Hi guys, I'm new to subaru and need your help! I got a 96 Impreza Wagon Turbo as a winter tool =) Now i'm after more power. I guess those old ECU's can't be mapped. Found here in the forum that some plug n play (?) chips exists. Are they nowadays still available? any additional upgrades required, like walbro? how does boost control work with these chips? thanks for infos! cheers, Ro

 

Hi,

Best option for the older ECU is ESL. It is a mother board which get soldered into your stock ECU and acts as a fully tuneable setup.
Price is right, and the setup is almost impossible to beat.

I have one in my 96 WRX and made plenty enough power!! More then enough to say ciao to your gearbox!!
Andy at enduring solutions is extremely helpful, prob the best man to ask!

 

Is it a V2 96 or a V3 96? (Facelift or non)

Makes a bit of a difference what ECU is in there

 

The ECU has 4 plugs and the following numbers:

6D
22611 AB540
A18-000 D07
5428

..I guess it's a non facelift as it has a slightly different looking front compared to a 98 Impreza

 

Doesn't make any difference as far as fitting esl is concerned, there is a board for 97/8 as well as 92/6.

 

ESL is a a great solution no doubt, but in this case kinda overkill to me. I mean, I don't want to push that far. the car is for having fun on snow & ice. A plug n play chip fits best from my understanding.

 

...are these any good?

http://www.ebay.ch/itm/Subaru-Imprez...item27b1a7a16b

 

just beeing curious: is the mapping software included? switchable maps? pops n bangs? boost control via ECU?

cheers

 

Hi mate. I guess your decision is going to be based on what budget you are happy to spend. An ESL board is a very good option, and will give you the best results. The cost of buying the board and having it mapped properly is likely to cost you £600 - £700, maybe more. If that's the kind of money you want to spend then go for it, it will vastly improve your car (assuming its all working well!)

Our chips can't possibly give you such dramatic results. They offer a more mild increase in power by altering fuel & ignition maps, and increasing the boost cut limit to 1.1 BAR. All nice and safe and you will definately feel the improvements, and if you only have a small budget then £50 isn't a lot to pay for an increase in power.

If you are happy to spend around the £300 mark then I would suggest combining the chip with a decat exhaust is a really good option. It's not a good idea to fit a decat on its own but it's fine if combined with the chip. Together they can give you between 30 & 40bhp, along with faster turbo spool up and a sharper throttle response.

So as ever it's a budget driven choice. There are always many ways to improve the performance of a Scooby, it just depends on how much you want to spend!

 

Mapping software and cable dongle is 75GBP+VAT.

Live mappable, twin maps, 3d boost control, diagnostics, mafless, 3 stage knock control, closed loop fuel and idle, pops and bangs can be mapped in, etc etc.

 

If you have £300 to spend the ESL board is 295+VAT.

 

save up get esl that way u want more power at anytime least u have an ecu to deal with it rather than a crappy chip u can get chips cheaper than that 99p for a bag of mcains lol loads of chips in it

 

Thanx for all the replies guys! ..had a lot of work, couldn't make it earlier..
I know about the benefits of those mapable solutions. I got a Evo6 with a gold box Motec.
But this "subaru case" is as I said before "just" ( and please don't get me wrong. I think its a very good car and its japanese ^^) a winter toy. it has 270000km on the clock and I'm pretty sure I'm gonna hit the snow walls more then one time ;o)
...she got some spikes, harder & lower springs, antilift kit, rear swaybar and a steering quickener. Hopefully the handling will be more fun now;-)
...as for the power, I'm going for the chip. I dont need a monster which gonna bang the gearbox. just some more power and better spool up and I'm happy.

cheers Ro

 

If you are going down that route, do yourself a favour and either invest in a wideband and detcans or employ a mapper to have a look and listen to make sure all is well when the EPROM is fitted.

 

hi andy
sure. we will check air/fuel ratio and knock.
..the cat I already got rid of

cheers

 

did you sort out the boost control on your chip then, i seem to remember your chip had to be fitted with a mbc.

 

This is true. there is no ecu boost control with the eclipse performance chip. You have to fit a bleed valve in there = not the best solution but at least it's cheap. I did have a car with one fitted last year and without the bleed valve fitted you drive the car and go straight into fuel cut. Once the bleed valve was fitted it did drive quite well to be honest, but I set it conservatively @ 1.05 bar. I believe the fuel cut was around just before 1.2 bar.

Fit at your own risk is all I will say here.