Zack's '12 OBP STi Hatch, Da Money Pit

[ZackUSAF82]

Ah, a new morning and I feel rejuvenated knowing that tomorrow's install day and my Crawford AOS was delivered last night. Weather is not going to be perfect but it doesn't look too bad at the moment so I have hope that we'll get everything done before any of the storms get here later tomorrow afternoon. Pretty excited, just have to get through today and go pick up a few odds and ends tonight/tomorrow morning and then the fun will being!

@Grinder34 You going to be able to make it up tomorrow? If so, shoot me a PM with your contact info and I'll shoot you a text/give you a ring tonight. Thanks man!

 

[ZackUSAF82]

Picked up everything I should need for tomorrow this evening so hopefully things go as planned tomorrow. Here's to hoping, I'll take pics and post progress updates tomorrow as we go along. Gonna start with the oil pickup and baffle then do the ECA...those are the time consuming ones, everything else should be pretty easy. I also have the most important part of all this as well, 3 racks of babyback ribs and two small chickens to throw on the smoker...yes it's supposed to rain but I'm not going to let that stop me.

 

[Spamby]

Picked up everything I should need for tomorrow this evening so hopefully things go as planned tomorrow. Here's to hoping, I'll take pics and post progress updates tomorrow as we go along. Gonna start with the oil pickup and baffle then do the ECA...those are the time consuming ones, everything else should be pretty easy. I also have the most important part of all this as well, 3 racks of babyback ribs and two small chickens to throw on the smoker...yes it's supposed to rain but I'm not going to let that stop me.

Can't wait to see progress.
If everything goes well, I'll be in the garage too.

 

[ZackUSAF82]

W00t, it's install day! Smoker is up and going, started it around 5:40 and put the ribs and chicken on at 6...so the most important thing of the day is taken care of...

Gotta run out and grab a couple things but I need to warm up the car to drain the oil anyways so no biggie. Figure I'll do as much as I can before my buddy gets here around 9 since he has to leave at 2 so we can hopefully at least get the oil pickup and ECA done before he leaves. I'll post random thoughts and pics throughout the day if things are going well...man I'm excited, this is the first major work I've done on my car myself so it's going to be a long, tiring day...but a very good one! Keep pushing good thoughts and wishes my way, I need it with the way things have been going for me the last couple months.

 

[ZackUSAF82]

Car is up on jack stands, oil drained and the first install of the day is done...did the pitch stop while I'm waiting for my buddy to get here. I/C came off in about a minute, so easy, I was prepared for it to be a pain from the youtube videos I watched but damn that was easy! Pitch stop install was incredibly easy too, definitely recommend you have a breaker bar available if you don't have one...other than that it was a piece of cake. Torqued the bolts down to spec and it's good to go. Here's a pic of it installed:

 

[IGOTASTi]

Looks good.

 

[Alter3go]

Nice

 

[Alin]

Sweet! No pics of the food?! :lol:
Was reinstalling the TMIC as easy as removing it?

 

[ZackUSAF82]

GS TMIC was a pita to install, probably took around an hour to get it positioned right since it's much larger. Definitely was a finesse thing and my patience was pretty much gone but I got it done...I was also by myself on this one so that made it alot tougher.

Oil pickup was a royal pain, even with jacking the engine up it's still really hard to get the back oil pan bolts back in...thankfully my buddy was able to stay just long enough to do that part as I just don't have the finesse skills he does...I owe him big time. All in all it wasn't that bad, getting the pan off took a while and a lot of pounding a chisel putty knife to bust it loose, it was definitely on there! I just hope I got enough permatex gasket on there but I'm pretty sure I did, I'll know tomorrow when I fill it up and crank it for the first time. Definitely will be a heartstopping moment hoping everything is right...

I think the worst install was the Crawford AOS, partially because it was the next to last thing I did before the I/C and I was exhausted but the directions just weren't very good and they didn't take into account the second breather sensor that they added in 2012. I eventually did enough googling and forum reading to figure it out (I think at least). Other than that it wasn't too bad, I just hope I got all the hoses on tight enough and the zip ties tight enough. Again, I'll find out tomorrow when I go for a test drive. I was also solo on this one as well, so that didn't help things.

The only thing I didn't finish was the ECA, I got the sensor installed which was a biotch to get the fuel line on...but it's on there and no leaks, so that's a plus. All I need to do now is wire the gauge in and I'll be done, probably won't do that until next weekend...I suck at wiring so I'm gonna try and recruit some help to git'r'dun.

I'll post pics tomorrow, I'm absolutely worn out, I wrenched for around 15 hours today...feels good but bed will feel better! Wish me luck in the morning when I fill 'er up with oil and fire it up....

 

[Grinder34]

Sorry i didnt make it. Just got back from AZ from work. All i had was a tiny-ass netbook and i was working mostly 11 hour days, plus group lunches, dinners etc.. so i barely got on a computer at all while i was there and missed your PM.

 

[ZackUSAF82]

No worries man, you want to come up next weekend and help me wire in my ECA? Kidding of course, no need for you to drive all the way up here for that, I've got a buddy that's good with electrical crap, I'll see if I can con him into helping me out.

 

[Alter3go]

Did u keep the stock Y pipe? Or u got the GS Y pipe? I cannot stand the Y pipe btw

 

[Alin]

By the time you remove and install the TMIC for the 100th time, you'll be doing it within 5 minutes! :lol: :tup:

 

[ZackUSAF82]

Did u keep the stock Y pipe? Or u got the GS Y pipe? I cannot stand the Y pipe btw

Yeah I kept the stock y-pipe, probably would have been a little easier with the GS one though I have heard the couplers on the GS one are tight and not as flexible as the stock so I don't know. Connecting the couplers wasn't the hard part, getting the I/C positioned right over the mounting holes was what took the most time. That and the fact that I almost had it in place and realized that the GS unit doesn't use the standard passenger side mounting location, it uses the one closer to the center so I had to take everything out and take that bolt out and then re-do everything. That's my own fault as I was so focused on getting the couplers on that I didn't notice that it used a different mounting location.

But yes Alin, it will definitely go much faster next time, just like with anything new, it gets easier every time you do it!

Car started up and runs fine, oil seems to be circulating well and I didn't hear any leaks so I think the AOS should be good. I'm gonna take it for a spin in a bit and make sure things are good under boost and then I should be done...thank goodness!

 

[zax]

So it works! That's good news.

 

[Alin]

Pic finished engine bay please!

 

[ZackUSAF82]

Yes it all works zax, thanks again for everything buddy...really appreciate it and there's no way I could have done it without your help!

Here's a couple pics of the engine bay:

 

[ZackUSAF82]

Going to try and get the ECA wired in tomorrow, shouldn't be bad since I already have the hard part done...just need to finalize the mounting location, solder in the power, ground and sensor wire, that's it. Sounds easy so I'm sure it will end up taking 4 hours...

 

[Alin]

Keep us updated! :tup:

 

[ZackUSAF82]

Will do, and of course I'll take a picture just for you when I'm done Alin... :lol: