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Now that I've provided a quick overview on getting the thing out, I'd echo the advice given earlier to leave it alone. You almost certainly are not going to gain any performance by removing or modifying it. (On the other hand you likely would not lose much, if anything, either.) You will increase the sounds coming from the engine bay under acceleration.
More important is to leave the stock airbox unmodified. A large majority of the cold air intakes, ram air intakes, and so forth that are out there will skew the Mass Air Flow readings and cause the car to run worse unless the car is specifically tuned for the change. There are many hardcore and highly knowledgeable tuners out there that are making some pretty huge HP numbers using the stock intake. That says a lot to me: if the stock intake system is good enough for them, it's good enough for the rest of us.
The 2nd one is measuring a complete new intake though, not just the resonator chamber. He's sucking hot air from the engine bay, no wonder he's losing power.
-juice
And simple too. Just take out the ECU from under the passenger floorboard (easy to do—except you’ll need the careful prodding of a screwdriver to unplug the five connector bundles), and a 2-day turn-around later, you’ve got yourself an extra 28 hp and 38 lbs. more torque. (THAT by the way is only 8 lbs. less torque than you'll find on an $80 grand Porsche Carrera 4S!!
The thing I noticed most was better response from the throttle—it just wants to move off the line easier at a stoplight, and once you’re going, accelerates noticeably faster with a lighter foot on the gas.
A bonus is that the engine note sounds just right now-- a little more turbo whistle and an increased induction howl that ups the noise volume so you can hear it better (still have the stock exhaust on mine)-- without it becoming tiresome or obnoxious. Dang! This thing is starting to sound like a Tie Fighter right out of Star Wars now!
Also, just wanted to mention, before the upgrade I installed a K & N drop-in panel filter (no noticeable changes that I could tell) and switched to Redline 5W30 (better oil pressure and a little faster turbo spool-up than before).
The only thing I am concerned about is damaging the ecu somehow. I gotta be careful with that thing and package it well. Also, the 2-3 days downtime without the car would hurt. I don't have a backup car I can use, and taking time off from work b/c of this is not an issue. I'll have to figure that one out myself.
One question with the cobb reflash - I know they did a dyno showing the results, and I do believe it works, but how do I know that my cpu that I sent to them did get reprogrammed? (hypothetically) I mean, when I get the cpu back, and I haven't driven the car in the past 3 days, how can I tell if I actually got added performance? It's possible they just forgot to reprogram mine, and sent it back to me by mistake. Without any dyno type testing equipment except for my right foot, what can I do? Is it *that* noticable a difference, or could it be a phantom increase like a K&N air filter? I know, I'm paranoid. :oP
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If you want a 0-60 traffic light racer, the WRX and specifically the 4EAT WRX is not for you. If you want a car that will do well on the track and handle great, then the WRX is for you.
-mike
It’s a device you plug into the ECU and allows you to do the reflash yourself in about 10 seconds. Should be out here in the next month or two and will cost about $500 (sending it in for the reflash with the postage is $460). It can store your old ECU map too, but once you experience how the car drives with the Stage 1, I doubt seriously you will want to go back.
The guys at Cobb told me the modest increase in power will not adversely affect engine longevity (just be sure to use a good synthetic oil for the engine).
I waited until 15k to do mine, so maybe it does help to wait for a little bit of the newness of the car to wear off before doing the upgrade.
In answer to your question, if you do decide to send it in, it might help to find a stretch of road that you are familiar with, and see how it drives before and after the reflash. If you are not happy, they have a 30-day money-back guarantee, but I bet you are going to like the new version just fine!
The spoiler, take the teasing as a compliment. Hee hee... that's all they'll get to see when on the road.
Is it functional? Yes, but we'll never get to drive it to the point where its use comes into effect.
The interior, I take it that the "professional drivers" are the "paid critic" category. Put that same interior into a luxury car and they'll probably rave about it. A professional driver won't give a hoot about the interior, so long as the car goes... the cars they drive have no interior amenitites. ;-)
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder
-Dave
For the money, the performance improvement sounds too good to pass up, but I don't want to shoot myself in the foot down the road with turned down warranty claims.
Any input would be appreciated.
Thanks for your help.
Paul
I think the WRX's spoiler looks like a huge Australian boomerang. What do you think about that? :-)
-juice
As for the sedan spoiler - I like how it looks better than without it - but in my case, I have the wagon, in which the spoiler is a little more stealth. The sedan's spoiler makes the car look more like it's out of Fast&Furious, but for many, that's not a bad thing since people spend a lot of money to give their car that image.
True true... I spent ~$300 and about a tablespoon of blood on the waist spoiler for my wagon.
-Dave
If a modification breaks something, Subaru should not be held to fix it for free.
-juice
If a kid walks in with a 300hp hopped-up WRX and you owned a dealership, would you give him a free new clutch and tranny if he fried it at the track?
I wouldn't. No way.
People like that increase costs for the rest of us. No wonder dealers are charging $92 per hour for labor around here.
-juice
K&N filters... for every good tuner that claims it doesn't help performance, you can find another who claims it does. Personally, I put one in a while back and I did feel a slight improvement (yeah yeah butt dyno). Then I did the resonator mod and it feels even better. The combination of the two seems to really be nice (and cheap). Some guy on one of the wrx sites (I think clubwrx.net, but not totally sure at the moment) did some testing which showed that there is not so much improved HP, but the low-end torque curve is improved a bit with these mods (he even had graphs to prove it, and PICTURES NEVER LIE! ;-) Anyhow that jibes with the overall feeling in my butt, not necessarily any increase on the top-end, but definitely a slightly better spool-up on the bottom, plus I just love the whooshing noises (which are NOT that loud). You can only hear it really with the radio off and the windows closed, anyhow. For the price, it was well worth it to me. Anyhow, notice that many of the respected tuners' stage 1 packages include removing the resonator.
My list of mods is growing.. hee hee.. got some Perrin silicone intercooler hoses on the way, planning to put in a Prodrive muffler soon, followed by a TurboXS Stealth turbo-back system after that, followed by a Cobb ECU flash at some point... plus I want to do my rear sway bar and put in a front strut tower bar...
hys
- wishing for an STi wagon.. *hint hint Subaru..*
These guys are crazy! I think the interior is terrific for a car in this price class. Did these "pro drivers" happen to notice the standard 6-disc CD player or the expensive hand-stitched leather MOMO steering wheel!? Those don't exactly sound like "cheap" touches to me!
Also, it appears these guys may have been over-looking that this is a rally car! And it's got a rally-car style interior (the kind that gets muddy during a rally), not a Lexus style interior, so it's designed with quick clean-up in mind.
BTW, I'm especially fond of the 02-03 seats with their blue inserts.
End of rant. I feel better now. Happy Rexing everyone!
P.S. There is also a cool leather MOMO shift knob that perfectly matches the steering wheel:
Momo Knob
(You can click on the picture for a better view.)
There will be holes if you remove the spoiler.
Removing the spoiler won't be a good idea.
It is better that you swap trunks with someone, with a RS.
-Dave
-mike
I like the looks of the sedan with spoiler better than without.
I think it's mostly cosmetic, but it does have a shred of credibility on a car like the WRX. Put the same thing on a slammed FWD Civic, however, and I instantly dismiss it as a joke....
Craig
but how about a dodge viper, corvette Z06, or mustang cobra? All RWD and all faster 0-60 than the ReX. You could go back and forth all day. BUT, now do all these tests on a wet track and see which one wins.
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '98 Alfa 156 2.0TS; '08 Maser QP; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '11 Mini Cooper S
-Dennis
4wd in rally and offroad but RWD dominance in most other forms of racing (including drag racing)should be a good clue.
Now if the question was which is more FUN, then I'd say RWD, AWD and FWD last. IMHO
Don
FWD: Alfa romeo 156 an excellent FWD
RWD: BMW 323i
AWD: Audi A4 quattro
on a dry surface the BMW was clearly superior, not even a hint of understeer, both the Audi and the Alfa understeered when used hard.
In the wet the audi still understeered, but the alfa was desperately looking for grip.
What about the BMW? Well the electronic gizmos kept the car in check as it handled the track much like the Audi.
My opinion is that if you want to feel like a great driver, but you aren't: 4WD is your thing. e.g. nissan skyline or WRX, evo VIII, audi and the like..;
If you want to learn the art of driving there can be only one option: RWD nothing beats the sheer fun of powersliding a BMW M3 or Porsche. For cheap fun a Mazda Miata or BMW compact will do the job just fine.
There are some FWD cars that are absolutely great (Fiat Coupe turbo, Peugeot 306 GTi...) but most are an uninvolving experience.
Very nice choice of mods! My performance mods are pretty similar: K&N filter, Samco IC hoses, Perrin pulley, STi uppipe, MRT turboback, ECU reflash, 17" rims w/ ContiExtremes, and 20mm sedan rear swaybar. Next up is a set of Prodrive springs, and probably some Carbotech Bobcat performance street brake pads.
From what I've read, the front strut tower bar is pretty low bang-for-buck, so I've decided against it. The reason being, the WRX's strut towers are very close to the firewall, so you don't prevent very much flexing by adding the brace. Cars with the front wheels pushed further out toward the corners benefit more from this mod. A rear strut bar has a noticeable effect, though, from what I've gathered.
For achieving the fastest 0-60 times, often some wheelspin is advantageous, because it allows the engine to stay in its power band throughout the launch. After all, you easily could launch a Vette or Viper with no wheelspin at all... but you'd end up with a slower time, since it would take a tick or two for the engine to get spooled up and into its sweet spot.
Keeping the engine at its optimal RPM level during a launch is more tricky with an AWD car, simply because you've got twice as many tires gripping the pavement, and the engine's power is divided across four wheels instead of two, all of which makes breaking traction difficult if not impossible.
Beyond that, an AWD system adds weight, which of course is the enemy of acceleration.
Consequently, as a general rule, RWD is better than AWD at the dragstrip, all else being equal.
I have one of those MOMO knobs... I really like it a lot, but my little sticker fell off! Actually this is a common problem; a number of people have reported having the same thing happen.
If anyone does get this piece, I'd highly recommend an adapter that a guy with the screen name "Paulie" on the NASIOC.com forums sells. The adapter allows you to screw the knob onto the shift lever's threads, rather than relying on the wimpy set screws to hold it in place.
There's a couple other nice touches guys have done to spiff up the interior--the STi shifter trim surround (supposedly a little tricky to put on, but looks sharp especially with the MOMO knob) and the drilled metal dead-pedal that matches the rest of the pedal set (from kastleskorner.com).
Haven't done the Sti trim piece but just did the dead pedal and it looks great! A perfect match for the other pedals (except the rubber nubs go in instead of out, but it's supposed to work better that way). Only problem-- $40 bucks, but you can't find one like it anywhere else so Kastle's has us over a barrel if you want one.
P. S. I've had good luck keeping the Momo knob in place by tightening the screws evenly and carefully all around, but decided to get Paulie's insert anyway, because you can set the knob down a little further onto the shift lever--looks a little better that way, IMO.
Prayerfor do you have a link to contact "Paulie"? I just bought a Momo shift knob and I would rather screw it on than use the screws to attach it. Thanks
I just put in the kastleskorner dead pedal too, was a little disappointed that the nubs don't come out exactly like on the other pedals, but it looks pretty nice and fits perfectly.
ps. prayerfor: I've got the ContiExtremes too, 16". Aren't they sweet? Just ordered my Prodrive muffler today.. :-D
haven't ever seen any but a google search might turn something up.
Also have the Momo Airleather knob with the "Paulie" adapter. Works great! Find Paulie via the NASIOC site and use their search function.
good luck !
seen a few STis too, the spoiler is not as bad as I thought it would be.
I'll keep my 02 for now!
Saw my first EVO on the freeway the other day, looked pretty sharp, stealthy silver and cruising along normal 65ish freeway flow. Looked over as I passed and saw a middle-aged (my guess) 40-50ish driving. Couldn't help but think of the WRX when it first came out.
By the way I'm one of those that have the boomerang, ironing board, snowboard, skateboard contraption sitting on top of my trunk. I'm okay with it. Life's too short to worry about what others say.
I'm okay with my bug-eyed, non-0-60 scorcher, "cheap looking interior" paid for '02 WRX. Happy motoring everyone....
Pros:
* no increase in noisiness vs. RE92s;
* no decrease in ride quality vs. RE92s;
* increased grip;
* noticeably stiffer sidewall when cornering, but not so stiff as to degrade comfort;
* gradual breakaway at the limit;
* handle rainy weather without drama;
* price;
* cool looking;
* no worries if I get my snows on too late in the fall or take them off too early in the spring.
Cons:
* they fall short of delivering the proverbial "on rails" cornering sensation.
Bottom line, I'd have no reservations at all about recommending them.
Dave