Hi everyone,

Purchased my first fd in August this year, and have been looking into reliability parts. I bought a bunch of mods that i thought would get me started. Anybody recommend anything else to get me going? Planning a spring build, and eventually track it.

Here's What Ive got in the last 4 weeks:

-FEED F & R strut tower braces
-FEED down pipe
-RE Amemiya intake
-Unorthodox under drive pulleys (set of 4)
-PFC custom exhaust and mid pipe
-Koyo N-flow rad
-Greddy style intercooler and piping
-Knightsports AST

 

This things do nothing to the reliability!
Good idea to remove factory pre-cat!
This things do nothing to the reliability!
This things do nothing to the reliability!
With a factory ECU, this things will get it worse! You will run into boost spikes as you are also running different intercooler and intake resulting in fuel-cut and a risk of an apex seal failure. Yet again, if you loose a seal, this is your fault, not the one of your engine!
Very good idea to improve cooling!
This intercoolers are known to block the air flow to the airflow to the intercooler resulting in overheating when used with stock nose and under hard driving. Not something I would recommend for a stock bumper.
Good stuff, nothing wrong with it!

Get you another thermostat! Improving cooling system and keeping your old maybe 20 years old thermostat is a no go!
What is your oil-metering pump doing? Dos it still providing enough oil to your engine?
What is about your suspension? All bushing still OK? Any noise from the rear?
I assume you have changed your coolant when installing your new radiator?
Have you replaced your water hose?
If your car covered 60k miles +, your should check your wiring to the fuel-pump, and get your alternator refurbished.
Have you checked your transmission and diff oil?
what is about your fuel filter?
It is always a good idea to get your injectors cleaned.
Have you replaced your vacuum hoses and checked all the one way valves?

 

As far as ECU goes, what would you recommend? I don't want to have any damage happening to the engine with the mods I'm installing.

-Ill pick up a new thermostat
-Also, i bought racing beat silicon hoses for the radiator
-Ill do the injector cleaning ASAP (sea foam should be fine i presume?)

 

The best ECU is the one which your tuner can support.
So get in touch with the person whom will tune your car for ecu recommendation.

 

Ive been browsing the forums here and the Apexi seems very popular. Would like to buy used for 650-750 but then i have to buy updated software right? And at that point would a new apexi be cheaper? Haltech is also an option but not as much support up here in canada.

 

Reliability Mods For A stock car are radiator, ast, downpipe, oil coolers, etc...

A PFC is still a great ecu, just because it is dated doesn't mean it doesn't function. The pfc has a pretty solid base map for the stock twins that you can run for a while with the correct mods.
I would recommend:
Downpipe

high flow cat or midpipe IF you port your wastegate, and run an wideband gauge to keep an eye on AFR's. Some cars will run lean on this map so a tune MAY be required.

Exhaust.
intake or upgraded air filter

Any ecu you buy will need a tune to get the most power and drivability with a GOOD tuner.

This would be a fun car until the power bug bites you and it ends up on jack stands for a year. lol