Any of you done up or down yourself, or know of any nifty writeups? I wont be able to get lift time up at Randomtech, so we're doing it ourselves tomorro, but i'd like to be armed with some info. Help me out guys, stories, links, anything. edit: I -am- searching for myself, too. but any extra help wont be shunned...
You didn't search very far... In this forum: http://www.wrxatl.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1515 Scroll a few posts down. Edit: I feel all nostalgic now looking back at my n00b days when I was excited about UP/DP... :hs:
BTW, if you are doing it tomorrow, pop the turbo heatshield tonight and soak all the bolts/nuts you can get to with PB Blaster. It'll help.
thanks, breadwinner. ;p I did see that one, and thanks for the tip, but anyone else have any links, please share anyways. ^_^
i'm still sifting nabsico and I see lots of talk about having check engine light issues. What should i be aware of?
Well, two things... If you don't put the EGT sensor back in your new pipe, it'll set a check engine light. Unless you replace the sensor connection with a 2.2Kohm 1/2 watt resistor (Radio Shack, cheap). I would personally not replace the EGT sensor even if the pipe allows for it as it is not designed for a catless pipe and could potentially break up and kill the turbo. Besides, it's too far away from the head(s) to give a useful EGT reading. The second issue is cat efficiency. Your car has an O2 sensor post-catalytic converters that is there to ensure the cats are working as intended. There are both mechanical and electrical fixes for this, but the best way to truly defeat the issue is to disable the check in the ECU (Ecutek, Cobb etc do this).
no $$. so no EM any time soon. and by that I mean october of next year at least. i dunno if there's holes for these things in the pipes either, the parts are in a garage up in Winder. The idea, then, is that the EGT sensor is not designed to read temperatures it will be getting? Other than the resistor, is there a better EGT that won't break off into the turbo? I mean, doesn't the ECU need that info in some way? and you mean there's 2 O2 sensors? one after manifold and one in the back end? So, i need to expect to have a CEL for a long time, eh? (they should pin your diy install thread... :bowdown: )
The ECU doesn't need that information for anything once the uppipe cat is gone. I think it's only there to ensure temps stay in range for the cat. Some people put it back and have no problems, and you can read it with the ecutek monitor... however I don't trust it and I think it's too far from the heads to be actually useful. I would remove it completely. It's not that it isn't designed for the temps, rather that it isn't designed to sit in an open flow with no cat element... it's a personal opinion/comfort level thing, honestly. It'll probably never break off, but seeing as it was providing me with zero usefulness I felt better not having it. There's one O2 sensor in the manifold on the pass. side. When you have your manifold shield off, I recommend cutting out the hole so that it becomes a 'slot' -- that way you won't have to yank the O2 sensor to remove the heatshield next time. The second O2 sensor is in the midpipe (between factory downpipe and catback). This is the one that'll cry foul when you yank the cats. The mechanical fix worked fine for a few months on mine until I got EM. You can get it from a variety of vendors; it's essentially an extension with a small hole that lets the O2 sensor sniff just a small part of the exhaust, thinking things are pretty ok after all. PS: What uppipe/downpipe did you get? PPS: USE A FRIGGIN TORQUE WRECH ON THE EXHAUST STUFF. I can't stress this one enough... many uppipe leaks can be attributed to people cranking the bolts/nuts down entirely too tight and messing up the gaskets. PPPS: The crucial joint is the uppipe-manifold one. Make sure this one's torqued down first and you should be ok.
Thanks again for the insight. any links for the o2 stuff? or search terms to use? (i hate boolean) it'll be full Random Technology all the way back. hey, this guy had a stage kit, and left the egt and o2 in, but he didn't get a high flow cat like i will be too... http://www.clubwrx.net/forums/showthread.php?t=39284&page=2&pp=20
Look for 'check engine light fix' here: http://www.gruppe-s.com/Subaru/subex.htm You might be able to get away without one, but then it pretty much is a matter of WHEN you'll set a CEL. The fix is cheap and works pretty well. Edit: looks like he got a ScoobySport downpipe which is a 'shorty' and retains the stock midpipe/cat.
you all fail. ;p ;p well, i'm heading up to winder now. no internet up there, so lets hope i get it all the first try cause i aint got no other rides. ;p
The spark plug defoulers/mechanical CEL fix is cheap and if it doesnt end up working you're only out of $5. I had a bad experience with the Perrin CEL eliminator so I wouldnt recommend it. I've got an extra Cobb MIL eliminator(splice in) if you're ever down by Tech.