Tuning Shop Help

[Number 23]

I'm looking for a tuning shop to have my girls 04 re-tuned. I went to Agile about a year back. They did the gm boost solienod and colder plugs while doing a stage II pro-tune with the cobb. I wanted to know what thoughts you guys had on Agile and also what other places either in Pa or MD that I could go to. Apparently they had problems tuning the last 1000 rpms or so because they said it was either a clogged fuel filter or I need to have a Walbro 255 installed. I'll try and post the graphs here tomorrow so you guys can exactly see what I'm talking about.

ft/lb went from 193.1 to 210.0 and the HP 201.2 to 220.3

Mods:
Cobb AP Stage II
Bosal DP w/ Mad Dadz mid-pipe
Blitz Nur Spec R Cat-back
Step 1 colder plugs
GM boost Solienod
Blitz Drop-in Filter


Going to install:
Tomei Expreme Header/Upipe combo
Front Mount Intercooler

[JET02WRX]

Graphs won't help too much. Logs would be better. As far as tuners... we have a few as sponsors... Ray@ Turbotek and Verocious Motorsports to name the first two off the top of my head. Bigger fuel pump?? Is this car on stock turbo and injectors?
Also seems weird that a shop wouldn't have a fuel filter laying around.... Did you end up changing it?

FWIW...i'd strongly recommend holding off on the header and FMIC until you are ready to upgrade the turbo...

[Number 23]

Currently her car does have the stock TD05 turbo, she does plan on upgrading sometime in the near future. She's not after hugh amounts of horsepower(probably somewhere around 280ish) I think the internals give out around 300 to the wheels on the wrx?. I did end up changing the fuel filter, there seemed to be maybe a slight difference in gas mileage. Also why hold off on the header? I've heard that the tomei is pretty good.

[JET02WRX]

I have no idea why they'd try to get you to install a larger fuel pump for a stock turbo/injectors setup.

There are plenty of 2.0l wrx's putting around 300 to wheels on stock internals. The tranny will blow up before the motor does most likely..... unless you are taking it to redline on every shift, everytime you drive...haha.

Is the tomei equal length or unequal? Headers are generally a hotly debated topic on wrx's, as far as gains vs cost. Unless you are making it specifically a drag car, i'd put the money you were spending on a FMIC and header into suspension / wheels.

[Number 23]

So the stock turbo will be good for her power goals? Also the reason I said about the tomei header is because I had saw a post on NAISOC about the install(had pics and stuff) He got nice overall gain from it. The header is an unequal length header. So more lower end and mid power with it. I"ll definitely hold off on the front mount then.

Also does those horsepower numbers seem right for what she has done?

I'll probably give verocious a call. See what they have available.

[JET02WRX]

Hmm... I think we may have misunderstood each other there. The stock turbo will need to be replaced if you plan on taking the car over the 220-240hp range. When you were talking about "internals" I was thinking you were talking about the engine internals, but now i'm thinking you were referring to the 'internals' of the turbo giving out at 300hp. If thats the case, NO the stock turbo won't come close to making 300whp. A turbo upgrade...something like a vf34 or large 16g or 18g will be required if you want to get her to 300.

To answer your question about her current power, a 20hp gain for a stage 2 tune sounds about right. Given the fact that it sounds like they had to quit tuning her because of her 'fueling' issue.

Can you link to the Tomei header post on NASIOC?

[DaveSTi]

I'd stick with Agile if I were you.

[Number 23]

DaveSTI:
Why should I stay with Agile?


Jet02WRX:
Sorry I wasn't clear enough. Originally I was talking about the egine internals taking a crap at 300ish whp on the wrx? Not the turbo. Now that I know I'll definitely will need a turbo upgrade what about a STI turbo?

http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/show...Expreme+Header


Found it:
http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/foru...ain=nasioc.com

[RayArroyo]

agile is a very reputable tuning shop, and im sure if hill didnt get more power out of the car is because you have an issue. The stock turbo will not be suffecient enough for her power goals, and pushing that turbo too much will lead to turbo inefficiency and will lead to damage. i have seen on average gains of about 40 hp from a baseline wrx to being tune and usually what holds me back is the turbo. Also we tuners have to be careful we dont get to carried away with 02-04 wrx's as most of them have higher millage and i really do not like pushing them too much.

[RayArroyo]

i have to also add, if you were already tuned by hill at agile i would continue using him, its really good to find 1 tuner to tune your car and stick with them switching from tuner to tuner is no good

[JET02WRX]

definately. A lot harder to assign blame when something goes wrong.

[Number 23]

Yeah Agile where definitely friendly, Shop was pretty cool. I just wanted to know what other people were doing. I'll make sure to have an extra fuel filter along just in case this time. The Car Pulls stong until 6grand the boost gauge hits 20lbs and then power just drops off.


So what about a turbo upgrade? Used STI turbo or recommend something like one of these below:
http://www.jscspeed.com/wrx/turbo/mits_turbos.htm

[JET02WRX]

Originally Posted by Number 23

The Car Pulls stong until 6grand the boost gauge hits 20lbs and then power just drops off.

20 lbs!?! @ 6grand!!? On the stock turbo? No wonder the power drops off... at 20lbs you are getting outside the efficiency range of the stock turbo. when that happens, it becomes a flame thrower. Did you turn up the boost that high or did Agile? It almost sounds like you are getting a spike somewhere. You should see peak boost on the stock turbo somewhere in the neighborhood of 3500-3900rpm. It should hold that a bit, then start to taper as you approch 6 - 7grand.

Originally Posted by Number 23

So what about a turbo upgrade? Used STI turbo or recommend something like one of these below:
http://www.jscspeed.com/wrx/turbo/mits_turbos.htm

If you definately want to get to 300hp...then i'd say the 18g. Anything bigger than that and it becomes personal preference/tolerance if the lag is worth it.

[Buster]

20 psi is way to much boost on that turbo, the TDO4 turbo is effcient up to 18 psi and thats it, the power drop off isnt the tuning at all, its your turbo quitting and bleeding boost back out, it does that stock and will do that at higher boost levels.

There is nothing wrong with doing a header on a stock turbo, the car can handle it, its more a matter if she can. The spool is going to be much quicker on an already spool happy turbo so the car essentially will be a little more work to drive normal.

As far as a 300whp goal, on a VF series turbo its a little harder but you can get there. A small 16g depending on who makes it can get you over 300 whp. Deadbolt tends to be on the lower scale while bullseye power and FP tend to give a little more over 300 regularly.

If you go to an 18g, you are looking at a potentially 325-340whp car and a broken tranny, so I suggest that a 16g would be best. I went through all of this before I bought my 16g from bullseye power and I do not regret a thing. Its making more than enough to have fun and drive everyday.

Most importantly make sure the entire fuel system is ready for more boost, more boost = more air =a huge need for more fuel. You can pick up a nice set of STi pink injectors for under 300 bills and with a smaller turbo like a VF 34 or a 16g the 565s will be plenty of fuel.

[Number 23]

^^ yeah i figured I would probably have to buy a set of injectors. I did looke at the sti pinks through jscspeed. Yeah the 16g sounds good. She's not looking to make over 300hp. somewhere around 280ish would be great for her.

Yeah when you reach like 4th or 5th, because of the tune it goes up and hits 20lbs i'm pretty sure, might have to go out and check it again. The way Agile tuned it was up until 6grand and then anything over they said don't run it that high up because they could get it tuned the rest of the way because of the fuel issue. They said that they kept trying to up boost and add fuel but something was wrong and they said either fuel filter was clogged or I needed to replace the fuel pump. When we had the car dyno tuned it was around 70,000ish mileage wise. The car now has about 94,000 on it now.