Notorious

Just adjusted the dampening on the coils some more and drove down to Mexico to record some 3rd gear logs for my tuner. Didn’t stay long but a fun drive nonetheless. I’m saving the next dyno day for next year or at least after I finally decide to install the water meth kit. Ideally I don’t want it retuned on winter gas with the water/meth kit. I don’t drive it a ton during the winter months anyways.

Any assortment set of MINI fuses will do. There are also micro, maxi, and low profile mini fuses which will be useless to you. I keep a couple 7.5’s, 10’s, 15’s, and 20’s in the car just incase. There are other fuse sizes used but the most common ones are the minis. I don’t buy extra fuses I just steal them from the junkyard.

Dremmeled off some of the radiator fan bracket on the passenger side and we’re all good to go. Koyorad has been keeping coolant and oil temps a lot more stable at idle. Doesn’t nearly spike as much before getting back down to the 190F range.

Just now installed the Koyorad and burped the coolant. Slightly tight fit getting them in and out with the RacerX FMIC piping. But now I can finally can get the alignment tomorrow with the new coilovers and Whiteline KTA124 arms on. Probably going for -2.5 front and rear for camber and 0 toe front and rear. Update: passenger side fan is hitting the fmic piping. Not sure how to go about this. Gonna try to loosen and move the pipes around tomorrow.

Wow, I must have really lucked out. Once I had the nuts off from the toe bolts I used a 22mm on the head of the bolt to thread it out and a hammer on the other side.

California car, not that difficult. Rhode Island car, probably pretty stubborn. The only bolt I really had trouble with was the toe adjustment bolt on the subframe because it’s near the exhaust and my Avo brackets were in the way. I could only use a 17mm open end wrench and couldn’t fit a socket in there so I was turning away for a good 3-4 minutes with limited space. You’d have more space if you don’t have the Avo brackets like me. Rubber mallet and a screwdriver helps a lot getting the washers sandwiched in. And of course a breaker bar but I use the handle of the jack. Otherwise I’d say 5/10 in difficulty. If you have antisieze on any of those bolts already from maybe previous alignments you’re in luck.

Nope, I have a partial sponsorship with Whiteline as a member of their ambassador program so I have ton of decal sets in different colors.

Installed KTA124’s last night. Unfortunately can’t drive it or fine tune them until I get my Koyorad delivered and installed. About 6 months ago I broke the fitting from the return line from the overflow tank into the radiator after leaning on it... JB weld worked for s good while until now. Good reason to upgrade to a Koyo I guess.

Recalibrate the wideband sensor

Took the car to the shop for a valve cover gasket warranty since it started leaking again. While it was in there I also asked them to install things I didn't want to do myself even though I could. $860 labor for cam seal replacement, STI Group N motor mount install, oil pan drop to install the Moroso 6qt pan, Killer B windage tray baffle, Moroso pickup tube, and do an oil change as well. Like the valve covers, all labor is warrantied for me for 5k miles or 6 months. Sounds fair to you guys? Was told I got a discount on the cam seal replacement. I could do all the oil pan stuff but figured I'd rather not make a mess in my garage. I can try to haggle them down but I am good friends with the owners of the shop and I respect their work. For whatever reason their computer said that the LGT's motor mounts take longer to replace than the WRX's that they normally work with. Unsure what he included in the quote, I think he just put it at a ballpark range.

No, their parts catalog isn’t true some of the time. Some parts listed say they will fit but I know for a fact they don’t. They group in GT and nonGT parts for example as well as universal parts. Unless you know what you’re looking for, I wouldn’t trust their catalog. Also, don’t add a turbo the the 2.5i. Just sell it and get a GT. There’s no reason for going down that path, trust us.

Brotella T6. I have only 2700 miles on it but maybe 8 months ago was the last replacement, maybe longer. Not to worried about it right now. Gonna change the oil after installing the pickup/baffle/pan and I’m 90% sure pressure readings will be back to normal. Gauge is pretty accurate with a new sensor.

Ordered the KillerB oil windage tray/baffle. Hoping it fits with the Moroso 6qt oil pan and pickup tube. It should, right? This California heat has been messing with my oil pressure readings somehow or the oil is just needing to be replaced. Gets pretty low sometimes at a warm idle. Oil actually only has 2700 miles on it but many months of time since then since the car has been sitting. Also by this weekend I am hoping to install the Whiteline KTA124 arms and get an alignment.

Are the CV axles OEM? Bad reman axles can often make a similar noise at a stop or low speed in an automatic Trans since there is constant force being applied to them.

Auto or Manual?

Met up with my friend a few days ago and got some detail shots of the STI genome exhaust. Mates up with a 3inch catless down pipe and 3 inch midpipe, it sounds amazing. I feel that it is throaty and low but not overbearing because it does taper after the midpipe to the stock pipe width of 2.5 or 2.25, whatever it is. One of my favorite things I’ve installed on the car so far.

I am as astonished as you guys are. Not sure how they made it fit either. They cut the pipes off the mufflers and extended and rotated the flanges. I guess they rotated the mufflers too... I have a feeling they realized it before it was too late and didn’t bother correcting it because it was 30 minutes before quitting time.

Got the STI genome mated to my 3inch exhaust. Sounds glorious except the numb nuts at the exhaust shop installed the mufflers upside down, rather the side with the STI genome label is on the wrong side and facing the wrong way. Shop is closed until Monday which is when they will be receiving a nice message about my opinion on their services. Didn’t see the mistake until I parked at home.

My purolator one air filters have fit fine. I order them on amazon. I’d double check part numbers with the Purolator website. Like said above, I’d check the air box

Been messing with the dampening settings on the JDM coils. Still stuck on full stiff in the front drivers side strut because I accidentally put too much force on it with an Allen wrench before trying to clean the threads first. I tried buying a Tein clicker knob assembly but the thread pitch is wrong. I might try to fuse them together somehow if I can get the retaining clip off this tiny little screw apparatus. Drove it around pretty hard tonight. Cam seal oil leak may be getting a little worse. The smell of burning oil is getting pretty prominent after shutting the car off and I can see where it’s dripping into the exhaust manifold. My temporary solution is aluminum high temp tape on the exhaust manifold to prevent the oil from being trapped between the heat shields and more likely to brush off with the wind. Seems to be working so far. I am lagging on the cam seal replacement because I want to package it in with installing my Moroso oil pan and new Group N engine mounts. Also still waiting on my STI genome exhaust to come by this Saturday. Also got my Whiteline rear control arms in the mail. Not so excited to install them based on what others have said about the install. Might get it installed this weekend at the same time as the exhaust.

If the car turns over and then shuts off could it be fuel related? Last I remember, when I put in my secondary key without the chip programmed it won’t even crank.

IIRC, most WRX lips will be too short. For some reason people have better luck with the STI branded ones on eBay. I’ve seen people run Chargespeed reps successfully but they will all likely need some heat gun work

I used JB weld around all the crimps on mine. Held up to 18psi no problem for me, but I never had any serious separation prior because I did it as preventative maintenance. It’s a cheap alternative that is worth a try. Clean the grime off first, apply it around the intercooler, and watch if the grime comes back.

Just buy the CubbyPod that fits two 52mm gauges in the center cubby area and buy the oil temperature and pressure gauges from Defi or whoever you prefer.

Got down and retightened the bolt securing the downpipe to the transmission. Was getting a lot of rattling at off throttle and engine braking at times around that area and the bolt was pretty much all the way loose. Also tried to fix an exhaust leak at the mid/down pipe connection. Tried a double gasket with copper high temp gasket maker in between all surfaces. Gonna let it set overnight and try it out tomorrow. Also installed the sedan rear tail light garnishes. I really like them in BSM silver as a contrast to the SWP white. I also have the silver exhaust garnishes, silver headlight garnishes, and silver Enkei NT03+M’s (On one side ) so the silver flows pretty well in my opinion. Ill get some pics tomorrow. Might even start a build thread as a couple people have been asking for one.