as of a few hours ago i bought an 05 STi.. rally blue gold rims.... before i say anything else that car is jsut plain sick.. if i sound surprised its because well iam.. im a recently converted V8 man... had a mustang GT for a few years and now i get this land rocket... one question can my stock 05 STi beat a nearly stock Mach1 mustang??? thats to settle a deabte.. two what should i do from here im looking for a fwe mods nothing crazy now 1k turbo upgrades.. but whats worked for you what will you know make it that much more fun

 

Your car won't just beat a Mach 1, it will spank it. HARD. Hot Rod magazine did a comparo between the Cobra and STi and the STi beat it. Nice car.

 

im starting to like subie owners already...mustang pages its all about whos got bigger you know...(not sure what i can get away with on this page).... i think in general subaru owners are flat out smarter.... you guys really seem to know what youre talking about.. with that sadi help me out with some mods and im a subaru owner for life.. thanks i love the car

 

An STi will definatly out run any Mach 1. What you will find that you miss, however, is the versatility of the torque and low end grunt that you were so familiar with in the V8s. Catch yourself in the wrong gear in these cars and you will have a much harder time going fast than the same situation in a V8. I might also warn you to be mutch more carefull when launching your awd car. The weekest link in what you were used to was the traction between your tires and the road; drop the clutch too hard and all you get is smoke, drop the clutch in these and all you get is a used and abused tranny. That being said, enjoy your puchse of a GREAT vehicle. I would highly reccomend getting to a local meeting in your area and meeting some fellow owners.

-Chris

p.s. beating the blown cobras is harder than that magazine will have you believe. Launch perfectly and you should beat them, barey, as in a tenth or two in a quater. Miss that launch and enjoy the rear view of their car. If it looks like they have stickier than stock tires, just don't even try.

 

To be honest, you'll probably get a better response by posting in the EJ25T forum. I would imagine a good first mod would be an ECU reflash by COBB or an ECUTek tuner in your area. Where do you live?

 

thanks for the feed back... excellant advice i guess you guys picked up on the fact im new to th import world.. hey what a way to start off you know.. i live just outside albany NY... hers something to think about .. blow off valce good or bad ide? manual bosst control? and turbo timer what do you think of those???

 

No blowoff valve needed. Stock is best until you change turbos and want to run >18 pounds of boost, and then you still want a 100% recirculating bypass valve.

MBC's are BAD. Don't do it. Get a reflash from Cobb or EcuTek or a Vishnu Xede instead. They range from ~$500-900. I personally recommend EcuTek.

Turbo timers are entirely unnecessary, but won't hurt anything. This includes your warranty, despite what your dealer might say. Get one if you want the bling factor, but it won't help your turbo last longer.

As for first mods, here's my list if I were buying an STi:

*Whiteline Steering rack bushings. Best $30 mod ever.
*STi pink springs. Tailor made for the US STi struts, and sooo much better than stock
*Adjustable rear sway bar. I like my Whiteline, but a lot of STi owners like Perrin and Cusco too. And endlinks also.
*One of the aforementioned ECU options
*Turboback + wastegate porting (see the boost creep sticky in the EJ25 forum)
*STi control arm bushings and strut tops if you autocross/open track
*winter wheels and tires if you get a lot of rain or snow where you live. The stockers are GREAT for autocross/track days though. Mayeb get some different daily driver wheels/tires to save the RE070s.

Those mods will give you a car that will beat up on any lightly modded Mustang, and you'll only be a memory when it comes time to turn left and right.



Here's what I would avoid until farther down the road:
*intake mods of any kind. See the EJ20 forum intake debate sticky for reasons why.
*downpipes without either divorced wastegate routing or bellmouth design. Flat flange designs give little to no power gain over stock
*MBCs, SFCs, etc. None of that stuff is safe for Subaru's adaptive ECUs.
*Anything else that doesn't actually make the car faster.

 

werd. I love my steering rack bushings and my STi pink springs. They rock. I might be buying a new digital camera (digi rebel, baby!) next week, but if I don't get it I think I'll get an adjustable rear bar. I'll probably go with whiteline since the main difference between it and other brands seems to be $$.

 

BAN SUVS is 100% on the mark in everything he said.

-Chris

P.s. no matter what you read about it being easy and safe, DO NOT DO the 3/16ths mod.

 

thanks for all the help.. i do get alot of snow where i live and will be looking for a winter snow wheel/tire package probably.. is it best to get a 16'' package rather than 17s or will this have adverse affects on the speedometer and what not?

 

Except he has a 05, so the steering bushing wont fit or needed, and STi pinks are probably not needed as well. Also reflashes don't works on 05 yet.

 

hahaha thanks for that info... just in time before i went to the performance shop... so basically dont do anything to my car :-)... i think i can afford that... just out of curiosity how come a turbo timer is a waste of money... doesnt it need to sit idle for a little bit before being shut off?

 

Welcome. Just to let you know. I have an 04' WRX with a Turbo back Exhaust, and a Cobb stage 2. I have beaten 2 Mach 1's and many GT's. Also street racing is bad, so i would not recomend it. I no longer do it. 2 tickets in 6 months( not worth it). I would say a Stock STi would have no trouble with a Mach 1 at all. Like it was said before make sure you can launch right otherwise you might get beat by a honda with a Fart can(hahahaha). Unfortunately you have an 05' it seems that SOA has changed somethings for the 05' The wheel bolt pattern is different, and there are some suspesion things that are different as well. You need to be careful when modding because you may do more harm than good. The STi is already very formidable. I would say about the rims that you will not only have to worry about the new bolt pattern, and offset but clearing the brembo brakes. 16" wheels will probably not cut it. I would suggest ROTA for wheels, they are pretty cheap, look good and are pretty well built, Just mount some all season tires and you'll be all set. I am assuming that your STi is your first AWD vehicle. You have probably already noticed the difference in driving it vs. FWD and RWD. It takes some time to get used to it. Be smooth with the shifts and the speed will come. Holy Crap thats a lot of typing. Good luck.


Oh yeah! Like BAN said, stay away from BOV's and MBC. They are a waste of money on a stock or even slightly modified car. Oh and the turbo timer thing If you search here for turbo timers you will find a sticky, read that and it will tell you why you don't need one. I have one anyway, ui got it cheap and it's nice bling.

 

Well that is a good practice in general, espcially after driving hard the last ~5 minutes I take it easy on my car but a turbo timer is not really neccessary becasue the turbo still gets cooled even when the engine is off. Do a quick search on turbo timers and you'll find all the answers you need.

Jason

 

if you do a search you can find a lot of the answers you were looking for. at this point i don't think there is to much out for the 05 sti, so you might have to wait for all those goodies. most of the parts on the 05 are not compatible with the 04, wheels, ecu, and what not.