Edward

Last week Power Engineering had my car for a few days and transformed it, they fitted their full exhaust system (up pipe, down pipe, sports catalyst and back box), I was also lucky enough to be their first customer for a custom remap of my original ECU.

The car is now not only much quicker but a lot smoother, the pick up from low revs is amazing. The biggest difference is the massive improvement in throttle response, before it was a bit all or nothing, now a slight increase in throttle pressure gives a measured amount of acceleration.
The car actually feels slower than it really is, I need to keep checking to speedo to see how fast I’m actually going.
The main advantage I find isn’t the huge increase in power but the ability to make rapid progress almost effortlessly, the increased torque means I have to change gear far less often – the car just flies!

Before & after graph:


The black lines show the power / torque for my car with a TSL mid section and back box, the red lines show the results after.

A bit more info:
My car was tuned with 95 Unleaded.
The turbo restrictor diameter has not been reduced to produce this result, giving the ECU maximum control over boost.
EGTs are much lower than with a standard exhaust, probably due to the reduction in restrictions in the path of the gases.
Boost has been set to a rock solid 16.4 PSI in the midrange. The overboost (and subsequent drop in boost) has been mapped out.
These power gains have been achieved without altering fuelling at all, giving excellent in-cylinder cooling.
Whilst peak power is up from 239 to 282 (43BHP), this point at which this power is produced has moved. There is in fact up to a 60 BHP improvement at high revs.
My car was mapped on Power Engineering's rolling road. The ambient temperature was 17-20 degrees C during this time. I’m sure performance will be even better on the road due to better cooling and airflow.
As my car has the catalyst it will pass an MOT and any roadside emissions tests, I haven’t had any problems with the check engine light illuminating.

Before the MY02 I had a MY99 with a mid section and back box, my new car never felt as sharp or as eager to go as the 99, the car now feels far better than my 99.

Power Engineering call the full kit I had the Power Pack 275, it costs £2250 inc. VAT & Fitting, PE / EcuTek can custom map the ECU without their exhaust system, this costs £650 + VAT which includes time on the Dyno.

STI 7, as far as I know EcuTek can reprogram the ECU in the STI 7 – I recommend anyone fed up with waiting for the Prodrive package to give PE a call, I’m sure they’ll offer a much more advanced product at a significantly lower price.

E.

elgordano

That looks flippin awesome !!

Gordo
Scoobycity

Rich B

Thats looks like a nice increase.

Whats the chances of someone at PE posting on here what they can do for an STI7?

Cheers

Rich B

elgordano

That reminds me...I must phone PE and get booked in for this.

Gordo
Scoobycity

Paul N P

Ecutek/PE told me that STI7 ECU re-mapping would be available end-November or so. Apparently more difficult to re-map STI7 ECU than WRX and they need to spend more time playing about.

Looking very promising though, I've already got full PE T75 system on my STI7 (310 bhp & 290 ftlb on PE RR). Car already goes like stink after fitting PE exhaust system so I'm looking forward to seeing what the re-map will give me.

F**k the PPP, warranties aside, this is definitely the way to go!

LoFi

Edward, thanks for posting - I'm raiding the piggy bank as I type

Piers LoFi

hades

Edward,

What's the sound like and how loud? In a perfect world, I'd like something that sounds like the OEM on a motorway cruise - i.e. virtually inaudible - but like a scoobysport when you boot it. I know that ain't possible! Assume the sports cat takes some of the volume out? Am I right in saying there's no central resonator? (which is part of the reason I'm still eyeing up the APS system)

Thanks for posting. The ECUTEK does look like a must, whatever exhaust you use.

Phil

StephenDone

Thanks for all the positive comments on the results. I thought I'd post some extra information that may be of interest...

The first 25 cars that EcuTek remap will all be done at Power Engineering. This allows EcuTek to personally see the results of every one of these cars, and will make later mail order business possible, based on the database of mapping information that we gather. The advantage to the customer is that each of the first 25 cars mapped is effectively custom mapped.

We will have no issue with mapping an STI 7, whether Japanese or Type UK - it is simply a matter of time. Every single version of 2001/2002 ECU is very different, and it takes time to assess these differences and incorporate them into the programming software that I write. Since there are more WRXs than STIs out there, we decided it would be best to develop for these models first. STIs will be available in time, and we will adopt the same tuning process (all cars mapped at PE initially) when we provide the service for these cars.

The mapping was done on 95 RON fuel, and a power test was done. The car was then filled with 97 RON and was retested. 278 BHP on 95, and 282 BHP on 97 on this car. The active ignition timing on these ECUs is extremely good, and learns in a matter of minutes, how to take advantage of better fuel.

Regarding noise levels of the PE exhaust: I have a full PE sports cat system on my 99MY, and I found it too loud (incidentally it was the manifold that I later added that reduced the noise level to one I found acceptable). However, the 2002 exhaust system is noticeably and significantly quieter. I checked with PE, and the design of the backbox has actually been changed for the new model. This, together with the already lower 2002 cabin noise levels is really quite acceptable. The EcuTek demonstrator car is exactly the spec. of Edward's car, so anyone interested in noise levels should drop down on any of the PE dyno days to see & hear it in action. The cold weather's coming up, so we should see some really good figures in the next couple of months too.

It's worth stressing that the 'before' plot already includes a partial exhaust replacement, so the results are particularly impressive. My point is that when going from an entirely standard car to this specification, the improvements are likely to be slightly greater than shown here.

Best Regards

Stephen Done
EcuTek

P.S. In generating the initial graphic dyno plot, I made an error on the RPM scaling for the 'after' run. The old graph showed correct power on 'before' and 'after', however the torque figures were incorrect on the 'after' plot. I have now corrected this so that the graph shown above is now correct, since it's a link to the graph that I have updated on the EcuTek site.

BL

What is the implication on the warranty following this custom remap??

Can a dealer tell its been remapped on a service??

If not, i'll be down Powerenginnering in a flash

john banks

Warranty is void. The dealer cannot tell unless they drive it and notice the extra boost and performance. Dealer cannot tell with the car sitting at the garage on their diagnostics equipment.

LoFi

can the insurance company tell?

Piers LoFi

StephenDone

As with _any_ modification, you are obliged to tell your insurance company, just as with a back box, bleed valve, alloys or brake discs. There is no visible change in the ECU - it is a proper remap, not a soldered in replacement chip. Obviously, my own car has been remapped extensively - just declare it on your insurance. It's no big deal with the right insurance company e.g. Liverpool Victoria. See the Insurance section of Scoobynet for more info.

Steve

dowser

My dealer called me at last service to say they wanted to swap the faulty ecu....I asked them not to, lol!

Richard

StephenDone

Hi Richard,

Interested...What did they think was wrong ?

"We'll sir, we took it out for a good hard spank, after servicing, and it was far too quick for our liking" ???

;-)

Steve

T5NYW

iTrader: (4)

Edward,

Very nice results,Tell the insurance everything I already told them of exhaust change to my STi7 so when PPP'd I only had to pay for Chipping it £16.80p
If its modded and they'll look them won't pay out
StephenDone

YHM

Tony

Deep Singh

Looks very good!!
Stephen Done can you please please hurry up with the STi7!!
If you need a test car you can have mine.