the HP bump from a short ram cold air is so minimal its barely worth it, and doing a long intake (down into the front of the wheel well) is much more complicated.
for incvreased hp, cobb stage 1 is the easiest - basically 600 bucks for the accessport then you can download the new map with no other mods. further increases will req cat or turboback exhaust, larger intercooler, larger turbo.
as for running gear, whoever said do springs/shocks before wheels is 100% right - fxts look shite on big rims with stock ride height.
easiest (and cheapest) is swift springs (300 bucks from a guy in cali who imports them from japan, fxt specific) on stock struts (you may get slightly earlier failure of the rear struts, but i had no problems).
sti struts would be the next step, unless you have the coin to go straight to coilovers - but thats a big jump in cost. next would be end links and roll bars if your planning on hitting up autocross or anything.
again, a lot depends on how much u want to spend and how much expertese you have.
heres my 04 fxt, stage 1, swifts, sti struts
if someone wants to embed that, please do
and subaruforester.org is money for any info on any mod, plus nasioc and scoobymods
