[2005 v10 subaru sti hard to start when cold]

coolant temp sensor giving an incorect cold temp reading wont necessarly give you a cel code or store a fault in the ecu memory it will simply just cause the ecu to miss calculate the amount of fuel to inject during cranking. (most prol thinking the engine is warmer then it really is meaning not enough fuel on cranking!!! = hard to start when cold... Use a scan tool on the car when its cold and see what the display says the coolant temp sensor is reading deg C vs what the coolant temp actually is! (close to surrounding air temperature if the car hasnt been started .

[What to look for when buying an impreza wrx,?]

yeah and my advise is listen for any faint knocking from the engine. Hold the revs at about 3k and rock on and off the gas lightly an lisen is its makes any stranges noises when your rocking the rev! dont want you to da a bearing on the way home now do we! another good hint is take a look at what oil filter is on it. That will give you some idea on how its looked afer and possibly what oils its bee run on. Subaru filter= good, repco= not so good and prol lasnt had decent quality oil in it. Thats my theory and its worked gud few times before!

Lookin after advice... Good engine oil + genuine subaru oil filter is a very good place to start !

[V3 STI Air flow meter]

yeah id go with the above first, check what ECU is in it as I havent seen a non orange afm paired with yelow inj in v3/4 wrx/sti before and should most definitly have an orange afm if its on the standard STI ecu and has yellows...

[maxing out gt2876r]

yeah my old sti had a gt2876R with .70 comp and .86 exhaust and was around 280awkw from memory at 24psi. hope this hepls. (tuner said didnt have much more left in it..

[STI V3 Tappet Covers.. Ribbed?]

ribbed is not v3 sti. v3 sti is full smooth. getting ripped i think m8

[ver7 tmic into a ver5]

I used a v7 non sti intercooler on my V5 sti and it fitted with minimal effort and was bigger then my std V5 sti cooler. I just welded a alloy 90deg bov elbow off a v4 cooler onto it for more bov choice and clerence.

[Doweling a block]

Ive got a pic of my block if you like?