If you you were to have a combination such as an aftermarket turbo, injectors, upgraded tmic, and ecu. Is it possible to have 280-290 horsepower. I would like to keep the car as stock looking as possible meaning no intake cone stock exhaust etc.

 

If you're talking about 280 to 290 hp measured at the crankshaft, that may be do-able. The main bottleneck to bigger power on a WRX is the restrictive factory exhaust system. This is one of the first mods for power that owners do. There are aftermarket exhausts that utilize high-flow cats but while these make for great power potential, they do not look factory except to the untrained eye. At the very minimum, the OEM uppipe with its restrictive pre-catalyst should be changed out for a catless uppipe. This is a mod that is not very obvious to the casual observer. Factory heat shields will not usually fit a good turbo back (from the turbo to the muffler) because most are 3" in diameter.

As for the engine mods, 280 to 290 crank hp should be easily attainable with a mild turbo upgrade, injector, and fuel pump swap. You can use the STi intercooler and rubber hood seal. There are better aftermarket TMIC units but they aren't as stealthy. The factory turbo heat shield does not fit the commonly-used VF30 or VF34 without modification, though.

Engine management for these mods is easy to conceal so that's not a problem.

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0==WW==0
"…axles of evil…" - george w. bush

 

If you're really that worried about it you could buy a custom exhaust and fabricate the stock axle back to it for a stealth look and still get around the cat issue. Exhaust is pretty much a must have as far as performance goes, especially on a WRX. I would recommend a JDM STi intercooler (you could even dremel tool off the "STi" for more stealth), catless up-pipe, high flow filter (K&N, Perrin, etc...), some kind of EM for sure, buy some performance pulleys and sand blast them to make them look stock again, and if you're really hard-core, do internal work. Here's what I would do:

JDM STi intercooler (w/ STi removed)
K&N filter
underdrive pulleys (sandblasted)
Stromung or Prodrive exhaust with stock axle back
VF 34 with custom heat shield (again, you could sand blast a Gruppe-S unit for stock look)
Engine Management (Cobb for sure, no tangible unit and reflashable to stock)
Header (doesn't really matter since it's hardly visible)
Catless Up-pipe
Bigger injectors (mod specific/dependent)
Walbro fuel pump

 

thanks, anyone done something similar?

 

I made 235whp (~330 crank horsepower) and for the most part my car looks completely stock. I have sti injectors, stock intercooler, stock looking muffler (although it is a 3" turbo back exhaust), uppipe, a lightweight pulley (cannot tell unless you get up close and read the "Vishnu Tuning" on it, a Vishnu relash with custom tune, upgraded turbo (although I dunno which one it is, still gotta find that out).

I will get some pics in a little bit and post them up.

 

almost forgot mine is a wagon too, so even more sleeper.