Last time we left off with our emergence of even more power into a daily driving little Subaru wagon thing. What other thins can we add to this to make it a truly over the top everyday car. Let’s go ahead and find out!

No outdoor oil changes on this day. Back in the old days when Rotella was good and not reformulated.

When doing research for this upgrade I noted many people discussing issues with the intercooler contacting A/c lines and various other hoses. Nobody looks forward to a hot summer day, cranking the A/c to have blast of hot air hit their face.

So I took time to make sure the lines were flexed out of the way as best they could, without causing damage. Then I took a few pieces of old hose, split them and affixed them with a zip tie to help alleviate any metal on metal contact. I took the same precaution on upper coolant tank hose with an extra hose layer to keep it safe. Diy for Sti tmic hacks/tips here!

Two various sizes of hoses are necessary for this mod. On the left side(of image) the larger A/c line will rub the A/c and on the right side (of image) the smaller line will rub.

I have always followed the old adage that if you are going to do something you might as well do it right. The 90 degree elbow off the intercooler wasn’t make as solid of a connection as I would like. The clamp was tight and it reached… but just barely. A quick look at the Grimmspeed catalog and was able to find a few parts to fix these dilemmas. After installing the new 08+Sti intercooler it was obvious it would need a new hood scoop splitter. The intercoolers are very different in design and overall shape.

Factory still making it happen, but it is time for an upgrade and a better connection.

The parts that arrived shortly were a 04-07 Sti tmic splitter designed for the Fxt hood and a set of tmic hoses that included the throttle body and 90 degree hose. Grimmspeed splitter for 04-08 Fxt with 04-07 STi intercooler review!

My cat making sure the parts will work! Everything seems in order after the cat scan.

You might be thinking but you have a 08+Sti tmic how will it work with a 04-07 splitter? Well it does the best it can, it misses a few rows that reside over the turbo but it is a major upgrade over the Fxt factory unit. It seals extremely and keeps the cooler air flowing right through the intercooler to help keep those temps in check. The product has a nice finish and looks incredible versus the outgoing unit.

With that taken care of it was time to replace the 90 degree turbo coupler with the new Grimmspeed unit. The biggest issue with the factory unit is it doesn’t fully engage the turbo, filling you with a slight fear that a run to redline might cause it to pop off. The Grimmspeed set is a great answer for this, it is made to be trimmed to fit your setup. You can test fit it as it comes but your will likely find a trim will be needed. After finding the sweet spot by slowly trimmed and checking, it was installed with less fear of it popping off and letting all your boost free.

Grimmspeed 90 degree turbo coupler feeling at home! Review link here!

With these further modifications to fix problems that originally didn’t exist, if I wouldn’t have messed it with I could just sit back and drive mindlessly… But that would be quite boring. Think of watching a car TV show where it was just guys sitting driving their unmodified cars back and forth to work and never worrying about it. Never thinking about their next step for the car… That would be quite dull.

Let’s keep this life interesting! During these repairs and replacements I happened to stumble across a few puzzle pieces I felt were needed.. So they were somewhere on a truck, plane, boat, unmanned drone.. or by foot slowly making it to me.

Stayed tuned for the next parts that will make me spend all my free time and money figured how to make them fit on my car and work properly… or not.. who knows! I certainly don’t.

Amazon part link!

Grimmspeed splitter kit for 04-07 STi tmic on a 04-08 Fxt

It's all in the details.... Especially when it comes to your daily.

Related reading!

Amazon part link!