Learn Me: Accessport and Subaru

My '05 Legacy GT has been a great car. Now at 104k miles. I have been toying with the idea of selling it to buy an IS300 the last couple weeks but just can't pull the trigger. Now I'm considering tweaking the LGT instead of replacing it. It's completely stock at the moment.

There is an Accessport on CL locally for $200. That's about as cheap as I've seen one. My questions:

-If I were to just do the AP but nothing else, is it worth it? -If I were to get the AP, should I go ahead and do a downpipe? -If I go to buy this thing, how do I confirm that it is unmarried before handing the cash over?

You should be able to plug it into your car to test it before handing the cash over, IIRC it will tell you if it's married to another car. As far as whether or not it's worth it, I'd say so.... people generally see 20whp or so w/o many if any other mods. I'd start with an intake and a midpipe before I'd go to a downpipe..... but that's me.

You'll want to know which version it is - IIRC, the AP v1 goes for about $200 all day on various fora. And is no longer supported by Cobb... I believe this means no new maps and no support if something goes haywire. Not sure what else it means.

I also believe that the v1 APs are specific to the vehicle, not sure if it'll necessarily work on yours.

Get details on which version and what car it's for before jumping in.

Replace your turbo now. It's on borrowed time.

Also, a custom street tune will cost similar money and net better results.

The one I saw is V1. If it is no longer supported is it really a problem? Better to spend a bit more for V2?

When I bought the car at 69k miles the PO had traded it in with a blown turbo and the dealership replaced it.

Dave, where would I get a custom street tune? How would I know that it is good? Seems to me that going with Cobb there are enough people running the same tune on these cars that you know it's not going to blow anything up.

The only thing cool about AP is the ability to switch maps. I hated forking over the money for one with my Forester XT, as cobb has almost no maps for it, but I wanted to run e85 in the summer so I was cornered.

You can get a cable for $15 that will flash a custom tune if you already have a laptop, and you can get an e-tune for $150, through a couple of different tuners. I agree with dave though, the turbo on the 05 is problematic. Address the banjo bolt filter and that turbo before you up the boost.

Basically, at $200 that isn't such an awesome deal that you need to pounce on it right this instant.

If there's a local shop you trust I would ask who they send cars to for tuning. Otherwise, ask around on a forum light legacygt.com and I'm sure somebody local to you will have a suggestion.

PeterAK wrote: The one I saw is V1. If it is no longer supported is it really a problem? Better to spend a bit more for V2?

I'd say so. Both the GRM project Mazdaspeed3 and my personal MS3 have the v2 Accessport. It's pricey but very potent. Cobb has premade maps for stock-engined LGTs only, so if you add an intake for example, you'll probably need to get it tuned. The Accessport can log performance. You can log as few or as many parameters as you need and upload the logs to a speadsheet. It can give you a real-time readout of a bunch of engine parameters like boost, AFR, knock retard, etc. albeit one at a time. It functions as an OBDII scanner. Cobb also has a program called AccessRace that allows you to tweak their canned maps or make your own if you are experienced with ECU tuning.