up-pipe decisions! Can use a bit of input.

[surchk]

So, I purchased my car back may of 2012, and everything is pretty much stock. When I first got it I wanted to spend money on maintenance oil, brakes, battery etc making sure all that stuff was good. Im finally done with all that. I had my rotors and pads checked out and all that is great. Money has started to come in a tiny bit more so soon ill have a 250$ to spend on an uppipe.

The car has approx. 98K miles on it and I bought it with 96K, the uppipe seems to be the stock catted one, i told my self once i have the cash to buy ANY type of parts the first thing is gonna be a NEW uppipe. My ultimate plan is to have my car running stage two, tuned. So far i have a cobb access port in mind for tuning.

I like to keep things uniform and I also have an affinity towards cobb so i planned on keeping everything cobb (up pipe, turboback exhaust, etc.).

Ive been reading up more and more on uppipes and decided it DIDNT have to be cobb so I am also looking at grimmspeed.

So the budget is 250, and these are the two pipes I had in mind:

COBB Tuning Uppipe Subaru Models (inc. 2002-2013 WRX / STI) at RallySportDirect.com
GrimmSpeed Uppipe Subaru Models (inc. 2002-2013 WRX / STI) at RallySportDirect.com

I just noticed this pipe and was considering it as well, ill be doing some more reading up on it after this post

GrimmSpeed Ceramic Coated Uppipe Subaru Models (inc. 2002-2013 WRX / STI) at RallySportDirect.com


Any thoughts or input would be greatly appreciated. The cobb uppipe or the grimmspeed / grimmspeed ceramic coated pipes are what I narrowed my choices down to.

Car info:
2002 Black Bugeye, everything stock.
4EAT Transmission
97800 Miles on the clock
This car is my Daily so Im not going too crazy with upgrades, stage 2 at least/most

Plans:
Stage 2 w/ Cobb AP tune (map possibly from clark turner tuning)

[EndlessSea]

all three of those choices are fine IMHO. they all do the same thing, they are both good brands. really cant go wrong with any of them. i am partial to cobb myself. as i dont have a lot of experience with grimspeed. but ive heard they're a good brand.

anything is better than your stock catted uppipe. thats got to go asap. esp if its been on for 98k miles. its a hell of a job so plan on an entire afternoon or possibly a whole day if your by yourself in your garage. but its worth knowing your turbo is safer, youll get about 10 hp out of it. and slightly quicker spool up.

pb blaster/wd40 is your friend. expect and prepare for some broken bolts and bleeding knuckles. if neither happens its been a good day, if both happens. its still been a good day and at least you were prepared for it

[EJ257]

I'm a fan of uppipes with flex sections, personally. My recommendations would be either Grimmspeed or TurboXS. I would not opt for the Grimmspeed coating. While I like (and run) their uppipe, I've seen a bunch of their coatings flake off. If you want the additional heat retention, pick up a small bit of exhaust wrap. Just be sure not to wrap the flex section, as it can cause premature failure.

[surchk]

Yeah Endless thanks for the heads up. I've been doing a lot of research since I got my car I know the uppipe is the first thing that's gotta go before anything else.

Thanks for the input ej I'm slowly becoming a huge fan of the pipes with a flex section. And I also had the same feelings about the costing and the possibility of it peeling.

I'm most likely going to go with the grimm pipe as my choice.

I was going to post another thread but before I do maybe you can answer my question ej since your in the new york area. I plan on getting a Cobb turbo back exhaust and if I'm not mistaken the down pipe would be catted, will this be enough to pass emissions? I'm still in the middle of research so my question might be answered but I was curious of your input. I'm in Jamaica queens btw. I was assuming the passing emissions with this set up would depend on who I went to I guess

Any way thanks for the replies and input guys. It is really appreciated it.

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2

[EJ257]

I was going to post another thread but before I do maybe you can answer my question ej since your in the new york area. I plan on getting a Cobb turbo back exhaust and if I'm not mistaken the down pipe would be catted, will this be enough to pass emissions? I'm still in the middle of research so my question might be answered but I was curious of your input. I'm in Jamaica queens btw. I was assuming the passing emissions with this set up would depend on who I went to I guess

NY emissions requires a visual inspection of the emission control devices. That said, a shop typically loses money on inspections; since it's a flat $21 rate, no shop can do a proper inspection in 15 minutes (assuming the $85/hr rate that's common here). Typically, they'll check OBDII (required), and the safety components (tires, brakes, lights, etc.) and give you a sticker.

[surchk]

Awesome, thanks for the input and all your feedback!

[EJ257]

Awesome, thanks for the input and all your feedback!

I retract my previous statement about price...outside NYMA is $21, and NYMA is $26, I believe. So don't show up with just $21 in your pocket.

[Rambo]

FWIW, a few of us have had fitment issues with the Grimmspeed uppipes. I had to dremel out the gasket stud holes a little bit to get the gasket to fit over the uppipe studs, but it fit up to the turbo just fine. Zax on here had to actually dremel out the turbo mounting to get the GS studs to clear.

It was an easy fix for me to add a bit more clearance to the gasket mounts (and the actual sealing surface was just fine), so I'd still recommend the GS pipe since fitment was great once it was actually installed, but just something to be aware of.

[surchk]

FWIW, a few of us have had fitment issues with the Grimmspeed uppipes. I had to dremel out the gasket stud holes a little bit to get the gasket to fit over the uppipe studs, but it fit up to the turbo just fine. Zax on here had to actually dremel out the turbo mounting to get the GS studs to clear.

It was an easy fix for me to add a bit more clearance to the gasket mounts (and the actual sealing surface was just fine), so I'd still recommend the GS pipe since fitment was great once it was actually installed, but just something to be aware of.

Wow thank you very much for the heads up!!

That was another thing that was on my mind...fitment. I'll most likely be putting in my order either this friday or the following friday for the GS up-pipe.

Once again thanks for all your input and feedback guys it was really helpful.