TK-421's 2013 SWP STi Sedan

[TK-421]

Well where to start? Hmm, I've owned this vehicle since Feb 1st 2013. Had to order it, and took the standard 6 months to build and ship. The look on the salesman's face was priceless when I walked in and said "I'd like to order an STi" To be flat out honest, the entire sales department laughed at me....at first. The sales manager walked up and pointed to a Satin White Pearl base WRX in the showroom and said "I think this is a really great car, and maybe a little more in your price range, what do you think?" And I said, sure the WRX is a great car, but I came here today to buy an STi, fully knowing that I would have to order it. This will be my second STi, and it has to have the 6 speed and DCCD. And as soon as I said that he knew I was serious. He said that I would have to put $1000.00 down in order to even place a build order. So I said alright is a certified bank check okay? And he said yes. I left immediately for the bank, and I do think that he was honestly not expecting to see me ever again. 10 mins later I walk back in and he is just floored. I was then directed to one of the salesmen and we went over the options. He kept trying to push a limited on me, but I really didn't care for leather and a sunroof. So he asked what color and without missing a beat, I said white. He said are you sure? I said damn right I am! Placed an order for a 2013 Base Sedan in Satin White Pearl, and boy I felt good. I even felt good about the price I paid, I haggled down to 35k out the door, no exceptions or I'd go to their biggest rival dealer and lied and said they were already willing to work with 35,500. They said they would beat it by 500 so I said deal.

So long winters wait and Feb 1st rolled around and they called and said come get it!

Was very surprised to see that they included heated seats and all weather floor mats at no extra charge!

My other options at the time of pick up were, the in dash navigation, kicker 10 inch sub and that was it.

Now at first I knew that I was going to start messing with this thing, what's the first thing anyone does to ANY WRX or STi when they buy it? Exhaust! Had to hear the rumble. It drove me nuts on the way home from the dealer that the exhaust note was very subtle. I expected it none the less, my 2004 STi that I previously owned was 100% stock and I had about a 4 hour drive home with it so I knew how a older stock STi would respond and sound.

Now coming from a BMW 3 series to the new STi wasn't a huge huge jump, in creature comforts that is.... When I bought my 04 it had no CD player, heck no head unit at all! This new one was similar to the BMW, it had Bluetooth connectivity, navigation and steering wheel controls. Too damn fancy for an STi, well at least I thought so! Took sometime to get the phone paired up and the sound dialed in for my 30 min drive home. Even though I didn't listen to any music! I was anxious for turbo spool! But to my complete utter disappointment, NO TURBO NOISES!!!!! What was this sorcery?! So then I remembered from my old GD, ahhhhh the intake snorkel! That's gotta be it! So I carried on driving home, being very careful to not exceed the RPM limit for the engine break in period. And also being careful, because it was dead middle of winter in February and Subaru sells you the STi with extreme performance summer tires. So needless to say my tires got about as much traction as a hockey puck. So I was taking it real easy.

So I had drove it for about a week, learning the car and this new thing called SI Drive, that was non-exist ant in my old GD.

Two weeks had passed and I was kicking myself in the pants for not getting the SPT catback. The reason I passed up on it was, the SPT exhaust on the older cars didn't sound good to me, in my own personal opinion.

So I started searching for exhaust systems online. Knowing full well that putting a downpipe on before break in mileage was out of the question. Upon searching I almost had a heart attack seeing that an Invidia system was almost a $1000.00. I wanted to cry, not gonna lie at all! I started checking other manufacturers and saw everyone was about the same price! Dammit to all hell! All I want is a little bit if freaking rumble!

Then i I came across this company in Washington State, called "Nameless Performance".
$300.00 for something called "muffler deletes"

This had me very interested! So I hit up YouTube, like anyone else does to hear exhaust clips.

I was pleasantly shocked to hear that a set of hand made, 300 dollar muffler deletes sounded as good as those 850 to 1000 dollar catback exhausts.

So I shelled out $300 buckaroos to Nameless Performance and said to myself alright I should be good for awhile



So these came in. And I quickly installed them.and I was happy. Then I realized, shit....no turbo spool sounds. Ah ha! Snorkel delete!

Went and removed this giant white container that looked like an odd kool aid jug. I grew up in the late 80's and early 90's don't judge me. But took out the kool aid jug and said alright should be good for awhile! Went for a test drive..... No turbo spool noise once again! Double damn! So I came back home and researched it again. Finding out that in order to have those wonderful noises people were reporting that you need to replace the entire intake system. So I said alright shouldn't be too expensive or complicated. WRONG! Apparently with the newer GR/GV subaru's you've got to have a "tune" to install an intake.

Now not being new to subaru's at all, as well as ECU tuning and calibration, I knew what I had to do, I had to get an AccessPORT. Open source tuning really wasn't what I wanted for my car, I had an AP on my old STi so that's what I'm gonna do here.

So off to cobb tuning's website to see what I was getting into price wise. Triple damn, 595.00 for an AP and 315.00 for the intake with Airbox. Ughhhh credit card here we go.

So the intake arrives, but no AP...... Hmm I guess I'll call cobb. Oh we are back ordered on AP's right now.....CRAP! Should have went through a vendor like RSD! Oh well, I can finish up my break in mileage driving, so that way when it gets here I can flash that stage 1 map!

sigh all this trouble for some turbo spooling sounds..... Cool noises....have I really come to that???? Damn right, once an enthusiast of turbo always a enthusiast!

So about a month goes by, and the AP finally comes in! Sweet! I can install that intake and AP! Mean while I've got everyone and their brother who has the newer subaru's saying just wait you'll blow a ringland and then they will deny your warranty because of an intake and you messed with the ECU! I wasn't going to let people sway me, I know what I'm doing and what waters I'm wading into.

FINALLY! Success, sweet sweet sweet turbo spooling sounds!


END OF PART 1 time for some sleep I'll continue with part 2 tomorrow night! Thanks for reading I hope you enjoyed it so far! Lots more details to come!

Chad

 

[Alin]

Why did you keep the 04 stock and then why did you get rid of it?

 

[TK-421]

Why did you keep the 04 stock and then why did you get rid of it?

I didn't keep the 04 stock, the previous owner before me did. And I sold it to buy an Evo. Then kept the Evo, sold my dad's M3 that was left to me when he passed away and bought the 2013 STi with the proceeds from the sale.

 

[TK-421]

Part 2 for the evening.


Let's see, where I left off.....ahhhh that's right, intake and Cobb AccessPORT.


Successfully achieved my goal! But that opened the flood gates, the next thing I know I was buying a catless downpipe.


Oh boy, where to begin. Bought a catless downpipe, and the catless downpipe combined with muffler deletes made the car absolutely unbearable and completely obnoxious, I was constantly getting pulled by local law enforcement for decibel levels, and having everyone in about a 50 mile radius (insert sarcasm) complain. On top of that I was noticing my rear bumper valance was starting to get that famous and hideous yellow effect to the paint. That went over like a fart in church with me.... Very unhappy for sure!


So here I am trying to figure out what in the heck I can do about preventing the yellowing effect on my bumper first of all and second, how can I quiet this thing down. So I started researching exhausts again..... I had a Invidia system on my old 04, and was seeing that the q300 was among the most popular catback for both the hatchback and sedan. So I had made up my mind on the catback, Invidia Q300 polished tips. Call me old school, but the titanium tips just seemed too flamboyant for my tastes. Now my training and knowledge told me to read the logs, I read my logs and things looked fairly good for a OTS map. Still couldn't put my finger on why my bumper was "yellowing". Then it dawned on me! I'm catless! So I started researching catted down pipes. Damn, really not ready to pay 500+ for a downpipe. So more research was needed, and I found a company called CNT Racing. I was taking a gamble here, 370 bucks is still a decent chunk of change to drop on a downpipe. I was hoping it wouldn't be some eBay wingwang crap.


The downpipe and exhaust came in. It's invidia what more can I say? The craftsmanship was top notch, the flanges thick and straight. Well worth the almost $900.00 spent on it. The downpipe, had a few gripes about it, but the welds seemed to be on par with the invidia, the flange mating surfaces as well. The cat converter is a 200 cell hi-flow unit, so should be sufficient. There was a section on the underside of the downpipe that needed shaved back by the use of a angle air die grinder and a cross cut burr, this was needed in order to spin the fastener that helps secure the downpipe to the turbo. The down pipe was also a bell mouth design, similar to the Cobb unit. The cat was just placed in the same area as the invidia downpipe.


So after installed both the catted downpipe and q300, I noticed a considerable change in the exhaust note, and welcomed the decibel level decrease. So here I am the mod bug has hit me hard, and to top it all off, the STi isn't my only car, and I'm not a 19/20 year old kid living at home with mom, I'm 28 (almost 30 now shit I'm old) and I've got bills to pay, groceries to buy, pets to take care of and fuel to put in my vehicles so I can continue to reach my place of employment to continue to pay, bills, groceries, fuel and occasionally toys for my cars. If I could keep in a steady relationship haha I'd be screwed! Regardless I started buying smaller "bolt on" stuff. Low budget parts.


Next on the bucket list was some drivetrain mods, short throw shifter and bushings since the stock ones feel like mashed potatoes.


Kartboy short throw with bushings, the masses had reviewed this shifter more than any other one and gave the best reviews. So that's what I did, Kartboy shifter, bushings front and rear, and a Kartboy shift knob to package it all up.


First impression was PITA to install, the reverse lockout is NOTHING like an Evolution MR's reverse lockout cable. Bushing are in, short throw is in, time to spin on that Kartboy knob, got the knob sinched down, and went to "dry" shift everything to check it out, go to shift into reverse and what do you know, can't get the lock out lever to fully pull up and allow the car to shift into reverse. So I backed the Kartboy knob off a few turns, seemed to do the trick, but was slightly loose, that drove me up a freaking wall. So I removed it and put the stock knob back on. Both with the bushings and the aftermarket shifter the drivetrain noise was similar to having straight cut gears. Sounded like a GSR Evo with a Shep gearbox and transfer case. The reverse cable rattled worse than a pissed off eastern diamond back. Was more than annoying, but I drive a rally car, not a Mercedes C Class. It's just when I did shifter bushings in the Evo it didn't have that much drive train noise, and the short throw in the FD (My Mazda RX-7) wasn't as touchy.


Onward! So by this time I'm saying, crap it should have bought a limited, I want foglights, but more importantly, those BBS Wheels! Dammit the mod bug is setting in real bad. So I started looking for wheels! Oh man oh man, fell in love with Rota SVN's in Hyper Black, closest thing I found to stock STi BBS's. Out of luck! SVN's were of low stock and a custom order anymore. Striking out once again! So my second choice, Rota G-Force's in Hyper Black. So ordered myself a set of wheels for Christmas! Yay me! Now one thing most people fore go and pass up on is hub centric rings, if you do not use them, that's how you end up bending wheel studs and snapping them when you go to take off your lugs the next time.


Update, the downpipe and q300 have been on the car for a little while, still sounding good, still holding up well. The only thing I have noticed is with the downpipe, wastegate flutter has increased at part throttle high boost conditions. A mechanical issue that plagues many a subaru. Even EWG set ups. I still have this issue to this day, I will hopefully be able to clear it up soon.


So back to my wheels, they came in, and still had dubious amounts of tread available on my Stock dunlops, and I have access to a tire machine and wheel balancer, so I took the extra time to swap out my stock TPMS sensors from my stock wheels to my new ones. Ordered my centric hub rings, new TPMS valve stems and STi decal stickers that fit Rota center caps from Mach V Motorsports, awesome company, highly recommend them to anyone. Met the owners at Hyperfest at Summit Point Raceway, real down to earth guys. Defiantly will be a repeat customer for years to come. Enough plugging businesses, but I mounted and balanced my wheels and tires, installed them on the car and was very happy with the look, as they say wheels make or break the car. Now I just wanted to clean up that monster truck wheel gap!


Started to consider suspension options, I had RCE Yellows, Koni Shocks, whiteline anti roll bars front and rear and Kartboy Endlinks on my 04. Handled like a Porsche 996, essentially on rails. But my Evo has Coilovers, and I really like how it handles. Coilovers seem to be the more "popular" option and I do go to a lot of auto cross events, so I decided on coils. But who to go with, choices are miles and miles long of a list these days. Some people had Tien Flex's. Some people had BC Racing Coils, and some had Fortune 500 coils. After weeks of research I decided on the BC Racing Coils. Couldn't be happier with my choice! Love the adjustability. The ride comfort as well is pretty good for coil overs. Now mind you, I am still on coilovers with stock anti roll bars and Endlinks. I do hope to change that this winter, I would like my STi to out handle my Evo, but that in itself is a tall order to begin with.


Now that I made my big purchases with wheels and coilovers, I had to scale back on my spending again. Back to the simple mods. Rally Armor UR Mud Flaps were next. Black with red lettering. A much better design than the original hard plastic ones that I had on my 04, Rally Armor has come quite some way now. While I was doing flaps, I also decided on some small subtle things such as red pin striping in the upper front grille, really set things right on the STi. I've wanted a front lip for ages, the HD style and CS Style were amongst the popular ones. I wanted something in between, I don't like to follow the crowd. So there was this company I came across called HPT Motorsports, that was selling an advertised VS Style front lip. And I really liked the look, was that "in between" look I had been searching for. Here is where my credit card got a workout again..... Picked up a OEM Subaru Foglight kit and SPT Boost Gauge as a package deal from Hueberger Subaru. And Hella Horns and Bracket from JNA Perfromance. God help me I can't stop buying parts for this car! I need rehab haha.




Oh man it's late, just after 3am, I've gotta get some sleep! I'll have to pick this up with part 3 tomorrow night! Stay tuned!

 

[Alin]

Hahaha this is awesome to read. :ty:

 

[IGOTASTi]

Great read!

Thank you for sharing.

 

[subielife13]

Good read. Can't wait til the day I can buy a brand new sti

 

[TK-421]

Alright, after re-reading entirely what I wrote above to get back on track, here I go again with my continuation of my build.


So purchased a front lip and fog light kit and boost gauge.

Those came in and I installed them without haste. The foglight kit is straight forward and super simple, made it even easier since I removed the front bumper to install the horns and front lip. I also decided before I installed the fog light housings themselves, that I would purchase yellow tinted overlays from JDM Fanatic Vinyls and Yellow Nokya Bulbs. This made them super super super yellow (super JDM!!!!!)

Success foglights, front lip, loud as fire truck hella horns, and wheels and suspension. It's starting to look real good from the outside.

Topped it off with a few small exterior details with birthday money and tax return money.

Picked up a Perrin Shorty Antenna and Subaru OE Window Rain Guards. The Guards look real good with the 18% window tint. Just the right amount of blend and shade.

And with a little bit that I had left over from my tax return, I picked up a PTP Turbo Blanket in black along with a Cobb Stainless Steel Heat shield and to finish it off a LED Interior light package and license plate light package as well.

So had the car for a solid year by this time, and I work on these cars quite a bit, and I've had customers come in with cars barely over break in mileage already dropping huge money on turbo's, injectors, FMIC's and even built engines!

Not me! I would like to enjoy my car for what it is before I start power seeking and dropping all kinds of money into it, I told myself I'd pay it off first before I build the engine. Like I said I'm not a kid living at home with his parents, I'm completely independent and I have responsibilities as an adult, which suck, but hey that's life!

So enjoying the car and what it has to offer, it's very fun, handles extremely well, I get compliments, and then I also get the jealous ones, but you'll have that, I've been dealing with the ups and downs of STi ownership for quite sometime, this definitely isn't my first rodeo! But one day after browsing YouTube and seeing posts on things like Facebook and Instagram, hearing how the new sedans sound with a UnEqual Length Tubular Exhaust Manifold, I got hooked on the sound!

So I started researching again, Uhoh...... 500 to 1000 bucks for a good UEL!!!!! Forget it Chad, you've got more important things to spend the money on. Now on the other hand when I lay down at night and try to sleep, my other half of my brain says "nonsense poopy pants!" "You need that header, you want that header, you don't have to pay it up front!" " put it on the credit card!" So what do I do? Yep you guessed it right, brought out the USAA credit card, purchased myself a prosport header with Uppipe combo! 600 bucks later! Well more along the lines of 700 bucks, after getting genuine gaskets and DEI Titanium heat wrap!

A header and up pipe install is pretty straight forward, I've done them many many times, but hey now I've got a full stainless steel exhaust from the cylinder heads all the way to the rear bumper! Plus the aggressively angrily sound my car makes now is making me pretty happy!

Now I'm guessing by now that your all wondering, Chad where the HELL are your pictures of this car?!?!? Keep calm my friends, I will add the pictures when I am all caught up to the current point of where the car is currently at right now at the end of this journal. And then as I continue to build it over the years and years of ownership I'll just have to add more pictures right? Haha

Well I think I'll end this short tid bit right here and save some more mods, and stories for another day!

Have fun reading, and stay tuned for more!

Hope everyone had a safe and fun 2014 Halloween!

Signing off for now, TK-421.

 

[TK-421]

So how was everyone's Halloween? Hope everyone had a safe and fun time.

Now back to this STi, the yellowing of the bumper update....

It appears this is just the nature of the beast, and something I will have to keep on top of with frequent washes, waxing and clay barring. Might consider adding those black "heat shields" and rear bumper spats to help cover the affected areas.

So trying to decide where I'm going to go with the car next, do it continue with suspension? I'd really like a set of swaybars and better Endlinks. I had Whiteline and Kartboy on my old blue STi, loved the way it handled.

Butttt I would really like to continue with my turbo supporting mods, such as a front mount, inlet pipe, TGV deletes, larger fuel pump, fuel injectors and the all important turbocharger. But as I do not drive this car all that often, I'm on the fence on which way to go, power, handling, or more exterior/interior looks.

Speaking of interior work, I was eyeballing the Star Wars Empire Shift Boot and E-Brake handle boot from infocus. Really like the looks, I think it would accent my Flossy Grip Tape Shift knob real well.

Also have been considering on changing the color of my G-Forces from Hyper Black to Gold, Gold seems to be a really good color combo on White.

Guess it's about time to share some pictures, that way I can get some opinions on which way to go.

 

[TK-421]

The night I took delivery






Yes I purchased the car from #1 Cochran in Monroeville PA for those familiar with the area.




Here I am trying to figure everything out. A lot different than my old GD was haha






Well that's all I have for tonight, I'll share more pictures later on, and more stories as I continue.

Stay tuned!

TK-421

 

[IGOTASTi]

Wait! Where are you from?

 

[TK-421]

Wait! Where are you from?

In the process of relocating to my winter home in Florida, I spend most of my time in Clearwater. But I lived in Murrysville for 18 years, so originally from PA, your neck of the woods JJ

 

[IGOTASTi]

Ah lol, awesome!

Also how and when did you hear about us. We're going on 4 years now here.

 

[TK-421]

Ah lol, awesome!

Also how and when did you hear about us. We're going on 4 years now here.

Oh it was probably about 6 months ago when I saw you guys floating around on Facebook and was looking for some place that was friendlier than NASIOC and less high school kids than Iwsti is.

My STi is still currently up in PA right now, along with some other parts, extra tools and equipment that I will be coming back up to get next year, so I will have to meet up with all you local yokels up there before I leave for good. Maybe you can take ownership of my spare 60 gallon air compressor haha

 

[IGOTASTi]

We will definitely have to meet up.

Did you stalk us for 6 months?

 

[TK-421]

We will definitely have to meet up.

Did you stalk us for 6 months?

Facebook creeped you like a mofo haha

Nah I was just on the fence about joining due to past experiences on places like NASIOC, EvoM and IWSTI. Those places are nothing like what you've got going here.

Damn impressed with how mature, friendly and welcoming everyone is here.

Had I tried offering my knowledge like this to anyone on there I would have been shunned.

Ever since I went to UTI in Orlando I've stayed off forums, 1 because I was more focused on class work, but 2 back then when I was on NASIOC I had someone from New York steal a header and Uppipe plus my money by making false claims to Paypal and publicly shaming me on the forums, so I promised myself I wasn't going to join anywhere else until I saw yinz (see what I did there?) and figured this place was set on a different level than all the crap that's happens on NASIOC and I'm glad I did, I've never met a nicer group of people.

 

[IGOTASTi]

Thank you for the kind words. We don't let the trash in, and if it does come we take it out ASAP. We're all so greatful you're here.

There are some many awesome people who make up this community. We will never let one ruin it for everyone. 4 years strong and no drama or disrespect.

 

[TK-421]

Well regardless if I'm in PA, KY, VA or FL, I'll always hold this forum in high respect, maybe when I come back up to get my car we can have a fairwell meet for me haha

But I do plan on making my knowledge and talents available to anyone and everyone who's willing to learn and wants to listen.

Those how to's that I write, I do those to help better the forum and make us stand out from the rest as a knowledgeable and friendly place to enjoy your STi with other STi owners.

 

[IGOTASTi]

Well we personally love your write ups.

 

[TK-421]

Awesome, so I'll continue with them, and I see what you did there with "Mr. how to" haha love that touch thanks buddy