2006 Subie STI rebuild

Rear diff cover reinstalled with a new gasket. New axle seals installed and a new breather too.



Then I beat out the old outrigger bushings to make way for the SuperPro bushings.



Had to use a chisel to get it started and the a punch to drive down to the lip before either bushing would come out. I could not figure out a good way to support the whole thing and use my 12 ton press.



Outrigger cleaned up and the SuperPro bushings installed. They are an easy install, just grease them up and they slip right in.



Rear diff bolted back in. Service manual has you install the outrigger first and only partially. I found doing it this way easier. I should have left the rear diff mount out of the suspension crossmember tho, there is no way to properly torque the stud nuts on the cover otherwise.



But, I got it all back in and bolted up just fine. I've left the driveshaft off for now since I discovered I got the shifter cross knuckle thing upside down and have to lower the trans again to flip it. The shifter would not line up with the linkage inside the car otherwise. I'll fix that tomorrow. Also have to refill the diff and torque the lug nuts on the rear wheels.

 

Re-filled the diff and plugged in the temp sensor and ground. Redline 75w90 LSD oil for the diff.



Shifter knuckle thingy fixed. I had to flip it since the cross piece is not centered and I had the high side on the bottom. This prevented the shift stick bolt to shift arm not to line up.

This thingy. Just a generic pic, not the one in my car.



Just have to button up the shifter install and reinstall the console and I can cross that off the list too.



With the shifter issue fixed, I was able to reattach the driveshaft as well and button that up.



As well as reinstall the HKS High Power cat back with new, double thick Grimmspeed MLS gaskets and new stainless steel bolts. New 15mm poly exhaust hanger bushings were also used.





Probably be a little break now since most of the prep work for the motor is done. Still waiting on the motor to arrive from Outfront. New V3 long stroke closed deck with new Outfront, mild ported heads. Running stock cams still. Thinking about going with the new Grimmspeed BB500 turbo to replace the ageing TD06-20G that was on it.

 

Shifter all reassembled and console reinstalled. All new bushings for the shift linkage under the car and a Kartboy short shifter. Killer B teardrop knob and Cobb reverse lockout were installed a little while ago.



I knew my OEM shifter bushing were shot but didn't realize just HOW shot they actually were. Huge difference in the shifter feel know. Much crisper and solid feeling. Can't wait to see how it feels actually driving.

New DCCD switches in the console. The PO had spilled something on them at some point so I wasn't sure if they were contributing to the DCCD not working and the codes, so new switches went in. Also the neutral position sensor on the trans since that was one of the codes.



And just to add a nice touch, I painted the STi stamp in the shifter ring. Just red modelers paint, I don't have any cherry blossom red unfortunately. It works for me tho.

 

Nothing really exciting or interesting I can do to the car at this point. It's now waiting for the engine to be completed so I can pick that up and start working on it.

The good news is that I stopped by my tuners garage yesterday and he has received the shortblock from Outfront. So now, we are waiting on the heads and the AVCS gears from Outfront, since those were ordered at a separate time. The machine shop reported that the cams are good still and have been repolished.

So with that news, this weekend is dedicated to parts cleaning all the stuff that came off the motor and is going to be reused. Mostly bolts and brackets, exhaust timing belt gears, oil cooler, things like that. I started with the valve covers since I wanted to paint those. My last 2 vehicles, I've painted the valve covers red when I replaced the valve cover gaskets, so I'm sticking with that theme on the Subie.



Looks orange in the pic but it's VHT red. If you haven't seen my other builds, here's my 4Runner's engine after doing a bunch of maintenance stuff on it.



And the 1999 Tacoma that was replaced with the 4Runner.

 

Stopped by the tuner today to go over what turbo we are going to run. He's going to make some calls tomorrow to Steam Speed and see what they can come up with for my use and power goals. Shooting for around 400-420 on 91 octane pump gas. So likely something along the lines of a STX 71R or 76+.

He had also unboxed the short block as they needed to make room in the engine building room.



Just ordered a new hood scoop as well. Going with a traditional style scoop now as I will be running a top mount oil cooler.

We are hoping to have the motor built, installed and break in tune done by late March now. Just depends on how quickly parts arrive. Still waiting for the heads and AVCS gears from Outfront and have to order a bunch more stuff like clutch and turbo.

Oh, I've also replaced the ATI gauge pod on the dash with a new one since the tabs on the original were broken. Also rewired the 3 gauges so they aren't using the clock wiring for power any longer and causing the airbag light to come on in the dash. This is the write-up I followed for the re-wire: https://forums.nasioc.com/forums/sho....php?t=1036365

 

I'm loving this build

I should stop watching before I turn my wrx into a project

 

Repainting some of the trim on the car today where the clearcoat had failed. Might give repainting and clearing the roof sides above the doors a try later on. I used up my can of WRB from Grimmspeed. It's about as near a perfect match as you're going to get. Need to order some more. I'm not going for perfection here, just trying to make it look a little less shitbox.

Did the passenger side roof wing cover last week as kind of a test. Wet sanded it smooth with 800 grit and then used a filler primer followed by 2-3 coats of the Grimmspeed WRB and them clear. Let it dry for the last week and then did a 1500 wet sand, 2500 wet sand and them a polishing compound. It could maybe use one more fine polish and then a ceramic coat and be called good. Looks 1 million times better than before. Any specs in the paint you see are fluff from the rag and blow right off.







You can see how bad the roof line clear coat is. The roof wing end cap was just as bad before. Passenger side is the worst of it but the driver side isn't much better.



Driver side before.



Cleaned up.



Primered.



Repainted and cleared. Drying now.



Next up are the door mirrors. Again, failing clear coat. They look like shit.

Passenger side.





Drivers.





Sanded, primered and painted. Now drying.







Popping the covers off the mirror housing is a bit of a pain. You will most likely break some clips if you do it. Not the end of the world tho,

$8 3M VHB 100x200mm~ (4" X8") Double Sided Foam Adhesive Sheet Tape 5952 Automotive Mounting Industrial Grade Very High Bond 5952 (1 Sheets 100x200mm)

3M VHB doublesided tape to the rescue. Had to do that for both sides.

 

As I said earlier, I ordered a new hood scoop since I'm planning on running a top mount oil cooler now. Here's a preview of what I got, I went with a different weave than shown in the pics.

https://www.rpgcarbon.com/product-page/sti-style-large-4-carbon-fiber-hood-scoop-upgrade-1

 

God damn...looking good.

Now come do my LC

 

I am, just remotely

 

Let the paint cure and off gas for about a month before you apply any sealant or ceramic coatings.

 

Good to know, thanks for the tip.

 

Wet sanded and polished up the driver side mirror cover after work. Came out pretty decent. Definitely not show quality but way better then before. I'll eventually replace both covers with new since the tabs broke when I removed them but this will work for now.

This was before, with failed clear coat.





And this is after repainting, wet sanding a polishing. Could maybe use a little more. Paint is still a little soft tho. I'll wait a while longer before doing the other one.





The color match is good. It's slightly darker than the door sine it's fresh and hasn't sun faded like the door has.

 

Fuck that looks good

 

Was out of town last weekend, got back yesterday evening and still had today off so I finished up wet sanding and polishing up the mirror covers and the roof wing caps. I had already repainted the wing, cleaned the mounting end pieces that bolt to the c-pillar/roof and received the new foam gasket things for those.







I also received the ash tray delete today. I love that this gives me more useable storage inside the car. Now I just need to find a place for a USB plug and get that wired in since there's no cig lighter any longer.

The delete came from rarepartshunter.com. Totally worth it. The part is 3D printed by a dude in Russia but he has a guy here in the US helping with distribution so I got it very quick.

 

ACVS gears are in, still waiting on the heads. Everything left that is needed is ordered except for the turbo and KillerB hard inlet. Waiting to hear back from SteamSpeed on the turbo and will order that and the inlet at the same time.

Meanwhile, I installed new door speakers and put Kilmat in the door shells. No pics, sorry. Speakers are 5" front and 4" rear. I know bigger can be installed in both but these will work for now. Already miles better than the stock speakers which were still in the car.

After that, I installed a 3 port USB charger, using the power from the lighter socket and installed the light from the same socket into the ashtray delete pocket.

 

Replace the heat sleeves on the AOS today for some DEI Protect-A-Sleeve in titanium. It's rated to 1800 degrees direct and 2500 radiant so should work fine for heat protection.

 

Looking clean

 

Turbo ordered last night, along with the new inlet piping. Gauges came in and I have started figuring the wiring out. New gauge cluster surround also showed up so I have to figure out wiring for that.

So, everything needed for the new motor and overall build has been paid for and ordered now, not counting small things like coolant, oil and such. Hoping to have the motor built and installed before the end of the month so I can start driving it and get all the break-in miles done so we can do the real tuning. Break-in tune will be 10psi or less.

 

what turbo you order up?

the mirror covers look great, keep an eye out for some jdm power folding mirrors, they pop up for sale from time to time

the 04-05 scoop on the 06-07 looks weird