GC8Fin

iTrader: (7)

I Decided to move on from my classic to something a bit newer, Over the course of 4 years it went from a standard turbo 2000 to 330hp /330ftlb (JGM map) , 6 speed, ksport brakes, coilovers etc..




In the summer of 2013 i made the hard decision to break it up and sell it for parts in order to raise the money needed for my next project. It felt like it had taken forever but in may 2014 i finally found the car i had been looking for. A uk spec 2005 sti.



happy to be back in a subaru !

Spec was fairly standard, apart from a sports cat, 3 inch cat back and a remap.






After a thorough check everything was ok , although the budget tyres and the ebay exhaust were now on the 'to do' list.

GC8Fin

iTrader: (7)

I had managed to keep hold of the 8 pot ksport so the Brembo's were fitted to a friends bug and these went on.



And then out to meet up with some mates for a sunday drive




But this is when i started to notice a problem ..... you could feel it coming on boost and then backing down before building up again .

Something wasn't right and i suspected it could be a problem with the map. Searching through the receipts i found the re map was carried out by ' Eclipse Performance' a quick search on here and other forums brought up a lot of bad reviews and i guess this lead to them going out of business.

I picked up the equipment needed to start data logging recorded this.




The graph roughly shows what my boost curve looked like. I had a huge boost spike and that was obviously not good. Now my attention turned to the map itself, even as a novice i could see the map wasn't the work of a professional

Comparing it to what would of been the original Rom i could see someone had literally just turned the target boost up, raised the boost cut and made no effort to adjust the ignition timing or target AFR tables.

I have always had an interest in tuning and this map needed fixing

To be continued .......

ZaKv1

iTrader: (8)

shame about the classic

nice blob tho hope you solve the problem

GC8Fin

iTrader: (7)

Cheers ZaKv1 , i did get it sorted in the end.

I started work on fixing the problem, first job was to install a wideband so i could safely monitor air/fuel ratio and log it along side other sensor outputs from the ecu.






Now it was a case of data logging, studying the data, making a small change, and repeating. Many hours were spent reading pages and pages of extremely helpful information on romraider and without that it wouldn't of been possible.



Over the next couple of weeks i started to make good progress, boost was now stable and the map was starting to come together nicely.

Over the summer i replaced the budget tires for Bridgestone Re070, replaced the exhaust with a 3" Afterburner raptor system from scoobyworld and fitted some iridium plugs.





Towards the end of the summer i set my sights on achieving 400hp, the vf35 wasn't going to be up to the job so i picked up an MD321H that needed a new compressor wheel for a bargain.

Captainfunbags

iTrader: (2)

Subscribed

Good luck mate

GC8Fin

iTrader: (7)

I wasted no time and sent it too Turbo Dynamics for a new billet wheel to be fitted. Unfortunately that wasn't all it needed, TD advised me the core needed replacing and the compressor housing also needed to be repaired. This meant the repair bill was huge because the only parts that would be original were the compressor and exhaust housings

Luckily i have a very understanding girlfriend and the wedding savings took a hit lol.



A few days later and it was back looking shiny and new

It wasn't long until it was on the car and then i started work on the map, but now i was seeing injector duty cycles of 95% which meant it was time to fit bigger injectors to keep up with demand.



So i replaced the sti pinks for some 820cc modified wrx injectors and after a bit of work on the map i saw Duty cycle fall to 66%.

So that was 2014 and i am now saving for a FMIC so i can run more boost and hopefully make some decent power

GC8Fin

iTrader: (7)

Cheers

96sti

Where did you but the tyres mate? How do they cope in the wet cheers

GC8Fin

iTrader: (7)

Got them from cam skill, they cope really well in the wet . Best fast road Tyres I have had and are a reasonable price.

GC8Fin

iTrader: (7)

long overdue update.

Fitted a hdi Fmic in feb, was a bigger job than anticipated and took a very long time to get the bumper to fit nicely.







Also had fun trying to get an RCM induction kit into the bay, had to get creative with the ABS pump mounting in order to make room.

Once the car was up and running hours of set up work on the laptop followed, there were times where i was ready to give up and throw the towel in, but i persevered and eventually things were starting to come together.

picked up some barely used bc coilovers in april





Much happier with the ride hight and handling

The fun was short lived, busy nights followed as i helped a friend replace his clutch on his sti only for mine to fail a week later along with another snet member's 5 Speed

GC8Fin

iTrader: (7)

Clutch was replaced with a competition clutch and i was back on the road again and at this stage the the car was running safely on a conservative map.


At this point i decided to put everything on hold to concentrate on last minute planning for my wedding but just before i did i replaced the engine mounts for the hardrace kit and fitted a perrin short shift kit.










A few weeks after the wedding i set about converting to speed density so far so good, long story short i have installed a temperature sensor in the boost pipe before the throttle body i am now maffless and currently trying to nail down the right balance of boost afr and ignition timing.

taylor85

iTrader: (5)

welcome back fin, didnt see this till just now , few of your old parts still live on in my wagon

Rusti

iTrader: (4)

Nice write up buddy, the scoobys look awesome outside the wedding venue.

b3nmw

Nice motor

Ash

Very nice work mate

GC8Fin

iTrader: (7)

Long overdue update on this thread,

Shortly after my last post i decided it was about time i booked a trackday and had some fun in this car. I booked cadwell park for December along with another subaru nut and then set about getting the car ready.



I got the car on a ramp and installed whiteline camber bolts in the front, set the suspension up, TRS 4 point harnesses fitted and swapped the exhaust for something a little quieter than the raptor. Then it was just a case of making sure the car was running smooth and det free ready for its first outing on track.

December the 13th came and it was a cold damp Sunday, we arrived at the track feeling a little nervous. My nerves were not helped by getting the car sideways on entry into barn on a very slow sighting lap

I finished the sighting laps and set about learning my way round the circuit at a steady pace and building on it. I quickly learnt the importance of tyre temperature and how to use DCCD. In the wet taking it out of auto and moving the balance one click forward made it far easier to drive.



The car ran beyond my expectations all day, i had mapped it fairly conservatively and after checking some logs i only had to reduce the wastegate duty cycle a little to correct some over boost.

The handling was very predictable once i had learnt to warm the bridgestone RE070's and i finished the day on a 1:58 which i was quite happy with given the grip available

GC8Fin

iTrader: (7)

After a successful day i couldn't wait to get back out there. Soon i booked a second visit to Cadwell Park for march hoping for better weather this time.

I was really happy with the cars performance so didn't have much to do apart from check it over and change the exhaust again for a 3" Milltek. The Milltek is a superb exhaust, it fitted perfectly and sounds awesome without being too loud.



March the 25th soon arrived and the weather was perfect, couldn't have asked for a better day



Once out on track i settled in and started to work with what i had, the RE070's were great and i ran the diff fully open. Then i found that on initial turn it felt a little soft so added a few clicks to the bc's which made a big difference.



By late morning i built my confidence and speed, as i pushed on i started to struggle with understeer but this soon became the least of my worries .... the ecu registered high boost and fuel cut to protect the engine. I pulled in and immediately made adjustments to the map assuming it was something wrong with my setup, then i was back out for 5 laps before returning again with the same problem. I turned the boost down again and pulled some ignition timing to be on the safe side and tried again with no luck



After taking some time out to think it over i found the problem, the hose between my 3 port boost solenoid and wastegate actuator had perished and split. I had nothing to repair it with so i pulled the washer hose off the bonnet and used that to get me through the rest of the day. I was having to lift slightly in high gears slightly to keep the boost under a safe level but i got through the rest of the day without too much trouble.







Time flew by and it was soon time to pack up and head home, i had finished the day with the car in one piece and only a small reliability problem. I had learnt a lot about the track and the car , i have plenty to work on for next time out. Looking back through my video footage my lap time was approx 1:48.

GC8Fin

iTrader: (7)

Jobs to do after Cadwell were :

Fix boost
Work on understeer
improve map

So i decided to fix boost first and did away with the o.e boost control in favor of a stand alone boost controller. After a bit of research i chose a GFB G Force 2 and ordered it from demon tweeks.



It was here next day so i set about fitting it the following weekend. i Decided to remove the ashtray and fit it in the center.



Setting the boost controller up was straight forward, saved me bags of time compared to logging and remapping as i could make changes on the fly. I have since been able to make good progress on the map and look forward to getting it on a dyno some time in the near future.

I have booked another visit to Cadwell on the 22nd of may and need to concentrate on my suspension set up. I think i could improve the under steer with adjusting tyre pressures at the track but i also think there is room for improvement in the set up.

Currently its

Front 0 toe and -2deg camber
Rear 0 toe and -1.5deg camber

Ash

Great progress and a nice write up Fin. Look forward to the next phase.

Kam B

This is a class project and it looks great.

This pic made my knees go very WEAK

GC8Fin

iTrader: (7)

Thanks guys , it's not the most extreme project out there by any means but I'm having fun mapping

Here's some of my laps at cadwell, I was trying to catch my friend in his blob Sti.

bustaMOVEs

iTrader: (31)

Caldwell is awesome, how are you able to wear a t shirt on track? You have to have arms covered.

GC8Fin

iTrader: (7)

I'm not sure tbh , I don't remember them asking anyone to cover up. Maybe they had relaxed that rule a bit and its only for the the guys with convertibles.

GC8Fin

iTrader: (7)

Update, trackday No.3 was approaching and i had a few things on my list to get sorted.

I wanted to improve the handling and after taking some advise from Rob Attwood i contacted Alyn at AS Performance and decided to order 24mm front and rear adjustable Whiteline bars. The front bar was a little tricky to get hold of in time for Cadwell but Alyn was very helpful and managed to pinch the front one from Whitline's demo car



The roll bars went on without too much trouble and dialed in 1mm of toe out on the front. Whilst i had the car in and on the ramp i also replaced the rear pads and deleted the No.2 02 sensor, this meant i cold move my wideband further downstream and No.1 02 sensor post turbo ready to test out some anti lag and flat foot shifting features



Before i could play with these features i had to choose a couple of inputs on the ecu that could be re configured . Eventually i had two aircraft style switches mounted near the map light, switch one would swap between two ignition maps conservative and aggressive, Switch two would turn anti lag and launch control on/off, and finally i now had a clutch position switch that will be used for flat foot shifting. There was only time for a quick road test but the anti lag and spark cut launch control is awesome , flat foot shifting was working but needs setting up and map switching was also a success.

Soon it was the 25th of may and it was time for another track day at Cadwell Park.


The Weather soon improved and it was feeling like a warm summers day. The plan was to get the sighting laps done, warm the tyres up and adjust the pressures accordingly. This soon went out the window when i got into a battle with a e92 M3, we had a good battle but he couldn't keep the pace and had to let me go. The rest of the morning went smoothly and i was amazed at how different the car felt, the under steer was reduced and adjusting the tyre pressures to compensate for the heat was also making a noticeable difference.







It was obvious by lunch time things were going well, i had used 3/4 of a tank of fuel already and the car hadn't use a drop of oil or missed a beat. The car felt faster, easier to drive but getting a clear lap was proving difficult in the traffic.



After lunch i had to put some fuel in from the on site pump and to be on the safe side i switched to the conservative ignition map.





The afternoon was more or less the same and enjoyable despite finding it difficult to string a lap to together without traffic. Me and my friend in his blob had a good battle but i eventually i made a small mistake in hall bends , the rear got loose and i ended up taking way too much curb on the left just before you turn right into the hairpin . This would of been ok if it hadn't been for the rubber marker post that i hit causing it to slap down on the bonnet leaving a nice dent.

This wasn't enough to spoil my mood though, the car performed much better than last time out and all the changes had a positive impact .

rich__88

Great thread mate!

What did you use to blank off the ashtray? And do you have any pics of the switches to change the maps? This kind of stuff is right up my street!

GC8Fin

iTrader: (7)

Thanks, i actually just cut up the box my RCM induction kit came in.



a picture of the switches and here is a short clip of the anti lag