All posts by Subaru Idiot

Ej20, EJ257, STi, Subaru, TMIC, Turbo, WRX

O2 Sensor replacement on 02-07 Subaru WRX/STi:

O2 Sensor replacement on 02-07 Subaru WRX/STi:

This is a guide to replace your front 02 sensor in your 02-07 Subaru WRX/STi. This guide will go step by step through the process.

Denso 234-9120 Oxygen Sensor (Air and Fuel Ratio Sensor)

O2 sensor location in the exhaust manifold.

1.) The first thing you need to do is place the jack under your car. I chose to use the pinch weld under the passenger’s door area. Next you will want to remove the wheel from the car so you will have better access to the O2 sensor. I did this by using a 19mm socket with an extension.

2.) Upon removing the wheel, you should notice a small plastic flap with a few plastic retaining screws holding it in place. I have circled them in red in the picture below.

3.) You are going to want to remove these using flat head and phillips head screw drivers. Take care in making sure you do your best to not strip them out. If you do, you will end up having to either pry them out or pull them out with a set of pliers. If you need to replace any of these, you can usually find them at any autoparts store.

4.) Once you have all of the plastic screws pulled out, remove the plastic cover.

5.) If you pull the remaining plastic cover to the right, you will be able to see the O2 sensor. You can opt to remove the larger of the plastic fender well shields, but I did not see much point in doing so as it would not really yield much more room for access.

6.) With the O2 sensor exposed, you will want to spray it with some lubricant and my preferred lubricant is PB Blaster. With that now soaking in a bit, you are now going to want to go and pop your hood to gain access to the plug end of the sensor.

7.) Looking at your engine bay, you will want to move to the left side (passenger side). Underneath this cover are two connections, the top one is for your front O2 sensor. Go ahead and disconnect that plug.

Pages: 1 2
Impreza, Intercooler, STi, Subaru, Transmission, Turbo

Transmission oil change for Subaru WRX/STi:

Transmission oil change for Subaru WRX/STi:

This is a guide on how to change your transmission oil in your turbo Subaru. Transmission oil is usually changed at 30,000 mile intervals, though more frequent changes are suggested if you take part in track days.

Transmission oil:

Subaru 75W90 Extra-S Gear & Transmission Fluid – 1 Quart Bottle

Subaru 803916080 Manual Transmission Drain Plug Washer

Tools needed:

21mm Socket wrench or other tool of your choice
(I used a socket set with the large spark plug fitting and hollow
extension for extra leverage, dad’s tent is now missing one pole.)
– New sump washer
– Funnel
– 2 foot length of garden hose or similar sized tubing.
– Gear oil* – 3.9 quarts for wrx/sti gearbox/front diff. (Extra 800ml for rear diff)
– Oilpan or large container capable of holding 4+ quarts.

1.) First things first, jack the car up, or drive it onto wheel stands. Make sure the hand brake is on. T
Do not go under the car unless you’re sure it’s secure on it’s stands.

2.) Ensure the car is cool enough to work on, wait at least an hour after driving. Now you’ll need to find the transmission dipstick, which is located between
the turbo and intercooler. Pull it out.

3.) Now you can crawl under the car with your socket, dropsheet & oil pan. Looking from the middle of the car towards the front, you’ll be able to
see the drive shafts, transmission & diff, transmission plug, the engine oil sump plug.

4.) The front transmission oil plug is the one you want, loosen it and then slowly unwind it by hand until the end of the thread, then get yourself and the cat out of the way before you both get covered in oil. If all goes to plan, you’ll get most of the spent oil into your container.

Pages: 1 2
Impreza, STi, Subaru, WRX

Headlight Amber Signal Removal/Clearing WRX/STi:

Headlight Amber Signal Removal/Clearing WRX/STi:

Here is a guide for Subaru headlights to remove the amber turn signal and clear the headlight. This guide also covers on how to reseal your headlight.

A blobeye STi with modified headlights that’s had it’s amber turn signals removed.

1.) Before we start to remove the headlight assembly itself, we have to remove the grill; so pop the hood and unhitch the 4 small, and 2 large clips. Small top ones can be unclipped by using a finger (if yours is narrow enough), or a small flat-head screwdriver.
*If in doubt, you can refer to manual*

2.) Now the grill is out of the way, we can remove the 3 10mm bolts holding the assembly in place.

3.) Remove the 2 plastic rivets on each side by the headlights. It makes it a lot easier to get the headlight out as you can now shift/move/bent the bumper a bit to get that tad more clearance.

4.) Now to pull the headlight out of the clips its being held in there. Yes, even more stuff holding them in! Obviously Subaru didn’t want them coming out easily. I’ve found disconnecting the low beam, pulling the inner-most corner of the assembly out first, then maneuvering the outer edge out the easiest way. Followed by maneuvering the headlight so you can then disconnect the high beam and park/indicator plugs.

5.) OK, so you’ve managed to remove one headlight.You can now take this inside, but whatever you do, when you put it down, lay it on something soft, like a (clean) towel or carpet, that won’t scratch the lens. Now to go about removing all the globes and associated wiring.

6.) Low beam. Turn the Bulb stem anti-clockwise so the slots line up with the recesses, then pull out.

7.) Indicator & Parking. Again, same as low beam, twist anti-clockwise, and pull out.

8.) High beam. First remove the water/dust-proof cover by the same method as above. Pull off the negative/ground (black) carefully by using a pair of pliers, should slide right off. Then push-slide the retaining clip in so that you can get the high beam bulb out. The plug-ends (grey and black socket things) can be removed from the back by either holding them (note, not holding the wires) and pulling firmly, or using those pliers you had before.

9.) Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Fahrenheit.

This is what you should be looking at:

Headlight: Indicator/Parking/Low Beam/High Beam breakdown.
Pages: 1 2 3
STi, Subaru, TMIC, Turbo, WRX

Boost Gauge Install on Subaru STi/WRX 08-13:

Boost Gauge Install on Subaru STi/WRX 08-13:

This is a guide on installing a boost gauge in a 2010 STi.

Boost Gauge: A installed boost gauge in a GR STi.

Boost Gauge: INTERIOR WIRING AND GAUGE INSTALLATION

1.) Pull off the lower dash cover. It just has clips holding it on.

2.) These are the only two screws that hold the lower dash to rest of the dash. Remove these and the rest of the lower dash can be pulled off.

3.) Lower dash pulled away from the upper, left of the steering wheel.

4.) Lower dash pulled away from the upper, right side of the steering wheel.

5.) There are 4 clips holding the instrument hood to the dash. The entire hood pulls off as one whole unit, but the hard part is getting a good grip. To get better finger placement, I pulled the top of the inner part of the hood away, which revealed a little lip that I could use to pull the hood off. Caution: Do not pull heavily on the inner piece because it is bolted to the rest of the hood at the bottom and could break if you pull on it too hard. Just pull on the top part of the instrument hood itself. Also be careful not to lose the 4 yellow clips that hold the hood to the dash. They come out easily and can get lost.

6.) There are two screws for the instrument cluster. One is circled in the pic and the other is to its left.

7.) Pop the plug off the cluster on the right side.

8.) I ran the wires for the boost gauge through the upper middle hole above the gauge cluster.

9.) Tap into the purple wire on the dimmer switch for headlight power. This wire is only powered when the headlights or parking lights are turned on.

10.) Close-up of where I spliced into the purple wire. For the boost gauge, the ORANGE wire splices into this purple wire. The wire is black in my picture because I used black wire to extend the wires coming out of the back of the gauge.

11.) For ACC power, use the brown and white striped wire on the top connector above the fuse box. This wire is powered when the key is in the “ACC” position only. With the boost gauge, you connect BOTH the RED and WHITE wires to this wire.

The green and white striped wire on the same connector is on all the time, meaning it is powered even when the car is off. I found that out the hard way. (Do not use that wire.)

Pages: 1 2
Impreza, Stance, STi, Subaru, WRX

Hood damper Installation for Subaru WRX/STi

Hood damper Installation for Subaru WRX/STi:

This is a Tein hood damper installation guide for your Subaru Impreza WRX/STi.

Tein BHD01-S28 Hood Damper for Subaru Impreza

Tools Required: 10mm Socket
12mm Socket
Razor

1. Inspect contents of the kit!

Tein hood dampers: Note the Red bottle is the thread locker, clear bottle is grease!

Note the Red bottle is the thread locker, clear bottle is grease!

2. Assemble the dampers by attaching the aluminum extensions to the long ball joint and damper body
Apply thread locker to all threads.
The small ball joint goes on the other end!

3. Next, remove the center fender bolt using a 10mm socket and ratchet, install the joint ball post and washer into this bolt hole, use the tread locker. Torque to 7.5ftlbs.

4. Use a razor to make a clean cut to the factory rubber molding from the fender to the beginning of the engine bay.

5. Take an assembled Tein Hood Damper and remove the locking pin from the Ball Joint (female end), using a little grease cover the male end and place female end over the male end, re-insert locking pin.

Note, the left hand side can be rotated as pictured above to insert the locking pin and then rotated back to the hood.

Pages: 1 2
AWD, STi, Subaru, Suspension, USDM, WRX

Rear Differential Bushings install Subaru WRX/STi

Rear Differential Bushings install Subaru WRX/STi:

This rear differential bushing install process took all of about an hour and a half. What you will need is:

Rear Diff Bushings:

Whiteline KDT905 Rear Differential Support Bushing

Whiteline W92835 Rear Differential Mount Bushing

 

I used a 3/8″ drive set
17mm Medium Depth socket
17mm Open ended Wrench
Swivel For socket (optional) i didnt need this
Torque Wrench (specs for all of these nuts and bolts are 51.6ft lbs)
Couple of screwdrivers or Pry bars ( i prefer Prybars)
C-clamp
Hammer (optional)
Transmission lift (to hold up the rear diff when the bolts are out, you will also need this to lower the diff down to get the outside bolts over the rear axles)

1.)
Get the vehicle in the air some how, this is easiest if you have access to a garage with a lift. Which i did that only costs about $2.00 an hour. Once its on the lift go ahead and locate the area with the bolts and make sure you unplug the rear diff sensor and ground.

2.)
Unbolt the two outer nuts, you will notice that the bolt goes in from the axle side. Make sure to put them back the same way.

3.)

Now that the outside bolts are out, what you need to do it take the nuts that you have taken off from the outside and thread them over the two inner bolts that hold on the rear diff. What this does is make it able for you to take out the bolt that is directly screwed into the diff. Make sure you thread it all the way, and once they are tight, using your open ended wrench start to back off the inner nut, and it might turn a little bit without the whole thing moving but thats ok, a few turns and the whole thing will break free. ( be carefull for the rear diff sensor)

4.)
Once you get the two studs holding the rear differential in place you should be able to let down your transmission stand a little bit to move the axles out of the way and pull the studs out of the outside two bushings.

Pages: 1 2
JDM, STi, Subaru, USDM, WRX

Lips: V-Limited Lip Subaru WRX STi Install guide:

V-Limited Lip Subaru WRX/STi Install guide:

Today we have for you an installation guide for the STi V-Limited Lip. It is being installed on a 2006 STi, but the procedure will be very similar for a V-Limited Lip installation on any other compatible Subarus.

Give your car that extra bit of JDM styling you’re looking for while adding performance at the same time! Constructed of 100% ABS plastic (the same material as your factory bumper), the V-Limited Lip is securely attached underneath the front bumper by a series of small bolts.
This is one of very few front lips available on the market that actually has a performance aspect too it. The design of the lip allows for an increase in front down force, improving your car’s handling at higher speeds. Don’t be fooled by imitations lips that are made of a hybrid material or fiberglass. These “replica” lips are flimsy and very prone to breakage. Treat yourself to the real thing and order your V-Limited Lip today! Don’t forget to protect your new V-Limited Lip with a rubber lip protector.

1. For this install you will need to get the front end of the car in the air. It doesn’t need to be that high, just enough to get under the front of the car. A jack stand under each of the two front lift points should do, ramps will also work if you have them.

2. First, you will need to mount the lip under the bumper so that it will stay steady while you drill the holes. Remove the plastic clips circled in the picture (three more on other end of bumper). Attach the lip to the bumper, but do not reattach the plastic cover’s flaps to the bumper as they were before.

Pages: 1 2
Ej20, EJ257, Intercooler, STi, TMIC, Turbo, USDM, WRX

Banjo Bolt (Union) removal/install on a Subaru WRX STi

Banjo Bolt (Union) removal and install on a Subaru WRX STi:

This is Banjo Bolt step by step guide on the removal and installation of a Banjo bolt and new copper washers for a Subaru WRX/STi or any other turbocharged Subaru.The Banjo bolt is the one with a filter screen that others have indicated should be cleaned or replaced periodically. Subaru calls it a “Union screw (with protrusion).”
Tools needed:
12 mm socket – for intercooler bracket bolt
14 mm deep-well socket – for up-pipe bracket nut and bolt
10 mm socket or wrench – for stock turbo heat shield bolt
17 mm ratcheting wrench – for Banjo bolt
10 inch or longer extension – to reach up-pipe bracket bolts

Parts needed:
Union screw/Banjo Bolt (If replacing which I highly suggest you do.) – Subaru part # 14445AA090

Subaru 14445AA090 Oil Filter Bolt

OR

Genuine Subaru Turbo Banjo Bolt with Screen – 14445AA090a
Copper washers (2) – Subaru part # 803912040
Subaru 803912040 Banjo Washer

 

Removal and re-install takes about one hour.

Start by removing any heat shields that are in the way. I have the SPT heat shield that comes off by removing the 12 mm intercooler support bolt.
(See pic “Engine bay area”). I also have the stock turbo heat shield installed. I didn’t take it off, but there will be a little more room to work if you do. A 10 mm socket is needed to remove the stock heat shield bolts.

The next page will describe the removal and re-installation process of the Banjo Bolt and copper washers.

Pages: 1 2