Anyone Order a 2014?

short answer is you're probably safer with the tune, but...

delette posted the graphs above, you can see exactly where the issue lies. Not only do they lean out the stock tune, but they do it when you're building the most amount of power. That dip in the curve is where the motor is not getting enough fuel (leaning it out).

it's the owner's call on when to mod, but if i were to buy a subaru again rofl, I would do it right off the bat. From what we've seen, it doesnt' matter if you're bone stock, have an AP, SPT bolt ons or a full blown build, you're going to have an extremely hard time convincing SOA to give you the time of day on ANY drivetrain issue.

 

Very true. I had the money sitting aside waiting for it to happen. Ironically, I must have had a freak of nature block because it went 22k miles (or more) at 392whp/387 ft lbs tq with tracking it and mountain runs until one piston finally went.

That is not a normal by any means though.

 

Cobb's OTS tunes are usually pretty good. They have that 'safe' padding in them whereas a pro tune is the ultimate milk out what it's got. You probably aren't going to really get a whole lot more power in the pro tune (you will get more power but it won't be a large increase) but the driveability is going to be the biggest noticeable factor. Now if you go outside of the normal recommend mods that's a whole different ballgame.

 

a protune will give you an increased area of power under the curve, but probably won't push past most of the peaks. they also take into account climate and elevation.

i don't know that i'd spend the $500 for a protune over an OTS map, unless i had supporting mods that differed from the Cobb recommendations

 

Yes, and yes.
Just keep in mind that by remaining stock, you retain your subaru provided powertrain warranty, which means that every time it happens (but hopefully never) it gets replaced for free. By modding, you throw that away EVEN IF the values in the ECU are now much "healthier" for the car.

One thing I can say about Cobb OTS stg1 AND stg2 with the drive-by-wire STI's like we have, is that doug radically changed how the part throttle behavior was, and boost control at part throttle. Because you most likely daily drive your car just like I do (or did lol) this is super beneficial to the driving experience.
Cobb stage 1 was light years over stock in part throttle.
Cobb stage 2 was exactly the same.
Doug's map was light years over either of those. Compared to stock? Different feeling car all together.

 

lol, if you're mad that SOA isn't helping over a modded car, I can only imagine how upset you would've been had you busted a motor that was on a bone stock car.

I feel pretty confident telling you that even if your car was off the show room floor, subaru / soa still would not have warrantied your powertrain.

 

very true...

has anyone seen pistons yet from the FA/FB (assuming it will be the same in the new platform)
Are they an improvement? I mean those motors are square at least (same bore / stroke) unlike the EJ25, so that in itself is an advantage but I wonder if they are still using horribly cast pistons with a mega-short skirt and poorly engineered ringland placement

 

I'm sure you know how to google.

 

I was discussing, you know, on a discussion forum?
What exactly are/were you doing? Besides looking for that 4th username.

 

Not trying to be an ass but it's as easy as this and took a whopping 5 seconds.

 

Copy and paste:

Clark Tuner did a good analysis of the ej257 here. Basically he suspects a lot of the issues with detonation (and consequently cracked ringlands) on the ej257 came from it being based on the JDM 2.0L, but bored out. Basically to get it to produce 300hp on US crap gas, Subaru bored it out to 2.5L while maintaining the short stroke, causing it to be more prone to detonation than the JDM variant. Detonation is really the root cause of the cracked ringlands.

Probably more information than you wanted, but long story short, the FA20 with its square configuration (86mm x 86mm) and normally aspirated DI setup should *in theory* be less prone to detonation issues than the ej257. But only time will tell, as it's really hard to compare such different engines.

 

perfect, that's exactly what I was trying to discuss, since this is a 2014 order thread and the 2014 is the last model with the EJ series.

I always said that the motor not being square was an issue, thanks for clarifying why they made it that way. It seems like everything boils down to satisfying USDM sale policies and regulations (EPA, Gas Guzzler Tax avoidance, etc)

I'm all for going green and saving the environment, but.....

I still can't find a side-by-side comparison of the EJ stock piston and the FA stock piston. I'm really curious if the skirt is any taller or the ring placement is dramatically different. Doesn't look like it in the pic you posted, looks pretty similar.

 

Back ON TOPIC:

When I ordered my car I didn't get a VIN until it was stateside.
I am a network engineer / IT Security architect for a living, so I used a variety of methods to track my car from it's origination in Gunma, JP to the port @ Yokohama, to the loading onto an NYK shipping line RoRo car carrier, to it's refueling in hawaii, to it's panama canal transit, to the port of baltimore, to the port facility for the 2 port installed options, to the Georgia Pacific train it rode to Atlanta, to the car truck it rode on to SOG.

All of this information is available in the database driven application SOA employee's use to move cars around in the "pipeline" depending on dealer requests and dealer allocations. All you have to do is call SOA and ask, although in my experience it takes finding the right person because they have to actually put forth some "effort", and not all of them are willing to do that, hence my taking it upon myself.

If you don't have a VIN, it probably hasn't hit port yet. When they go over the shipping manifest from the RoRo and "check" the cars into the port facility is when your VIN gets recorded in SOA's database.

 

I don't know that the piston skirt length would really matter, or the location of the ring placement. It's been about a decade, but I took IC engines at Tech and I don't really remember those ever coming up / being an issue, except in regards to the displacement from TDC and BDC and the rod length (make sure the rod doesn't hit the skirt). The rings are only there as a sort of squeegee to keep the oil where it's supposed to be. The ringlands on the piston aren't the rings that seal, like you're thinking (i think), it's a cast piece that is there to essentially hold the rings in place (see picture below, best i could find on 10 sec google search).

while i'm sure there's a ideal location to seat the rings, i don't think that has any issue at all as to why they're crapping out. It's mostly detonation due to lean out and shitty castings

 

The piston to wall tolerances are very tight from factory. Also the bores are usually out of round. Then the ring gaps are super tight. All that together makes up rings butting up together. When detonation happens (another issue) those rings touch and can't go anywhere....what happens then? They expand and bust the ringland.

 

Woooooow they ended up going with Brunswick over Savannah. Our governor will love that one.

The pipeline is just a term used internally by SOA and the dealerships to describe the process I just explained.

 

It doesn't include the build process at the factory, all that is done in Gunma, Japan and just the language barrier alone is enough to prevent them from providing that to SOA let alone the consumer.
There are very few manufacturers that offer "step by step" updates as your car is built in factory, BMW, Mercedes and GM/Chevy are on that list I know, not sure about the rest of the imports though.

 

I never got a mug! The treachery....

Subaru is a very small manufacturer, and when it comes to their order process it could easily be called the "most dated".
Through where I work we have numerous SOA contacts and I provided all of them with detailed feedback on the process when I ordered my car, but it falls on deaf ears, they are selling more cars now then they ever have before and so unless that trend reverses, they won't make investments unnecessarily especially since only a handful of people actually custom order a subaru. Most just buy off the lot from a dealers allocation.

One thing I did learn a lot about through the process was how SOA "allocates" cars to dealers, and how dealers have to "earn" cars for lack of a better term.
This really does affect dealer selection when shopping for an STI or BRZ or anything else semi-rare in their product lineup. Some dealerships never sell them, so they never get them.

 

Also congrats, you ordered the car I WISH I would have ordered, a PBP hatch lol.
I got a black sedan which was at the time my first choice, and I'm still partial to that stealth black sedan look, but man that plasma blue is just a badass color.

and I could have really used the 5door extra space since I sold my truck like an idiot.

 

100% this - it's why SoK always has the best selection of vehicles. They're a) a subaru only dealership that's still owned by SOA and b) they move the most amount of premium vehicles, giving them access to more.

this is also why they don't really negotiate....they know that for the most part, other dealerships won't have the variety they can get. And even if they do, who cares? There's always a demand for these vehicles, and even when it pisses people off (it's unfortunately happened to a few on here), they always have 100 more customers waiting in line.

who was it that preordered the BRZ there and ended up canceling? Well, i saw that car the day it came off the truck, and when you cancelled (i think it was longfury, can't remember though) they had it sold within 20 minutes. Supply and demand...

 

Incorrect, but only for a few more years. It's currently RUN by Troncalli, but it's still owned by SoA. I think their lease is up in a few years, it was a startup lease so they could open the store on Barrett. SOA owns everything about that Barrett location, which pisses SOK off, because they need to expand and can't. They had employees parking across the street and down the road, as they have no room for new vehicles.

 

My wife's company built SOK, and Steven's father in law is GM of Troncolli. Talk about 6 degrees of separation!

 

they only own the physical property on site that's not leased through SOA until it sells (office equipment, used vehicles, parts, etc). the property, building and rights are still owned by SOA

 

Nice man, congrats!!!
It will come on the NYK shipping line. You can use vesseltracker or the other site to track the ship. SoA can give you the name of the ship (if you get the right person).

This is of course assuming you are obsessed like I was, and/or have nothing better to do LOL

 

You are nothing compared to some others.......enjoy!

 

I was about to say....freaking huge dealer sticker.

Nice car man....now go enjoy it!

 

A couple of days early is nice. Looks great! Enjoy!

 

Car looks SICK!
This was literally my second choice over a black sedan, a plasma blue 5 door.
Congratulations on taking delivery finally, be sure to come see us at the bi-weekly meets!

 

Got any examples?
Rhetorical.

 

That car is sexy. Congrats man!

 

You?

 

She's purdy.. Congrats!