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Thankfully the Cobb kit uses the plastic quick connects with the snap insert. I find it funny that Subaru uses the plastic (easy to use) quick connects at the fuel pump housing connections, but uses the PITA metal variety in the engine bay? Oh well, yet another way we have made the car easier to work on in the future! The Cobb system is common sense on the install and simply snaps in place. We trimmed our newly made fuel lines and terminated them at the FPR and finished up the install.
The simplicity of the FPR conversion kit is a thing of beauty. In addition to the removal of the overly complex FPR you also rid yourself of the horrible metal fuel disconnects. 
We mentioned the GrimmSpeed master cylinder brace being the perfect location for the FPR. We simply enlarged the mouting hole on th FPR and bolted it in place. With this in place we were ready to re-install the intake manifold. For this process we chose to set the Motive risers in place on top of the heads and only hand thread in the OEM riser bolts. We resisted the urge to torque them to spec as we wanted to see how the new composite risers would align with the intake manifold. This proved to be a time saving strategy as we were able to then set the intake manifold in place and hand thread the bolts securing the IM to the risers. We slowly tightened all connections in the proper order to draw everything tight and preserve alignment. We had heard of other people having an issue aligning the risers on the head and then to the IM and we suspect that this is because they torqued down one side first; do yourself a favor and follow our advice.
With all of the connections made and back in place we could now focus our attention to the aluminum car porn sitting on the garage floor, the Crawford Performance FMIC and piping kit. With the front bumper removed we unbolted the bumper core brace and kicked it to the curb. The Crawford FMIC features a large core that measures 3.5″ x 27.5″ x 10.25″. It uses hand built brushed aluminum end tanks with welded brackets that utilize the bolt holes and OEM bolts from the bumper beam support.
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The intercooler fitment and finish are beyond reproach. The welded flanges align perfectly to the OEM core support holes and the IC tucks perfectly up to the headlight. The 2″ inlet and outlet as well as the hand built and brushed end tanks are a thing of beauty. There is no better IC on the market than the one offered by Crawford. There may be one of equal quality, but nothing is superior.The 2″ inlet and outlet are ideal for minimizing pressure drop and the aluminum piping is designed PROPERLY! We have seen a LOT of kits for the STi and what led us to the Crawford piece was the quality of the components as well as the logic behind the piping diameter and routing. Mind you, this is the same intercooler used on the Crawford Built Ghymkhana GR STi driven by a relatively unknown Ken Block of the small upstart shoe company DC shoes. 😉 So we have at least that street creed backing our decision.
