[KeatonHo]

Its about time I start one of these. I need a spot where I can track all my ramblings and projects. I bought my WRX in the summer of 2016 and started the thread in the summer of 2018.

MOD LIST:
ENGINE:
Catless Downpipe
Silicone Intercooler Piping
Silicone Intake Inlet Hose
Ported and Polished Exhaust Manifold
Invidia Uppipe
Borla Touring Catback
TGV Deletes
Dark Blue Injectors
K&N Typhoon
Tune by Eric Minehart @ Torqued Performance
SUSPENSION:
08 FXT Struts/Springs
99 LOB Trailing Arm Bracket/Sway Bar Mount
Perrin Rear Sway Bar Linkage(front)
Group N Trailing Arm Bushings
DRIVETRAIN:
Stock Wheels+205/65/16 Michelin Premeir A/s
INTERIOR:
Red JDM Hazard Button
Red Interior LEDs
Prosport Boost, EGT, AFR
EXTERIOR:
Red RA Mudflaps
Blinking Side Marker
Hella Supertones

PLANS:
ENGINE:
EJ207- Twin Scroll
SUSPENSION:
Spec C Caster Adding Control Arms
V7 lateral links
Group N all
DRIVETRAIN:
STi 6 speed with DCCD
INTERIOR:
SMY Gauge Pod
STi Cluster
Black and Red STi Seats
92-X Black Interior Peices
WeatherTech Mats
EXTERIOR:
Sedan Width

 

[KeatonHo]

First Impressions

This is the picture that started it all. I originally wanted an 02-05 Forest Green Impreza Outback Sport. The wagons were just the right size for me, and I really loved the two tone green/tan combo. These cars are actually really hard to find, so I was just looking for wagons instead. I saw this wagon, and that it was a WRX. I didn't really know what it meant, but I looked it up and thought it was cool. The guy selling the car was about 6'5" with arms the size of my head--no joke. Had to have been taking steroids. Anyway, the test drive went alright, and I didn't really lay into the gas at all because I had never driven a turbo car before, so I was hitting shifts at 3000 RPM like a nice young man. I was just about done when I turned onto a busy road in the middle of two semis. The gap didn't seem small, so I wasn't too worried about it. The first semi passed and I turned into the lane, heading up a hill. I had to give it a little extra gas because the second semi was coming in hot, and I was getting a bit worried. All of a sudden, out of nowhere, I'm pushed into the back of my seat. The car is accelerating. BOOST. There was nothing quite like that first taste of boost. I was beyond hooked. The rest of the day I had a huge sh*t eating grin plastered on my face. I had driven there in my '96 Nissan Pickup, so I quickly noticed that the fun factors were quite different. I had to have the car. It was ridiculously overpriced and truly pretty crappy(I wasn't aware at the time). I haggled the guy down and drove the car away a few days later. For $6,800, I had just changed my life.

 

[KeatonHo]

Lift

Let me tell you a little story...

not yet though lol it's gonna take me a while to type it.

 

[KeatonHo]

Boost Leak Testing

Since I got the car there has been a boost leak, so I checked out a couple threads on how to make one and how to test. Not to toot my own horn, but my tester ended up looking better (subjective) AND coming out cheaper than DIY Boost Leak Tester . The only thing I would recommend is putting some pvc glue on the cap. The pvc isn't quite tacky enough to stay inside a silicone hose. So let the glue dry for a day and the tester should work great. I ended up putting all the parts together at home depot, the only thing you need from somewhere else is the tire gauge.

 

[KeatonHo]

Exhaust Overhaul

Exhaust Project

I picked up a spare exhaust manifold with the intent of tapping a hole for my EGT probe, with the added benefit of not having to take mine off the car to do it.

Turns out this is a JDM EJ205 exhaust manifold(not in Facebook man's post but he told me no refund)(later figured out it was from a 2.0 XT--sweet!)***, so that means there is no hole for the front O2 sensor either. 2 holes to be tapped.. I kind of got to thinking, why not wrap the manifold while I have it there? Then I figured I would buy enough wrap to do my "aftermarket" uppipe? Well I get to looking and comparing the uppipe that came with the exhaust and look at the one on my car. Well, the previous owner lied about my car having an aftermarket uppipe. Invidia to the rescue. After ordering, I look at the JDM uppipe and realize that this is actually catless. Guess I'll try selling that!

Turns out the Invidia uppipe kind of sucks... there are harsh steps in it, and also the manifold side is larger than the gasket... great. I guess you get what you pay for!

To wrap the headers I had to grind off all the mounting points for the heat shields, and I started wondering , hey, why not try some grinding inside these collectors? This turned into researching P&P, which looked really fun

Of course, because I like to make easy things hard, wiring a simple EGT has turned into fully wrapping pre-turbo, P&Ping everything in sight, removing every part of the exhaust, and installing new gaskets everywhere.

New parts include: Invidia Uppipe and Borla Touring Catback.
Refurbished parts include: JDM P&P exhaust manifold

***Look a couple posts down, I figured out what it really was.

 

[KeatonHo]

Port and Polish

Well... porting and polishing. It took a lot of time. Way too much than I care to admit. I ended up painting everything with VHT red, hopefully so that the manifold wouldn't build up with rust again.

The stuff went on really easily. It was great. Color was a bit off though.

Got it all wrapped, then installed. Finished it off with a skid plate, and called it a day.

I ended up weighing the manifold and uppipe I took off the car, 32.2 pounds with the heat shields.
The p&pd exhaust that I put in, wrap and all, was 20 pounds even, for a grand total of 12.2 pounds lost! They say every bit counts, right?

I will say one thing, no matter what the woman in your life thinks, it is a good idea to bake VHT paint in the oven. On the car, even if you follow the instructions, it will turn into a nasty brown. Hopefully the coating still holds together, but we'll see. Also, do not get wd40 on the paint before it is baked. The wd40 will melt the paint, just like it melts plastidip.

 

[KeatonHo]

Story Time

I saw a screaming deal on a "version 7 jdm sti top mount." It was $150, and on ebay they go for $300.

At first glance, it doesn't look like a v7. The logo is way too big. So I ask him, whats up with the logo, how come the intercooler looks like that? He pretty much says, "what do you mean, I have an ej207 and this came off the top of it." Okay, well if you say so.. he was a couple hours away, and I had to move some stuff in his town anyway, so I met up with him, but I was in my dad's pickup(crucial part of the story). I was in it because we were moving furniture and beds. So, we get to talking and he says he's converted his bugeye into a 2 door widebody. Reminded me of a 22b, somewhat. Anyway, we talk for an hour at least and he tells me he has more stuff at his house that I should come look at. So the next day, I headed over, tmic in the back seat. He gives me some STI rear door cards, a busted up JDM hood scoop, and some carbon fiber wrapped side grille pieces. Cool. He tells me he needs a ride to the shop to pick up his car. I give him a ride to the shop because he says he has the mounting brackets for the door cards there. Turns out they were at his house the whole time, but I got to see the car, so it was okay. Anyway! I make it home to my car. Pop the hood, and think to myself, "huh. If an STi intercooler is bigger than the wrx, and this is 15% bigger than the STi... then this is exactly the same as my intercooler." I get mine pulled off and compare:

There's no difference, other than the endtanks and sidewalls being painted on the "STi" one.

I ask him what the hell is going on.
He says that he has an ej207 and it came off of it.
I tell him it's clearly wrx sized.
He then speculates that the v7 didn't have a bigger intercooler.
I send him links and threads explaining the differences.
I send him pictures of the part numbers matching mine.
I send him pictures of what the part number is supposed to be.
"Interesting"
I say its obviously not a v7 sti intercooler
He says it's definitely not a wrx intercooler. his [engine] is sti factory ej207 maybe not v7 though
He sends me a picture of a tmic from an 03 wrx.
I send him the picture from above, showing that they are clearly the same.
One day later, I explain that he falsely advertised, because it's not a v7.
He basically explaines that it's not his fault because he had no reason to think it wasn't a v7.
I explain that if his sale had gone through on ebay(he pulled it away from someone who bought it because he didn't want to ship it), he would have had to give a full refund and pay for shipping.
"Ok"
I suggest that he gives me back $100, and takes back the intercooler.
Silence

Thoughts
I understand people can be tight on money, but really? Acting like that is okay? Come on. I'm going to college, which I told him. He's going to car shows, and that this widebody thing is taking up a lot of money. Okay so we're both poor. Me even more so than he. I just don't understand how someone could do that. We talked for a good 5 hours. I even drove him around for 30 minutes. Hell, I went to his house even!

This intercooler really has me fooled though. The silver paint is underneath the sticker. Clearly the STi logo was sprayed on, but I'm really wondering what the deal is with it. Honestly probably JDM, but were there painted wrx intercoolers?

Conclusion
Please, for anyone reading this, do your research before buying used parts. Know the part number. If I would've written it down before I met him(I had researched but forgot the number by the time I got to him), I wouldn't have bought the damn thing. SIC-TM0100 is the part number for a v7 top mount. If you cant get a part number for an intercooler, at least drive your own car and pop the hood to note the differences. Especially if something doesn't feel right(ie the logo looks wrong). I've also learned that I'm not very intimidating, if at all. I know where this dude lives, what side of the street he parks on, and where his shop is. Yet, he doesn't care that he's stiffing me... maybe I need a face tattoo.




comparison of numbers..

^mine^

^his^

 

[KeatonHo]

RA say whaa??

So, I looked into my exhaust manifold a little more because I was bored one day. Here are the pictures right before I started grinding away, I figured it would be good to keep the numbers.

It seems that my first search on opposed forces was incorrect..
here's the link: http://opposedforces.com/parts/info/14010AA081/
but here's the picture for easier viewing:

I hit up the guy I bought the manifold from and basically say that he struck gold, but he doesn't seem to understand. He says the company he bought it from advertised it as a normal JDM WRX. Does this mean I can call my car an RA now? I mean since there's about a 5% chance that the part is off an RA, and being that the exhaust manifold makes up about 1% of the car.....

The odds are in my favor of my car being an RA now :thumbup:

 

[KeatonHo]

Borla Touring

Huge shoutout to everyone who helped out on the https://www.clubwrx.net/forums/engine-modifications/134593721-deep-quiet-exhaust.html thread. I knew from the start that it would be between the two exhausts, the Maddad Whisper or the Borla Hush(now Borla Touring). Hearing in person reviews really helped to solidify my decision. The exhaust was kind of a pain though.. The previous owner of my bugeye installed an Ebay downpipe. Honestly, the DP doesn't look too bad, but with cheap-os like that, their specs are garbage. The Touring has a 3" flange that sits on the inside of the downpipe, but because of the Ebay DP, it was smaller than 3". So... Back to the die grinder. It was pretty upsetting. The install took hours longer than the 15 minutes it should have. All my harbor freight bits were all burnt up, so I had to use a 40 year old grinding stone. It worked out in the end though. I ended up turning the car around with the DP being the exhaust exit, no muffler, and all I could do was laugh. Crazy how a 4 cylinder can be so loud.

When I finally got the car back together, I was so happy. The Borla sounds so damn good. I just stood behind the car for a couple minutes listening to the rumble. It was great. Both my parents approve too! "It doesn't sound like a rice burner. I like it" and "It sounds bubbly. It reminds me of a race car" were two quotes heard from them. For two people who don't know much about cars and would hate a loud exhaust, it was the perfect approval. It's so perfect though.. It's just loud enough to be louder than stock, but it sure does make it sound a lot deeper, and a lot meaner. In the cabin, there is no drone. Windows down, it sounds amazing. I really can't say enough good things about it. It's just loud enough to say, "Hey, I mean business. ****'s happening under this hood," and it's not nearly loud enough for people to be mad at how loud it is. I doubt a cop would ever bother me about it. The only issue I have is that the hangers aren't long enough, so you will need the long Kartboy exhaust hangers. I'm almost touching the undercarriage in a couple spots, so I need to order some. The really annoying part is that 4 hangers cost $36, but shipping is another $12. Really RSD?? Shipping shouldn't be 1/3 of the cost. Guess I'll check Kartboy's website.

Pics on the way

 

[Gigs]

Boost leak testing , looking up part numbers and using quality parts

This is rare in bugeye world.

I would suggest hitting up my friend Dewey at Six Star motorsports , he will take care of you with any parts you need. Just tell him Joey sent you.

Sadly you learned the hard way that its basically easier to buy new parts now then to deal with most of the subaru community.

If you continue to go down the STi wagon conversion route I suggest going straight to 5x114 when you do your 6mt conversion. Endless wheel selection and a far better hub design in the front of the car.

 

[KeatonHo]

I kind of like to do things the right way.. A lot of it for me is that I hate inefficiency, so boost leaks bug the crap out of me. I mean think of the gas mileage I could be getting by just being efficient. :tisk: I think I've narrowed the leaks down to the tgv area. I've got the gaskets ready to go but haven't had the time to do it yet. Really I've done most of the stuff to my engine in the name of efficiency, hence why I was going to get a bigger intercooler, also why I ported the headers and wrapped them.

Also the guy I went to give the intercooler to had just bought a hood. Mind you this is a tmic that I gave him. Here's the exact hood he bought:

(Photo was from the previous car--actually a friend of mine from grade school)
I told him it wouldn't be a good idea to run that hood since it's a top mount, he said, "Yeah, I'm not sure. We'll see." :face: :dontknow:

As for the part number lookup, that was pretty cool. The reason I did that is because I couldn't figure out why the hell there was no front 02 bung. That caused me a lot of grief. Tapping a hole that big is a crap shoot...

I'll definitely talk to Dewey. It's hard trying to find a lot of stuff. I can't really bring myself to trust ebay sellers because they have no idea what they're advertising. It also sucks to get the shaft from people you think you know.. Also, shipping from Illinois isn't too bad.

I'm definitely going to go straight to 5x114. When the time is right I'm going to try to find something with hubs, rotors, brakes, etc. still attached to the transmission. I was thinking that with all the components lumped together it might be cheaper. We'll see though!

 

[KeatonHo]

Intake Manifold

Well, the search for leaks lead me to the TGV gaskets..

After all was said and done I think it worked! Haven't had a chance to leak test yet.. my stupid ass forgot to do it while I was putting things back together.. :thud:

My dad told me to get a hold of a mechanic he knows, hopefully that guy has a smoke machine. I saw that one of the plastic caps of the TGV was cracked a tiny bit, but it didn't look like that would be seeing any pressure. Also, when leak testing before, the noise I heard was coming from the opposite side. I figured that wasn't the problem but I'm still wary of it!

I know for the fact the tune on the car is all wonky. I'm seeing boost spikes to 22 psi.. no idea how that's happening. Plus, I'm able to hold about 12-13 psi now. Before it was only 10! Now the issue is that when I'm holding 12, the AFR drops to 10-11. Before it was something like 12 I think.. In vacuum now I'm lean, at about 15. Before, I was at 14.7... I think I need a tune. Bad. Hopefully I can get it set up for this weekend! This whole thing is a huge headache. I'd really hate to pay for a tune and still have leaks to find, only to pay for a second tune.


...okay I'm an idiot and I'm sure that the TGV cap is what's causing problems. There's literally nothing else to do it. The gaskets might've been leaking as well but now it seems obvious that is what the issue is.

 

[KeatonHo]

Subaru Parts Department

I really don't like how when ordering from Subaru you have to go through the store specific to your area. The guy who runs the parts department where I live is totally incompetent. I've called numerous different times on different parts, either to order or to see if parts have arrived, and about half of the time I get sent to voicemail. So this time I figured I would skip the hassle and just order online. I've been thinking for a couple days that I should've gotten an email about them receiving my parts, but this has happened before with the guy not saying that they've arrived.

I look at the order today(8 days after ordering), to find that it looks like no one has updated the status of my order. I thought that was weird, so I called in and a girl answered, and told me she would check the order. About 5 minutes later I get an email saying my order was updated, then 15 minutes later she calls me back and says that they just received my order, and that it would be shipped within the next couple of days.

Pretty crappy to have to deal with this from Subaru itself. Though there aren't many Montana folks on here, try to go somewhere else than Rimrock.

 

[Gigs]

That is why I just go to Subaru Genuine parts and order there

 

[KeatonHo]

I'll be doing that next time. At first I looked into it but I couldn't figure out which site to use, so I panicked and went back to the dealership.

 

[KeatonHo]

Fuel Injectors

So, the boost leak was due to the fuel injectors! Specifically the large o-rings that mate to the side of the TGVs. This realization prompted me to buy some dark blues. I knew I would be getting tuned soon, but I also wanted to feel some real boost before using the blues, so I pulled out the old wrx injectors and swapped over all the rubber. Simple enough, but a pain in the ass to get the injectors out and then back in.

I noticed the #3 injector wouldn't stick in the fuel rail, but didnt think much of it so I tightened it down and took the car for a test drive.. Immediately smelled fuel. It was probably 9:30 at the time so I took it apart and found that #3 top o-ring was ripped. Dug through the trash and found one of my old ones, put that in, called it a night. Started the drive to work the next day and smelled fuel again! Get the car back home and #1 is leaking... but smelling fuel out of the drivers side too. Took another 45 minutes to try and reseat the injectors like they should've been in the beginning. Turn the car on to check and make sure they were correct, come around to the passenger and fuel is spraying all the way to the wheel well. It was kind of funny.

Pulled the intake manifold to do the TGV deletes, and to get a little bit closer to the injectors. The guy I bought the injectors from also gave me a fuel rail, deletes, and a silicone turbo intake hose. All for $60, when he had just the injectors listed at $50 :thumbup: . Hell of a deal, great guy. Anyway, because he threw in all the extras now I'll have a totally new setup going in, so no matter what the issue was, it should be all fixed now. Well.. at least it will be fixed when all my new rubber comes in for the injectors.

 

[KeatonHo]

Hellas

Grille doesn't fit quite yet, but I'll get that figured out soon enough. In the meantime, tuning is underway :zing:

 

[SD_GR]

Let me ask You something: do you think the same bracket you are using to mount the horns could instead support lights (have I asked this previously, perhaps sober, idk?)?

 

[KeatonHo]

Let me ask You something: do you think the same bracket you are using to mount the horns could instead support lights (have I asked this previously, perhaps sober, idk?)?

Just got the bracket mounted last night, so I don't believe you've asked! Enjoying a chocolate coconut porter at the moment, btw. The bracket is 1/16" stainless steel, which is surprisingly hard. No flex to it, so it would be pretty easy to mount lights to. The only thing bugging me is that it's almost impossible to put a bolt below the latch. I guess you'd just have to have the clearance in the back for the ac evaporator, but other than that it would be easy. Of course with the stainless + lights there wouldn't be much room for a grille

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

 

[SD_GR]

Thanks!