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Old 10-18-2020, 07:46 PM   #1
plast1cman
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Default Newb - DIY Verus Mechanic for Mid-Life

Hope I'm posting this in the right place. My son and I just bought a silver 2005 STi. It's a single owner beauty. Totally stock with 90k miles. We're trying to do almost everything on Unabomber's mid-life preventative maintenance list and and the quote came back a little more than we were hoping to spend. A couple things were not on the list or were unique to the car's current condition. I'm looking for advice on what people think we might be able to do ourselves without too much difficulty. Only a few items to knock 10-15% off the quote. My son is 25 and we have almost no mechanical background but we are fine with spending a few hundred bucks on tools and rolling up our sleeves. We will most likely have the mechanic do everything that will help us avoid an unsuspected blown engine like banjo bolts and anything really difficult. We are thinking maybe we can do the turbo inlet and AOS ourselves but maybe there are better suggestions.



Also, our goal is to keep the car stock other than possibly a TGV delete and AOS. We're not sure the TGV delete is necessary. Compressions were in the high 130-140 psi per cylinder and leak down was 3%,3%,5% except for cylinder number 4 at 134psi/9%. There's also what looks to me like a lot of rust on suspension parts so we might have to do some of that on our own or find another shop as our mechanic is a Subaru under hood specialist. Hoping to own the car forever! Here's the list and again, we appreciate any advice we can get.


  1. Replace radiator (aluminum) and hoses (mechanic is recommending OEM hoses not silicone)
  2. Remove the filters in the banjo screens/ banjo bolt filters? 3 of them. One for each head/avcs and one for the turbo. (mechanic recommended Passenger side, Drivers side)
  3. Replace timing belt and water pump
  4. Replaced all accessory belts (DONE)
  5. Replace turbo inlet with OEM diameter replacement (What is stock diameter?)
  6. Replace BCS with stock OEM part
  7. Replace MAF
  8. Replace O2 sensors (How many?)
  9. Replace Valve Cover Gaskets – Not sure if we should do this now or wait. Currently “seeping but not dripping onto sub-frame or ground”.
  10. Mechanic is replacing spark plugs, oil, air filter, gear oil
  11. Add IAG oil pickup tube
  12. Needs EVAP cannister to fix fuel filling issue
  13. Passenger side rear wheel bearing is at the beginning stages of going. Might wait or do myself?
  14. Was considering a TGV delete and air oil separator. Might push these two off.
  15. Check and replace any needed hoses
  16. Replace bushings, check CV boots, ball joints, struts, (Our mechanic doesn’t do this. Primarily an engine/under hood specialist). He will replace motor mounts.
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Old 10-18-2020, 07:57 PM   #2
truck7575
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1000% yes on aos if you do tgv deletes you should probably tune the car either etune or dyno tune. Valve cover gaskets only if they are leaking.... And yes id definitely do the oil pickup tube.. U can do the O2 sensors but if they are functioning well now youre probably good just cleaning them. Th radiator isnt necessary just do a good coolant system flush
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Old 10-19-2020, 07:35 AM   #3
snow_bound26
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There's not a lot I can say you should do yourself if these are all tasks you haven't done before. If you want to get the tools and take your time to do it right, then I'm sure you both are more than capable of learning. These cars are not hard to work on, but being new to working on cars in general means each thing you do will take you 3 times as long to do it your first time.

I would recommend replacing the radiator. The plastic end tanks do eventually break at the seal with the aluminum core. Can be done at the same time you're timing belt is replaced so it won't add extra labor into the job.

AOS probably isn't necessary if you're keeping everything stock, but it's not a bad idea.

Turbo inlet is a good idea as those tear with age. Silicone can be installed without removing the intake manifold. Hard inlet you would need to re over the manifold.

TGV delete will help the turbo spool better, but it will need a tune after as you will be allowing more air in and you will throw a CEL. This is probably your biggest expense (and the timing belt) on your list as there is many hours of labor involved. The inlet should be done at the same time to reduce labor costs.

I would take care of that rust ASAP. Especially any in the strut towers. The rear strut towers are prone to rusting completely through.

You don't need to replace sensors unless you are getting a CEL for one (or more).
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Old 10-19-2020, 08:12 AM   #4
plast1cman
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Thank you both for the advice. Snowbound, can you tell me what you mean by a hard inlet? Would that be an inlet with wire imbedded to eliminate collapsing? Also, I'm not sure where you are talking about rust being an issue in the strut towers but I can spend some time on this site looking into it. I appreciate the advice!
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Old 10-19-2020, 08:47 AM   #5
BeastianSTI
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Quote:
Originally Posted by plast1cman View Post
Thank you both for the advice. Snowbound, can you tell me what you mean by a hard inlet? Would that be an inlet with wire imbedded to eliminate collapsing? Also, I'm not sure where you are talking about rust being an issue in the strut towers but I can spend some time on this site looking into it. I appreciate the advice!
By a hard inlet, he means going with a turbo inlet pipe that won't collapse as the turbo is sucking in air during spirited driving. The stock inlet is known for doing this. I used to have a hard inlet which was made of aluminum.
  1. Replace radiator (aluminum) and hoses (mechanic is recommending OEM hoses not silicone)
    Sounds like a good route to go. I'd recommend going with a Koyo Radiator. This can easily be a DIY job.
  2. Remove the filters in the banjo screens/ banjo bolt filters? 3 of them. One for each head/avcs and one for the turbo. (mechanic recommended Passenger side, Drivers side)
    This can be a bit more tricky, specifically when it comes to finding them. I wouldn't be surprised if the previous owner had them removed (but maybe the mechanic already confirmed they're still in there)
  3. Replace timing belt and water pump
    - I'd definitely defer to the mechanic for this, as it's fairly easy to bend a valve if you spin the cams the wrong direction.
  4. Replaced all accessory belts (DONE)
  5. Replace turbo inlet with OEM diameter replacement (What is stock diameter?)
    - I believe the stocker is 2.5" but could be wrong.
  6. Replace BCS with stock OEM part
    - Not 100% sure this is the best route to go. If you change the boost control soleinoid, you'll likely need a retune.
  7. Replace MAF
    - Is there reason to believe the MAF sensor is bad? A good cleaning with alcohol might be a good first step. An important note: ALWAYS use OEM sensors for these cars.
  8. Replace O2 sensors (How many?)
    - You only really need to replace the front o2 sensor (passenger side, right behind the wheel inside the engine bay. It has a light blue wire shielding on it)
  9. Replace Valve Cover Gaskets – Not sure if we should do this now or wait. Currently “seeping but not dripping onto sub-frame or ground”.
    - My car's valve cover gaskets leaked for much of the car's life, and it's kind of a pain to get right. If you can spare the cash, have the mechanic do it for you.
  10. Mechanic is replacing spark plugs, oil, air filter, gear oil
    - Sounds reasonable. I'd just double check to make sure he's intending on using the correct gear oil for the car. The transmission and rear diff use different types of oil.
    - I'd ask him to run NGK 2309 spark plugs if it were me. You could probably get away with a spark plug gap of 0.028" (but he might have a good grasp on that already).
  11. Add IAG oil pickup tube
    - The oil plan will obviously need to come off to accomplish replacing this. If it were me, I'd go ahead and purchase their oil baffle plate installed too. Easier to replace it at the same time)
  12. Needs EVAP cannister to fix fuel filling issue
    - If you need the car to pass emissions, go ahead and do this. In my state we have no emissions, so I just deleted mine. This is likely something you could DIY. It's underneath the passenger side of the rear bumper. Pretty sure there are just two hoses going to it and a couple of bolts.
  13. Passenger side rear wheel bearing is at the beginning stages of going. Might wait or do myself?
    - I'd have someone replace that for you sooner than later. Could turn into a safety issue.
  14. Was considering a TGV delete and air oil separator. Might push these two off.
    - I wouldn't bother with the TGV deletes until you guys start wanted to push more power through the engine. As someone else mentioned, you'll need a retune for this, as you're changing airflow characteristics of the engine.
    - AOS is a good idea, but it requires a decent understanding of how the PCV (crankcase ventilation system) works. IAG makes a nice AOS, if you do choose to move forward on that front.
  15. Check and replace any needed hoses
    - You can likely DIY this. Just make sure that you measure the inner diameter of the existing hoses and replace them with the correct size. You don't want to accidentally change the pressure in a hose by introducing a restriction. Just because one can get the hose on doesn't mean that it's the right size (I made this mistake early on, trying to cut corners lol)
  16. Replace bushings, check CV boots, ball joints, struts, (Our mechanic doesn’t do this. Primarily an engine/under hood specialist). He will replace motor mounts.
    - Good to have this stuff done up front. You'll likely end up needing some type of alignment afterwards. Are you planning on replacing the tires too?
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Old 10-19-2020, 09:35 AM   #6
BlackFighter
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#1. Hard inlet means a metal pipe and not a silicon one.

#2. I have never heard of a stock OEM inlet collapsing on itself. They are made out of hard plastic and not silicon

#3. The only once that use to collapse were the cheap knock off silicon crap off ebay once. A good brand name silicon one would work too but I recommend hard inlet. Will have to take the intake manifold off to install the hard inlet.

https://www.importimageracing.com/pr...SABEgLQYvD_BwE

Replace radiator. MISIMOTO is a fine one and upgrader to silicon hoses they are better then OEM. Good brand name ones not ebay crap.

Remove the filters in the banjo screens/ banjo bolt filters? 3 of them. YES, remove them ALL.

Replace timing belt and water pump. YES I would recommend GATES kit.

Replace turbo inlet with OEM diameter replacement. JUST upgrade to a good brand name hard inlet

Replace BCS with stock OEM part. IF stock not needed, but they are cheap so why not. Go with COBB or something brand name

Replace MAF. NO need unless there is a problem with the stock one. IF you still want to then go with OEM

Replace O2 sensors. TWO if im not mistaking but you can delete one with a tune.

Replace Valve Cover Gaskets. NOT the end of the world but if you are already there why not., Its not to hard. If you will replace the valve cover gasket, dont forget to replace your half moons.

Mechanic is replacing spark plugs, oil, air filter, gear oil. THATS fine, you can do this yourself.

Add IAG oil pickup tube. BIG yes, but I would go with Killer B.

Needs EVAP cannister to fix fuel filling issue. YOU can try to delete the EVAP system if you like.

Passenger side rear wheel bearing is at the beginning stages of going. Might wait or do myself? HOW do you know? what are the signs.

Was considering a TGV delete. DON'T need it fot stock but nice to have when upgrading down the road.

Check and replace any needed hoses. YES

Replace bushings, check CV boots, ball joints, struts. THESE are easy to do yourself. I would recommend Turn In Concept company for your suspension needs.

Also I would recommend changing brake fluid, upgrading to SS brake lines, steering rack bushings.

Last edited by BlackFighter; 10-19-2020 at 03:16 PM.
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Old 10-19-2020, 10:05 AM   #7
BeastianSTI
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BlackFighter View Post
#1. Hard inlet means a metal pipe and not a silicon one.

#2. I have never heard of a stock OEM inlet collapsing on itself. They are made out of hard plastic and not silicon

#3. The only once that use to collapse were the cheap knock off silicon crap off ebay once. A good brand name silicon one would work too but I recommend hard inlet. Will have to take the intake manifold off to install the hard inlet.

https://www.importimageracing.com/pr...SABEgLQYvD_BwE

Replace radiator. MISIMOTO is a fine one and upgrader to silicon hoses they are better then OEM. Good brand name ones not ebay crap.

Remove the filters in the banjo screens/ banjo bolt filters? 3 of them. YES, remove them ALL.

Replace timing belt and water pump. YES I would recommend GATES kit.

Replace turbo inlet with OEM diameter replacement. JUST upgrade to a good brand name hard inlet

Replace BCS with stock OEM part. IF stock not needed but they are cheap. Go with COBB or something brand name

Replace MAF. NO need unless there is a problem with the stock one. IF you still want to then go with OEM

Replace O2 sensors. TWO if im not mistaking but you can delete one with a tune.

Replace Valve Cover Gaskets. NOT the end of the world but if you are already there why not., Its not to hard. If you will replace the valve cover gasket, dont forget to replace your half moons.

Mechanic is replacing spark plugs, oil, air filter, gear oil. THATS fine, you can do this yourself.

Add IAG oil pickup tube. DONT need it for stock car.

Needs EVAP cannister to fix fuel filling issue. YOU can try to delete the EVAP system if you like.

Passenger side rear wheel bearing is at the beginning stages of going. Might wait or do myself? HOW do you know? what are the signs.

Was considering a TGV delete. DON'T need it fot stock but nice to have when upgrading down the road.

Check and replace any needed hoses. YES

Replace bushings, check CV boots, ball joints, struts. THESE are easy to do yourself. I would recommend Turn In Concept company for your suspension needs.

Also I would recommend changing brake fluid, upgrading to SS brake lines, steering rack bushings.
+1 on TIC suspension components.

I wanted to press on this bit though, since it's been identified that the OEM oil pickup tube is notoriously known for cracking. I pulled mine out at 100k and the welds had indeed started breaking apart.

Quote:
Add IAG oil pickup tube. DONT need it for stock car.
Would hate for the OP to pump a bunch of money into an engine for it to spin a rod in 5k miles. Good advice overall though
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Old 10-19-2020, 11:37 AM   #8
BlackFighter
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Quote:
Quote:
Add IAG oil pickup tube. DONT need it for stock car.
Would hate for the OP to pump a bunch of money into an engine for it to spin a rod in 5k miles. Good advice overall though
Big mistake on my end. Yes deff need a pick up but i like Killer B. I misread it as AOS. Thanks for catching that
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Old 10-19-2020, 12:31 PM   #9
BeastianSTI
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Originally Posted by BlackFighter View Post
Big mistake on my end. Yes deff need a pick up but i like Killer B. I misread it as AOS. Thanks for catching that
Ah ok, it all makes sense now haha - np! I also have the Killer B Pickup and windage tray. Works great!
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Old 10-19-2020, 11:38 PM   #10
plast1cman
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I appreciate all of the great advice. Gotta start some time so we'll pick a few things to try and get help where we need it. Thanks everyone!
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Old 10-19-2020, 11:50 PM   #11
BlueSTI4Me
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So this is Darryl and you can bounce things off me versus the interweb on some of these items. Remember this, some stock STI's have couple hundred thousand miles on them with basic maintenance. It can be done, but mechanical devices break at times as well.

Like I may have mentioned great group of guys/shops/suppliers in this area and very knowledgeable on Subaru.

We will get the car in good shape, ok?
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Old 10-20-2020, 08:27 AM   #12
plast1cman
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Thanks Darryl. I agree there's a great group of guys in this area. It was nice to see an active club last weekend and everyone seemed interested in helping each other. Dan's car is supposed to be done before the end of this week with the thing's we're having done by Matt but we're not getting our hopes up. Can't wait to bring the car to a meetup so we're hoping this weekend isn't the last one of the year.
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Old 10-22-2020, 09:48 PM   #13
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My son and I are in a similar situation except I'm fairly mechanically inclined. He has an 05 Outback XT in which a timing idler seized up. So we had an engine that was fairly certain to be damaged. We went ahead and changed the timing belt to see if we got lucky. It actually wasn't that hard after studying several youtube videos. It turned out that we got the engine started but it sounded terrible with only 50% power. We couldn't do a compression test or leak down test because in an Outback, it a bear to get to the spark plugs.

So now we know we have probably at least damaged valves. He really wants to keep this car, so we took out the engine. Again, we've never done it but with enough videos we got it out. I'm not sure if we'll ever be able to get it back in.

Then once the engine was out, we did a leak down test. Again we've never done one, but we could hear air coming out of the intake from cylinder 1. All the other cylinders were good.

We had to take the intake off. I never found any good videos on this but it would have been nice to know to take the intake off from the TGVs.

Finally got the heads off and will send to the shop next week. We only broke one thing. The passenger side cam sprocket. Not too bad.

The only way we could do this is that we have an extra car he can use while we work on this one.

Good luck to you. I think you can do more than you think. It's nice to do this with my son, since we don't have too much in common.
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Old 10-23-2020, 03:44 PM   #14
BlueSTI4Me
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Quote:
Originally Posted by vanman23 View Post
My son and I are in a similar situation except I'm fairly mechanically inclined. He has an 05 Outback XT in which a timing idler seized up. So we had an engine that was fairly certain to be damaged. We went ahead and changed the timing belt to see if we got lucky. It actually wasn't that hard after studying several youtube videos. It turned out that we got the engine started but it sounded terrible with only 50% power. We couldn't do a compression test or leak down test because in an Outback, it a bear to get to the spark plugs.

So now we know we have probably at least damaged valves. He really wants to keep this car, so we took out the engine. Again, we've never done it but with enough videos we got it out. I'm not sure if we'll ever be able to get it back in.

Then once the engine was out, we did a leak down test. Again we've never done one, but we could hear air coming out of the intake from cylinder 1. All the other cylinders were good.

We had to take the intake off. I never found any good videos on this but it would have been nice to know to take the intake off from the TGVs.

Finally got the heads off and will send to the shop next week. We only broke one thing. The passenger side cam sprocket. Not too bad.

The only way we could do this is that we have an extra car he can use while we work on this one.

Good luck to you. I think you can do more than you think. It's nice to do this with my son, since we don't have too much in common.
TiC used to have a YouTube video that showed a good way to remove the intake. There as also another one out there. G/L with your repair.
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Old 10-23-2020, 03:51 PM   #15
BlueSTI4Me
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Quote:
Originally Posted by plast1cman View Post
Thanks Darryl. I agree there's a great group of guys in this area. It was nice to see an active club last weekend and everyone seemed interested in helping each other. Dan's car is supposed to be done before the end of this week with the thing's we're having done by Matt but we're not getting our hopes up. Can't wait to bring the car to a meetup so we're hoping this weekend isn't the last one of the year.
Before Covid we were getting together monthly even during the winter. Joey was the lead on setting those up. But with limited seating at most locations, have not done one in a while.
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Old 10-24-2020, 07:50 PM   #16
plast1cman
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Just went to see the STi at Flat Four and unfortunately it's not going to be done tomorrow. No hell run with the MiSubie crowd tomorrow. We'll have to catch everyone at the next one.
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