Stock Up-pipe Removal, De-gutting and Installation: August 26, 2005:  I finally got around to finishing the up-pipe installation video!  Hopefully you will find it useful.  The video has been very popular and I have had to take it down at times to stay within my monthly bandwidth limit.  If you find this video useful, please make a small donation to help me keep this video up!  Donations are handled through paypal.  You can save the video to your hard drive by right clicking here:   Up-pipe Installation Video. July 28, 2005:  For the last few days I've been riding around with the gutted pipe installed and the seat of the pants feel has not shown much improvement from stock.  Several dyno runs I performed confirmed this feeling.  Resetting the ECU according to the Vishnu Reset also had little effect.  The power and torque curves are nearly identical to stock and the differences seen are probably not significant.  It may be that the turbo back pressure needs to be reduced with aftermarket exhaust components before the uppipe becomes effective.  I am not aware of any other dyno plots comparing before and after uppipe gutting power on an otherwise stock vehicle.  I'm still glad I performed the modification since future power upgrades would have increased the risk of the stock up- pipe cat breaking up and destroying the turbo. July 26, 2005:  I finished the installation of the gutted stock up-pipe on Sunday July 24th.  I spent over 8hrs on Saturday removing the stock up- pipe and filming the location of the different parts that need to be removed.  It took me 3hrs to put everything back together on Sunday and there were no exhaust leaks or problems upon starting and driving the vehicle on a test drive.  Thanks to wrx-boy on Ebay for supplying a quality part and delivering it quickly!  Tomorrow morning I will perform the first dyno runs to measure the effect of the up-pipe.  The up-pipe video was filmed with more care and efficiency and I should be able to get it edited and posted faster than I've been able to post the boost gauge video.   There are several excellent up-pipe installation instruction online, many with good pictures, so I decided to take only a handful of pictures of the up-pipe itself and will focus on the video.  I hope the video will provide some clarification as to where the different parts are located as that is an aspect that sometimes does not come across well in pictures.  This was the most difficult installation I have performed on a vehicle but it was a great learning experience and am certain a second up-pipe installation would go much quicker. July 19, 2005:  I found an inexpensive, gutted 2004 WRX up-pipe on EBay for $80 including shipping being sold by wrx-boy.  I decided the expense was worth the labor saved and that having the untouched stock pipe on hand would be worthwhile.  I know this goes against my "low" cost approach somewhat but it is still alot cheaper than buying an after- market pipe with potential fitment issues for over $200.  I can always gut my up-pipe and sell it on EBay for a similar price.  The up-pipe arrived on Monday but I won't have a chance to install it until the weekend of July 29th.  I'm anxious to see and feel the performance gained, but I'm going on trip next weekend and do not dare attempt the install on a weekday after work due to the limited time, waiting for a very hot car too cool, and the complexity of the install.  I also have not decided which of the two installation methods I will attempt. June 11, 2005:  The first performance mod after evaluating the Octane booster effect will be removal of the cat in the stock up-pipe.  In keeping with the low cost goal I will not purchase a spare up-pipe before proceeding to gut the stock pipe.  I do not foresee a need or desire to ever change the up-pipe back to stock so I see it as a low risk plan.  In addition to the pics and video posted here you can review GLwagon's WRX Up-pipe Gutting how to.