EQ Tuning Protune of my '05 WRX
09-08-2006, 10:27 AM
#1
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Location: Bay Area, CA
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Car Info: Subaru
EQ Tuning Protune of my '05 WRX
Got tuned by Ed at EQ Tuning a couple months back, and wanted to briefly share my experience.
Cliff notes:
Plot:
Full disclosure: we did not do a before and after pull as the above plot would imply -- I got the "stock" curve from another car's dyno data and overlaid it. That car had similar whp and tq numbers after tuning, but my car may well have been a factory freak. I also don't know what the conditions or fuel used were, but I can pretty much guarantee that they weren't worse than mine. The comparison is for "informational purposes only," take from it what you will. YMMV and all that.
Conditions:
Tuning was performed late June of this year, with temperatures around 110º F (!). 91 octane fuel, no additives.
About the car (very mild mods, I know
):
About the Tune:
As evidenced by the dyno plot, the car has more power/torque everywhere. With the 3-port BCS that Ed recommended (note that it was my choice to go with the more expensive Prodrive unit -- I wanted the plug-and-play harness), onset of boost is noticeably faster; similar to the improvement seen when moving to a catless uppipe. There are no dead-spots or other strange hesitations at any throttle position or engine load as tends to be the case with the stock vehicle -- just buttery-smooth response throughout. Naturally, OL/CL-related pinging issues are gone.
I had the chance to track the car at the recent Thunderhull HPDS (08/31/06). The first three 20 min runs were done on CA pump 91 (76). Given all my pinging issues with the stock car, I was listening very carefully for signs of trouble, and am happy to report absolutely zero issues. The last two 20 min runs of the day were done on a 1:2 mix of 100 and 92 octane (~95 octane). While a couple of the STi owners running that day noted much smoother engine response with a splash of 100 octane, I noticed no difference at all, proving that I did indeed have a safe, conservative tune, which is what I stated as priority #1 for my tune.
Bonus: in my 120 mile round trip commute, I've noticed a consistent 2 MPG improvement.
My $0.02 About Ed:
I'm the cautious type, and took my sweet time researching this. Over the period of months (yes, months) that I researched tuners, Ed patiently and promptly fielded each and every one of my questions, stupid or otherwise, without BS or pressure.
On the day of the tune, he went well above and beyond the call; I didn't quite appreciate then all the time he spent after the tune was mostly done just pushing me to drive the car, run up and down the gears and otherwise get a feel for it so that he could be sure that even subjective stuff like general drivability was to my liking. To the nay-sayers: this was all fixed-price, so he had no incentive to spend as much time out there with me as he did. As an engineer, I was very impressed by his thorough and methodical way of tuning.
Ed is an amazing guy, whose knowledge, skill and experience are impressive by any standard. Anyone who says otherwise is full of it, has never met him, is on crack, or some combination of the above. They've certainly never been tuned by him.
Ed FTW!
Cliff notes:
- +2 MPG in daily driving
- +50 whp
- +50 tq
- 0 issues, even under track conditions
- Dramatically improved driveability
Plot:
Full disclosure: we did not do a before and after pull as the above plot would imply -- I got the "stock" curve from another car's dyno data and overlaid it. That car had similar whp and tq numbers after tuning, but my car may well have been a factory freak. I also don't know what the conditions or fuel used were, but I can pretty much guarantee that they weren't worse than mine. The comparison is for "informational purposes only," take from it what you will. YMMV and all that.
Conditions:
Tuning was performed late June of this year, with temperatures around 110º F (!). 91 octane fuel, no additives.
About the car (very mild mods, I know
):- '05 WRX
- Perrin IC Y-pipe
- Prodrive 3-port BCS
- Prodrive muffler
- Crucial Racing shorty downpipe
- STi uppipe
- Cobb AP EM
About the Tune:
As evidenced by the dyno plot, the car has more power/torque everywhere. With the 3-port BCS that Ed recommended (note that it was my choice to go with the more expensive Prodrive unit -- I wanted the plug-and-play harness), onset of boost is noticeably faster; similar to the improvement seen when moving to a catless uppipe. There are no dead-spots or other strange hesitations at any throttle position or engine load as tends to be the case with the stock vehicle -- just buttery-smooth response throughout. Naturally, OL/CL-related pinging issues are gone.
I had the chance to track the car at the recent Thunderhull HPDS (08/31/06). The first three 20 min runs were done on CA pump 91 (76). Given all my pinging issues with the stock car, I was listening very carefully for signs of trouble, and am happy to report absolutely zero issues. The last two 20 min runs of the day were done on a 1:2 mix of 100 and 92 octane (~95 octane). While a couple of the STi owners running that day noted much smoother engine response with a splash of 100 octane, I noticed no difference at all, proving that I did indeed have a safe, conservative tune, which is what I stated as priority #1 for my tune.
Bonus: in my 120 mile round trip commute, I've noticed a consistent 2 MPG improvement.
My $0.02 About Ed:
I'm the cautious type, and took my sweet time researching this. Over the period of months (yes, months) that I researched tuners, Ed patiently and promptly fielded each and every one of my questions, stupid or otherwise, without BS or pressure.
On the day of the tune, he went well above and beyond the call; I didn't quite appreciate then all the time he spent after the tune was mostly done just pushing me to drive the car, run up and down the gears and otherwise get a feel for it so that he could be sure that even subjective stuff like general drivability was to my liking. To the nay-sayers: this was all fixed-price, so he had no incentive to spend as much time out there with me as he did. As an engineer, I was very impressed by his thorough and methodical way of tuning.
Ed is an amazing guy, whose knowledge, skill and experience are impressive by any standard. Anyone who says otherwise is full of it, has never met him, is on crack, or some combination of the above. They've certainly never been tuned by him.
Ed FTW!
09-08-2006, 11:02 AM
#5
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Originally Posted by wagonrex
Have you researched Mike at GS? I am about to do a tune but Ed is kinda far from me
This is not in any way to say that Ed is any less serious or business-savvy; it's more like the comparison between Porsche (big business) and Pagani (exotic boutique). Make sense?
And in any case, while I know it's totally subjective, I just had a better feeling about Ed.
09-08-2006, 11:26 AM
#6
Thanks for the nice review and I'm glad you're enjoying your car on a whole new level. Your car made great power for the little amount of mods and the very quiet overall exhaust note. Now its time to keep tracking it and get the tires/brakes/suspension worked out 
.
FYI: I have permenantly moved to the east bay. I will be in Danville for about a month and then I'll be moving to Berkeley. The full blown shop is coming very soon, but for the time being I'm available for tuning in the Bay Area but I go to back to Davis/Roseville once in a while as well.
Thanks
.FYI: I have permenantly moved to the east bay. I will be in Danville for about a month and then I'll be moving to Berkeley. The full blown shop is coming very soon, but for the time being I'm available for tuning in the Bay Area but I go to back to Davis/Roseville once in a while as well.
Thanks
09-08-2006, 11:32 AM
#7
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Car Info: '13 BRZ Limited / '02 WRX
Originally Posted by EQ Tuning
Thanks for the nice review and I'm glad you're enjoying your car on a whole new level. Your car made great power for the little amount of mods and the very quiet overall exhaust note. Now its time to keep tracking it and get the tires/brakes/suspension worked out .
FYI: I have permenantly moved to the east bay. I will be in Danville for about a month and then I'll be moving to Berkeley. The full blown shop is coming very soon, but for the time being I'm available for tuning in the Bay Area but I go to back to Davis/Roseville once in a while as well.
Thanks
.FYI: I have permenantly moved to the east bay. I will be in Danville for about a month and then I'll be moving to Berkeley. The full blown shop is coming very soon, but for the time being I'm available for tuning in the Bay Area but I go to back to Davis/Roseville once in a while as well.
Thanks
As for Ed's tuning....I was very satisfied with my car and trusted him to make a better rally-x map than Moike at GS. Also, Ed was saying that road tuning offers better autosport application results, and GS doesnt offer road tuning, I don't think
Last edited by VRT MBasile; 09-08-2006 at 11:34 AM.
09-08-2006, 11:59 AM
#9
Originally Posted by MBasile
are you still going to be doing road tuning or just dyno? Just curious....the only way I'll need another tune is if I finally get a manual tranny, with which I would need more power
For now I still only road tune when I come up to Davis. I've been scouting a couple country roads in the east bay that look promising but I need to check them out more extensively before I feel comfortable bringing a customer there. As always, I offer dyno tuning on the various current dyno's in the Bay Area and when the shop is open I will have my own dyno as well.
Thanks
