. I'm not looking to race, just want my HP in the low-to-mid 200's so
probably the lowest upgrade possible.

-Torque Converter
-Transmission Cooler
-AVO Turbo 2.5 kit
-BORLA Header
-Boost gauge
-rear sway bar
- use full synthetic fluid

TIA!

This engine is (as are most modern powerplants) fairly well optimsed
as is. Forced induction (turbo or supercharger) and/or a different
cam are the only mods that will reap substantial gains. Note that
this engine was not designed for forced induction, and will therefore
suffer a reduction in reliability.

The stock intake takes air (at ambient temperature) from above the
passenger-side (USA) headlight. This is, in effect, a cold-air
intake, and removing the resonator (a popular do-it-yourself mod) will
only serve to increase noise levels, not performance.

The stock exhaust is a good match for this powerplant. If you're
going to add a turbo or supercharger, you'll want to go with a
larger-diameter exhaust.

 

[David & Caroline]

Firstoff, unlike the majority of you who post here, i'm not as savy with re
to working on my own vehicles. I've never done more than changing oil et
al, never modded etc. But now that the Baja Turbo is out, a year after i
bought my 2003 Baja, my only complaint with it(HP) is magnified by the fact
that the majority of Baja's on the road going forward WILL have good
pickup.

Well - if you aren't into working on the car, keep the mods simple - you may
be able to net 10-15hp at the wheels with headers and an exhaust, but even
that is probably overly optemistic. The largest gains are going to be found
with a turbo - note that this is not a low maintenance sort of thing, and
requires all sorts of stuff aside from the turbo - you will also need engine
management, etc. The Subaru service department won't like an aftermarket
turbo system - say bye-bye to the warranty on the powertrain...

it. I'm not looking to race, just want my HP in the low-to-mid 200's so
probably the lowest upgrade possible.

getting into the mid-200's is going to require substantial mods - the turbo
is probably the thing to do.

-Torque Converter
-Transmission Cooler
-AVO Turbo 2.5 kit
-BORLA Header
-Boost gauge
-rear sway bar
- use full synthetic fluid

The torque converter is probably more of an off-the-line performance sort of
thing. I imagine a boost gauge (either as a function of the boost
controller or as a standalone unit) would be part of any packaged turbo
upgrade. The sway bar is more a handling thing than anything else. And the
synthetic is just a good thing to do anyway (there have been claims of
minute hp gains, but I wouldn't count on it - I certainly didn't notice
anything on any of my cars which run all synthetics)

Why not look for a wrecked Forester XT or something like that and do an
engine swap...

 

[Dan Duncan]

Firstoff, unlike the majority of you who post here, i'm not as savy with re
to working on my own vehicles. I've never done more than changing oil et
al, never modded etc. But now that the Baja Turbo is out, a year after i
bought my 2003 Baja, my only complaint with it(HP) is magnified by the fact
that the majority of Baja's on the road going forward WILL have good
pickup.

I've read about various mods to the stock 2.5L to boost the HP.

-Torque Converter
-Transmission Cooler

If you bought it with an automatic, you already blew the cheapest
"mod" for the car. You could have had more horsepower at the
wheel AND saved hundreds of dollars by buying the 5-speed.

-DanD