I think the first mod should be cold air intake, not to expensive, you can install yourself in under an hour and it gives you a nice boost. :banana:

 

you say you want the best bang for your buck? well You could spend hours and hours of reasearch deciding exactly which exaust system to buy and just what kind of mods you wana do to the engine BUT... when it all comes down to it.....GET a turbo ! lol...I have had my 98 RS for what seems like ever now....and no matter how many bolt ons you install to your ej25....its just not gona romp as hard as you want it to. by the time you spend all your money on bolt ons, you will realize that you want a turbo............WOOPS gota buy a brand new exaust AGAIN....then "O I need a new engine to handle the boost" .....WOOPs there go your lightwiegh pulleys, ,cold air intake, cams , computer and any other things you spend your money on to get a couple more horses out of your Impreza.
Honestly....if you want to do some mods....work on important things like the sound system... some inside wireing and maybee your exterior. That is....untill you saved up enough for the turbo kit =)

But if you really want some temporary HP....go to your local custom exaust shop and have them weld you on a 2.25 INCH cat-back....it will be a HELL of a lot cheaper then anything online.
Then maybee get a K&N pannel filter for a little better flow. There are lots and lots of places you can make your car better....find some and focus on them. just make sure its something that you wont have to change later

find some posts about topics that concern you, & read read read!

 

or you can call cran/crower cams and get them done under 200 $. all you have to do is send them your cams they'll inspect them to see if there any good. then they can build your lobes up and wala there you have a cheap mod for as wild of a cam as you wont.
i did this in my probe and it was 175 overall

 

A CAI is the cheepest biggest gain. A turbo is the only way you'll ever be fast. Cams are more expensive but the most useful mod on almost any motor since anything you do for gains after the cams will be maximized.

As for intakes Ganzflows are cheep. Cobbs are the best. Turbos are another story... Start with AVO and Forced Air Technologies and go from there. As for cams, Cobb makes good cams for N/A but there is some debate since they are rewelded which is said to compromise strength a search will yield results. Also the Cobbs are said to have too much overlap for sucessful use on a turbo. Tech Works Engineering offers cams which are said to be more turbofriendly but may also require other valvetrain parts.

Good Luck hope that helps...

-DE

 

you say the cobb cams compromise strength !? ....I always thought everything that COBB tuning put out was top of the line...I have been thinking about COBBs turbo cams and high lift valve set whith my ej22t swap. But I dont want something "weak" ...I will reconsider

 

Cobbs cams are built ontop of stock cams. You buy the cams, pay the $500 refundable charge and when you do the swap you send them your old cams and get your refund.

 

so..you're saying you can take your stock cams, send them off to a company that specializes in rebuilding them and get them made to the specs you want??? i guess then the real question is what specs do you need to know to have this done? I mean these aftermarket companies have dyno proven specs, so how do we figure out what they are? anyone gone through all this already for the ej25? how'd you go about it?

 

It's not really my opinion. I was just pointing out that there had been a discussion over the issue in a thread from someone who had their cam lobe break. A search will gve you more info on the pros cons and opinions of Cobb cams. Good and Bad.

-DE