Tuning the Tuning the Subaru FB:
FB16E FB16F FB20B FB20D FB20X FRB20V FB25B & FB25D

"Building the best modified Subaru FB engine engine!"

Carref prides itself on providing the latest tips and guides to your modification project.

The Subaru FB engine great bases for a tuning project and with carefully chosen motorsport parts like a remap, turbo upgrades and camshafts you will substantially improve your driving experience.

This pages aim is examine the options for your FB engine tuning and summarise the ultimate modifications.

We consider FB engine tuning and report on the best upgrades. Subaru FB engine are popular blocks and with the optimum performance upgrades like remapping, turbo upgrades and camshafts you will maximize your driving opportunities.

We rely on our visitors to pass on tips and tell us about their projects and what worked on their car, and this article is the culmination of the feedback we have received. First let us look at the history and specs of this engine and then consider which tuning modifications work best on it.

History of the Engine

The FB was a NASP boxer engine with AVCS - Active Valve Control System overall giving a wider torque band than previous engine versions. By using lighter pistons and con rods, there is less noise and friction and the engine is more efficient.

FB16E

• 1597 cc DOHC, 2012+ EUDM Subaru Impreza XV 1.6i

FB16F

• 1599 cc DOHC, turbo, 2014+ Subaru Levorg

FB20B

• 1995 cc DOHC, 2011+ JDM Subaru Forester, 2012-2016 Subaru Impreza, and 2012-2017 Subaru XV

FB20D

• 1995 cc DOHC, 2017+ Subaru Impreza, and 2018+ Subaru XV

FB20X

• 1995 cc DOHC, 2014–16 Subaru XV Hybrid

FB20V

• 1995 cc DOHC, 2019+ Subaru XV Hybrid

FB25B

• 2498 cc DOHC, 2011–18 North American Subaru Forester, 2012-2019 North American Subaru Legacy, and 2012-2019 North American Subaru Outback

FB25D

• 2498 cc DOHC, 2019+ North American Subaru Forester, 2020+ North American Subaru Legacy, and 2020+ North American Subaru Outback

Tuning the Subaru FB engine and best FB engine performance parts.

What are the most effective FB engine parts

Just because particular tuning mods are are common on FB engine it doesn't mean it is good, we shall best tuning mods that will give your FB engine the biggest power gain return for your cash.

Altering your FB engine camshaft will make a dramatic difference to the engine power band. Choosing a higher performance camshaft profile raises the power band accordingly.

Fast road cams commonly increase the power throughout the rev band, you may lose a little low down bhp but your higher rpm power will be higher.

Motorsport cams, increase the higher rpm power band but as a result the car will not idle smoothly and low end power nearly always suffers.

A Motorsport cam is not great on the daily commute.

You should ideally optimize your torque band to your driving style so for a car driven daily stick with a fast road FB engine cam

Different FB engine engines respond better to mild cam durations than others.

The engine timing and injectors and fuel pump also have a large bearing on the bhp gains you'll achieve.

Extending exhaust or intake durations can alter the bhp band and on most engines the exhaust and intake durations do not need to match, although most cams and tuners use matched pairs there are some advantages to extending the intake or exhaust durations.

Modifying to STAGE 1:

Sports exhaust manifold, Remaps/piggy back ECU, Panel air filters, Intake headers, Drilled & smoothed airbox, Fast road camshaft.

Modifying to Stage 2:

Sports catalyst & performance exhaust, Ported and polished head, fuel pump upgrades, high flow fuel injectors, induction kit, Fast road cam.

Modifying to Stage 3:

Internal engine upgrades (head flowing porting/bigger valves), Crank and Piston upgrades to alter compression, Twin charging conversions, Adding or Upgrading forced induction (turbo/supercharger), Engine balancing & blueprinting, Competition cam.

Mapping helps unlock the full potential of all the modifications you've done to your FB engine.

It will usually give around 30% more power on turbocharged vehicles and you can expect to see around 15% on NASP engines, but your mileage may rely on the modifications you've done and the condition of your engine.

It is the whole point to any engine tuning job to pull more fuel and air into the FB engine engine

The intake plenum take the air from the filter and allow it to be sucked into the engine cylinders.

The shape and flow rate of the Intake manifold can make a large effect on to fuel mixing and power on the FB engine.

We often see intake manifold are crying out for performance upgrades, although a few makers provide reasonably well designed intake manifold.

Larger FB engine valves, doing some port matching and head flowing will also raise performance, and significantly will raise potential for increasing the performance increase on other mods.

Which turbo upgrades are best?

NASP engines need quite a lot of work when you add a turbo, so we have a separate guide to help you take into account the pros and cons of going this route on your FB engine

The more air you can get into an engine, the more fuel it can burn and uprating the induction with a turbocharger upgrade makes impressive power gains.

If a car is fitted with a turbo tuning mods are simpler to install and you'll see that turbo charged engines will have stronger components.

There are practical limits for every engine, with some being extremely strong and some just sufficiently able to handle stock power

We recommend you find these limitations and fit stronger pistons, crank and engine components to survive the power.

We've seen guys spending a loads on turbo upgrades on the FB engine only to suffer the humiliation of seeing the car catastrophically fail on it's first outing after it's been completed.

Large capacity turbochargers will usually experience low end lag, and small turbochargers spool up more quickly but won't have the peak rpm power band gains.

In recent times the selection of turbochargers is always developing and we commonly find variable vane turbochargers, permitting the vane angle is altered according to speed to lower lag and increase top end bhp and torque.

Twin scroll turbochargers divert the exhaust gases into 2 channels and feed these at differently profiled vanes in the turbo charger. They also help the scavenging effect of the engine.

It is not unusual that there's a limit in the air flow sensor MAF/MAP on the FB engine when considerably more air is being fed into the engine.

We note 4 bar air sensors coping with quite large power gains, whereas the OEM air sensor limited power at a much lower level.

Adding a supercharger or additional turbo will make large power gains, although more complex to setup. We have this feature on twinchargers if you want to read more.

Fuelling

When you increase the performance you will need to ramp up to the fuelling.

More performance needs more fuel. We strongly recommend you to be generous with your injectors flow rate.

As a rule of thumb add another 20% when fitting an injector, which takes into account injector deterioration and gives a little spare capacity should the engine require more fuel.

We think this one is common sense, but you'll need to match your fuel injector to the type of fuel your car uses as well.

All the following flywheel power targets will assume an injector duty cycle of 80% and a base of 58psi of fuel pressure at idle.

4 Cylinder turbocharged engines

• 58 PSI 340cc/min 200hp
• 58 PSI 511cc/min 300hp

4 Cylinder NASP engines

• 58 PSI 285cc/min 200hp
• 58 PSI 426cc/min 300hp

4 Cylinder supercharged engines

• 58 PSI 312cc/min 200hp
• 58 PSI 468cc/min 300hp

Choosing the right performance exhaust

One of the most common mistakes and problems we see in tuning projects is usually down to the exhaust, or rather a poorly chosen exhaust for your engine.

Only look to replace your exhaust if your exhaust is actually creating a restriction.

On most factory exhausts you'll see your flow rate is fine even on modest power gains, but when you start pushing up the power levels you will need to get a better flowing exhaust.

Don't go with the largest exhaust you can source you'll slow up the exhaust flow rate - the best for power gains are usually between 1.5 to 2.5 inches. It is the shape and material more than the bore size.

Common exhaust restrictions are in the catalysts installed, so adding a faster flowing race alternative will help avoid this restriction.

Weak spots, Issues & problem areas on the FB16E FB16F FB20B FB20D FB20X FRB20V FB25B & FB25D

The FB engine engines are generally reliable and solid as long as they are regularly serviced and maintained.

Regular oil changes are vital on the FB engine, especially when tuned and will help extend the life and reliability of the engine.

For more information on Tuning your FB engine engine please join us in our friendly forum where you can discuss tuning options in more detail with our FB engine owners. It would also be worth reading our unbiased tuning articles to get a full grasp of the benefits and drawbacks of each modification.

Please help us improve these tips by sending us your feedback in the comments box below.

We love to hear what our visitors have got up to and which upgrades work best for them on each model of car. Comments are used to improve the accuracy of these FB engine articles which are continually updated.

METAS! below

Tuning the Building the best modified FB engine engine from Subaru

We consider FB engine tuning and report on the best upgrades. Subaru FB engine are popular blocks and with the optimum performance upgrades like remapping, turbo upgrades and camshafts you will maximize your driving opportunities.

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This article was written by Waynne Smith on TorqueCars, and I appreciate your feedback and suggestions. This entry was filed under Subaru. You can leave a response below or join TorqueCars forum to discuss this article and car modification in detail with our members.

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