My car was parked overnight with ramps under the front wheels and wood blocks behind the back wheels. I started with removing the center console. First, twist the shift knob to removed it. It’s stiff to get started, but just spins off. I found that Subaru installation instructions for 1010FL010 STI CVT SHIFT KNOB had what I needed to see how the console comes out.

https://techinfo.subaru.com/proxy/126906/pdf/126906-C1010FL010-2017ImprezaSTILeatherShiftKnob.pdf

It’s mostly snap clips holding it in, but there are 2 phillips screws. To get to the screws, the parking brake boot needs to be popped up. Steps 3, 4, & 7 had enough similar information to get my console safely removed. The instructions show one screw being removed in front of the parking brake lever, but I removed the one behind it as well just to make sure I wouldn’t be fighting with it. The brake boot is held in with just snap clips, but they hold it tight. The brake lever is left in the mostly up position, which is also good because then the brakes are helping keep the car from rolling off the ramps. I used a trim pry tool to get the back edge started up. Then the rest pulled up ok. The console itself, and the rubber section at the front then popped out pretty easily. I used the pry tool to get it started per the Subaru instructions.

 

Next the top rubber boot and insulation come off the shifter. There are 2 push plugs with slots on top for a flat screwdriver to spin them off. Remove them and then pull out the boot and insulation. The threaded shafts for the plugs and the carpet cutout will be in the way a bit.

 

Next the steep plate on top of the shifter lower rubber boot needs to come out. It’s held in by 4 bolts to the car frame needing a 12mm socket, 2 phillips screws to the lower section of the center console, and 2 wire harness clips. To disconnect the wire harness clips, I pinched the ends with a pliers in one hand and pulled them out of the steel plate with the other. The steel plate can now be removed. If you look beneath the rubber you can see the next thing that needs removal, the exhaust heat shield.

 

Now you go under the car. Make sure the car is secured from rolling backwards. Chock the rear wheels, make sure the parking brake is fully engaged, etc. Getting crushed under the car would be a bad day’s work.
The heat shield removal is something that earlier models of Imprezas also need removed for STS installation. There are 6 bolts to remove that need a 12mm socket. One of the front ones though seemed to be easier with the 12mm ratcheting wrench. There wasn’t much clearance to the exhaust. Once the bolts were out, I pushed the heat shield up and forward to get the cutout free of the exhaust flange. Then I rotated it around the exhaust toward the left/driver’s side (in USA) of the car. There seemed to be the most clearance to get it out going that direction. I had to flex it a bit, but not permanently bend or crease it.

 

The rear mount bushing needs to come off. That works well with a 12mm socket. Pull the bushing bracket off the shifter and set it aside. Disconnecting the lower front link needed a 12mm wrench. The nut and fender washer will come off, but the link might not seem like it has enough space to come off the mount bolt. Not a big deal right now so it can be left there. Next I used (2) 12mm wrenches, one on the bolt (bottom side) and one on the nut (top side) for the upper front link. I don’t think I had room to use a socket wrench, so the ratcheting combination wrench was nice here as well. Once the bolt is removed, the transmission link it’s connected to will likely flop over and spit out at least one of the 2 flanged bushings and the steel sleeve. Not a big deal, just was not expected when it happened. The lower front link can now be wrestled free. Be careful though not to jam the top of the shifter into the dash console inside the car. You can move the rubber boot around so you can see what the shifter is doing inside the car. Once everything is freed up below, go back in the car and pull the shifter linkage out through the top.

 

I attempted to do some crude measurements to compare the old and new linkage. The normal linkage has the 10 3/4" measurement and the STS has the 11" measurement. The STS is the once laying directly on the box.

 

Installing the STS linkage is basically doing this all in the reverse order. I noticed that some things seemed to have some grease on them when removed, so I light/medium greased up the inside of the rear mount bushing, the upper link flange bushing and steel sleeve that fell out, and the inside of the lower link rubber bushing with some bearing grease.
When installing the new linkage, I put the lower front link in place first, then the rear mount bushing, and the upper front link last. The upper front link connection will most likely need some rotation to line it up, and that flange bushing and sleeve like to slide out until they are in place in the linkage connection. I had not torque values for anything, but that didn’t bother me much because for many places I wouldn’t be able to fit a torque wrench. The nuts are self locking, so getting them tightened down using good tightening judgement (don’t go all super gorilla on anything and strip it out!) seemed ok to me. Plus nothing seemed very hard to loosen, so I don’t think anything had a high torque on it.

After test driving a few miles, it does seem to be a shorter throw shifter. 1st, 3rd, and 5th seem like they are fully engaged before the shifter has moved ‘the normal’ distance forward. It also seems like the shifter is further back. The normal shift linkage isn’t bad or ridiculously long throw, but the more I drive with the STS linkage, the more pleased I am with the result.

 

Awesome post, but it would been way better combined into just one post, instead of giving you 8 likes lol.

 

I was going to put it all in one post, but I was trying to keep the right photos with the right steps to minimize confusion in case someone wants to try this out. Without hosting the photos externally and linking them in, I didn't see a good way to embed the photos all in one post in a reasonable order.

 

The short throw shifter makes a world of difference!

 

I bought a C1010FL050 STI Short Throw Shifter, but wanted to do the installation myself rather than paying the dealership to do it. Why should I pay someone else to do work that I can do just as well? Of course, figuring out how to do the installation is the main hurdle. Subaru does not publish instructions for this accessory installation. But with a little internet research on the STS install for previous model years and review of the accessory instructions that are published for any potentially helpful details, I gathered enough info to give it a try.
The tools and supplies I used were: (picture)
3/8” drive socket wrench with 2 extensions and 12mm socket
1/4” drive spinner/screwdriver handle with 12mm socket
Flat blade and phillips screwdrivers
12mm combination wrench
12mm ratcheting combination wrench
Pliers
Interior trim pry tool
Magnet
Car ramps
Wood blocks
Bearing grease

Do you remember the total install time?

 

I think it took me something like 3 hrs.

 

Nicely done, since for the most part everything with the exception of the lever itself is the similar between the STi SS and OEM; the 2019 sport already comes with the STi SS. I changed the lever out to a Kartboy shifter. The round bushing in the front is supposed to be a little stiffer on the STi but KB also has replacements for that too which I still need to install. I have some pics here of that for reference. Because the KB SS is not set in a rubber tube like the OEM ones there is a little more feel but along with that is a little more NVH too.

Kartboy Short Shifter and Knob on 2019 Impreza Sport