jimmy_wrxsti

iTrader: (3)

Hi all

Bought my 03 WRX STi bugeye impreza with PPP couple of weeks ago.

The car is everything i expected it to be power wise and am loving it. But a few niggles have surfaced and wondered what your take is on them.

First one is the clutch, i find pulling off in first gear a chore - now i have come from a Golf R32 and a Focus ST previously so initially thought it was different cars that were causing this but as ive owned it longer so the issue remains. Between 1.5-3k revs pulling off its sluggish, im not expecting lightening start but something more than im getting. When it engages the revs drop and cause the slow progress. Now i have thought about fact that a) im a rubbish driver and that its causing it but given previous cars and how they have behaved im not so sure. I have tried different revs to pull off at and found that if i am around 4k revs it pulls hard and immediately into power band but i dont always fancy pulling off at those revs!

Any ideas? Is it just off boost and therefore sluggish unless wanting to cane it off the line? could there be a problem with the clutch? am i just a rubbishj driver?!?

MrNoisy

iTrader: (28)

I've found that driving an Impreza is very different to driving a 2WD car - I know the ST is FWD, but is the R32? Normally, I find you can't go bombing off from the lights - if you're a traffic light grand prix type you'll probably find that most FWD or RWD cars will pull away from you at first but as soon as the turbo spools up around 2,6-800 RPM (well mine does then..) you'll then eat up the distance and usually easily pass them. I think all you'll do by launching at 4,000 revs is to cook your clutch!

Sounds like you're talking about turbo lag though - you could try getting a decat up-pipe, and if your PPP didn't include one, a Prodrive sports cat (although I believe the STI's with PPP should come with one) to improve spool up time. Failing that, get someone with mapping experience to set up the car so the turbo spools earlier down the rev range if that's the style of driving you prefer.

Someone with more mapping / engine knowledge can probably give you more detailed advice or may even diagnose a fault. Just my 2p's worth.

HTH.

jimmy_wrxsti

iTrader: (3)

Thanks for that

The R32 was 4wd (not AWD) and i thought it might be same off the line (r32 stupidly quick off line) but then again it was N/A so no lag.

Im not a traffic light grand prix kind of guy but at roundabouts etc where i have to pull off i dont like hanging about. Dont get me wrong when the turbo spools up it goes like all hell has broken loose but i wasnt sure if it was the car or my driving.

Yeah it has the sports cat on it, i am meaning to find out what the PPP ecu map is like, i.e. how much better it is than std map and also how easy is it to remap the PPP map to get the spool up quicker like you said.

Thanks for the help

MrNoisy

iTrader: (28)

No probs mate. I know what you mean about roundabouts .
If you've already got the sports cat you might as well get a de-cat up-pipe.

That will remove the restriction between the turbo and your down pipe which apparently means spool up will be faster.

PPP ECU is not bad, but varies from car to car; most mappers say that a car benefits from a map that's specifically designed for it, rather than applying a generic map (which is what the Prodrive one is); you could seek out some advice from a few people on here - names that spring to mind would be Bob R, Andy Forest, or Jolly Green Monster to name but a few. I know there are plenty of others, like Zen, Mocom, Powerstation etc - just depends how far you want to travel I guess.

jimmy_wrxsti

iTrader: (3)

cheers for this

I may be being thick but is the up-pipe different to the PPP sports cat then? i.e the std up-pipe has another cat on it? and replacing that in conjunction with the PPP sports cat will give better low down spool? Or is the PPP sports cat the actual up-pipe you speak of and so replacing that with the de-cat improves the spool?

There seems so much info on remaps on here, given how the PPP remap is done i assume the ECU is easily modified by tuning companies? i.e. no new ECU needed etc? My ST had a generic map on but before that my DC5 had a custom tuned one and i always figured a custom one is better for each individual car.

JimmyBFC

I had some tit in a Golf GT set off thinking he was going to race me y'day....fvckin tit.

I must admit, he shot off like lightening, I wasn't or couldn't do that as my lane was stationary further on, but I was impressed how it zipped off compared to mine........I knew one thing though, like mentioned above, once the turbo spools and kicks in, it would have cr@pped all over him, and thats the beauty of it, you have a fast 300bhp car, no need to go proving it all the time

JimmyBFC

My sti ppp of the same yr as yours made 320 bhp on the rollers at the clinic and I also had a load of handling mods put on too, drives a lot better now, much more responsive, even pulls you back in 6th gear doing around 80-90mph (although Ive only been told this as its above the speed limit on motorways...) lol

Most sti ppp are only making 280-290 btw aswell, not the claimed 305hp.

jimmy_wrxsti

iTrader: (3)

What mods have you got if you dont mind me asking?

Im not after massive power, this is plenty for me, just if there was a simple mod to increase the spool low down i might look into it.

DaveR

Getting a decatted up-pipe will definitely improve your spool-up time, I felt an absolutely massive increase when i changed mine out. Overall power felt roughly the same, but it allows you to rev into boost much much quicker. And yes, as standard the uppipe contains yet another cat. My current system contains only a sportscat in the downpipe, and as the MOT test results show, I'm still way within legal emissions tolerances. Fitting an up-pipe is not a cheap job though - there are various ways to do it but the most popular seems to be to lift up the engine from underneath ..... I think it is about 4-5 hours work for a skilled mechanic...... (worth it though I promise)

dunx

iTrader: (3)

jimmy your car has an up-pipe with no CATS in it....

No STI I know of has a cat in the up-pipe....

Headers (un-equal length manifold) will improve the mid-range torque, but not as huge an effect on spool up.

A re-map will gain you around 30 bhp, much improved driveability, (and it will pull up to the rev limiter like a looney !)

HTH

DunxC

P.S. If you get greedy a 2.5 conversion will give much more torque.

JimmyBFC

If you click on my plus profile there all in there bud.

For the record, agree with Dunx here, a re-map and a bottom end from a hawkeye will make it a different car, bags of torque.

motorola222

ist 4wd the same as AWD?????

dunx

iTrader: (3)

Depends who you ask, some say AWD is a part-time switchable system like "her indoors" Jeep which is 2WD unless selected.... and then it is 4WD when engaged.

I say mine is AWD as it's always on and working.

The R32 Golf has a Haldex (?) rear diff that only joins the party when the fronts start to spin, so it's mostly 2WD...

I'm probably going to be corrected soon !

HTH

dunx

JimmyBFC

Think thats summed up well Dunx tbh mate, awd is like you say, on 24/7 and cannot change ratio's, a proper 4x4 like a landy where you can change ratio's for steep inclines etc.