New WRX with basic mods
12-29-2003, 06:07 PM
#1
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Posts: n/a
New WRX with basic mods
www.SpeedXS.com - Center for Japanese Performance Cars
Hi guys.
I am waiting to collect on my 03 - 04 Impreza WRX. Now, I'm intending to make some mods to the car once I collect it, but th sales guy told me that If I make mods I'll not be able to get the feel of the car and that I should take some time to break the car in so I can better decide what i want to do with it in the near future. They gave me a triple hood meter as a free accessory.
I have in mind to do the following mods.
Change the exhaust to a Blitz Nur Spec R
Replace the panel air filter box with an ARC aluminium filter and put in a K&N drop in filter or maybe replace with a Blitz sonic power filter with aluminium piping.
Fitting a HKS turbo timer and an F-CON V Pro
Fitting a Turbo XS boost controller.
Upgrade the intercooler with an STI intercooler.
For now these are the mods I plan to carry out first. What are the power and torque figures expected? and will these mods take away the initial feel of the car as the sales guy mentioned?
Appreciate your views and comments.
Cheers and Happy New Year!
www.SpeedXS.com - Center for Japanese Performance Cars
Hi guys.
I am waiting to collect on my 03 - 04 Impreza WRX. Now, I'm intending to make some mods to the car once I collect it, but th sales guy told me that If I make mods I'll not be able to get the feel of the car and that I should take some time to break the car in so I can better decide what i want to do with it in the near future. They gave me a triple hood meter as a free accessory.
I have in mind to do the following mods.
Change the exhaust to a Blitz Nur Spec R
Replace the panel air filter box with an ARC aluminium filter and put in a K&N drop in filter or maybe replace with a Blitz sonic power filter with aluminium piping.
Fitting a HKS turbo timer and an F-CON V Pro
Fitting a Turbo XS boost controller.
Upgrade the intercooler with an STI intercooler.
For now these are the mods I plan to carry out first. What are the power and torque figures expected? and will these mods take away the initial feel of the car as the sales guy mentioned?
Appreciate your views and comments.
Cheers and Happy New Year!
www.SpeedXS.com - Center for Japanese Performance Cars
12-29-2003, 06:14 PM
#2
sales guy is right
i would wait at least 3 4K on the car before you start to mod it
as far as mods go
get tires if not wheels and tires very first
then strut bars and rear sway bar
as far as engine bolt on's, don't get any sort of intake, shouldn't bother with that, at most just get a k&n filter and that should be enough.
i'd suggest getting a up pipe and turbo back after you put some miles on the car (3k-4k)
don't worry about getting STI i/c until you have the mods that need support of it
i would wait at least 3 4K on the car before you start to mod it
as far as mods go
get tires if not wheels and tires very first
then strut bars and rear sway bar
as far as engine bolt on's, don't get any sort of intake, shouldn't bother with that, at most just get a k&n filter and that should be enough.
i'd suggest getting a up pipe and turbo back after you put some miles on the car (3k-4k)
don't worry about getting STI i/c until you have the mods that need support of it
12-29-2003, 06:24 PM
#4
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Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: So. cal
Posts: 137
Car Info: 04 WRX JBP
reflash? you mean just unhooking the negative terminal on the battery or actually going to a shop and getting a reflash? I want an extra 25hp25tq.... But yeah the dealer is right you should wait. Also INMO the WRX is one of the funnest cars I've driven that was stock. The only other stock car that I have driven that was fun was a porsche 911 and a supra TT. And I'll let you know right now I prefer the WRX over both of them. Cherish your car for what it is and when you get bored then start modding.
12-29-2003, 06:25 PM
#5
You should run your car through a break in period(though some may argue differently), for the first 1000 miles try not to go redline the engine, keep the revs below 4000 if you can. It may be nice to get to know your car before you mod, that way you can actually tell if your mods do anything noticable.
Most of the gains you would see with those mods are going to come from the Boost Controller, but a boost controller may not be the ideal solution, just be sure not to increase the boost too much, and be wary of situation where you are running full boost at partial throttle.
I doubt you would see any gains from the intake components, it is possible the intake parts will screw with your MAF, confusing the ECU and give you inconsistent results, possibly detonation.
A turbo timer obviously isnt going to give any HP benefit, and on our cars it isn't really necessary because of how the turbo is cooled.
The STi intercooler isn't going to do much, if anything it will make running the boost controller a bit safer.
I don't know if there is anyone in Malaysia that can reflash your ECU but IMO that would be a good place to start.
Most of the gains you would see with those mods are going to come from the Boost Controller, but a boost controller may not be the ideal solution, just be sure not to increase the boost too much, and be wary of situation where you are running full boost at partial throttle.
I doubt you would see any gains from the intake components, it is possible the intake parts will screw with your MAF, confusing the ECU and give you inconsistent results, possibly detonation.
A turbo timer obviously isnt going to give any HP benefit, and on our cars it isn't really necessary because of how the turbo is cooled.
The STi intercooler isn't going to do much, if anything it will make running the boost controller a bit safer.
I don't know if there is anyone in Malaysia that can reflash your ECU but IMO that would be a good place to start.
12-29-2003, 06:26 PM
#6
Originally posted by Subi114
[B]reflash? you mean just unhooking the negative terminal on the battery or actually going to a shop and getting a reflash? I want an extra 25hp25tq[B]
[B]reflash? you mean just unhooking the negative terminal on the battery or actually going to a shop and getting a reflash? I want an extra 25hp25tq[B]
12-29-2003, 07:14 PM
#8
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the k&n filter is good, but i think there is a comparison on the k&n and the green filter and the results were for the green filter over the k&n.
i think it was posted on www.scoobymods.com
i think it was posted on www.scoobymods.com
12-30-2003, 02:09 AM
#9
i would suggust getting a uppipe and turboback system before you start boosting and i would suggust ecu reflash if you wanna spend the extra cash to be on a safer side because mbc's have full boost on partial throttle.
12-30-2003, 09:14 AM
#10
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Posts: n/a
Wow, many thanks for the ideas and advice. I think i'll let the car run in stock for the first 5000 miles and then i'll build up from there. What sort of ECU's do you recommend for big power and torque response? I know that Prodrive in Europe has this tuning chip that takes the WRX to about 330 bhp. Is this correct? The Subaru sales guy told me so. I plan to have the HKS F-CON V Pro control the fuel while set another ECU in. Mine's in Japan does make some great ECU's. Seen them tried and tested on Skylines and Evo's.
I read from Autocar that the Green Filter has about 40% better flow rate than the standard OEM one. How about K&N? Any info?
Springs wise, Eibach lowering springs.
For brakes and Rims, I intend to change it to Volk Racing TE-37 18 inch rims and uprate the brakes to Endless with 4 pot caliper setup plus Endless 550 deg brake pads. Any suggestions?
Cheers and Happy New Year to you Scooby-Do It's out there!
www.SpeedXS.com - Center for Japanese Performance Cars
I read from Autocar that the Green Filter has about 40% better flow rate than the standard OEM one. How about K&N? Any info?
Springs wise, Eibach lowering springs.
For brakes and Rims, I intend to change it to Volk Racing TE-37 18 inch rims and uprate the brakes to Endless with 4 pot caliper setup plus Endless 550 deg brake pads. Any suggestions?
Cheers and Happy New Year to you Scooby-Do It's out there!
www.SpeedXS.com - Center for Japanese Performance Cars
01-07-2004, 11:49 PM
#11
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Car Info: Rust bucketo
Sorry, I dont know anything whatsoever about ECU tuning, and only can offer some insight on Intakes in general. 
I'm not sure about the flow rate comparison of the K&N filter versus stock, but i've seen and heard good things about K&N's filters. They should probably flow more freely then stock, but the filter oil causes some problems for people. These problems seem to bother GC8 / 2.5RS owners, as their engine uses a MAF sensor that can be fouled by the filter oil, causing failure and probably erratic engine operation when they fail. The WRX'es use a MAP sensor which senses the air pressure in the intake system instead of the air flow.
I don't know how MAP sensors work specifically so I am not able to confirm any problems with using the K&N filters on WRX'es but so far, I haven't seen any complications.
Generally the Intake system on a turbo car is not as critical as the intake system on a N/A car when it comes to air temperature and design, mainly because N/A cars need to suck the air in on it's own while turbo cars have this huge fan just doing all the work. N/A cars can benefit from careful intake pipe diameter and chamber design with engine resonances in mind and all kinds of other fancy scientifically tested engineering, but for a turbo car, the air is being sucked straight into a propeller so there are less factors to worry about.
Cold air intakes are known to be a waste of money on turbo cars because the intake air is heated up so much by the turbo. This being true, air being a few degrees lower in temperature makes a negligible difference in performance.
Well, I hope this was helpful in some way. You probably know most of this already, and i'm sorry if you already do.
Happy modding, and stay away from the real ghetto stuff.. haha, you should see what some people are doing these days...:banana:
I'm not sure about the flow rate comparison of the K&N filter versus stock, but i've seen and heard good things about K&N's filters. They should probably flow more freely then stock, but the filter oil causes some problems for people. These problems seem to bother GC8 / 2.5RS owners, as their engine uses a MAF sensor that can be fouled by the filter oil, causing failure and probably erratic engine operation when they fail. The WRX'es use a MAP sensor which senses the air pressure in the intake system instead of the air flow.
I don't know how MAP sensors work specifically so I am not able to confirm any problems with using the K&N filters on WRX'es but so far, I haven't seen any complications.
Generally the Intake system on a turbo car is not as critical as the intake system on a N/A car when it comes to air temperature and design, mainly because N/A cars need to suck the air in on it's own while turbo cars have this huge fan just doing all the work. N/A cars can benefit from careful intake pipe diameter and chamber design with engine resonances in mind and all kinds of other fancy scientifically tested engineering, but for a turbo car, the air is being sucked straight into a propeller so there are less factors to worry about.
Cold air intakes are known to be a waste of money on turbo cars because the intake air is heated up so much by the turbo. This being true, air being a few degrees lower in temperature makes a negligible difference in performance.
Well, I hope this was helpful in some way. You probably know most of this already, and i'm sorry if you already do.
Happy modding, and stay away from the real ghetto stuff.. haha, you should see what some people are doing these days...:banana:
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