Product Review: Killer B Motorsport Oil Pan, Pickup, and Baffle 2005 STi

Owning a 2005+ Subaru Impreza WRX STi isn’t all smiles and boost. There are a few things that are prone to failure, luckily all of them are well known.

1.) Inner CV Boot on passenger side likes to die at 55k miles

2.) Stock Pistons aren’t bulletproof and can have failure under poor tuning conditions

3.) Oil Pickup failure

#1 There isn’t much you can do except enjoy the car and fix it when it finally decides to tear

#2 Get a good tune as soon as possible, don’t risk a poor tune even for a few highway pulls, get a pro tune and enjoy the car.

#3 Oil pickup failure isn’t something to be taken lightly, unfortunately if and when this failure happens the engine is toast. The Oil Pickup will crack, and it will no longer do its job. The crack will starve the engine of oil and you will cause catastrophic damage. Luckily, there is a solution. Killer B Motorsport developed a more robust Oil Pickup that wont crack!

Since my car was going under the knife at Rev Works, I called up Chris @ Killer B Motorsport and started asking questions. Chris answered all of my questions and helped point me in the right direction.

I was worried my pick up had a crack, with 55k miles, lots of AutoX and stiff engine mounts it wasn’t out of the question.

Before I talked to Chris I planned on buying the whole shebang, Pickup, Pan, and Baffle. Chris found out my needs, usage and future goals for the car and suggested I simply do the Pickup. For an AutoX/DD the Pan isn’t really necessary, as the stock pan works great.

As Chris was trying to convince me to spend less money I mentioned my desire to start doing more HPDE and that I’ve had oil temp issues in the past due to the high track temps of Florida. After a little more thought, Chris mentioned that the Pan and Baffle would be nice security against the high track temps of Florida. I agreed.

Chris had everything in stock and ready for shipment, I received the goods a few days after ordering and dropped everything off at Rev Works for the installation.

If you haven’t seen the Killer B Motorsport Oil Pan, Oil Pickup and Baffle you’re in for a treat. These pieces border on art, they deserve to be used though so after snapping the photos I gave Rev Works the green light to do the install with fresh Amsoil Synthetic Oil.

After Removal of my Oil Pan Rev Works took a close look at my Pickup and found no problems!! w00t! Having the new Killer B Motorsport Pickup is great piece of mind, plus it came with the correct spacers to work with the Killer B Motorsport large oil pan.

Rev Works completed the installation of the Killer B Motorsport Oil Pan, Oil Pickup and Baffle just in time for my race season to start.

Install Pics

I’ve had 4 different events since the installation.

1.) AutoX – Oil temps stayed within check along with oil pressure, 275 mi round trip.

2.) AutoX – Oil temps stayed within check along with oil pressure, 80 mi round trip.

3.) AutoX School 20 runs one day – Oil temps never got over 100c, even with back to back runs, 80 mi road trip.

4.) PDX – Oil temps never got over 105c, during all 4 20 minute sessions at the Daytona International Speedway Infield Course, 100 mi round trip.

I am currently running a Trust Oil Cooler as well, this has been on the car for years.

While cruising on the street above 35mph with the oil cooler un-covered the oil temps never get to operating temp. Once the oil cooler is covered the oil temps get up to correct operating range on the street no problem.

Chris was right, the oil pan is excessive for a daily driver. Luckily my car only sees the street when it’s on the way to an event. 🙂

The Killer B Motorsport oil pan also comes with an extra bung for an oil temp gauge, which we took advantage of for my Defi Oil Temp Gauge. The newly added AEM Oil Pressure gauge is using a rear galley plug. The extra bung on the Killer B Motorsport oil pan made the Defi Oil Temp sensor relocation a breeze.

With the whole shebang from Killer B Motorsport I no longer worry about oil related problems.

If you’ve got a 2005+ STI you need the Killer B Motorsport Oil Pickup, if you plan on doing multiple track days the pan and baffle are a great addition. If you’re only doing daily duty and autoX the Oil Pickup is all you need.

Don’t hesitate, email Chris today, seriously.

-T3h_Clap

Update: I’ve had the setup on the car for an entire season now, and I have nothing but positive things to say. The next turbo Subaru I buy will have a Killer B Motorsport Oil Pickup ready to be installed before I take delivery.

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