Gutting a Stock WRX UpPipe and Turbo Back Install

What started out as a long day which would include a new clutch, finishing up a gutted stock up pipe and installing a turbo back exhaust turned into a long day, but no clutch install.

Gutting a stock Up Pipe:

Gutting a stock WRX Up Pipe is not easy, but should not be this hard. I have done a couple now and this was more difficult than the first. I no longer have a long air hammer attachment which is able to go all the way through the Catted part so I cut one that’s close and lengthened it by adding some 1/2” angle arm. Well, the cat is stronger than the steel so it took a few different “versions” of the extension, some beating on it with some large screwdrivers and a few hours of work to get this done. Luckily Darin was there to help tag team this as it took a fair amount of time. The end result is a clear path in the up pipe which fits as good as stock and retains the heat properties of the stock piece. As such, it’s unlikely to leak or have any other issues. One other thing to note is I like to weld the egt port shut as it would just through a CEL anyway. A 2.2K OHM resister goes into the plug to resolve the CEL.

Installing the UpPipe and Turbo Back:

It wouldn’t be an o2 bugeye if the Up pipe came right out. Removing the Turbo Back was fairly straight forward, especially since it was actually removed by a previous owner and missing some bolts and a tricky heat shield. The Up Pipe to turbo bolts removed easy enough, the lower up pipe bolts were fine, front o2 sensor, passenger side exhaust manifold was simple, the crossover started to be easy… Then it stripped. Whats worse, it stripped in a way that the nut would not come off but just spin. Out came the cutoff wheel. As I have said before PB Blaster is great and will keep this from happening most of the time, but not 100% of the time.

With the crossover pipe finally removed, I could then pull the passenger side exhaust manifold. After some wiggling, the up pipe just did not have the space to come out. Removing the intercooler, unbolting the pitch mount, unbolting the engine mounts from the crossmember, then place a piece of wood and jack on the pan and jack up the engine about an inch. The extra space allowed easy removal of the up pipe. Unfortunately it didn’t help all the grease that was spread all over the car from the torn CV boot. I managed to clean the car up pretty well with my clothing, arms and hair….

Installed the “New” Up Pipe, bolted everything back up, the Engine, the up pipe, the TBE, replaced the trimmed heat shields and fired it up. The car now has a proper WRX rumble and you can easily hear the turbo spool up.