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Alright everyone... Results are in. I will give you a full write up once I spend a little more time behind the wheel and get the chance to collect my thoughts, but we are VERY happy about the results!!! LOTS of photos, video and impressions to come!

Dom 3.0 XT-R vs VF52 vs Stock



Dom 3.0 XT-R vs Lamborghini Gallardo (just for fun)



Teaser

Boost Addict

Treble Racing's 2008 WRX Sedan

374awhp/378awtq

Engine
- COBB AccessPORT v2 tuned by Shawn Church
- Blouch Dominator 3.0 XT-R Turbocharger
- Perrin Equal Length Header
- TurboXS Front Mount Intercooler
- TurboXS Racing ByPass Valve
- KS Tech 73mm MegaMaf Type-2 Intake
- TurboXS Cat-Back Exhaust
- Invidia Downpipe w/ cat
- Deatschwerks 750cc Fuel Injectors
- Walbro 255lph Fuel Pump
- Prodrive 3-port Boost Control Solenoid

Transmission & Drivetrain
- COBB Adjustable Short Shifter
- COBB Front Shifter Bushings
- Kartboy Rear Shifter Bushing
- STI Group N Motor Mounts
- STI Group N Transmission Mount
- Kartboy Pitch Stopper Mount
- Whiteline Rear Differential Mount Inserts
- Whiteline Rear Subframe to Chassis Inserts

Suspension
- BC Racing BR Series Coilovers
- Perrin 25mm Front Sway Bar
- Perrin 22mm Rear Sway Bar
- Perrin Front Endlinks
- Perrin Rear Endlinks
- Whiteline Steering Rack Bushings

Braking
- Brembo GT 4-Piston Gold Front Brake Calipers
- Brembo Front Brake Pads
- Centric 326mm (12.8in) Front Brake Rotors w/ Custom Slotting
- Goodridge G-Stop Stainless Steel Brake Lines
- Subaru 3g STI Brake Master Cylinder
- ATE Super Blue Racing Brake Fluid

Wheels & Tires
- Rota G-Force 17x8 Black Wheels
- Falken Azenis RT-615 255/40/17 Tires

Interior
- MSD DashHawk
- Pioneer Premier F90BT Touchscreen Navi, BlueTooth, iPod A/V, Bypassed
- Apple iPod Classic 120GB Black
- HiFonics Zeus ZXi-8006 5-Channel Amplifier
- Infinity Reference Front Tweeters
- Infinity Kappa Front Woofers
- Infiniti Kappa Rear 2-Ways
- Pioneer Champion Series 10-in Sub Woofer
- Coach Custom Leather Upholstery (Black Grain on Perforated w/ White French Stitch)
- Subaru Blue Footwell Illumination Kit
- Subaru Premium Tweeter Covers
- Subaru Arm-Rest Extension

Exterior
- Treble Racing Carbon Fiber Trunk
- Custom Rear Lip Spoiler
- Custom Black Roof by DownShift Graphics
- Seibon OEM-Style Carbon Fiber Hood
- Sponsor Graphics by Down Shift Graphics
- MachV Front Plate Delete
- Formula One 15% Tint (All)
- Ings+1 Front Grille
- Subaru Fog Lamps
- Subaru Splash Guards
- Perrin Shorty Antenna

Boost Addict

“Measure twice and cut once.” It’s what your grandfather always told you. The best way to accomplish something is to research it in depth, find someone who’s already done it before, then execute it your self. With every project, you have an expectation, or an idea of how things should end up. Our intention was to introduce balance. With an abundance of tire shredding torque dying off in the higher rev band, our horsepower level felt flat on our previous tune with the VF-52. With the new Blouch Dominator 3.0 XT-R, we meant only to raise the horsepower level to be closer to our torque figure. We failed.

We've created a weapon. A hungry and bipolar all wheel drive animal with a carnal instinct to bridge gaps. Any gaps. Once in full boost, the road before you is swallowed and digested before you’re given the chance to blink an eye. On our first few test sprints, we found ourselves holding our breaths as revs would blur quickly to the new 6900 RPM rev limit. If you’re looking for a power level that cannot be taken lightly under boost, we’ve found it for you. I introduce you to the components involved.

With the new Blouch Dominator 3.0 XT-R, these power levels came with minimal effort. Utilizing a Garrett Ball Bearing Compressor Housing Rotating Assembly, Blouch bolts up a large 10cm^2 turbine housing and a 25% lighter billet compressor wheel with increased aerodynamic features. The turbo pushes 55 pounds per minute and is claimed to be good for up to 550 horsepower. Once spooled, this enthusiastic snail wants to keep spinning. Between shifts, the spool recovery is instant, eager to cause chaos in the next gear. All required gaskets are conveniently included, and the steel-braided oil line is top notch. Direct fitment of the turbo, however, should be noted. All the bolts line up without question, but the compressor housing is so big, that its outlet makes contact with a clip behind the intake manifold, which prevents it from seating properly on the Up-Pipe. So, instead of forcing it in place, we unbolted the center of the turbo and rotated the compressor housing counter-clockwise just enough to clear the clip. Aside from that quick, minor adjustment, the install was sincerely a breeze! No cutting, grinding or any sort of modification was required to the engine block. Way to go, Blouch!

To maximize a turbo's potential, however, there are supporting modifications that are deemed necessary. Want to make sure your turbo will spool freely with the least resistance? Then the exhaust side needs to flow well with minimal back pressure. Need to ensure that your turbo isn't just blowing hot air? Then an efficient intercooler is mandatory. A proper-sized Mass Air Flow housing will also be required to ensure air flow is being metered accurately. And finally, without tuning, the results of a turbo swap can be disastrous. Enter the supporting cast.

TurboXS stepped up to the task by providing their Front Mount Intercooler, Racing ByPass Valve, and 3" Dual Cat-Back Exhaust system. Meanwhile, KS Tech provided us with an impressive solution to our large MAF needs. These parts came together in beautiful harmony to put together a very powerful ensemble.

TurboXS's Front Mount Intercooler for the 08+ WRX/STI has really become our Front Mount of choice for any build we've encountered. They graciously include all the pipes you'd need to install the system on your stock, or aftermarket, turbo WRX or STI. Additionally, the pipes are polished to a high quality, mirror-like finish. Included are black silicone couplers complete with high quality t-bolt clamps. The system uses less piping than its competitors and runs counter-clockwise, running the hot boost down the intake side and bringing the cooled boost up the opposite side of the engine bay. This is a configuration that tuners in the past have had to customize with kits that would traditionally run clockwise. Clockwise kits bring the cooled air back over the scalding hot turbo, warming it back up. Those are inefficient designs that require more piping, which in theory, equals more lag. Also with this kit comes a neat steel coolant overflow tank to replace the stock plastic tank with. As a bonus, you're also able to retain your fog lamps with this kit!

The 3" Cat Back TurboXS provided was love at first sight. Large, mandrel-bent pipes with beautiful, consistent welds against thick flanges are testaments to its priority on performance. Everything bolts up drama-free with high quality gaskets to prevent even the slightest of leaks. Some may consider this to be a loud system, as it has straight through mufflers with minimal baffling. We, however, have completely fallen in love with its distinct note coupled with our equal length header setup. It's tolerable and unobtrusive when driven gently. But introduce some throttle and this exhaust will give off a snarl that guarantees it’s presence remains well respected.

The finishing touch from TurboXS came in the form of their Racing ByPass Valve. It's a high polished, adjustable piece that operates very simply with no gimmicks. It has a high quality, leak-free gasket mated to its flange, and it bolted on to their Front Mount Intercooler like it was meant to be. Untwist the top and you'll reveal a single spring, insert shims below the spring if needed, and you're set. We started with 2 shims during tuning, then stepped up to 4 shims once we were pushing over 21 psi.

Our tuner, as well as Blouch, expected that the stock MAF housing would not be sufficient for the power levels we were aiming for. So we researched our needs and discovered that we’d need a 73mm MAF Housing. Through our research, we stumbled across the website of a high-quality manufacturer of custom intakes. KS Tech based in Reno, Nevada specializes in the custom needs of serious cars that make serious power! While Mega-MAF intakes are the name of their game, they also offer high quality Air Pump and TGV deletes, blow-thru MAF tubes, phenolic spacers, and scoop delete solutions for previous-gen WRX's. They are currently hard at work to expand their line of impressive products for the 3rd generation WRX's and STI’s. KS Tech heard our cries and delivered with a Type 2 Mega-MAF Intake complete with a FMIC-friendly heat shield. In set-ups where a hot pipe from the turbo travels down the same side as the intake, a heat shield isolating the filter is crucial. KS Tech put so much meticulous R&D into their intake, that even my tuner was impressed with how consistent the readings from the MAF were!

While we had the car apart, we addressed some other issues that had been haunting us on the prior stage: motor and transmission mounts. Tightening the driveline has become a bit of a priority at these levels of torque. So much so that, once we pulled the stock transmission mount, we noticed that each side of the bushing section had separated from their attachment points. The stock motor mounts looked fine, but we doubt they will support the increased power in the long run. We opted for STI Group N mounts to replace the motor mounts and transmission mount with. To replace the stock pitch mount, we bought Kartboy’s version. With the combination of these mounts, we couldn’t be happier with the results! A light tremor, if any, is felt beneath the pedals, through the steering wheel and in the shifter when the motor is idling with the A/C on. The performance gains, however, are staggering. There is no more engine movement under full throttle, no transmission misalignment between hard shifts and a tighter feel throughout every clutch, shift and throttle input. A comprehensive upgrade of these mounts gets a very major nod from us. We only wish we’d addressed them sooner. With everything bolted up, we checked for leaks, torqued everything down again, and scheduled a tuning appointment.

As usual, we sought out none other than Shawn Church of Church Automotive Testing to give this vehicle the safe and smooth tuning it deserved. Shawn appreciated the fact that the turbo held boost consistently to redline without a hiccup. Initial spool would fly past 24 psi before Shawn had to back off the throttle and open the wastegate further! He was impressed that, with the KS Tech Intake, a single scaling adjustment was all that was needed to see consistent readings from the MAF. While tuning, the car would fly to the 390 whp range. But repeat runs pulled timing up top and lost about 15 whp in output. This isn’t about boasting big numbers or falsifying data. So the numbers we are settling on are the numbers we finished the day with. Shawn decided to pull some timing up top to keep the engine happy and increased redline out to 6900 RPM. We are holding a very steady 22 psi all the way out to redline and making 374 whp and 378 wtq. We are very happy with the output, considering that this was achieved on CA-91 pump gas, retaining the stock TGVs, stock turbo inlet hose and stock Up Pipe!

And then there’s the application of this power in the real world. While we have not yet tested the 0-60 figures or taken the car to the drag strip, we anticipate the 60 mph mark to be reached in well under 4 seconds and our 1/8 mile ET to be in the low 8s. With the turbo fully spooled by 4500 RPM, we now have a comfortably large area below boost where good gas mileage can be obtained. We’ve launched only once with a feathered release of the clutch at 4000 RPM which shot the car forward frenetically, a quick and clean shift to second, and we were back on the throttle. 60 mph came too quickly. Cooking the clutch will be inevitable, but necessary, to help avoid any drivetrain damage. We are considering our next clutch to be one step stronger than stock, as we don’t want to apply too much force to the transmission.

Highway sprints are simply thrilling. Downshift to 3rd gear at 60 mph and you’re right around 4200 RPM, itching to spool up in this vicious gear! Wait patiently for your prey to take a bite of the bait… then drop the hammer. Within half a second, you’re ripping to redline with a sinister snarl exuding from your tailpipes. Make a clean shift at 6200 RPM into 4th gear and you land right around 4600 RPM. That’s peak torque territory, perfect for making another vicious trip to 6000 RPM. Just watch the speedometer, because that 100 mph mark will be long gone before you know it.

At under a 3200-pound curb weight, an approximate 440 crank horsepower will deliver quite a rush. With proper tuning, maintenance and monitoring, we expect the motor and transmission to last a good amount of miles. With daily driving as a part of this cars task, we’re excited to see stock-like performance under the 4000 RPM mark. Initially, we feared what less midrange would mean to us. And yes, it’s lost some of that mid-range, part throttle punch it once had. But we prefer it this way. The early spool and early exhaustion the VF-52 provided was perfect for back roads or canyon carving. However, that left us dissatisfied and longing for some top end power for straight-line racing. Where we failed to bring balance, we introduced, instead, a duality; a stiff partition between tame and wild; a clear and definite line separating serene civility with unapologetic performance. The car can now behave as an innocent WRX in the first half of its rev band. But once instigated, can unleash a lethal dose of ferocious acceleration that leaves even the most respected of competition scratching their head.


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Lots of Pictures and Video to come. Stay Tuned.

Boost Addict

It's rainy today, believe it or not! I'm considering going out for a drive and having my buddy record a bit...

For now, here are a couple videos from the Dyno Session. Nothing too exciting, but the sounds are great

Dyno Run

Treble Racing's 08 WRX - Dom 3.0 XT-R

Last bit of a run catching the exhaust screaming to redline. Oh yum

Treble Racing's 08 WRX - TurboXS Cat Back Exhaust

Boost Addict

-----A couple pics-----

Boost Addict

Videos:

First to second gear accelerating away:
Treble Racing's 2008 WRX - TurboXS Sound Test Accelerating Away

First gear accelerating to camera:
Treble Racing's 2008 WRX - TurboXS Sound Test Accelerating

50-90 In-car run:
Treble Racing's 2008 WRX - Rolling Acceleration Test

Photographs:

03'EyeBug

iTrader: (17)

Car looks awesome I didn't really like the 08 sedan when I first saw it, but this one is cleaannn! Good job ;D

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Thanks dude^^^

Hey everyone. I've got a quick update that I thought was neat!

Anyone who's known my car intimately has known about my cloudy headlight issue. Basically, I tried some pre-production wet application tint that was supposed to give the headlamps a blue-ish hue. I did it simply for R&D purposes. Well it was supposed to cure in 2 hours, but instead took 3 days. With all the driving, dust and little bugs got stuck in my headlight lenses and the finish was simply disgusting.

So I used this solvent that was supposed to take it off. No dice. I went out a bought a headlight restoration kit that consisted of some polish and 3 levels of fine grit sand paper. That definitely took off the blue stuff but left my headlights micro-scratched and cloudy. For a while I tolerated it and didn't let it bother me. Just 2 weeks ago, I had my Ings+1 grille repainted a gloss black. Why? Because it was professionally done with PPG and cost me nothing. The bad news upon re-installing the grille was that it's gorgeous luster immediately made my headlights look like absolute crap.

Well I finally decided to give another product a try. I found it on Pep Boys' Clearance bin for like $5 thinking 'oh, what the hell'. It's this stuff right here:



It's a simple kit that consists of 6 stick-back foam discs with a polish applied to one side. It also includes the plastic disc that goes on one end of your household drill that the foam pads adhere to. That's it. You mist water on the polish and go for it... if it gets dry, you re-mist and keep working it. If someone can do this in 5 minutes, I tip my hat off to you. It took me 20-30 to mask both lenses and polish them. But I must say, the result was STAGGERING! I did not expect a $5 headlight restoration kit to being my headlights back to crisp clarity. I even took some shots for you guys.





So if anyone's got some lens clarity issues. Give this stuff a try! I have no other updates aside from Motul becoming our newest sponsor. They will be supplying me with Motul 300V 5w-40 motor oil and 300 75w-90 gear oil. Both are pure ester! I will follow up with oil analysis as the time comes. I am anxiously waiting for the fluids to arrive.

phoenyx

Great build, getting a lot of ideas through this write up.
Gotta ask though....what ever happened to the rear Brembo setup?

Also whats the wheel offset needed to clear brembos on this '08?

Boost Addict

The rear brembos have taken a back seat to other projects at the moment. I've been too slammed to address them at this point.

I'm not sure what offset you'd need. But if you purchase a wheel spec'd to fit an 04 STI, you'll be fine. The '04 STIs shared the same bolt pattern as the 08+ WRXs and had brembos.

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News:

I've been extremely busy recently and haven't had a chance to update the threads. The WRX is limping right now and we don't know the exact cause. I hate to do this to everyone, but it may be a little while before we find the opportunity to take everything apart.

It all started with a misfire on cylinder 2 and pulling off the road. We diagnosed it down to the spark plug. The following night, we changed all spark plugs to discover that the spark plug on 2 was toast! The insulator was shattered within.

On the following day, the car performed well. So we drove it to our tuner just to make sure the knock sensitivity and all are still in check. About 15 miles in, we felt hesitation at boost and again misfire! But this time, we heard something clattering around in the engine... We immediately pulled off the road and towed it home. There were no oil or coolant leaks, no thrown rods or pistons... None of the components in the short block have failed. So what keeps happening?

Some ideas are that the injector on that cylinder may be failing, and thus, causing a lean condition which results in detonation, blowing out the plug. The clattering we heard may have been pieces of the shattered insulator in the cylinder bank. So it is very possible that we may have some collateral damage aside from a simple injector failure.

Plan of Action:

We will pull the plugs and check the damage. We will perform a compression test. If cylinder 2 shows any issue, we will run a leak down test to try and pinpoint the problem.

We will also send out the injectors to Deatschwerks for testing to find the culprit.

If no collateral damage was caused, we will replace the injectors, spark plugs, and hit the road.

However, if any damage was caused that entails pulling the block, we will not simply repair and replace. We will send it out to be reconditioned and built with forged pistons, stronger forged rods, race bearings, etc... We would like the block to be capable of handling over 500whp. At which point, we will increase the level of boost on the Dom 3.0 XT-R and aim for over 400whp on CA-91 pump gas.

At this point, I just wanted to keep the community informed. And while we can speculate endlessly as to the cause of what happened, we simply do not know until we complete some of these tests. I have another car that I drive around, so I'm leaving the WRX to sit until we find the appropriate time to execute our plan of action. I apologize in advance if it takes us a while to get some answers, but the WRX will be up and running again soon enough! For now, my primary time and focus will remain on Treble Racing and ensuring that our customers are taken care of first. So if I can help with anything, please PM me!

Boost Addict

Quick Update!

An overview of things to come:

- Closed deck EJ25 shortblock
- JE forged pistons
- H-beam connecting rods
- Race Bearings
- Performance Head Gaskets
- ARP headstuds

- KS Tech tgv delete kit
- KS Tech air pump delete kit
- Deatschwerks 1000cc injectors
- TurboXS 2-piece Downpipe (catless)

- matte black vinyl body wrap and gold sponsor decals by Down Shift Graphics

JourdanWithaU

iTrader: (39)

Ok... I'm going to come clean. This is an awesome build and an awesome thread all done by an awesome guy.

I have seen this thread pop up many times here, a few times on 3gwrx, and once on nasioc. For some reason I never thought much about this build. Maybe I figured it would only be a power build, or that it would just be a bunch of lists and pictures and no real information.

Boy was I WRONG. I came across thread a few weeks ago when I was doing some research on the COBB Short Shifter, which I ended up getting last week and I am loving every minute of it, and then I was just doing so research on coilovers, specifically BC coils and I this thread came up in my search again. Holy **** you did an awesome write-up about the coils. I am really regretting not getting them back in February when I had the chance. But they are now back on the list of things to get.

Well done sir. I shall keep a tab on this thread, it will be very interesting to see how this project evolves over time.