New to this board...

[dustinr]

Someone dropped off a SECCS business card under my wiper blade when I was parked in front of Best Buy Sunday (Black,'05,STi). You guys have a pretty cool site. I must say that I'm loving the Sti... it is so fun. The last time I drove a Subaru was the year when the WRX first hit the states and I thought that car was a blast... The STi is so fun it feels illegal. Although I would be a little happier if it made 50-75 more whp and it definitely needs the Euro springs (pink) and it will be like God intended. See you guys around...

I think one of your members lives down the street from a friend of mine In "The Classics" in Double Diamond; Silver Sti and a red EVO VIII and some cool Honda. Now that's a well stocked garage!

[JC]

Damn another freaking STi. Welcome to the board! Come out to a meet!

[Kevin M]

Welcome to the board man. Your desires for mods are exactly what most STi owners should do. To get that 75 horsepower, all you need is a turboback and a reflash, and some will say to port your wastegate as well. If you're serious about how you drive the car (i.e. autocross, club track days) you are definitely in the right place! The only other mods I personally would recommend right off the bat are a larger rear sway bar and some steering rack bushings. Simple changes that make a world of difference in how the car feels and acts, though not necessarily making it faster or harder to drive. After that, you should think through your mods by looking for things to change then finding the right parts to do it, rather than the other way around. As you've seen, it's a rather well sorted out car.

[tysonK]

Yep we know the guys around Double Diamond pretty well. That's a Subaru saturated part of town.

[MattR]

Originally Posted by tysonK

Yep we know the guys around Double Diamond pretty well. That's a Subaru saturated part of town.

Yeah, that's Eric, and we're down there a lot!

Welcome aboard,,,

Matt

[dustinr]

Originally Posted by BAN SUVS

Welcome to the board man. Your desires for mods are exactly what most STi owners should do. To get that 75 horsepower, all you need is a turboback and a reflash, and some will say to port your wastegate as well. If you're serious about how you drive the car (i.e. autocross, club track days) you are definitely in the right place! The only other mods I personally would recommend right off the bat are a larger rear sway bar and some steering rack bushings. Simple changes that make a world of difference in how the car feels and acts, though not necessarily making it faster or harder to drive. After that, you should think through your mods by looking for things to change then finding the right parts to do it, rather than the other way around. As you've seen, it's a rather well sorted out car.

Yeah I'm gonna stick with a few suspension mods first untill I find someone that I trust to port the waste-gate. I figure I'll change out the springs and go with the stiffer strut mounts. Don't know if it needs different rear sway bar, I don't think the '05 understeers as bad as I keep reading, it seems fine to me if you drive it right (slow in fast out) and even if you apply the gas a little to liberally before the apex just feed in a little more wheel and it's fine. As far as engine mods go I know that porting the wastegate is a must if you plan on changing to a TBE...but that's all I've decided on in that realm. I'm kind of waiting to see what Prodrive is going to come out with for the Sti; I trust their stuff seeing as they do a lot of the engine mods for the actual Subaru rally team and some stuff for Ferrari I'm told. When's your next meet? I'll try to come if I can...

later

[LetItRev]

Hey Dustin,

Welcome to the boards. Yet another Double Diamond person checking in. I noticed in your profile you listed "govt. sponsored janitor" as your occupation. We use that description in the fire service!

Take care.


Franz

[sperry]

Originally Posted by dustinr

Yeah I'm gonna stick with a few suspension mods first untill I find someone that I trust to port the waste-gate. I figure I'll change out the springs and go with the stiffer strut mounts. Don't know if it needs different rear sway bar, I don't think the '05 understeers as bad as I keep reading, it seems fine to me if you drive it right (slow in fast out) and even if you apply the gas a little to liberally before the apex just feed in a little more wheel and it's fine. As far as engine mods go I know that porting the wastegate is a must if you plan on changing to a TBE...but that's all I've decided on in that realm. I'm kind of waiting to see what Prodrive is going to come out with for the Sti; I trust their stuff seeing as they do a lot of the engine mods for the actual Subaru rally team and some stuff for Ferrari I'm told. When's your next meet? I'll try to come if I can...

later

Welcome to the board!

It sounds like you've done your homework, you've got a good level headed plan for your STi. I always have to laugh a little at the people that buy their car and the 1st thing they post is "yeah, I'm gonna build it up into a 500whp drag/hill-climb car, which BOV do you recommend!?"

You're also right about Prodrive, they're currently working on two teams: Subaru WRC, and Ferrari ALMS. The two coolest cars evAr:

[ArthurS]

Welcome Dustin. That was me who dropped the card on your car!

Your STi is damn clean still! No fair.

I was at Best buy to get sucked into the NFSU circle. Except I bought it for computer since it was ~25 dollars cheaper... :?

[Kevin M]

Originally Posted by dustinr

Yeah I'm gonna stick with a few suspension mods first untill I find someone that I trust to port the waste-gate. I figure I'll change out the springs and go with the stiffer strut mounts. Don't know if it needs different rear sway bar, I don't think the '05 understeers as bad as I keep reading, it seems fine to me if you drive it right (slow in fast out) and even if you apply the gas a little to liberally before the apex just feed in a little more wheel and it's fine. As far as engine mods go I know that porting the wastegate is a must if you plan on changing to a TBE...but that's all I've decided on in that realm. I'm kind of waiting to see what Prodrive is going to come out with for the Sti; I trust their stuff seeing as they do a lot of the engine mods for the actual Subaru rally team and some stuff for Ferrari I'm told. When's your next meet? I'll try to come if I can...

later

How long have you been around the Subaru boards? You have a better handle on what makes them tick than most people who've been around longer than the WRX has here. Your comments about the understeer are dead on- for people who know how to adjust their driving to the car, the STi isn't bad at all. And if you know about that, then you'll love the car with a 22mm-ish RSB. However, speaking for myself, Prodrive's mass produced stuff for the Impreza leaves a little to be desired for what it costs. It's all good stuff, but you can duplicate the performance and craftsmanship for less money elsewhere.

[MikeSTI]

Welcome to the boards!!

Word from Cobb is that with the acessPORT stage 2 there is no reason to port the wastegate to eliminate boost creep, the stage 2 map will solve the problem. So dpending on you upgrade path porting the waste gate first might be premature at this point. All the other stuff sounds great and on my to-do list

[dustinr]

Originally Posted by MikeSTI

Welcome to the boards!!

Word from Cobb is that with the acessPORT stage 2 there is no reason to port the wastegate to eliminate boost creep, the stage 2 map will solve the problem. So dpending on you upgrade path porting the waste gate first might be premature at this point. All the other stuff sounds great and on my to-do list

When I first came across the Cobb AP I was really impressed, sucked in by their marketing for sure. But I've read more than a couple posts from guys that bought them installed them on their cars and went to the dyno and ran lower numbers than their stock cars ran... The excuse from Cobb is that it takes the ECU time to adjust. Some of the guys reset the ECU and attempted the Vishnu trick and their dyno pulls were still below stock #'s. So I'm not completely sold on Cobb yet.

[Kevin M]

Originally Posted by MikeSTI

Welcome to the boards!!

Word from Cobb is that with the acessPORT stage 2 there is no reason to port the wastegate to eliminate boost creep, the stage 2 map will solve the problem. So dpending on you upgrade path porting the waste gate first might be premature at this point. All the other stuff sounds great and on my to-do list

You can't fix boost creep with mapping. All you can do is turn off the boost cut, which means that if you get boost creep, you keep getting boost. You can easily hit 20 pounds in 5th gear with a really good exhaust, and that's not a good thing on the stock turbo and pump gas. Do you have a peak-hold or peak-warning type gauge? If so, set the warning at 18 pounds and get off it if it hits there. Check your peak-hold after every time you get on it hard to double check.

[sperry]

Originally Posted by BAN SUVS

You can't fix boost creep with mapping. All you can do is turn off the boost cut, which means that if you get boost creep, you keep getting boost. You can easily hit 20 pounds in 5th gear with a really good exhaust, and that's not a good thing on the stock turbo and pump gas. Do you have a peak-hold or peak-warning type gauge? If so, set the warning at 18 pounds and get off it if it hits there. Check your peak-hold after every time you get on it hard to double check.

Exactly. Boost creep is a mechanical problem: even with the wastegate all the way open the turbo can still make boost with a high flowing exhaust installed. Even if you remap the ECU all it can do is try to open the wastegate further... so once it's all the way open, it's still gonna creep.

[Kevin M]

It's not wastegate mapping they do, it's essentially like adding a fuel cut defenser- a major band-aid solution to a problem.

[MikeSTI]

well I have the AccessPort on my STi and have to say I noticed the difference on the first drive. As far as the waste gate issues I beleive they fixed it in the mapping by changing the duttie cycle on the waste gate to allow for better flow of gasses. Once I get a TBE (hopefully some day) I can say for sure if they fixed this problem. I have seem pleanty of cars running well without the port and polish and was just trying to say that it might not be as muchly needed as some have posted. Look at the mods they have done to thier cars (most are exotic) and had the E-manage as EM support. Things have started to change a little now that there is more info and tools out there but if you still feel you need it done I might atleast wait tell I'm ready to put on the TBE just so I dont have to mess around under there twice

[MikeSTI]

Originally Posted by BAN SUVS

Do you have a peak-hold or peak-warning type gauge? If so, set the warning at 18 pounds and get off it if it hits there. Check your peak-hold after every time you get on it hard to double check.

Does Difi have that on the BF series? I need to get one sounds cool peak-hold

[Kevin M]

Originally Posted by MikeSTI

Does Difi have that on the BF series? I need to get one sounds cool peak-hold

Defi V2s have a record/playback feature. I think there's an alarm function too but not positive. I'd offer to sell you my Defis, but I only have EGT, Water temp, and oil temp, not boost.

[Kevin M]

Originally Posted by MikeSTI

well I have the AccessPort on my STi and have to say I noticed the difference on the first drive. As far as the waste gate issues I beleive they fixed it in the mapping by changing the duttie cycle on the waste gate to allow for better flow of gasses. Once I get a TBE (hopefully some day) I can say for sure if they fixed this problem. I have seem pleanty of cars running well without the port and polish and was just trying to say that it might not be as muchly needed as some have posted. Look at the mods they have done to thier cars (most are exotic) and had the E-manage as EM support. Things have started to change a little now that there is more info and tools out there but if you still feel you need it done I might atleast wait tell I'm ready to put on the TBE just so I dont have to mess around under there twice

No, the wastegate thing CANNOT be fixed with software. The size of the wastegate is physically too small to bleed off exhaust pressure without sufficient backpressure. Wastegates cannot be made to cycle at greater than 100%. The only way to avoid the boost cut is to turn boost cut off- which means that, with a good enough exhaust, you can reach more boost than your engine and turbo can safely handle easily. That's why Subaru put the boost cut into the system in the first place. Cutting it off is safer than letting it get too high on pump gas, especially our 91 octane crap.

[sperry]

Originally Posted by BAN SUVS

Defi V2s have a record/playback feature. I think there's an alarm function too but not positive. I'd offer to sell you my Defis, but I only have EGT, Water temp, and oil temp, not boost.

Yes, the Defi V2 BF boost gauge has peak, warn and 3 minutes of playback. That's the one I have.