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‘16 WRX cvt Project

5335 Views 65 Replies 8 Participants Last post by  Maximus1991
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About a year ago decided to pull the trigger on a WRBlue cvt WRX, yes you read that right Im at this point into my life with 2 kids where I decided to go easy way automatic and so far I love it.

Im putting love into this car the most I can, even though its a 4 seasons daily driver, trying to keep it clean in our harsh environment. My newly constructed house (~2yo) made my dreams come true, to the point where I have a nice space to tweak my cars.

I love taking my time when doing something, carefully inspecting, cleaning, rustproofing on maintenance. But with 2 kids on diapers time is hard to come by…

Still I love the results so far and I will keep improving the car!

Picture from when I bought it. Vendor wasnt the best at taking picture! Lol also the car been doing a lot of dusty roads!




Up to date Build;
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
•{ Body, Interior & Dress-up }•
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
•Subaru Rain Deflectors
•Weathertech F&R Floormats
•RallyArmor Mudflaps FR.only
•Partial Debadge
•Complete Debadge (TBD)
•Duckbill Spoiler wrb
•Roof Window spoiler CF
•OLM CS under Side Skirts CF
•Front Lip CF style
•OLM Rear under bumper Canard CF
•Perrin Fender Covers
•Perrin Pulleys Cover
•Grimmspeed Radiator Cover
•Climate Control Knurl Red Anod
•Paddle Shifter extensions Red anod
•Park brake handle CF/Red anod
•CS style Front Grill CF
•CF Headlight Amber delete
•TBW skid plate
•Boomba Battery Tie
•CF Gear Shifter Cover Trim (TBD)
•CF Steering Cover Trim (TBD)
•FastWrx AP mount
•Morimoto 3.0 LED Headlights
•Morimoto LED Foglights
•Subispeed LED 3rd Brake Light
•LED Licence lights
•LED Reverse bulbs
•LED corners Bulbs
To come; CF fuse box cover, Oil cap, Brake fluid cap, Front bumper & Hood respray,

••••••••••••
•{ Engine }•
••••••••••••
•GS Stealth Box Intake
•Perrin Turbo Inlet
•GS EBCS
•Cusco Double Catch Cans
•Accessport ecm
•Touge Tuning Protune
•Perrin Charge Pipe
•GS Top Mount Intercooler
•GS Pitch stop
•Perrin Pitch Stop Mount Brace

•••••••••••••
•{ Cooling }•
•••••••••••••
•Mishimito CVT Cooler
•Mishimito Ancillary Hoses Kit (TBD)
To come; Radiator Hoses, Slim Fans, Turbo blanket, Alum. Overflow Tank,

•••••••••••••
•{ Exhaust }•
•••••••••••••
•1320s Muffler Deletes

••••••••••••••••••••••
•{ Brakes & Wheels}•
••••••••••••••••••••••
•Motegi Traklite 18x8 (Winter)
•Pirelli Sotozero runflat 245/40 (Winter)
•Enkei TS10 18x8.5 (Summer)
•Toyo Proxes R1R 245/40 (Summer)
•Brembo Front/Rear
•Stainless Brake lines
•Perrin Brake Cylinder Stopper

••••••••••••••••••
•{ Suspensions }•
••••••••••••••••••
•Perrin Steering Lock-Down
•Perrin Strut Tower Brace
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Not super easy to take snaps inside the garage lol, space is a bit crowded.

Here is a little comparison from a few months ago



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Egr delete is it still a thing?
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I was inside a cave for couple weeks, here’s some update;

Just removed the Hood and Front bumper for respray!

Can’t wait for the results! My car has been abused by stone chip for 4 years by previous owner. Bumper looked Dull without shines and Hood chipped points.

Was fun spending time with an old buddy while doing the removal.



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Stone chips are a plague and clear bras cause paint mismatch.

I'd rather the stone chips
Stone chips are a plague and clear bras cause paint mismatch.

I'd rather the stone chips
Yea, I just hope the new respray won’t stick out of the rest. I am kind of confidend with it though because when I purchase my duckbill it was prepainted by original color code and looks exactly the same.

I won’t be installing bras (films) after because I don’t like the stickers feeling on the paint. I won’t use the car enough to justify the need of the protective films.


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So I think this is time for updates lol.
Got back my front bumper and hood from respray, that was a nightmare, wrong color. Went myself pick up the paint, matched with my #VIN and gladly the new samples are perfect!
Dunno if it’s true or not but the paint shop told me that World Rally Blue had about 6 differents “recipe”. Anyways I just glad I had it right this time, shit happens…

So the good news, the painter is gonna redo my full front clip! He’s gonna blend everything with the right color this time! No extra charge! Im getting the fenders painted also!
And since Im there I will also ask to repair the 2 spots on the roof close to the windshield (again because of stones on the road)

I can’t wait to finally see her again all fresh and clean.


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On another topic; For about a week long I really thought my pitch mount bracket had failed. I was completely devastated, just thinking about the work involved into repairing that bracket soldered to the firewall! Dashboard removal and so on…

This was the first time I drive the Rex this year after I did the grimmspeed pitch mount (not the race version) coupled with the perrin pitch stop brace this winter.

On my way back I could ear something not right in my firewall, like metal grinch sound. I was expecting the worst, so came back home and got fooled by how the bracket is made at the top, I didnt know/forgot the space is normal, see picture below


Turned out the sound was about my perrin brace versus the firewall at my custom made spacer to replace the missing clutch slave on my cvt. I found a way to easely fix that.

With that said, I will be putting all efforts possible to help reduce stress to the pitch, I will be installing Perrin Engine Mounts because they are stiffer, less movements overall.

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In order to install the new engine mount on the cvt fa20dit I needed to first take out the turbo/headers assy. With only 4 canadian winter under the belt it’s unbelievable how much exhaust parts most notably the bolts/nuts can be SEIZED. I tried removing the downpipe but the 14mm nuts where disguting and where no more of a nut after you tried removing. End up removing the full exhaust in one shot, cutting those nuts will be easier off the car.

While those parts are off, it’s perfect to restore the oil/water lines that travels under there. They are not easely replaceable so I cleaned them and repainted. Same treatment to other braces or pieces that needed a revamp








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I had an extra 2015+ turbo (as a core) that a friend gave me from a Subaru claim (oil feed line were busting (rust)) and subaru replaced under warranty.

That was perfect for a rebuilt unit, adding the Billet intake wheel for a improved 15% faster turbo spool.

Everything around the turbo core is put back brand new to match the quality of the rebuilt turbo. Including studs, water lines, oil lines, gaskets, oil pan, heat blanket.






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I applaud you guys that work on the ground.

I'm old and huge and the ground is way too far down there for me, so it's lift or pay someone for this guy.
I applaud you guys that work on the ground.

I'm old and huge and the ground is way too far down there for me, so it's lift or pay someone for this guy.
Yea thanks, Actually I though I would be harder!
For motor mounts the CVT model plus the WRX electric power steering doesnt leave much space for working the rear bolt of the mount. Manual STI would be a joke with smaller powersteering and the manuals can lift engine about 4”, mine I don’t even think its 2”.

The constant get-up get down of working on the ground is the worst, you also gotta keep your head rested if not neck pain is to come haha.

Whats holding me right now is the b.o parts and the extra steps I take into restoring parts haha.


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So I have been working on getting everything torqued down on the turbo assembly.
Heat wrapping partly the headers for heat protections over engine mounts and oil pan especially.
Used some Stage 8 locking fasterners to make sure I don’t get any leaks from the header resulting in loss of power.

One bracket is still b.o so I can’t install the last piece which is the top heat shield.





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@Maximus1991, did you rebuild the turbo yourself? If so how did you go about balancing it?

Also, I documented my own FA20DIT Turbo replacement in the in Subaru Forester forum. Would welcome your comments based on your own experiences. ('14-'18) - 2016 - DIY ► FA20-DIT Turbo DIY...
@Maximus1991, did you rebuild the turbo yourself? If so how did you go about balancing it?

Also, I documented my own FA20DIT Turbo replacement in the in Subaru Forester forum. Would welcome your comments based on your own experiences. ('14-'18) - 2016 - DIY ► FA20-DIT Turbo DIY...
Naw I did not rebuilt myself, sent a core to a shop in the US that do just that. That is something out of my league and leave that to the pros.

Thanks for the link, Ill take a look!


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Restomod of the oem 24mm front swaybar Also refreshed a lot of other parts under there.





I wasnt planning to do the front sway bar revamp now, but since I had to remove the EPS rack that was kind of in the way so I decided to jump in.

Later on someday I will be tackling the rear swaybar, that one will be a complete replacement. But for now let’s say I just want the car back on road!


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Found a guy called Anderson Design & Fab, he’s making polyurethane bushing insert for the CVT transmission mount. I was really glad because there is simply nothing aftermarket out there for the CVT mount.

I purchased the stiffer one (75d) so it match the Perrin Engine Mount that are 75d also. Bought a brand new mount for the install, it was actually a good shot because the stock mount at 65,000kms was actually a lot more slack.






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Reserved

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Next morning will be the first time I fire up the engine since like 3 months lol!

Everything is coming together, Im installing the last pieces, injecting coolant into the system with a tool.

I hope everything runs fine!
Update November 2022; It does run great! 5,000 kms on the new mods this summer.




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Its already Christmas, new co-project on the way! More pic to come…






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