[naz]

Quote:#  Work in excess of 60 hours a week every week, 7 days a week; 8 hours M-F, 10 hours S-S.
# Work all your stat holidays. I was on vacation last week and March Break, apart from that I've worked every day except one since (and including) Christmas night,

i mean this in the most genuine way possible... that's awesome. big thumbs up to you and i am glad you are nicely compensated

i work those hours at a desk job and i find it mentally and physically tiring. your job almost certainly has a much more physician side, which makes it even more demanding. plus i bet you have kids.

that's awesome. thumbs up

back on topic..

AKA i highly recommend that you get an aftermarket tune into your car ASAP (perhaps at the same time you install the catless uppipe?) your WRX has a delay between closed loop and open loop that could cause big time detonation even if the car is stock. (search nasioc.com for more info). this was done in '04+ on the WRX purely for emissions reasons

for suspension i recommend you switch to a 20mm sway bar from a '02-'03 wrx sedan and leave the rest stock.

you may want to consider changing to Sti Group N engine, tranny and pitch stop mounts also. they make the response to throttle inputs much faster.

lastly, you should be very very careful with your shifting, especially 1st to 2nd shift and after you modify. the transmission is rated for 300tq and if you have turboback exhaust, uppipe and a chip you should be at around 280tq.. that's cutting it close, and you can easily shockload the gears past their designed limits if you shift roughly. also, no matter how nicely you shift, its possible your car will just eat 3rd gear under hard acceleration

not trying to scare you, just trying to give you some of the safety/reliability info i picked up while i owned by WRX. personally, i kept the engine stock on my car to avoid the potential issues i outlined above

best of luck! i'm sure you will enjoy the car a lot. keep up on your maintenance, and shift cleanly and in return the car will run hard for a long long time