I have a 03 WRX with PPP and STI panel filter fitted and I'm thinking of getting a up pipe decat done and a remap, but want to keep my existing PPP ECU to sell on (as advised by Pete from prosport).

I have a few questions which I'm hoping the experts on here can answer:

1.) What ECU should I buy for the remap and where can I get it from.

2.) My 03 WRX is supposed to be 265bhp according to PPP, but is this a realistic figure? Do cars that are PPP'd really come out at that figure or is it usually less at around 255 or so? I'm going to have the car on a rolling road in a couple of weeks to find out.

3.) How much difference in performance will I notice from an up pipe decat and a remap? Currently it has no centre decat as this is removed as part of the PPP pack.

4.) What kind of bhp output can I expect after these changes.

5.) Is the remap essential after the decat up pipe? Or will I get a noticable improvement even without the remap?

6.) Is it safe to do in stages as I'm not sure if I can afford the remap straight away.?

7.) How much louder would the car get after the decat? (Don't want to annoy the neighbours too much. lol)


Many thanks for anyones help on this.

 

Swapping the up-pipe is a very long process just for removing a foot long bit of exhaust. As a mod on its own with a remap it will be a lot of money with vey little gain.
Combine it with a decat or sports cat downpipe and there may be an extra 15 bhp.

Is there a power figure you have in mind?

The PPP figure is very realistic. Mine had book figures when run at Power Engineering but then it should do as that is where Prodrive did development work on PPP.

As for using another ECU for a remap, find out which verison you have.
Lift up the carpet on the passneger side and take off the ECU cover. Take a note of the label number.
ECUs can be anything from £25 on Ebay to £250 at breakers.

Nick

 

Thanks, I'll have a look at the ECU label number and post back. You say it will be very little gain for the money, but what do you suggest instead then? My car at moment is a 03WRX with PPP and STI Filter. It should be producing around 265bhp according to everything I read, however I feel I want a little extra power. I just feel It could do better and don't know what I should do. Is there something else I can do for the same kind of cost?

I have been quoted around 235+vat for the uppipe decat and 650+vat for the remap.

Regards,

 

£1000 for possibly 15 bhp doesn't appear to be value for money.
If £250 is burning a hole in your pocket then perhaps spend the money on fast driving tuition?

From 265 bhp perhaps the next stage would be 290/300 bhp - up-pipe decat, downpipe decat/sports cat, uprated fuel pump, STi intercooler & remap for IRO £1250 in parts using s/hand gear.
As the labour involved in getting the up-pipe off is 90% of fitting the above parts anyway, then the whole stage should be IRO £1600.

Next stage is 330 bhp+ with a turbo, injectors and a remap for IRO £780.

Of course you could just jump to 330 bhp and save money on labour and the 2nd remap.

Nick

 

You could spend the money on uprating the suspension. It may not make you car any quicker, but it will probably enable you to get places quicker if you see what I mean. (also doing something with the brakes may be advisable)

If you want to go the more power route, as Butty says, a sports decat downpipe (you will need this to pass the mot) uprated fuel pump (mixed thoughts if this needs replacing on the newer cars but probably advisable), decat upipe and a remap. The standard intercooler is apparently good for over 300bhp so you wouldn't need this changing as of yet with this spec which should be close to 300 bhp.