My 2004 STi is 10 years old this year so I decided to do some maintenance.

I haven't spent any money on the car in close to 5 to 6 years other than oil changes and tires. No mods at all.

First, I did the Killer B oil pickup tube and baffle tray. My impressions of the job. The hardest part of the job was lifting the engine mounts off the subframe so I could access the 4 back oil pan bolts. I had to undo my strut bar and use a bottle jack under the exhaust crossover pipe to lift the engine. My OEM pickup tube looked perfect, no crack or degradation after 49,000 miles. The Killer B stuff went in easy and fit well. Put some Hondabond on the pan and bolted back in place. It took a little over 2 hours to do.

I am planning on the doing the timing belt and water pump this weekend and will give you my impressions of the job. I am also installing a Koyo radiator. BTW I plan on using the Compan23 cam lock tool that I ordered to assist in keeping the driver's side cam gears locked in place.

 

Just about to do this myself on my 05sti after I get the radiator/hoses. Good luck on it!

 

I will give my impressions after tomorrow. I plan on using a strong impact gun on the crank bolt. But have back up plans in case.

 

Finished this yesterday afternoon. I started at 9 am and was done before 2 pm with lunch in between and taking our time to set the timing.

My impressions:

1. Get the Company23 cam-lock tool. It locks the cams with the old belt in place ensuring the timing is set. You can then remove the tensioner, rollers/guides and water pump without the fear that you will knock the timing off. Make sure to turn the motor over a few times to make sure no interference occurs.

2. I couldn't get my impact gun in the area to spin the cam bolt free. I had a buddy put the car in 5th and stand on the brake with the ebrake on. I used a 24" breaker bar and the extension for my floor jack to careate a 5 ft. breaker bar. Easy as pie.

3 My car had "only" 49k miles the the water pump looked good and spun free. Most of the rollers spun smooth, but the roller on the tensioner had some "grittiness". All were changed.

4. I reused the OEM WP gasket instead of the one that came with the TB kit. The OEM one is metal and seals good.

5. The Koyo radiator is slick. A complete drop in part. No modifications and the fan assemblies bolted right in. I hope that it keeps my car cooler at the SCCA events.

6. The Killer B pickup tube and baffle tray is complete drop in. I used Hondabond because it allowed a longer setup time compared to some of the other gasket makers I saw.

I hope this makes the car reliable for my future plans for add'l power.

 

Where did u get the cam lock from like what site. I've been thinking of doing my tb as well and I hear its totally worth it. Thanks for the good info brother!

 

+1 for the cam lock tool. I am not sure if there is a flywheel inspection port on a MT car but mine had one and thats where I jammed a crowbar in to stop the engine from turning when removing the cam bolt. Got it off with that method and a 12" breaker bar.

 

I got it off ebay.

I heard about locking the flywheel, but my buddy was just hanging out so I had him stand on the brake.

As for burping the system, I first filled the radiator and squeezed the upper hose while filling the radiator. I first poured 100% coolant into the radiator. I then added a 1/2 gallon of distilled water to the half filled coolant jug and now have a gallon of 50/50 mix. I then added this to top off the radiator. I then poured the rest in the upper reservoir and when that was done, I poured straight distilled water. I did it this way so that any overflow at the upper reservoir would be plain water rather than coolant mix, thus making it less messy. Use a 2 qt. funnel and it fits in the holes perfectly and makes burping easy

 

Nice work and good writeup. I actually ordered that tool last weekend from RallySportDirect and I'm glad to hear it worked out well for you in the process of it all.
Also good about the Koyo, that's what I ordered as well so it's good to hear it's a "drop in" replacement with no cutting/modding to get things to just "work".
good job.

 

Bump..

I need to do my t-belt and radiator hoses soon. Where did you get your parts from? Did you shop local or online? I'd like to support a local business, but cost will come into play.

 

I got everything online. I just couldn't get everything locally such as the Koyo radiator. Most of the Gates timing belt stuff and the Koyo radiator drop ship directly from distributors anyway. For the small stuff such as the hoses and t-stat, I just got them locally.

I cannot stress enough how important that Company 23 cam tool is. It made the job easy.

 

Cool. Thanks man.

A little off topic, but I have a Koyo radiator too and it looks like it's seeping from the plastic drain plug on the bottom. Does anyone know if you can just tighten that up?

 

I heard that the plug wasn't that great. I made sure to put some teflon tape before I filled the radiator. Mine has not leaked.

 

Right on. I'll do the same once I get everything apart. Thanks bro!

 

Nice Ed...how you doing? Haven't seen you post in a while...

Thanks for the tips...

 

I haven't put any money into the STi in a long time. These "reliability" mods are in anticipation of power adders in the near future.