Tomei UEL Headers install

so i was looking around online on some forums on nasioc and about, there is a huge rumor mill saying that when you take out the old up pipe and drop it, you have to A) remove sub-frame, or B) loosen engine mounts and jack up block. idk if this way on older years, but i did'nt have to do either with my 2012, it just took some patients and wiggling and it saved me a lot of extra work and time. the whole process took me about 2 hours from start to finish. problems i ran into, the header O2 sensor port on the after market is slightly more counter clockwise from the original headers, so the sensor wire had too much tension to be comfortable with. just above it about 6 inches theres a bracket with the female-male connector attached to the block. i simply removed the bolt, and it gave me 1" more room to play with. and most important, that extra slack does not interfere with anything, and is not any more closer to any moving parts. another was (it may have been me not paying attention at the start) but my intercooler was'nt lining back up right after installation. eventually it fit back to original spot though. the new flange from UP to headers is now a 3 blot assembly and not the OEM 2 bolt, to help prevent from leaks. i have not got the chance to open her up yet, but the sound is'nt that noticeable in low rpm's due to SPT cat-back.

It honestly tends to be easier to remove the old headers jacking up the motor a little to allow for a little more clearance. On the older WRXs, LGTs, and STIs you pretty much have to or you won't get them out. It's also not that hard to do and adds only 10 more minutes to a one hour or less install. The other part of the install that can be problematic if you happen to be using a header with an integrated up-pipe is the up-pipe portion needing that much more clearance to fit through the bottom because of the flange design for VF turbos.
You lucky bastards in the current generation WRXs get just enough clearance to avoid that step if you want.

yeah i just found that out last night at the meet that the old uppipes had a different flange, guess they realized it was an issue

well now i have to swap flanges from my tomei and the up pipe i got from sti2envy tonight w/ ewg. never realized the 3 bolt set up would end up being a pain

Oh but it really is. It's just a lousy placement of the whole turbo in general IMO.

i dont mind it but thats probably because i havent really had to work with it yet