flat4

can you project manage mine for me please? lol

Ciaran

iTrader: (16)

it will probably be cogent who he trained with!
lets hope i get put offshore and not onshore as none realy handy near home dundee that is although aberdeen all week in ****tie digs which the company provide!

Power Junkie

iTrader: (1)

Carl, What is it like to have Andy F maping your car?? Cant wait to see the result

Mark..

911

Me neither, it's my turn soon....
911

Carl Davey

iTrader: (3)

It's fantastic. Full write up tonight once i've driven it a little more - i need bigger brakes to stop the bugger now!

Carl, fastest fridge in the North East.

Power Junkie

iTrader: (1)

Cant wait

911

EVERY detail!
911

Carl Davey

iTrader: (3)

Ok, so first thing this morning was to remove the bit of rubber above the o/s headlight to aid a little air flow over the filter.



Then off to Oldmeldrum where Andy would be meeting us for the mapping. Once i got there i finished plumbing in the three port. I've done a wee diagram here as it was something i really didn't fancy doing myself but is actually very simple. Not to be attempted unless you are about to have your car remapped straight after however, this is why i did mine when i did.



So Davids car was the first up for some attention and once Andy was finished it was my turn. The Apexi was fitted, det cans bolted on and wideband installed. One of the first things Andy did was to set a decent idle. It was amazing listening to the engine physically quieten and settle as things were tweaked.

Once Andy was happy we set off for the main session. For me this basically involved driving up and down a single stretch of road just outside of Oldmeldrum while the map was built. The road surface was hardly ideal (single carriageway country road) but there is 3 good straights in a 4/5 mile stretch which were ideal for getting a run through 3rd and 4th gears to let Andy get a decent view of the boost pattern amongst other things through the range.

If i was to do it again i'd make sure i knew the road i was driving along a little better, there was a few hair raising moments when i was waiting for Andy to shout 'ok' when there was a corner approaching all too quickly! I'd also have practiced driving on the boost gauge a little more as it seems this may have helped the day go more smoothly.

Once the map was done it was time for a lesson in using the FC Commander. Some will already know that i really wasn't overly interested in buying the Commander and kind of ended up with it by default but boy am i glad i did. It really is the ideal compainion for the Power FC, it basically gives you an insight into everything the FC sees and is doing. It can do everything from monitor engine parameters (boost, revs, speed, knock, water temp etc) to show you exactly where you are on each map at any point on the rev range and under any load. Not to mention the fact that it enables you to alter each of these points as well as advance and retard ignition timing. There is also the facility to wipe the entire map which is just feckin dangerous lol...

So how does it drive?

Well, i was desperately trying to stifle my grin while Andy was mapping. Not only did it feel good to drive on boost again having been pootling around at 50mph for the past two days but there's just so, soo much more!

In all honesty, the more i drive it the more it scares the crap out of me. I just can't believe what is essentially a turbo and a remap can have made such a differance. The turbo does come in a little later but with a few tips on how to get the best out of it the car flies. The FETD05 also pulls all the way to 6500rpm where the TD04 would start to tail off a lot earlier and it just pulls so much stronger on the whole.

I'm running 1.2bar at the moment with a 1bar and 1.1bar map also stored for the future (selectable from Commander). Andy tried 1.3 but we got some det late in fourth gear and decided rather than tweak the map to elimanate this we'd be cheating ourselves and would most likely end up with less power than if we stuck to 1.2 bar.

On the whole i had a really good day, Andy is very down to earth and really does know these cars inside out. My advice to anyone who is thinking of going down the Apexi route is to just do it. I promise you won't regret it.

simbo

did you get a hold of gav then? i dont think i will bother as the car seems to be well down in power but hey watch this space.i think it maybe is the pipes knocking but time will tell.


david

Carl Davey

iTrader: (3)

Aye, not got hold of Gavin yet David, i have mailed him and will try calling again tomorrow, failing that i'll just stop in past.

Here's hoping it is just the pipes that are knocking on your car or the knock sensor that is fecked. You want me to ask Liam tomorrow if he has a spare for a '93 lying around, could be worth a shot?

Carl Davey

iTrader: (3)

COSTS

Ok, so let's work out how much this has cost me so far...

• £376.50 - Defis (Boost, Oil Pressure, Water Temp, Control Unit, JW Racing Pod + hose adaptor for water temp sender)
• £500 - Apexi PFC + Commander
• £300 - Fitting/Mapping Apexi PFC (inc. travelling costs)
• £250 - FETD05
• £185 - Walbro 255l/hr + FSE Reg
• £70 - Phase 2 440's
• £168 - STi V5/6 TMIC
• £30 - MY98 STi 5/6 TMIC Dump Valve Adaptor
• £63 - Samcos (inc. cost of new s/s jubilee clips)
• £50 - K&N
• £25 - Turbo/Intercooler gaskets
• £10 - Ducting for Filter & Hose for Boost Solenoid
• £0 - 3-Port Solenoid

I think that's pretty much everything i've had to buy. I've not included the cost of the aluminium i made the injector collars/tilt kit out of and i'm not really sure whether to include the Defis or not as these would have probably gone in anyway.

So, total not including Defis is.....

• £1651

The total including the H&S exhaust and Defis is closer to £2500 but seeing as these items aren't directly related to my project (i've got to justify it somehow ) i'm not counting them. Was it worth it? Oh yes!



LINKS

The links i found most useful whilst i did the mods...

TD04/05 Swapping
Not a guide as such but lots of useful information in there. The thing that confused me the most was the oil return hose on the bottom of the turbo, this just slips off when you lift the turbo out and slips on again (with a careful aim) when you refit it. Everything else is just bolt-off/bolt-on.

Walbro Fitting
A rough guide to fitting the Walbro 341. All the information i needed was in the thread although somehow i got a little confused with passenger and drivers side lol...

FSE Fitting
An excellent guide to fitting the FSE Reg. I did this with the turbo off and still managed to **** the o-ring supplied with the OEM FPR bypas adaptor. My advice would be (if possible) to cut the standard fuel pipe off and refit a slightly longer new one, slip the adaptor on and then make sure you insert it square to the rail. I'd even consider using the o-ring off the OEM FPR. I put together a MS Word document so i could better digest the info with the pictures, i've uploaded it here.

3-Port Fitting
John Banks post (#2) was the guide i used to fitting mine.

Houghton

iTrader: (1)

Brilliant thread Carl. Well written and should be a real benefit to anyone else contemplating these mods IMHO

Just got home from clocking up 500 miles today on the 'new' engine. Off to API in the morning for the 1,000 mile oil & fiter change and a quick check over that everything's OK. Then a couple of hours, to get few more miles on it, before meeting up with Andy for the mapping session.

Had the car back, with the API built engine, just over a week now and it hasn't missed a beat, starts, idles and runs really smoothly. Been a bit boring with a 4K rev limit and 0.5 bar boost limit but that'll all change tomorrow

911

Not enough Gold Stars for this thread available.
Most excellent 'article' and i've just printed off all the above threads for this Xmas when all the bits go on.
Should be a snip now!

Question which i've asked in Drivetrain too; do you really need the 3 port sol with this level of mods?
I have an Andy F TD05 20g for my Sti v3, will soon have an Apexi FC. Will the 3 be better (really) than the stock 2 port?
911

Rob D

Excellent thread Carl even if I dont own a classic well worth the read!

P20SPD

iTrader: (1)

Excellent thread!

IanW

Not bad going ******

Johnny50

Carl..well done matey.
Excellent thread, and great to hear your results are all you'd hoped for.

Power Junkie

iTrader: (1)

Just need to get on the rollers now

Aztec Performance Ltd

iTrader: (234)

Excellent thread mate.

Top marks!

Bob

Carl Davey

iTrader: (3)

Gee whiz, thanks guys. Gerry, be sure to let us know how you get on as well.

911, i wouldn't consider the 3-port to be essential at the level i am at no. Andys exact words were "The 3 port is a better set up for boost control although the 2 port is acceptable up to around 1.2 bar boost". Take from that what you will. My point of view was for the cost and ease of fitting combined with the convienience factor of having the car remapped anyway i was as well to go for one that not to.

So, to carry on where i left off... Up to Glenburgie this morning (6.30am start ) for the 112,500 mile service. Got the Motul 300V in now and a change of gearbox oil so all set for the power run. I have had an email back from Gavin Wallace saying just to pop in and he'll fit me on the rollers so will most likely go in past tomorrow morning - after a well deserved lie-in.

Had a good drive back from Forres (circa 100 mile round trip) today as well. The car is still running very well although i am becoming more used to the power now. I find that just driving it how Andy advised me rather than how i was before really helps to get alot more from both the car and the mods i've added. I also tried the 1.0bar map today but didn't like that much - it will be kept in reserve for valets and servicing, along with the 3k rev limit.

Power Junkie

iTrader: (1)

Let us know how you get on . good job Carl.

Ps: What gear should the 5sp box be in for the power run?? I thought it should be 4th??

911

I have a 2 port with Blitz boost controller @ 1.31 bar for the last 2 year and all is well, but apart from the decat system the rest is bog standard.(314 bhp straight Optimax)
Need to talk to Andy I think.

Will you post the Rolling Road results please?

See, you have a fan club!
911

drb5

iTrader: (4)

Carl

Top notch thread m8y!

If your feeling flush at any time and still want a tad more from the first 2 or 3 gears, get yourself an AVCR and get Andy to set that up too! You WON'T be disappointed!

911

I give in, what exactly is an AVCR and why is it such a prize?
911

Carl Davey

iTrader: (3)

Mark, i've no idea what gear Gavin runs the cars in, i'll be sure to check tomorrow though.

Fanclub pmsl... No worries about posting the RR results though, i'll scan both the before and after ones in for comparison. Although the before one is the second of the two runs i did on the day where the car made 256 IIRC rather than 259 like it did on the first run (261 @ Star in Feb this year).

I'm really just interested to see if these mods are worth the power figures that are often quoted. I'm a little sceptical regarding the figures banded about for the *usual* mods having seen cars with these mods (and in many cases better, 20G rather than '05 etc) rather undershoot the expected margin when RR'd. I'll lay it on the line now, i'll be disappointed with less than 290bhp. I'm no expert but the car just doesn't feel as though it's making 300. I'm sure all will be revealed tomorrow however!

What matters though is that the car is helluva lot more enjoyable to drive now and certainly feels alot quicker on the road.

Davie, i'd love to mate and i now understand how much of a benefit the AVC-R would be to my car. However, i'm just toooo far into the overdraft at the moment, even the house savings have been put on hold for the time being. Hopefully with round 2 (if there ever is such a thing) i'll then be looking towards the AVC-R, Headers/Up-Pipe and a more efficient intercooler.

Wonder Wagon

Carl what torque figures did you get on your first and second run??

Looking forward to the RR result

Carl Davey

iTrader: (3)

Crica 240 IIRC, will get them all up tomorrow afternoon all being well.

Houghton

iTrader: (1)

Hi Carl,

Session went very well today (what else would you expect with Andy's mapping? ). and with the latest mods, 2.5 block, Andy F TD05/06 20G turbo etc. it does show the Apexi PFC as a very versatile piece of kit.

The AVC-R is just like the Hand Commander, a very useful non-essential IMHO it comes with a 3 port boost control solenoid which, on mine, uses 2 ports, the third is open to atmosphere. Among other things it has 2, easily accessible maps which can each run separate boost levels. I use the 'A' map for track days and 'fun days' and the 'B' map for normal running. Nice little touch with the 'B' is the Scramble Button. Press this and it ups the boost level for a few seconds, just like a shot of NOS

It also has a display for up to 4 of 6 parameters, RPM, Solenoid Duty, Injector Duty, Vehicle Speed, Throttle %, Boost level, plus other usefull functions like, gear learning to maximise lower gear acceleration. A non-essential must-have

Carl Davey

iTrader: (3)

Ok, so ventured along to Wallace Performance today where Gavin fitted me in for a couple of power runs. The red line on each graph is the run i did back in October with just the PPP and de-cat. The Blue line is the map will all the mods.

Power



Torque



A quick comparison...

Power before: 256.3bhp (having seen 259bhp on the previous run on same day)
Power after: 277.0bhp

Torque before: 241.0lb/ft
Torque after: 241.1lb/ft

Gavin did two power runs in third gear and the power and torque curves were identical on each run. It was only really when we super imposed todays run over Octobers that it really hit in that next to no differance has been made (on paper at least).

At the end of the day, yes i do prefer the way the car drives now. However, in all honesty i did go out chasing numbers and was at least hoping to raise the torque figure to better match the power. Still in a bit of a daze about everything. This project has cost me the best part of £2000 in all and i've not even managed a 1bhp per £100 ratio pmsl!

Will post some more once i've recovered lol...

Johnny50

Hey Carl...

Dont be too dissapointed...remember what happened to my results too...
And that was with headers aswell...

If you're enjoying the car, and you really do feel it's made a big difference, then great !