Let me start off by saying I would of prefered to of done the new RA Lite Turbo swap but I had already purchased the X turbo and forge wga and I don't feel like trying to get rid of all of these parts now. Anyways I had a few questions regarding some parts.
Firstly I have the Evo X BOV installed on the car, will this be adequate? or should I upgrade it to something like the synapse synchronic ? secondly i'm running the UR Intake, I have been told that this is crap and should immediately replace it with a better intake. Any insight would be greatly appreciated

 

Firstly,

I'm collecting parts for an X swap myself. I already have an X turbo but none of the accessories (oil lines coolant lines, gaskets, etc) so if you decide to go the RAD route shoot me a pm.

Second, the only issue I see with the UR intake is that it is a short ram intake. As much as I love UR products, I will not ever run a short ram intake, unless it it fully enclosed by a box with a fresh air feed. As far as I know, there is nothing available for the RA currently that fits that bill.

Lastly, the X valve should be fine at X boost levels. When I ran an upgraded turbo on my X i eventually swapped in my forge RS valve just to test it out. To my surprise, I picked up about 1.5 - 2.0 lbs of boost across the board (was running about 24psi tapering to 21psi by 7,600 rpm). Honestly though, I don't plan to run anything other than a stock X valve when I do the X swap. If by some change I get a wild hair to swap a bov, It will either be a Forge RS or TiAL recirc valve.

If you decide to sell your X valve though, shoot me pm as well

 

I think the X route is the way I am going to go. I'm trying to pickup an exhaust manifold now for it, you think getting it ported from a company like grimmspeed would be worth it?

I'm guessing going with an intake such as this one, would make no difference to what I have now?

http://www.modified.com/features/mod.../photo_07.html

Also was considering upgrading my LICP, or is there no point in doing that?

What I'm trying to achieve is decent performance without spending a fortune, but if I do have to spend some money on something important then obviously I would be willing to do it. If I can get away with some of the stuff I have now that would be great too.

 

I'm doing an X turbo swap in the next week as soon as I'm done producing a new battery bracket. I recommend upgrading to an OEM Evo X LICP, but anything aftermarket on a stock X turbo seems like overkill. Even some Evo X owners will tell you it's not completely in need of an upgrade

as for the bov, it's been hit or miss. Some Evo X owners on these boards have had bad luck and said their stocker leaked. I'll let everyone know how mine goes. I prefer the route of an Evo X swap over the RAD unless budget is a factor (nothing against CBRD)

 

What sort of bracket are you making? I'm looking for a bracket that will enable the small battery kit to fit with the AEM Evo X intake.

 

that is EXACTLY my main goal - to make a bracket to fit with a stock-ish Evo X intake (whether OEM or AEM box). Not only for intakes, but for LICPs as well. AMS has found that the AMS LICP will NOT fit on an RA with their own Small Battery in their installed location (which is same as normal battery, just laid flat)

I don't like the direction RA parts/mods development has been going ever since it came out. My belief is that the ONLY RA specific part should be the CBE because of the different drivetrain layout that requires different piping bends (but the CBE isn't a great value as far as gains vs cost anyway). I think this bracket could be a big step forward in the right direction.

We paid for the exact same 4b11t as the Evo X. I think we should be riding on the Evo X's growth. If the whole appeal to purchase an RA is the Evo X hardware, why aren't we taking part in their market's development?

After this bracket is made, I will be testing fitment with a stock Evo X intake box and LICP, as that's all I have available to me. I plan to send another to Bryan@GST, but he hasn't responded to me pm.

I pm'd Bryan@GST about his AEM, wondering if the box is the same dimensions as stock or if I have to make the bracket size to accommodate both, but he hasn't answered. If you read this Bryan, check your pm's!

 

Did you two consider just biting the bullet and relocating the battery to the trunk?

 

I run the UR intake. I would love to hear a legitimate reason why it is "crap".

 

This is also what I'm trying to avoid. I never bothered to ask how many hours of labor it would cost, but my tuner said "it's an absolute pain", and it seems like a lot of people are wary to do that anyway. Myself included.

There seems to be enough room by the ECU bracket, we'll see how it turns out

 

I have no idea. What are the measurements of the OEM box?

 

Sounds great. That's exactly what I have. If you need measurements I should be able to provide something for you. You want to know the dimensions of the AEM Evo X Air Box correct?

 

I did consider this but sounded like it required more work that what I was prepared to go through. Doesn't the battery need to be ventilated or something. I remember hearing about safety issues unless it was done right. In the end, I opted for putting the battery more or less where it was designed to go, in the front.

 

I'm expecting two Evo's to arrive monday morning so I can take measurements, but right now, I've sold out our Evo inventory

The last evo we got was a Wicked White GSR /w SS that was on the lot for about 5 hours lol

I'll obviously post updates - right now we're getting the shape drafted. The ECU bracket has grooves along the bottom - it's can't be a simple folded sheet of metal, so I ordered another bracket and second small battery for our guys to look at while they draft up a design.

 

exactly

it seems like most shops charge around $75-95 per hour for labor. The AMS Small Battery without the kit to mount it costs $130. So relocating to the trunk would have to cost just an hour of labor for it to be a good option, and from what my tuner tells me, it seems like way more. Plus I'm sure you could craigslist your battery for a small bit of cash

then there's the annoying issues like you mentioned, what exactly is required to make it safe? is it 100% securely mounted? I still have to run two separate leads to the engine bay anyway? Rather not deal with this headache, and I don't think others want to either

 

Mounting the battery in the 'trunk' isn't really an option for the Sportback owners either.