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Intake Manifold about 80% installed and hooked up. Fuel Lines are connected, turbo intake installed (what a b**** that was), and various other oem connections. I am still waiting on the correct fuel system from the vendor, so I decided to get the car buttoned up and will have GST Motorsports install the fuel system, as well as any professional tweaks they have learned through their years of experience in racing. I am contemplating upgrading the size of the fuel feed line, and if budget allows, a bottom mounted surge tank next to the fuel tank, which would give all the benefits of a surge tank without dealing with the constant smell of gasoline on a daily driver. That is just an idea in the works, we will have to see how budget allows, but it would be foolish to blow a motor running at the ragged edge due to the engine going lean under boost from fuel starvation. Either way, the engine bay is starting to look like a car again.


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Here is the comparison photo that everybody loves. OEM TD04 turbocharger that came stock on the WRX, and the ATP Garrett GTX 3071 stock location turbocharger. I hope you can see from this angle, this was the closest I could get to being dead on for the two turbochargers. The intake and compressor wheel are significantly larger than the oem, as well as the overall frame size of the turbo being significantly larger. If everything works out, this will (hopefully) be the largest size turbo you can fit on a oem ej205 longblock and still ahve adequate boost recovery and throttle response. Time will tell, we will have to wait for the results to see if the end product matches the original goals set for the build. Either this will be prime evidence of success, or an easy reference for those looking to achieve similar goals off the ej205 platform. Either way I am excited, and very excited to being able to swap in a 6 speed and turn up the boost.

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Here's a shot showing the difference in frame size, and turbine side of the turbocharger. Like in the previous shot, significant differences in size as well as design. I sure hope the end product turns out as I have hoped and reach my goals, I hope all the tricks I have done keeps the lag down to a bearable level and throttle response manageable.


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Perrin Equal Length Manifold and APS Up Pipe have been coated with Swaintech White Lightning Coating and then wrapped with DEI exhaust wrap to keep as much heat in the exhaust pipes as possible to add in power production and throttle response. I am a little worried about wrapping the Perrin Header, as I have heard stories about them disintegrating from the heat that a track driven wrx can produce, but after talking to Perrin they didn't think it would be an issue. We will see how it works, either way I am saving for a built 2.5 with a Full Race twin scroll turbo setup in the future, so I can look at the header as temporary and see how it performs. I feel the risks are worth it, as there is a HUGE difference in spool between hot and cold runs, so Subaru's with their long piping to get to the turbo really benefit from some sort of thermal management.

Originally, I was going to secure the heat wrap with clamps, but decided to try some axle boot clamps to give a cleaner look. We will see how it holds up. I do love how easy it is to change out the exhaust manifold on a subaru, by far the easiest header swap I have ever done.


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Header and up pipe installed and torqued to spec. I must say all these high quality race parts and prep give the car a purposefull bad a$$ look to the underside. Hopefully the coating and wraps will keep the underhood temperatures to a minimum, and increase throttle response. I'm not doing before and after comparisons, so there is no direct measurements, but it would be interesting to see the exact change in boost threshold and underhood temperatures with the coatings, wraps, and hood venting. Either way, this thing should be fast if it ever gets finished.


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Oem turbo is reinstalled for break in and troubleshooting (hopefully the troubleshooting won't be necessary). I want to break in my brand new clutch with some lower horsepower (i.e. stage 2) rather than throw 300+ whp at the clutch for dyno tuning. Also, I decided I want all an fittings for the fluid transfer connections on the turbo, and have all lines safety wired in to ensure reliability. So, I will be farming this out to GST Motorsports to install the turbo and aeromotive fuel system. I don't have any experience with an lines, so I am oging to have them show me how they install these products, so I can tackle the next install. With how flammable these systems can be, I felt more comfortable letting a shop with experience do the install and then I can take that knowledge on to my next projects. I have no experience setting up high performance fuel systems, so decided to swallow my pride and farm this project out. While at GST I am contemplating a couple little projects to be added to the car. The dream list so far would be for them to install the fuel system, gtx3071 turbo, surge tank with 8 gauge fuel line supply, custom cold air intake (as mine is 2.5") with higher flowing maf, external wastegate dump into exhaust, and I would love a side exit exhaust ( cutting all the weight off the cat back exhaust). I probably won't go with all of that, but it is an impressive dream list. We will see what GST recommends for my goals.

OEM TD04 turbo is reinstalled and torqued to spec. I am waiting on gaskets to finish plumbing in the aps exhaust, so that is why I just have the top portion of the downpipe installed. All exhaust piping in the engine bay is coated with swaintech white lightning as well wrapped, except for the custom race cat I had welded into the downpipe by GST. Even with all these modifications, I try to be an environmentally conscious enthusiast. In hindsight I wish I had v banded the catalytic converter in place, but it was a great idea at the time and should be as effecient as any catted system, and only cost a few horsepower to a catless system. I used a high quality race cat to be able to withstand the high exhaust temperatures a hard driven turbocharged engine can produce. GST did an excellent job welding in the cat and ensuring the exhaust will still fit perfectly, no differences in size after they welded in the cat.


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Fujita Cold Air Intake (purchasxed through esx motorsports) installed and torqued to spec. Still need one extra T bolt clamp to finish install. The Fujita Intake came off of my dads previous sti, and there are some things I like a lot about this intake. I like how it comes with a heat shield, for when you shorten the cold air intake to a ram air intake. The Fujita intake uses a high quality K&N Air Filter. There was a some modification needed to make this intake fit on a wrx, despite the fact that the Fujita intake lists the same part number for 02-06 wrx and sti. It seems the abs module and brake line routing is different on the sti. I had to break out the cutter and trim the heat shielding to allow the heat shield ot fit around the wrx brake lines. I trimmed a little extra clearance, which slightly reduces the effect of the heat shielding, but I absolutely do not want anything rubbing against the brake lines.

I am not sure if long term I will be using this cold air intake. It narrows down to 2.5", and not sure if I want a custom 3 inch tube bent up to allow more airflow into the engine. I will be talking to GST motorsports and see what they recommend. The Fujita intake does use a stock size maf opening, to enable the intake to be run without requiring a retune (although I would never run any power modification on the wrx without a retune). Whatever intake goes on the car, all piping and heat shielding in the engine bay will be wrapped with DEI gold reflective heat tape to keep the intake charge as dense as possible.

Whichever way I choose to go, the engine bay is starting to look like a car again. Looking forward to getting this beast back on the road, even with the oem turbo, I am so excited to feel how the car handles with all the handling modifications, I want to feel the crispness in the drivetrain and suspension.


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View of Cold Air intake extension, and how it fits into the fender well. Whole package looks good and fits well. Nice to see the whole process coming back together. Hoepfully I will be able to fire up the engine this weekend, big emphasis on hopefully, I am sure something small will pop up and delay the startup, but its getting there.


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Mock up of the APS TMIC to verify fitment. This intercooler is absolutely massive, and barely fits into the space provided. I had to bend the AC lines, and will need to wrap them so they do not rub and wear. I hope this intercooler functions well, as it should significantly lower intake temperatures. When I install the garrett turbo, I will need to isntall the Cobb heat shield to keep from cooking the bottom side of the intercooler. This intercooler is truely the largest that can be installed in the top mount location, as it uses all available space and then some. Hopefully it functions as good as it looks.


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I will be using a hood scoop and splitter off a jdm bugeye sti. This gives a correct combination of parts that ducts the maximum amount of heat through the intercooler. We will see how it looks all bolted up, but I am prepared to do a little bit of custom ducting to further maximize the air going through the intercooler.

Then to address the additional pressure build up that the hood scoop creates in the engine bay (i.e. air getting crammed into the top through the scoop and the front through the radiator), I will be using run cool hood louvers like those on Turn In Concepts Time Attack WRX. This will help lower the air pressure build up in the engine bay, and by venting it over the top of the hood helps out slightly in aerodynamic terms. It will increase the cooling system's efficiency substantially, as the air coming through the radiator is not having to fight to get into a high pressure engine bay, but instead able to come into a lower pressure space. This, along with the cooling effect of ambient temperatures in the engine bay, should substantially help in overall cooling of both engine temps and intake charge temperatures.

So, since this is a budget build, oem bugeye hood, jdm hood scoop, jdm splitter, run cool hood louvers placed like the ones on TIC's car. Unfortunately a vented carbon hood is not in the budget, but anyone that wants to donate one ....

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Engine bay starting to come back together... Coolant swirl tank reinstalled and hoses connected. Getting ready to make the final push in the engine bay to get to completion. Double checking all bolts to ensure they are torqued to spec, all hoses connected correctly, etc. Hopefully all this work will make it a smooth start up.

You will notice that for the most part I have reused the oem hoses. I have the Samco hoses ready to be installed, but felt it would be easier to hook back up to the oem hoses, then try to disconnect everything, reinstall everything correctly, then troubleshoot. This way, after I have trouble shooted, I can install each hose one at a time. So, like everything with this project, more is coming....


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It is controversial keeping a top mount at my power level, I know I know. My thinking behind it is I am absolutely maxing out my wngine spooling this large of a turbo, and didn't want any additional lag from the associated from the longer piping to the throttle body. All that additional piping leads to additional air that must be pressurized every time you push on the gas, and dulls throttle response. I also felt that with a quality (no egay parts on my build) intercooler, I would not need a fmic if I am only pushing at max 350whp on GST's mustang dyno, probably more like 310-330 whp. GST's dyno is very conservative, so please don't yell that is a low number, I believe stock STI's read 210 whp, so either way 100hp more than a stock sti. I also relied heavily on the success of TIC Time Attack car, and the results it had with a 2.5l block, gt3076 turbo, and spearco tmic.

When I upgrade to a built sti block with dual avcs heads, I will upgrade to a fmic to make more power, but I will have the displacement and avcs to help with response, and will definitely be making more power than a tmic can handle. But at that point, I would need to upgrade to a 6 speed to hold that power. So, as this is a budget minded build, I went with TMIC because I felt it was the best choice for my overall goals and budget. We will see at the end if it was the correct choice...

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Engine Bay put back together!!! APS TMIC installed and torqued to spec. Need to fabricate an extension onto the oem intercooler bracket, as my used intercooler did not come with an intercooler bracket. Should not be too hard to fabricate, as the oem bracket is pretty close and only requires an extension. As you can see in the picture, the APS Intercooler is absolutely massive. It is an amazingly tight fit, had to bend the ac lines back to the firewall (and needs to be wrapped in padding to prevent wear), and it was an absolute bear to get the bov installed. But, as you can see, everything is reinstalled and looking good. Ready for a break in tune on the oem td04, to break in the clutch and diagnose any install issues, then it is time to install the heavy hitter, GTX3071, aeromotive fuel system, aps tgv deletes, and plumb the external wastegate.

The checklist is getting smaller...


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More work completed on the rear end of the car. Parking brake 90% adjusted, probably will need a tiny bit of fine tuning from the cockpit. Rotors wiped down with brake clean to remove any oils on the surface from being off the car and handled. Stoptech brake pads installed, and calipers mounted. Only thing left is to hook up the brake lines, then rebuild my front Stoptech Calipers, mount front calipers, and bleed brake system. Car is slowly coming together. I am thinking about ducting some air to the rear brakes to help with keeping the brakes cool, not 100% decided but thinking about installing a naca duct in the wrx sideskirt, and running ducting off of that.

I am very pleased with how the rear suspension has come together. Looks very functional with the spherical bearings, adjustable suspension arms, etc. Looking forward to upgrading my Poltec lateral links to a set of MSI lateral links with spherical bearings. I am very impressed with the quality of their front endlinks, and if a company puts that much engineering and effort into an endlink, I want to do business with more functional and significant parts on my car. Hopefully soon I can upgrade my coilovers to a unit that will meet my demands better, msi rear subframe, lateral links, and 6 speed with a nice rear diff and rear brembos.


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Picture of the APS 3 inch catback exhaust. Only have it bolted in from the catback only, so just a picture showing fitment, not completely hooked up. I am truely impressed with the fitment and quality of all the APS products I have used so far in my build, very well made, very high quality, and even though I won't know until the car hits the dyno, seem by reputation to be entirely functional. Huge thank you to Adam and Noah at LIC Motorsports for all the time they took out of their busy schedule to discuss project goals, parts selection, problems, and install issues. Thank you so much in helping my project becoming a reality. I am clearly looking forward to having enough $$$ to take the next step in my build with you, I have been very impressed with the chassis development you have done on your time attack car.

If youare in the Bay Area you should really visit them. Have taken insane amounts of time out of their busy schedule to help set me up with a part list to meet my goals, and provide a foundation for future goals down the road. Can not say enough about this company, especially coming from a background in autoparts, I know some of the **** they deal with on a daily basis. Huge thank you for a small shop functioning as a small shop should, and along with that earning a loyal customer following/base. Thank you for all the help in parts selection, purchases, and stupid install questions.

Gaskets should be here this weekend, and the rest of the exhaust will be bolted up. Should be nice, and then hopefully, be able to fire the car up with an upload from the COBB Accessport.