98 Subaru Legacy SLB Prep - The Road to SLB Continues

Time to pick up where we last left you with our '98 Subaru Legacy GT! The journey of Project Legacy hasn't been an easy one, let alone a quick one. We started the build in our beloved sister mag Import Tuner, but since then we've swapped out the stock motor for a turbocharged JDM 2.0L. We've also upgraded the turbo with a larger Garrett GTX2863R turbo and also updated other parts such as the radiator, headers, brakes, and suspension arms. In our last update, we hinted that our wagon was goin' wider, plus the car still needed to be tuned. With Super Lap Battle looming, only two full days remained for us and Ubersport Performance to get the car ready for action.

Our two-day checklist included:

• Fender flares
• Spacers, wheels, and tires
• New wrap
• First start-up
• Fuel rail
• Alignment
• Dyno tune

We decided to address the flares first. Our Legacy came with a stock contact patch in the 215-range. With the added power and also need for a wider and stickier tire (245-series Toyo R1Rs with 18x9.5" Gram Lights), we were going to need to make custom fender flares. And since no one makes flares for a Legacy, we used Nissan S13 240SX flares as a foundation.

The saying that goes, Measure twice, cut once is wrong! Measure 14 times, cut once, and measure three more times. You can never be too sure when it comes to cutting the body of your car, especially when it's for flares that weren't even intended for it. Once everything was measured and chopped up, we used nutserts to install the flares instead of rivets. This way, we can remove, repair, and reinstall our flares if anything goes wrong in the future.

With the flares screwed in and looking like a boss, it was time to mount up our new wheels. But wait; since these Gram Lights weren't custom-built for our wagon, it was going to need a little more help to get the track and fitment perfect. Our friends at Mackin Industries provided us a set of 30mm Project Kics spacers. The beauty of these spacers is that they bolt right up to our hubs, aka, no more loose spacer rings. They're also JWL certified, meaning they're proven safe for highway use in Japan. Hey, what's good enough for Japan is good enough for us!

At last, it was time to call in our good friends at High Tech Auto Wrap to put on a fresh layer of 3M 1080 Metallic black vinyl and really make this death wagon pop! The best thing about these guys is that they're mobile. Before we knew it, three experts were working on our car all the way up until 3 a.m. to get our Legacy completely wrapped!

While High Tech Auto Wrap was applying its magic, our turbocharged four had still not started up yet. Resident AEM EMS super tuner Mitch came to help us program our EMS just to get it running so we could limp it over to Church Automotive for a proper dyno tune. The amount of programming he had to accomplish was mind-blowing. Almost every sensor on the EMS was reprogrammed and tested to ensure the engine was running safely. After a few hours of diligent work, it was time to fire it up and get ready for the next day of tuning; however, luck wasn't on our side...