HatefulMechanic

an 18g is too small, IMO. add in the oddball exhaust pulses, and throw in a retarded turbo inlet design, and you have a solid formula for killing power. the main problem is they dont have enough exhaust velocity to spin a bigger compressor, and when you start going with hybrid wheel designs, its a pain in the ass due to the turbine housing only being able to fit a few different wheels. change the piping designs, install an external gate and a standard flange setup, and it can be done to make good power.


just most WRX owners barely know how to start them, let alone do all that!

Heiss M3

Thats why they generally get rid of their WRXs and move onto the STi which would be much less hassle to get big HP numbers. Plus its not worth all the work IMO, mine as well swap an STi motor in - gain better flow/design, and an extra .5L .

HatefulMechanic

shit. if you think the STi is easier to get more power out of, you are vastly mistaken. the EJ25 is pretty well maxed to begin with, and the management is a lot different, hence the reason it took so long for most tuning companies to come up with a solution to tune them.

for a base rule, the 02-03's are easy to tune, either by flashing or using a piggyback. 04-05's went to a much faster processor, which is harder to tune with a signal changing device, since it has a bastardly ability to readjust itself back to its stock parameters, unless you completely change the base mapping (which i feel is the best way to get the best driveability, none of this retarded MAF signal changing shit to deal with)

the main thing with these engines is that they dont flow well due to the design of them, which is why they dont spool real fast or can make really good powerbands.

almost any one i have seen or built that was a decent power maker usually had or was going to have (fuckit, my house has made me more money than that wagon ever thought about) some form of additional power adder to make it worthwhile in a race.

fstwrx

i agree with cosmo ecu flash on wrx is not worth it. you are better off with the piggybak, utec. flashes can go wrong quick, my friend had his evo reflashed and he wound up blowing the car up because it was not tune right.just something to think about

HighPSI TSi Guy

Is there something more complicated about the subaru AWD compared to mitsubishi? I've done a AWD talon back to back tested between FWD and AWD. Same day, using locked center diff, AWD did 535whp, dropped the driveshaft and did 545whp turning only the front wheels. I don't believe AWD is as bad a loss as everyone makes it out to be.

I don't see how a piggyback would be better? In years of experience I've never once seen any instance where a piggyback would possibly be more ideal than remapping the actual ECU. I can't honestly think of any logic that would allow a piggyback to work better either. Reflashing the maps in the ECU is as accurate a tune as you will ever get, much better than a piggyback can possibly be. It sounds to me like you're trying to blame the software for a tuner's mistake. No matter what you are tuning with, you're doing the same thing, altering fuel and timing. You're best off doing it in the actual programming rather than trying to fight it with a piggyback. I am in agreement with FC375. I've always had better results with flashes/chips vs piggybacks, including WRXs.

HatefulMechanic

yeah, the way the trans is made, it is a complete bitch to pull the rear shaft and try to do it FWD. add in the fact that there are some issues on the M/T cars with the center diff with no load behind it, and it wont work worth a fuck on the A/T cars unless you lock the solenoid out with the fuse.



piggybacks, UTEC included, can only do so much. a full flash with the right mapping is the best, however, 95% of tuners have no fucking clue what they are looking at when they do the tune that way, so they like a piggy back system better.


see above comment about that.

Cosmo

The Subaru AWD system creates more drag than that of the Mitsubishis. DSM drivetrains are FWD with RWD added. Subarus are the other way around. I'm not going to get into which is better. But, it does create more drag. It's not uncommon for people to see a gain of 20% in HP when converting a WRX from AWD to RWD (much easier to do than converting it to FWD).

About the flash vs. piggyback thing... things that work on most cars don't work on Subarus. Their ECU works much differently. The cars that make the most power either use a piggyback or stand-alone system. There are very few high-hp cars with reflashed ECU's. Having personally worked on at least 20 WRX's in the area, I see why. I have used the Cobb system, and it doesn't work well. I have also used the Vishnu XEDE system. That is a joke. I have always been able to get the best results (and most consistent results) with a UTEC. I haven't used the Hydra or AEM EMS enough to say for sure how I feel about it. I do think they are good systems, but I have only used one AEM and two Hydras, so I only have limited experience.

BSeriesTurbo

who was the tuner? DynoFlash? lol

HighPSI TSi Guy

I don't use cobb. I use ECUflash.

Cosmo

I haven't tried that one. From what I recall, when I got out of the WRX "scene" it had just come onto the market. I would be interested in trying it, though.