Piratemosh666
New member
Let's see if I can give you guys some background. . .
Bought my STi five years ago now. When I bought it from the original owner, I was able to have a chat with him as he was trading it in at the dealership I work for. I had been driving an '07 Cobalt SS/SC, and knew that in the next year or two, would have my first child on the way. As much as I wanted to keep the SS and just deal with trying to lug a kid in and out of the back of a two door car, I knew (even being an enthusiast) that it would get rather annoying after a while. My wife understood that as well. So I had the all clear to start my search for something that would be just a bit more practical, yet still be fun to drive on the day to day.
Now, back to the PO of what would end up being my car. He had moved to the area from Maryland and was looking for something faster. He had decided on one of the GT500 Mustangs we just got in. Not a bad upgrade, no? I figured that if the deal went through, his loss would be my gain. I went to the GM of the dealership before the ink was even dry on the guys deal and told him that the STi that was being traded in was mine. Work up a price and let me know. I knew that I could sideline a ridiculous markup by going right to the boss. That, and the fact he doesn't really know a damn thing about the WRX/Sti would also work to my advantage. Another advantage to going to the boss right away, was that I would skirt the silly rule here of "if it's listed on the internet, the price listed is the price you pay". Doesn't matter if you are an employee or not. The time had come for me to sit down with the GM and talk turkey. He still wanted the car to go through the shop (understandable). After that, the car was sold as is. I was not to come back with it if something broke right away and put the dealership on the hook for the repairs. It was my problem. Whatever, the car only needed a set of front pads and a blower motor resistor/speed controller.
I ended up out the door with taxes and fees at $16,875. I didn't think that was too bad for a low mile, (38,000) '04 STi that had minimal mods and was relatively un-molested. It was filthy though. Dog hair in the back seat. Floors were nasty. Driver's seat had some kind of stain on it. There were numerous chips and blemishes in the paint along with some odd scratches in the roof that kinda looked as if they were made by the branches of a low hanging tree. It seemed to me like the car had never been garaged. . . or washed for that matter. That's where my life with the car started. It had an APS short ram on it as well as an APS 50/50 BOV, which was quickly replaced with a stock BPV. It also had a Blitz Nur-Spec axle back on it, which sounded awesome but made me want to beat my own brains out due to the interior resonance. Yeah, that had to go. I found a COBB replica exhaust on ebay $140 shipped, so I got that. That was a mistake too. The resonance was bad, but not as bad as the previous exhaust. It was cheap stainless, so I had to take Eagle One wadding polish to it every year. That's all I've really got right now. I've basically just kept up with the maintenance and drive it. It's gotten a few full doll ups over the years and I have since put the stock intake back on (minus the silencer) and traded the cheap ass ebay exhaust for a stock one. It's a whole different car now. All stock, save for the springs. That'll be on my list of things to do here shortly. These Epic Engineering springs suck. The car is over sprung and under damped. It's bouncy and pogos all over the place and feels like it's getting worse, or I'm just becoming more intolerant in my old age. Anyway, I'll leave you with some pictures. . .
The day I brought it home
Went out to a friend's house and had a romp in his field.
The advantages to working at a dealership
Random shot on my way to a friend's house
All minty fresh after a thorough cleaning
Mud Flap install
This is where I leave you all with a bit of sad news. After five years of ownership and nearly 30,000 miles (now sitting at right around 67,000) the turbo has decided that it is not long for this world anymore. . . .
Time to finally go "Stage 2". I will be doing this on a strict budget. I don't have a ton of money right now and wasn't planning on doing this just yet, but as we all know, things don't always go as planned. I had tried to nail down a budget for a bigger mod list because I had wanted to go with a bigger turbo + supporting mods, but for now I'll just be going with a stock replacement turbo and replace everything that goes with doing that job.
So far I have collected
-Used Helix high flow catted DP
-GrimmSpeed Exhaust adapter
-Gimmick turbo inlet
-K&N panel filter
-Gimmick Afta MAF hose
-V2 AP
I still have to collect
-Turbo
-various gaskets/hardware/MSBS
One last random photo from the tear down/diag/small upgrades day
My car twin is in the background
To be continued. . . .
Bought my STi five years ago now. When I bought it from the original owner, I was able to have a chat with him as he was trading it in at the dealership I work for. I had been driving an '07 Cobalt SS/SC, and knew that in the next year or two, would have my first child on the way. As much as I wanted to keep the SS and just deal with trying to lug a kid in and out of the back of a two door car, I knew (even being an enthusiast) that it would get rather annoying after a while. My wife understood that as well. So I had the all clear to start my search for something that would be just a bit more practical, yet still be fun to drive on the day to day.
Now, back to the PO of what would end up being my car. He had moved to the area from Maryland and was looking for something faster. He had decided on one of the GT500 Mustangs we just got in. Not a bad upgrade, no? I figured that if the deal went through, his loss would be my gain. I went to the GM of the dealership before the ink was even dry on the guys deal and told him that the STi that was being traded in was mine. Work up a price and let me know. I knew that I could sideline a ridiculous markup by going right to the boss. That, and the fact he doesn't really know a damn thing about the WRX/Sti would also work to my advantage. Another advantage to going to the boss right away, was that I would skirt the silly rule here of "if it's listed on the internet, the price listed is the price you pay". Doesn't matter if you are an employee or not. The time had come for me to sit down with the GM and talk turkey. He still wanted the car to go through the shop (understandable). After that, the car was sold as is. I was not to come back with it if something broke right away and put the dealership on the hook for the repairs. It was my problem. Whatever, the car only needed a set of front pads and a blower motor resistor/speed controller.
I ended up out the door with taxes and fees at $16,875. I didn't think that was too bad for a low mile, (38,000) '04 STi that had minimal mods and was relatively un-molested. It was filthy though. Dog hair in the back seat. Floors were nasty. Driver's seat had some kind of stain on it. There were numerous chips and blemishes in the paint along with some odd scratches in the roof that kinda looked as if they were made by the branches of a low hanging tree. It seemed to me like the car had never been garaged. . . or washed for that matter. That's where my life with the car started. It had an APS short ram on it as well as an APS 50/50 BOV, which was quickly replaced with a stock BPV. It also had a Blitz Nur-Spec axle back on it, which sounded awesome but made me want to beat my own brains out due to the interior resonance. Yeah, that had to go. I found a COBB replica exhaust on ebay $140 shipped, so I got that. That was a mistake too. The resonance was bad, but not as bad as the previous exhaust. It was cheap stainless, so I had to take Eagle One wadding polish to it every year. That's all I've really got right now. I've basically just kept up with the maintenance and drive it. It's gotten a few full doll ups over the years and I have since put the stock intake back on (minus the silencer) and traded the cheap ass ebay exhaust for a stock one. It's a whole different car now. All stock, save for the springs. That'll be on my list of things to do here shortly. These Epic Engineering springs suck. The car is over sprung and under damped. It's bouncy and pogos all over the place and feels like it's getting worse, or I'm just becoming more intolerant in my old age. Anyway, I'll leave you with some pictures. . .
The day I brought it home
Went out to a friend's house and had a romp in his field.
The advantages to working at a dealership
Random shot on my way to a friend's house
All minty fresh after a thorough cleaning
Mud Flap install
This is where I leave you all with a bit of sad news. After five years of ownership and nearly 30,000 miles (now sitting at right around 67,000) the turbo has decided that it is not long for this world anymore. . . .
Time to finally go "Stage 2". I will be doing this on a strict budget. I don't have a ton of money right now and wasn't planning on doing this just yet, but as we all know, things don't always go as planned. I had tried to nail down a budget for a bigger mod list because I had wanted to go with a bigger turbo + supporting mods, but for now I'll just be going with a stock replacement turbo and replace everything that goes with doing that job.
So far I have collected
-Used Helix high flow catted DP
-GrimmSpeed Exhaust adapter
-Gimmick turbo inlet
-K&N panel filter
-Gimmick Afta MAF hose
-V2 AP
I still have to collect
-Turbo
-various gaskets/hardware/MSBS
One last random photo from the tear down/diag/small upgrades day
My car twin is in the background
To be continued. . . .
