Hi, I bought an 05 STi about a month and a half ago. Great car! I've been doing some research and have a few questions. First off, the car came with a K&N typhhon intake and a Forged BOV. I haven't had any problems with stalling or anything else as I've read on some threads involing intakes, and it made me wonder if the car also had ecu work done. Is there any way visually to tell if the ecu has been upgraded or tuned? Also, if anyone can recommend vendors for parts (tbe, ecu, etc) that wouldbe a big help, i can't seem to get a grasp on any kind of "stage" lists for this car so I would have some sort of responsible tuning/modding backbone to work from. I have owned a 300zxTT for the last 6 years so I have a very good backround about importance of right modifications, this is just another great car for me to get intimate with :)
Future mods I would like to do are header and TBE, CAI, and ecu tuning and try to stay away from that nasty boost creep thing. I have plans to road coarse next season so any advice/recommendations would be helpful.
I'm hoping the stock turbo would be okay for the time being with the upgrades I'd like to do. Oh, for the road coarsing, I'm guessing some decent tires and better brake pads would be fine for "learning" this new car?? I'm assuming the car would be track ready after that?? any suggestions welcome, sorry for legthy post. Excited to be part of the community!

Hey there and welcome! You can not tell visually that the ECU was modded..I would say spend your money on a nice TBE (Injen, APS, Etc...) Headers are nice as well but not needed. You will need to decide which type of engine management you want. Cobb Access Port or TurboXS UTEC. There is also the ECUTEK and a few others. If you search you can find tons of info.

Good luck!